Deep Waters (Chapter 29)

Quote."Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you drown."(Sorry, had to.)

Khione walked in as Pontus disappeared in a puddle of water. It was odd seeing someone like Khione in a dark, dirty cavern like this. It clicked in my mind as I realized Khione must have gave Pontus some control of her domains, so Pontus could manipulate ice as much as water. This will be tough.

"Hello there, son of Poseiden." She said, dangerously close to me. She was way too close for comfort, almost whispering in my ear. Also why does everyone call me "Son of Poseiden"?

"Uh, hello." I mentally facepalmed at my response.

She gave me a suggestive smirk. Oh, so this is how it's gonna go. Why fates? Why?

Suddenly I felt my clothes harden. I looked down to see my shirt completely frozen, but it was normal ice, not the one Pontus used. I think I can overpower her ice power, but I shouldn't show I can do that yet, and I guess Pontus being a primordial makes his ice exponentially more potent.

I let my shirt turn to ice, surprisingly,  it wasn't very cold. My skin didn't even change color, still tan, not pale or red.

"Why did you freeze my sh-" I said, but Khione punched my chest, making my shirt shatter into ice shards that fell to the ground, exposing my shirtless body.

Oh Hades no.

"What are you doing!?" I exclaimed like a madman. I prefer torture for Zeus's sake!

"Just studying a specimen." She stated like it was normal as she examined my body, making me feel extremely uncomfortable. Her light blue eyes stared into my very soul, like the Hesperides. Unlike Pontus's deep blue eyes, Khione had sky-blue eyes.

Her hand reached out and her slender fingers ran along my abs, making me inwardly shiver in disgust. Her hands were cold, but not enough to a point where it was really cold. She saw a few of my scars I got from Tartarus and made a tsk tsk tsk noise by clicking her toungue. Now she really freaked me out. I squirmed as the chains held me.

After a minute of the most awkward moment of my life, she stopped and went to my head. She was neck and neck to my head and she whispered in my ear softly, yet sharp as ice.

"I would love to spend some time with a certain son of Poseiden." She whispered, stretching the L-word. I wanted to hurl at this point, while Khione was actually quite pretty, if her attitude was a person, it would look like the Minotaur.

"And I would love to be out of these chains." I said sarcastically.  I was trying to anger her, so she would leave, because seriously, who would want to stay in this position?

To my surprise, she smirked. "Always with the jokes. Charming."

I sighed on the inside. Great job Percy!

There was no way out of my chains. Whatever these were made out of, I even tried to melt them with Aqautic fire, and it still didn't melt. If that didn't work, nothing I had would. I tried to shapeshift into another form, these chains prevented transformation.  (If you are curious as to why Percy wouldn't just teleport Khione to somewhere else is because it wouldn't be fair. Remember how Percy never uses his ability to control the water inside people to make them do whatever he wants? Same concept, only using it if on brink of death.)

Khione saw me struggle a bit.

"Curious? That is the strongest metal Pontus had to offer, which he stole directly from Lord Chaos himself, as well as...." She said, but covered her mouth as she let something slip. She silently cursed herself, but regained her posture instantly.

I was curious at what Pontus stole from Chaos, who is not a lord. I was gonna correct her, but stopped as I realized something. Pontus stole from Chaos. The Chaos, the second strongest being in the known universe.

While Pontus is powerful, he is not on the same level as Chaos at all. Him stealing from her is about as likely as a sloth trying to steal your burger, its not gonna happen,  unless.....

Chaos must be a lot weaker than I thought after Doomsday.

Khione, unfortunately, saw me thinking and knew she needed to stop me from figuring out what happened. What she did next made me shiver.

She smashed her lips into mine, scaring the living Hades out of me. Her blue lipstick stuck to my lips, and her toungue met with mine. I wanted to scream like a little girl, but I couldn't even make a noise as she sucked the noise from my mouth.

I tried to close my mouth, but Khione used her hand to pull my chin down, making my jaw open. I probably could have avoided that, but I was beyond distracted that I didn't even think about anything.

