Chapter Text
“For the last time Hyperion, my nose is not crooked!”
“Then why do they call you the crooked one?”
“Because I’m cunning and deceitful,” Kronos replied.
“Oh, so they’re calling you a liar,” Hyperion stated.
“No! They’re calling me clever” he snarled.
“But you do lie a lot,” Krios pointed out.
Kronos growled.
The three Titans were in a cavernous room, the walls and floor made of black marble. The room was lit by greek fire braziers that glowed an eerie green.
Kronos’s shrouded form sat atop a massive black throne, with intricate carvings inlaid in gold and diamonds encrusted throughout. It was terrifying - if slightly gaudy.
Percy shivered as a cold breeze came from seemingly nowhere, wishing he had chosen to sleep in something warmer than an old camp shirt and plaid pyjama pants.
“For the last time Krios, it’s not lying, it’s deception,” Kronos exclaimed.
“Is that not the same thing?” Krios questioned.
“No, Krios, it’s incredibly different” Kronos huffed.
“I still think it’s because your nose is crooked,” Hyperion stated.
“My nose is not crooked! Poseidon has the same nose as me, and does anyone call Poseidon the crooked one? No! It’s all “storm-bringer” this “earth-shaker” that. And you know why? Because his nose isn’t crooked and neither is mine!” Kronos shouted.
Percy clutched his side, desperately trying to stifle the giggles at Kronos throwing a hissy fit about Percy’s dad.
Although, he did have to agree with Kronos. Percy’s nose wasn’t crooked, and he got his nose from his dad. That is, assuming Kronos wasn’t lying about Poseidon having his nose.
Percy was actually hoping Kronos was lying since the idea of somehow resembling Kronos made him feel a bit queasy.
“I think Poseidon’s nose might be a bit crooked” Hyperion stated.
Percy was a bit offended.
“It is not! My nose is very straight” Kronos cried.
“You don’t have a body Kronos” Krios corrected.
“Well, not right now. But my nose was straight and it’s still straight it’s just cut into very straight pieces” he grumbled.
“Too bad there’s no way to prove it” Hyperion taunted.
“Just look at Poseidon! He’s my spitting image!” Kronos said.
Percy felt his blood run cold. Percy had often been told he was his dad’s spitting image. And if Poseidon was Kronos’ spitting image…
“Yes, but how are we supposed to get a look at Poseidon… I’m not going swimming” Hyperion pouted.
They weren’t denying Poseidon’s appearance Percy realized, dread pooling in his gut.
“We could ask Oceanu-”
“Poseidon looks like Kronos?” Percy spit out, unable to stop himself.
The three titans turned and looked directly at him, and Percy found himself wishing he could sneak back into the shadows.
“Perses! When did you get here?” Krios questioned.
Percy didn’t bother correcting his name, too focused on his spiralling thoughts.
“Look at his nose! It’s straight, not crooked!” Kronos cried.
“But your nose is crooked!” Hyperion insisted.
“Our noses are identical! And straight! Look!” Kronos shouted, a shrouded arm pointing at Percy’s face.
“What do you mean identical!” Percy shouted back, his heart beating rapidly.
“Yes, I suppose that is your nose Kronos” Krios said, studying Percy intently.
“What- it’s my nose!” Percy protested, feeling his face aflame at the titans' scrutinizing gaze.
“Hmmm, he has your cheekbones as well… and eyebrows” Krios hummed.
“No, I don’t” Percy stammered. “You guys aren’t making any sense!” he exclaimed.
“You resemble me very closely, Perseus,” Kronos said. “In fact- apart from Rhea’s eyes, you’re an exact copy of a younger me.”
“No,” he protested, feeling a bit like a stubborn child.
“Hmmm… I suppose I may have been taller at your age.” Kronos continued.
“Nah Kronos, you were short,” Krios said.
“Like really short,” Hyperion added.
“You didn’t get a growth spurt for the longest time - I thought you were gonna stay half as tall as us” Krios continued.
“You were such a tiny baby titan,” Hyperion laughed.
“I don’t look like you!” Percy shouted at Kronos, interrupting the titan’s bickering.
“Yes, you do,” Kronos replied simply.
“The resemblance is rather uncanny,” Krios added.
“Yeah, I’m surprised I didn’t see it sooner,” Hyperion added.
Percy paled. His mind felt like a hurricane, his apparent resemblance to Kronos at the center.
