riley doesn't want percy to die

"hey, kid," ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see us. "you were supposed to die."

"you tricked me," percy said. "you stole the helm and the master bolt."

ares grinned. "well, now, i didn't steal them personally. gods taking each other's symbols of power — that's a big no-no. but you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

"who did you use? clarisse? she was there at the winter solstice."

the idea seemed to amuse him, and i immediately realized it wasn't her. even she wouldn't do something like this. 

"doesn't matter. the point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. see, you've got to die in the underworld. then old seaweed will be mad at hades for killing you. corpse breath will have zeus's master bolt, so zeus'll be mad at him. and hades is still looking for this..."

from his pocket he took out a ski cap — the kind bank robbers wear — and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet.

"the helm of darkness," grover gasped.

"exactly," ares said. "now where was i? oh yeah, hades will be mad at both zeus and poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."

"but they're your family!" annabeth protested.

ares shrugged. "best kind of war. always the bloodiest. nothing like watching your relatives fight, i always say."

"you gave me the backpack in denver," percy said. "the master bolt was in there the whole time."

"yes and no," ares said. "it's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. the bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. it always returns to your pocket, right?"

i looked at percy. i hadn't thought about that, but he was right. it did always return to his pocket. a lot of weapons were enchanted like that. mine were.

"anyway," ares continued, "i tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the underworld. you get close to hades... bingo, you got mail. if you died along the way — no loss. i still had the weapon."

"but why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" i said. ares is the god of war. he would love a weapon as powerful as that. "why send it to hades?"

ares got a twitch in his jaw. for a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "why didn't i... yeah... with that kind of firepower..."

he held the trance for one second... two seconds... i exchanged nervous looks with percy and  annabeth.

ares's face cleared. "i didn't want the trouble. better to have you caught red handed, holding the thing."

"you're lying," percy said. "sending the bolt to the underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"of course it was!" smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

"you didn't order the theft," percy guessed. "someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. then, when zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. but you didn't turn him over to zeus. something convinced you to let him go. you kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. that thing in the pit is ordering you around."

"i am the god of war! i take orders from no one! i don't have dreams!"

i looked at him sideways. 

"who said anything about dreams?" percy asked.

ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk.

"let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. you're alive. i can't have you taking that bolt to olympus. you just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. so i've got to kill you. nothing personal."

he snapped his fingers. the sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin five at camp half-blood. the beast pawed the sand, glaring at percy with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill.

percy stepped into the surf. "fight me yourself, ares."

he laughed, but i heard a little edge to his laughter... an uneasiness. "you've only got one talent, kid, running away. you ran from the chimera. you ran from the underworld. you don't have what it takes."

"scared?"

"in your adolescent dreams." but his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. "no direct involvement. sorry, kid. you're not at my level."

"percy, run!" annabeth ordered.

the boar charged.

he didn't run.

as the boar rushed him, he uncapped his pen and sidestepped. riptide appeared in his hands. he slashed upward. the boar's severed right tusk fell at his feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea.

he shouted, "wave!"

immediately, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around it like a blanket. the beast squealed once in terror. then it was gone, swallowed by the sea.

he turned back to ares. "are you going to fight me now?" he asked. "or are you going to hide behind another pet?"

ares's face was purple with rage. "watch it, kid. i could turn you into—"

"a cockroach," he said. "or a tapeworm. yeah, i'm sure. that'd save you from getting your godly ass whipped, wouldn't it?"

flames danced along the top of his glasses. "oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

"if i lose, turn me into anything you want. take the bolt. if i win, the helm and the bolt are mine and you have to go away."

ares sneered.

he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "how would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

he showed him his sword.

"that's cool, dead boy," he said. "classic it is." 

the baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. the hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth.

i looked at percy, "i hope you know what your doing, seaweed brain."

he nodded. "i know what i'm doing, tinker bell." he said. "i think," he added as an afterthought.

i unclasped my twine bracelet and put it around his wrist. "take this. for good luck. don't die"

"thanks, i'll try my best not to." he smiled.

"percy," annabeth said. "don't do this. he's a god."