I struggled furiously against the chains, pulling my tongue to the back of my mouth, but to no avail as Khione pushed her tongue into the back as well. I nearly gagged as I could literally TASTE her blue raspberry lipstick.The kiss lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably two minutes when she pulled away, thank gods.

I gasped for air, like a fish out of water, irony. I never imagined myself chained to a rock wall, and being kissed by the goddess of snow. Fate is a funny thing.

My lips were probably blue or purple, and I had the hint of blueberry that I tasted. If Zoë saw me, which she probably was, she would slap her AND me. I swear I felt the golden tattoo on my shoulder flicker red for a moment. I haven't kissed a girl for many decades. Once Zoë got older, it kinda got awkward, so we stuck to hugs and such. And after all these years, here I am, trapped in a cave with a crazy goddess.

I glared at her. I spat out whatever I had left in my mouth.

"Why did you j-" I stopped as I saw her pull out something. My eyes widened as I saw a bottle with a pink liquid.

Love Potion.

"Oh my gods, seriously?" I exclaimed.

"Just needs a little 'kick'." She said as she came towards me slowly, horror movie style, with a grin.

I clamped my mouth shut, I was NOT opening it anytime soon.

"Awww, you're no fun." She pouted.

"Mmhm." I hummed.

"I didn't want to do this..." Khione said, crossing her arms over her chest. She sighed as she rammed her shoe into my crotch, her high heels were probably made out of Stygian Iron, because thats what it felt like.

I yelped, it didn't hurt as much if I were a mortal, but it still hurt. A LOT.

Khione quickly shoved the bottle into my open mouth, the pink liquid flowed from the bottle to my throat. I tried not to swallow it, knowing it would make me fall in love with.....her.

She held the bottle, making me unable to spit it out since it would just flow back, and she pinched my nose, making me have to breathe.

I swallowed the potion, and I felt.....different. I felt it through my veins, but I swore I wouldn't betray Zoë. I thought of her, and I hoped the potion wouldn't work. Eventually the potion wore off and I was the same. I gasped as I had been kicked where Apollo doesn't shine, and I drank a love potion.

Once Khione realized it didn't work, she was mad.

"Blessing of Artemis huh? No matter, I will get a stronger potion tomorrow. Bye for now." She said as she disappeared in a blast of snow.

I breathed heavily. I wasn't physically tired at all, but I was tired as Tantalus mentally. I groaned as I felt my strength leave me. Whatever metal Chaos had, it sapped my strength and disabled all my abilities.  I cursed Pontus and Khione.

Hours passed by, and nobody came.

Soon, the cavern was completely dark, with no lights anywhere. It was uncomfortable,  but I fell asleep.For demigods, dreams are nightmares. I wonder what gods and titans dream about.

Dream

I was on a beach. Odd right? I was lying on a beautiful beachside, with sand and seashells on the ground, and green forests were behind me.

It was actually pretty hot, but I realized I was wearing a shirt, thank gods. The warm air was relaxing as it soothed against my tan skin. I stood up, and saw a sunset.

I sighed, maybe this wasn't a nightmare.

"Perseus Jackson." A voice rang out infront of me.

I yelpd like a little girl because I looked around, and nobody was there. The voice was deep, not Pontus deep, but it was the voice of a young man.

I heard two chuckles, one was a man and another was a woman, as two figures appeared infront of me. The man had a slightly less tan than me, but was definitely much bigger. Both the man and woman stood at above 11 feet, towering over me.

He had a defined face, one that I could tell made him a very powerful being. He had brownish-gold hair, and pure gold eyes, with an onyx black pupil. He wore a Greek tunic, but it was that of a king, with gold and silver on it. He looked about 25-ish.

The woman was pretty beautiful, as she had lavender eyes and was about the same age as the man. She wore a Greek style dress that was white. She eerily reminded me of a mixture of Hera and Hestia. She had that stern look of a mother like Hera, but also had a kind, warm aura like Hestia. Thats when I realized who both of them were.

"Kronos and Rhea." My eyes widened.

Kronos looked much different than I last saw him. Last time, he covered himself in armor, so I couldn't really identify him. He looked...happy, or satisfied.

Rhea was the mother of the gods. She looked at me with approval, the look of: "Finally, someone got it right."