Hyperion said something about gold eyes, but Percy didn’t catch it. He could feel his blood pumping through his veins, his head was spinning, his lungs burned, his heart felt as though it was going to burst from his chest-
Vaguely Percy noted he was hyperventilating, but he couldn’t focus on anything but he looks like Kronos he looks like Kronos he looks like Kronos he’s a monster-
His back hit something hard and cold, he dimly realized it was the marble wall. He hadn’t even realized he’d been moving backwards, but not it was all he could think about doing he needed to get out get out get out leave leave danger get out
Barely in control of his limbs, Percy ran down the corridor. He didn’t know where he was going, ducking around corners blindly and trying his best to avoid running into anything while his head was still repeating the same thing over and over.
Eventually, he collapsed, his limbs burning in agony. He was lost, he was trapped, he needed to get out…
Percy gasped for breath, his lungs burning as he greedily inhaled oxygen, the air sharp and painfully cold.
His hand was clutching desperately to the fabric of his shirt, trying to find something to ground him but it wasn’t working and he couldn’t focus on anything but Kronos Kronos Kronos.
Percy looked up, trying to find something to focus on - vaguely remembering a grounded exercise he used to do with his mom.
Five things you can see his mom’s voice said but looking around all he could see was black and suddenly the walls and floors were closing in on him.
Percy found himself hyperventilating again as the walls seemed to press closer and he was suffocating, gasping for air as the black pressed against all his sides and he couldn’t breathe he couldn’t breathe he couldn’t-
Suddenly the scene shifted and he was on a beach and thank the gods he could breathe. He inhaled the salty air greedily, digging his hands into the sand.
But he couldn’t rest long as a huge bronze oar was flung at him. Percy reacted on instinct, rolling out of the way and grabbing for Riptide.
Unfortunately, Percy’s hand only brushed against the fabric of his pyjama pants - which did not have pockets.
Well, sh*t.
Percy sprung to his feet, looking around frantically for something he could use as a weapon.
His eyes instead fell on his attacker, a massive man with a serpentine tail and a huge white beard.
“You are not Poseidon,” the man pondered.
“No. I’m not,” Percy agreed.
“I apologize then, for attacking you,” he said.
Percy nodded very slowly.
“You were trying to attack Poseidon?” Percy asked cautiously.
“Well yes, I’ve just declared war against him,” he replied.
Okay… this was fine . Just a guy with a scary bronze oar that was at war with Percy’s dad. Yup. That was cool. All great.
“Uh, cool,” Percy replied.
“You resemble Poseidon very closely… but you are much too young,” he said, eyes looking him up and down.
“Oh. I didn’t uh- realize. That’s weird. Never heard that one before” Percy said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
The man was silent, continuing to look at him intently.
Was it too cowardly to run and hide? Maybe. Percy still wanted to though.
“Perseus! Why did you leave? Oh Oceanus, what are you doing with Perseus?” Hyperion said, running up to stand beside Percy.
Oceanus’s eyebrows drew together.
“Perseus as in…” he trailed off, recognition appearing on his face.
“No wonder he looks like Poseidon!” he exclaimed.
Percy was definitely rethinking the run-and-hide plan.
His thoughts of running away were stopped by Hyperion placing a burning hand on his shoulder.
“Yup! Looks like Kronos, just like his dad- ‘cept for the eyes of course” Hyperion said.
And there was the other realization he was trying to avoid.
“Oh, he does look like our baby brother! Is Kronos recruiting him then, he must have a soft spot, he always had one for Poseidon” Oceanus said.
Percy snorted. Kronos? Soft spot? For Percy? Yeah right.
Hyperion beamed, and Percy looked away from the blinding smile.
“Almost as much of one as Krios has, Krios adopted him”
As if on cue, Krios appeared.
“Perses! You scared us, why’d you run away?” he said, pulling Percy into his side.
“Percy. Not Perses. Per-cy,” he grumbled.
“Aw, did they scare you off? I told you to be nicer in the recruitment process Hyperion” Oceanus chastised.
“Recruitment?” Percy spluttered. “They’re not recruiting me”
“You’re not?” Oceanus asked
“We’re not?” Krios asked at the same time.
“No! You’re not!” Percy protested.
“Why not?” Krios and Oceanus said in sync.
“Because you keep trying to kill me and my friends!” he replied.
“Krios!” Oceanus yelled.