"he's a coward," he told her.

she swallowed. she took off her necklace, with her five years' worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around his neck. "for good luck" she said. 

"thanks." he said.

"and take this," grover said. he handed him a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for a thousand miles. "the satyrs stand behind you."

"grover... i don't know what to say."

he patted him on the shoulder. percy stuffed the tin can in his back pocket.

"you all done saying good-bye?" ares came toward him, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. "i've been fighting for eternity, kid. my strength is unlimited and i cannot die. what have you got?"

percy said nothing. he backed up until his ankles were in the surf.

ares went for his head. he wasn't there. the water pushed percy up in the air, and he catapulted over him, slashing as he came down. but, ares turned, and caught the strike on the hilt of his sword.

he grinned, "not bad, not bad,"

he slashed again, and percy came onto dry land. he tried to get back in the water, but ares recognized that. he kept percy out. ares kept backing percy up.

percy thrust his sword, but ares was waiting for that. he disarmed percy and sent him flying into a sand dune.

"police," annabeth whispered. she turned to me, "riley, you have to turn invisible. they're going to go crazy if they find out riley stark's hanging out with percy jackson."

i didn't want to, but she was right. there were police cars starting to show up. "okay," i flicked a pea-sized ball of light towards myself, effectively becoming invisible.

"percy!" annabeth yelled. "cops!"

the cops began coming out their cars, lights flashing, doors slamming.

"there, officer!" somebody yelled. 

"see?" a gruff cop voice: "looks like that kid on tv... what the heck..."

"that guy's armed," another cop said. "call for backup."

percy rolled to one side as ares's blade slashed the sand.

he ran for his sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at ares's face, only to find his blade deflected again.

ares seemed to know exactly what he was going to do the moment before he did it.

he stepped back toward the surf, forcing ares to follow.

"admit it, kid," ares said. "you got no hope. i'm just toying with you."

spectators, people who had been wandering the streets because of the earthquake, were starting to gather. among the crowd, i saw a few who were walking with the strange, trotting gait of disguised satyrs. there were shimmering forms of spirits, too, as if the dead had risen from hades to watch the battle. i heard the flap of leathery wings circling somewhere above. i didn't dare look away from percy.

more sirens sounded.

percy stepped farther into the water, but ares was fast. the tip of his blade ripped his sleeve and grazed his forearm. 

a police voice on a megaphone said, "drop the guns.' set them on the ground. now!"

the mist was making the shape of ares' weapon flicker. sometime a shotgun, sometimes a sword. the same thing happened with percy's. sometimes, riptide, sometimes a rifle.

ares turned to glare at our spectators. there were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on us.

"this is a private matter!" ares bellowed. "be gone.'"

he swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the patrol cars. the police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. the crowd behind them scattered, screaming.

ares roared with laughter. "now, little hero. let's add you to the barbecue."

he slashed. percy deflected his blade. he got close enough to strike, tried to fake him out with a feint, but his blow was knocked aside. the waves were hitting him in the back now. ares was up to his thighs, wading in after him.

percy lowered blade, as if he were too tired. then he released a tide and jumped rocketing straight over ares, on a wave.

a six-foot wall of water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of seaweed. percy landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head, as he'd done before. he turned in time to raise his sword, but this time he was disoriented, he didn't anticipate the trick. percy changed direction, lunged to the side, and stabbed riptide straight down into the water, sending the point through what i think was the god's heel.

the roar that followed made hades's earthquake look like a minor event. the very sea was blasted back from ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.

ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. the expression on his face was beyond hatred. it was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded.

he limped toward percy, muttering ancient greek curses about pigs and donkeys.

something stopped him.

it was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse. light faded. sound and color drained away. a cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless.

the darkness lifted.

ares looked stunned.

police cars were burning behind us. the crowd of spectators had fled. annabeth, grover, and i stood on the beach, in shock, watching the water flood back around ares's feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide.

ares lowered his sword.

"you have made an enemy, godling," he told percy. "you have sealed your fate. every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. beware, perseus jackson. beware."

his body began to glow.