I took a step back, my hand edging for Riptide, but then I realized it was not there. Kronos and Rhea saw my distress and explained.

"We mean you no harm Perseus. Both of us are grateful for what you have done." Kronos explained.

"Where am I?" I asked, looking around.

"You are in paradise. Paradise is not a single place, as it is anything you want it to be. Kronos and I love to watch the sunset on an island, so this is our paradise." She smiled warmly at me.

"So....I faded?" I said, shocked.

Kronos gave a light chuckle. "No, we merely brought you here because of your........predicament at the moment."

I blushed deep red, which made Kronos and Rhea laugh at my discomfort.

"Ha ha, very funny." I whined.

Kronos held his hands in a fake "I surrender" gesture.

"I suppose I should explain why we brought you here." Kronos says. I nodded.

"You have shown me the error in my ways. My pointless conquest against my children have blinded me from what I loved most." He said as he held Rhea tightly in his arms. "I have also seen your past, and I must say, I knew demigods had rough lives, but never have I seen such tragedy.  I know you lost your partner, and it made me wonder what would happen if I lost Rhea."

I sighed as I remembered every second in the pit.

"But Rhea and I have decided to give you a gift, since you seem to need it at the moment." He gave a sly smile.

"Don't the chains I was wearing prevent me from using anything though? " I asked.

Kronos scratched his nonexistent beard, and ignored the stare Rhea and I was giving him. "Well, my grandmother always did make a way to get out of her chains, since she always was worried one of us would be kidnapped like you currently are. The key to getting out of them are......."

While Kronos was deep in thought, Rhea started talking as well.

"Don't mind him, he can be a bit out of control sometimes. " she gave a slight glare at Kronos. "I would like to thank you for making my husband see the right way."

"Uh, no problem." I said.

She gave a small laugh.

"Aha! I remember now. All you have to do to get out of the chains is to say the words "Čhäø§ řųłę§" Kronos said happily, but whatever he said sounded like gibberish to me.

"Say what?" I said, confused.

Rhea rolled her eyes at Kronos. "Honey! People now don't speak ancient Greek!" She whispered-yelled in his ear.Kronos sighed in embarrassment and held his forehead. "Sorry, its "Chaos Rules!"

"Seriously?" I askd, dumbfounded that its literally that simple to get out of the hardest chains known to man.

"Yeah, Grandmother was always quite literal when we were young." Kronos implied.

"So, how do I leave?" I asked.

"We will send you back after we give you our gift." Rhea answered.

"Please tell me it isn't power." I fake-pleaded.

Kronos and Rhea looked at each other oddly, and all I heard was....

"How did he know?"

"I told you we should have gotten him the hat."

"Fine, fine."

The couple noticed me staring at them like they came from space, so they explained.

"I give you control over Time." Kronos said.

"Seriously? How does that work?" I asked.

"Well, think of it as a blessing from a god, but since we Titans are older, our blessings are more potent and easier to master. Controlling time can be very beneficial. You cannot make time go forwards nor backwards, but you can freeze time in a lock until you run out of energy."

"Sounds pretty neat, so-" I started but Rhea brought out a watch and handed it to me.

"Wear it." She ordered.

"Its not gonna blow up is it?" I said cautiously.  Rhea rolled her eyes and I swear I saw Kronos chuckle.

"No, it will not blow up, just wear it." She told me.

The watch was ocean blue and black and had the current time on it, but since this is a dream, the time was 0:00. It was a modern watch, not like on old style one. This was made out of what looked like aluminum or metal, but knowing magic, it was probably unbreakable. 

I slapped the watch on and it was now binded to my wrist. I could still take it off, but I bet its like Riptide, if I were to lose it, it would return. My guess was that the watch always showed the correct time, and would adjust itself if I was in a different timezone, since it had nothing to change the time shown on the screen.

I noticed a small red button on the side and looked at Rhea. "Are you sure it's not gonna blow up?"

"Of course, now push it." Rhea said.

I pushed the button, and just like Riptide, the watch transformed in a second from a watch to a....scythe. The scythe was honestly as tall as me. The handle was pure black, and had a good grip. At the end was a pure white blade that was about 2 feet long and was about an inch thick at the end, but got thinner and sharper at the end. It looked so sharp, like the Grim Reaper's scythe. The handle had several words and intricate designs embedded on it.