“I’m not trying to kill him! That’s just Kronos!” Krios said, holding up his hands in defence.
Oceanus’ frown deepened.
“I need a word with Kronos. Why are we trying to kill him? He’s cute”
“I am not cute!” Percy replied, baring his teeth.
“Aww, he’s like a baby shark. Look at those tiny pointy teeth!” Oceanus said, clapping his hands.
“Yes yes he’s very cute we get it. Kronos sent us to get him back, not chit-chat” Hyperion said, shooting Krios a pointed glare.
“I’m coming as well. I need to have a word with our little brother” Oceanus stated.
And before Percy could protest further that he did not want to see Kronos again, they were back in the throne room on Mount Othrys.
“What took you so long, oh, Oceanus, hello brother!” Kronos said.
“What’s this about you trying to kill my grand-nephew?” Oceanus questioned, levelling Kronos with an older brother-death-glare.
If Kronos had a body, Percy swore Kronos would be sweating like crazy right now.
“Uh… well… prophecy… it wasn’t really me, it was more that Castellan boy… I mean I don’t even have a body, how could I kill him?” Kronos stammered.
Percy fake coughed. “Luke was acting under your orders,” he said, faking another cough afterwards.
Oceanus’s expression turned darker.
“And he sends me nightmares,” he said between coughs again.
And now Oceanus was looking murderous.
“Would you like an undersea palace as compensation?” Oceanus asked, turning to him.
Percy smirked. “Well, I wouldn’t say no…”
“That’s what it is!” Hyperion cried, pointing at Percy. Percy frowned and looked at the titan.
“What” he deadpanned.
“No, no, do it again” he insisted.
“Throw Kronos under the bus?” he asked, smirking again.
“Look Krios, his smile! It’s crooked!” Hyperion exclaimed.
Krios was strangely excited about this as well.
“Yes! It’s so lopsided” Krios agreed, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Excuse me?” Percy frowned.
He was trying to decide how offended he was when Hyperion spoke again.
“Your smile is crooked. That’s why they call him the crooked one!”
“I told you it wasn’t because of my nose!” Kronos insisted.
“Woah. No. I do not have your smile. I just don’t. And I don’t look like you” He growled. He was getting really fed up with all the comparisons to the evil Titan king.
“No, he doesn’t look like Kronos,” Oceanus agreed.
“Brother, are you blind?” Krios asked.
“Shush Krios. He’s a much cuter version of Kronos, look at him!” Oceanus moved over to squish Percy’s cheeks.
Percy swatted at him viciously.
“Careful Oceanus, he bites,” Hyperion remarked.
“Like a little sea serpent!” Oceanus remarked as Percy sunk his teeth into his hand.
Oceanus let out a sharp hiss, but did not let go.
“Ow. Do you sharpen your teeth, child?” he asked.
Percy bit down harder in response.
Grudgingly, Oceanus let Percy go. Percy noted with satisfaction that there was gold dripping out of the punctures he’d left.
“Hmm… I guess the teeth are also different” Kronos commented as Percy wiped his mouth with his arm, leaving streaks of gold.
“Maybe you should sharpen your teeth- or uh, I suppose you don’t have a body. But when you get one!” Hyperion suggested.
“Will you stop it!” Percy yelled.
“Stop what?” Hyperion asked.
“Comparing me to him!” he said, gesturing towards Kronos’ figure.
“Does it distress you, little hero?” Kronos asked.
“Yes,” Percy hissed.
The worst part about it all wasn’t Kronos’ question - it was the way he asked it. There wasn’t any sort of malice, he was just curious. Percy wanted to punch him.
“Fascinating,” Kronos said. Percy felt his nails digging into his palms.
Kronos co*cked his head. “You are upset”
“What gave it away?” He growled.
He could feel the air growing tense around him, a tugging in his gut. He was so angry. Angry at his stupid resemblance to Kronos, angry at his dream for bringing him here, angry that instead of attacking him like he was usedto the Titans were treating him like a particularly amusing pet cat.
Red was creeping into his vision - he wished he had Riptide or some source of water so he could just fight the Titans and get out of this dream.
He couldn’t take four titans at once - even if Kronos didn’t have a body but he didn’t care. He just wanted them to fight because that’s what Percy did. He fought because it was fight or die and none of this stupid dream made sense.
Suddenly there was a pressure on him and oh- he was on the floor, how did that happen?