''percy!" i shouted in my invisible form. "don't watch!"

i turned my head, like the rest of them as ares revealed his true godly form.

i looked back. ares was gone. the tide rolled out to reveal hades's bronze helm of darkness.

percy picked it up and walked toward us.

but before he got there, three evil-looking grandmothers with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of him.

the middle fury, the one who annabeth and i held in a wrestlers hold, stepped forward. her fangs were bared, but for once she didn't look threatening. she looked more disappointed, as if she'd been planning to have percy for supper, but had decided he might give her indigestion.

"we saw the whole thing," she hissed. "so... it truly was not you?"

he tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise.

"return that to lord hades," he said. "tell him the truth. tell him to call off the war."

she hesitated, then ran a forked tongue over her green, leathery lips. "live well, percy jackson. become a true hero. because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again..." she cackled, and flew away with her sisters.

percy joined grover and annabeth, (and invisible me), who were staring at him in amazement. 

"percy..." grover said. "that was so incredibly..."

"terrifying," said annabeth.

"amazing!" i corrected.

somehow percy didn't even look fazed, that i was invisibly standing next to them.

"did you guys feel that... whatever it was?" percy asked.

we all nodded uneasily.

"yea." i said when i realized i was invisible.

"must've been the furies overhead," grover said.

but i knew it was something else. something had stopped ares from killing him, and whatever could do that was a lot stronger than the furies. 

percy looked at invisible me, and an understanding passed between us, even though he couldn't see me. 

percy knew now what was in that pit, what had spoken from the entrance of tartarus.

"we have to get back to new york," percy said. "by tonight."

"that's impossible," annabeth said, "unless we—"

"fly," percy agreed.

she stared at him. "fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest zeus strike you out of the sky, and carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"

"yeah," he said. "pretty much exactly like that. come on."

mortals are very simple-minded.

which is why it was very easy to make a country full of them, change their perspective on a story they've been hearing, and believing for the past ten days.

according to the l.a. news, the explosion at the santa monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. he accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.

this crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. ares) was the same man who had abducted percy and two other adolescents in new york and brought them across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror. there was no fourth member. they decided, in the pictures, there was a passerby. not someone who'd been abducted.

poor little percy jackson wasn't an international criminal after all. he'd caused a commotion on that greyhound bus in new jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus — "why didn't i remember him before?"). the crazy man had caused the explosion in the st. louis arch. after all, no kid could've done that. a concerned waitress in denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. finally, brave percy jackson (who was beginning to get an ego) had stolen a gun from his captor in los angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. police had arrived just in time. but in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. no fatalities had occurred. percy jackson and his two friends were safely in police custody.

the reporters fed us this whole story. they just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras. 

i held onto percy or annabeth the entire time, so they knew where i was.

"all i want," percy said, choking back his tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. every time i saw him on tv, calling me a delinquent punk, i knew... somehow... we would be okay. and i know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of los angeles with a free major appliance from his store. here's the phone number."

"bullshit," i scoffed, quietly. percy elbowed invisible me and wiped a fake tear.

the police were so moved they were starting to pass the hat around for three tickets to new york, when a voice stopped them.

"there's no need for that," it said, coming forward, and addressing the press.

everyone stopped what they were doing and gaped at him in amazement. the press were silent do to shock.

i mean, it's not everyday tony stark willingly addresses the media.

he looked at us, then turned back to the media. they seemed to have come out of their shock. 

"how will they get home, mr. stark?"

"did you know of this kidnapping?"

"will you help these lost children?"

the press asked him a multitude of questions all at once. he held a hand up and they all silenced. he took off his glasses and began speaking.

"percy jackson is a brave young man, a hero, you could say. challenging a guy much older than you, with a better gun, to help your friends get to safety. that takes guts.  i recognize this young man's bravery and i will personally send him and his friends on my private jet to new york," he stated.

the press focused on him, asking him what he thought, and what not. 

happy came around and ushered percy, grover, annabeth, and invisible me into the car. (he didn't know i was there). it took a lot of willpower not to break down while my dad was addressing the press, and give him a big hug. it also took a lot of willpower not to tackle happy in a hug. (which would be weird because he doesn't know i can turn invisible, or that i'm here)

happy loaded annabeth, percy, and grover into the back of my dad's mercedes and waited outside for my dad to show up.