"That is a replica of my sacred weapon. While it is basic in design, the handle is made out of pure, 100% ancient Stygian Iron, and the blade is....well I honestly don't know since I copied whatever metal I had used from the original weapon I scattered Ouranos with.." Kronos said, and I heard a hint of guilt at the end.

"It's name is Harvester, or as a "nickname" as you call it, it can also be known as "Razer." Rhea informed me. (No, not Razor as in blade, Razer as in burning to the ground.)

"Uh, Thanks." I said.

"No need, you gave us eternal happiness, and for that, we should be the ones who are thanking." Rhea smiled.

"So what happens to you? Will you both be gone forever?" I said with a hint of sadness. I mean, Kronos finally turned good, but now he is no longer on Gaea.

Kronos smiled, and for once, it wasn't a 'I want to watch you burn' smile, it was a smile a father (or grandfather) would make. "The great thing about paradise, is that we can do anything, even return to the world of the living. You see, those who were long forgotten and faded reside here, where they live in eternal joy. We get to rebuild our strength we have lost long ago. The reason why you rarely ever see someone who has faded return is because we all don't have a place back there. If I returned, I would immediately be hunted down by my own children. Like me, many other faded beings don't want to return to a harsh world they don't belong in, when they could stay here and be happy. I will consider returning, but me and Rhea both want to make up for so many lost eons." He finished as he and Rhea kissed.

I felt really awkward watching my grandparents make out, and I guess they noticed and quickly stopped.

"Err, I apologize about that, but it seems it is time for you to return. I wish you luck, Grandson." Kronos and Rhea smiled as I felt myself waking up.

Before I left, I chuckled and said "-reminds me of Zeus and Hera." and I saw Kronos and Rhea blush deeply.

Well, back to the torture chamber.

Real World

In a white flash, I opened my eyes to see the dark cavern I have been trapped in. I was still chained to the wall, and nothing changed. I felt a lot weaker and fatigued, as I knew now that the chains definitely sapped your strength away.

My watch somehow was on my wrist,  despite it not being there before. Remember people, magic.

It was morning, as some light illuminated the cavern. I needed to do this quickly, or else Pontus or Khione might come back.

"Chaos Rules." I said aloud.

The chain suddenly snapped open, the cuffs free from my hands, and I could walk free. I quickly got up and was a bit disoriented, as I felt myself regaining strength from the power-sapping chains.

I flashed to Olympus as fast as I could. At least I tried. For some reason, I couldn't flash or warp. I started to panic until I realized this is Pontus's territory, I would need to get out of here to teleport, like the Garden of Hesperides.

I mentally facepalmed and looked for an exit. The cavern itself was underwater, very far down. And there was a pool that led out of the cavern, but I am betting if I stepped in, Pontus would sense me leaving and immediately get me.

My mind struggled to find a plausible plan to escape. Maybe I could-no. I think I could-no.

"What do you think you are doing!?" A voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I turned around to see Khione once again. Dear fates.

"Get back in the chains, or I will make you." Her fists clenched and radiated ice and snow, and her eyes turned blue, not fiery like mine, but were a darker and was frozen.

"Nope, not again." I said as I quickly threw some flames at Khione, but I was surprised to see Khione still standing naturally,.

"Surprised? Pontus gave me some control over water. And water does beat fire, you know?" She said as she moved her hands in a forward motion, sending a barrage of ice at me.

"Pontus also increased my other powers." She added.

I quickly dodged it and opened my palm and shot Aquatic fire from my hand at Khione, whose eyes widened before she summoned a stream of ice and water from both hands at the flames.

The ice and water quickly evaporated and the flames overpowered her.

"Impossible! Pontus told me-" she said as she was faded into godly dust.

I sighed in relief. At least I don't need to worry about THAT anytime soon. Although, that was relatively easy for a fight. Too easy.

What did Pontus tell her?

Whatever, I don't have time to think, I need to escape. I can still use my powers to fight, but I can't flash or swim out of the cavern without Pontus seeing me. I need to warn the gods that Pontus is rising.