"are you coming in?" annabeth asked discreetly.

"nope. that car gets way too squishy when there's four people in the back," i told her. "besides, he's probably going to send happy to another car or something."

annabeth nodded.

a few minutes later my dad showed up, "keys, hogan." he called to happy.

happy threw him the keys.

"i need you to go down to the labs, and check up on some of the shipments." he told happy.

happy looked reluctant to leave him, but he agreed.

i was about to sit in the passenger seat, when i remembered i was invisible. i can't just open a door. there were too many cameras around.

groaning, i went to the driver side. and knocked on the window. my dad pulled it down.

"get out." i ordered.

"what?" he asked.

"i can't open the passenger door while i'm invisible. i have to crawl over your seat."

"ugh," he groaned dramatically, but got out of the car. 

i crawled over the driver seat, and sat in the passenger seat.

"you in?" he asked, because he couldn't see me.

"yup,"

he got in the car, and i made myself visible.

my dad began driving. having nothing better to do, i took out my laptop from the glove compartment, and began going through my university options.

before camp started, i was so sure i wanted to begin university. but, after my talk with percy, i realized, maybe i shouldn't. who gives a crap about what the press says? or what obadiah says? i could take a gap year or two, and just live a normal life. or as normal as it gets when you're a crazy billionaire's kid.

"so, which one of you is poseidon's kid?" my dad asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

they all seemed to stunned to speak, so i answered for them. without taking my eyes off my laptop i said, "the guy. black hair, green eyes."

my dad nodded. "so the one in the middle is the goat-dude?"

"that's me," grover said nervously, trying not to chew the seats of the car.

"and you already met annabeth," i said, referring to the time i invited her to my birthday.

"annabeth...? oh right. athena's kid." he said in realization.

"hi mr. stark." annabeth said.

"oh please, call me tony. mr. stark was my father." he said.

i looked up at him, "seriously? that was the most unoriginal line i've ever heard." 

"hey!" my dad protested. "i'm funny."

i scoffed, "yeah. funny-looking."

"excuse me. say i'm hilarious, or your grounded," he ordered.

"what?!"

"two weeks. no J.A.R.V.I.S." he said.

my jaw dropped. "you're hilarious., i muttered.

"nuh-uh." he said shaking his head. "say it like you mean it."

i sighed. i turned to him and said, "you're hilarious."

"thank you,"

i rolled my eyes, but i had a smile on my face. i opened up the m.i.t. application form. my fingers froze. my dad noticed and gave a quick side-eye.

"change your mind?" he asked.

"i'm not sure." i responded honestly.

"you still got two weeks to hand it in once camp ends. how about you sleep on it till then." he offered.

i nodded. "sounds good." 

i closed my laptop and put it away. 

we reached the airport shortly after.

we got out of the car and there it was, his private jet, ready for take-off. 

we went inside, and took our seats.  i was sitting in front of my dad. i had a feeling he needed to talk to me. 

i was right.

the plane took off, and he began. i internally groaned. now i had nowhere to escape.

"i thought i told you not to become a national criminal." he said, with some humor in his voice.

"technically, i didn't become one. the fourth member was just a passerby." i explained.

"mhmm," he said sarcastically.

"i'm proud of you kid. you did good." he said after a few moments of silence.

"thanks, dad." i said with a smile on my face.

i looked over at percy. his hands were clenched on the armrests. he was like all the way until we reached la guardia. my dad went his separate way from there.

the local press was waiting outside but invisible annabeth, and i moved them away by saying, "they're over by the fro-yo."

we made out way back to percy and grover with fro-yo.

percy looked at me funny.

"what?" i said taking a bite. "i wanted fro-yo. you want?" i asked, holding out my cup.

he shook his head, but he had a small smile on his face.

we split up at the taxi stand. percy told us to go our separate ways. obviously, we protested. but, he wouldn't let us come.

the last i saw of him was him standing at the taxi stand, with his tattered clothing, and messy hair, waving us goodbye.

REY WRITES !

yes, i added tony in this, but...
to be fair, who doesn't love tony !

questions?

thoughts?

comments?

headcanons?

theories?