Now that Pontus is rising, who knows how many others are rising as well.

"I see you have fallen right into my trap." Pontus appeared out of nothing and just appeared infront of me, making me stumble backwards slowly.

"What are you playing at Pontus?" I demanded. He must have done something, but what?

He gave a hoarse chuckle, like sandpaper against a rock. "Khione was merely a pawn in my plan. She agreed to become my "partner" if she got to spend quality time with you. She has a certain thing for Poseiden, and it made her easy to manipulate. I merely gave her a miniscule portion of control over water, she was about as strong with water as a demigod. She was too ignorant to see that and she gave me a rather large portion of her control over snow and ice. Now I not only control water, I control ice and snow as well, and I will easily reclaim my land from that sea scum." He finished.

This was bad. He was even more powerful than I thought. I must warn the gods, but how?

"Sorry, but I gotta go!" I said as I shoved him out of my way, running deeper into the cavern. Pontus, not expecting me to make such a rash move, was slightly surprised and fell on his rump. He got up just as fast unfortunately,  and was mad.

"You dare attack me? I sh-" I tuned his voice out because the more he talks, the more he isn't murdering me.

I ran deep into the cavern where the light got dimmer, but I didn't get very far until Pontus appeared in a puddle in my way.

"I believe we have some unfinished business. " he said and grinned.

I was about to retort, but I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I cried in pain as I felt something lodge straight through my shouder.

I saw an icicle. Not like those tiny ones you see on a car, but it was the size of a spear at the tip. The icicle stood inside my shoulder, sticking out on the other end.

I felt my arm go numb and grunted in utter pain. I saw Pontus smiling like a madman, and before I could pull myself off of the icicle, I felt the pain of a thousand suns.

I looked down and saw that I was impaled my icicles everywhere. My shoulders, hands, leg, thighs, side, chest, and my stomach. I didn't even make a sound as I was pretty sure my lungs were cut and my mouth flooded with blood. The icicles stained red, with blood dripping down from them, but not melting at all.

I made a faint noise and saw Pontus in triumph.  He looked as if he won a million dollars, while I was feeling the worst pain I possibly could have.

I felt my skin pale and bleed, I quickly summoned Aquatic fire around my body. Like water, I control Aqautic fire and it heals me from injuries.  The fire melted the ice and began to heal me, but I needed healing magic to heal the type of wounds I had. I would self-heal myself, but Pontus stood infront of me, ready to pounce.

He waved his hand and a burst of water exploded from his hand and shot at me. I don't know what you think of when I say burst, but imagine a water pipe exploding, but multiply it by 50.

It looked like a tsunami coming towards me, and it started to flood the cavern which I bet Pontus wouldn't need since he planned to overtake Atlantis.

I hurriedly shot my own burst of Aquatic Fire, but it was probably 5 times smaller than Pontus's. I only hoped that it would work, and when the two elements collided,  it just exploded, like two trains running head on into each other. The Aquatic fire burned the water, but so much water was overpowering it.

I felt the water begin to rise, so I had to "swim" up. Soon, the water reached the top and Pontus was nowhere to be seen. I still couldn't flash out and if I swam out of the cavern, it would make me easy picking for Pontus.

The Aquatic fire was almost fighting the water, and it made popping noises, like firecrackers. It got bigger and soon it was as big as a nuclear reactor.  I saw the fire close in on itself, almost like a bomb, and formed an orb shaped ball of blue fire that instantly burned the water around it.

I can't control this type of water, as it is under Pontus's control. I panicked as there was nowhere else to go, I was sure I would survive, but I do not know where I would end up.

I was brought out of my thinking as the whole cavern exploded. I didn't even see what happened or how it happened, only that the roof of the cavern popped open like a bottle cap and I was shot miles into the water, almost like I was shot by a cannon.

I held onto my lunch, which I didn't have, and closed my eyes until it was over. All I remember was me being shot above the water in a tornado of water that dispersed me while I was probably thousands of feet in the air.

I can see the clouds

And I fell down.

Author's Note: "I've fallen, and I can't get up!"