Oceanus was looming over him, as was Krios. And now he was being manhandled into a sitting position, despite his thrashing because he didn’t want to be touched! Except that felt like water and Oh that was nice actually.
He leaned into the touch on his forehead, realizing it was a hand now. But it felt like water- no, it felt like the sea and the sea was good.
“Since when do demigods use powers in their dreams?” Krios questioned.
“Since when can he create hurricanes?” Hyperion shot back.
Percy tuned them out. They weren’t making sense anyway- Percy didn’t use his powers, let alone do anything with his hurricanes, and he didn’t particularly care either, considering the arms surrounding him felt like waves gently pushing against the shore and it was really nice.
Eventually, Percy forced himself to pay attention to the conversation. He would’ve thought he’d drifted off if it weren’t for the fact he was already asleep and dreaming.
Then he realized the warm thing he was currently curled against was Oceanus, and pushed away, scrambling to his feet, feeling his face grow hot.
“How did you manage to tire yourself out so badly while asleep?” Krios pondered with a chuckle.
“I am having a really bad sleep,” Percy agreed. “Maybe if you guys quit bothering me I’d actually get to rest normally for once” he scowled.
“You bring yourself here with your own power,” Kronos replied. “We have no control over whatever it is you do to end up here”
“Unfortunately” Hyperion grumbled.
Percy shot him a look.
“Hey, all I’m saying is it would be easier to retrieve you when you run away if you didn’t manage to teleport yourself to some random beach with Oceanus,” Hyperion said defensively.
“Maybe I wanted to dream about beaches with Oceanus” he replied, sticking out his tongue.
“But you hadn’t visited in months” Krios pouted. “And you were so upset when you ran away! We wanted to check on you!”
Percy rolled his eyes.
“Krios, stop being clingy,” he told the Titan.
“Yeah Krios, stop being clingy” Hyperion mocked.
Just as Percy was starting to feel slightly better, Kronos decided to ruin the mood.
“So Percy, how do you feel about hosting my soul?” he asked nonchalantly.
At first, Percy thought he heard him wrong, but no, Kronos was looking at him as though he expected an answer.
“What,” Percy deadpanned, looking at the titan in bewilderment.
“I was rather attached to my appearance, and well…” Kronos shrugged.
“Dude. No. f*ck Off,” Percy told him.
“Worth a shot,” Hyperion said, patting Kronos’ arm supportingly. It had the opposite effect, as Kronos’ arm vaporized with the touch.
“Hyperion. Can you not?” Kronos said, turning towards his brother.
“I am not hosting your f*cking soul!” Percy exclaimed, just to make sure his point got across.
“Hmm, that’s a shame. Castellan is so difficult” Kronos whined.
“Luke is hot enough, you'll live. Although, it would be better if you didn’t possess anybody’s body. Have you considered that?”
“At least this way I don’t have to wait for you to grow,” Kronos pondered.
Percy spluttered. “I’m not that short- and wait, what happened to my idea of no creepy possession of other people's bodies!”
“Eh,” Kronos said, waving off Percy.
Percy rolled his eyes. It seemed Kronos was set in his evil ways. Well, nobody could say Percy didn’t try.
“Don’t be too bummed Kronos, this way we get to keep him” Krios stated, ruffling Percy’s hair which - rude. His bedhead was going to suck when he woke up.
“You are not keeping me,” Percy grumbled.
Krios paused, horrified. “But we’re not going to kill you, right Kronos?” he said.
“It’s up for debate,” Kronos replied.
Krios gasped. “No, it’s not! Don’t listen to him, he likes being scary and mysterious” he said, attempting to reassure Percy.
“It’s alright Krios, Kronos doesn’t like swimming,” Oceanus said, winking.
“You guys do realize I’m leading a war against you, right?” Percy asked.
Krios and Oceanus did not seem to listen.
“Just let them mother, they’re insufferable when they get like this” Hyperion said.
“Okay…” Percy said, nodding.
Hyperion leaned closer to him.
“For the record, I don’t think you look exactly like Kronos,” he whispered conspiratorially.
Percy frowned. “You don’t?” he asked.
“Nah, Kronos’ nose is definitely crooked. I punched him in the face once and it didn’t heal right”
Percy scowled.
Hyperion laughed at the expression.
“I’m sorry, other than that you really do look like him” Hyperion shrugged. “Shame you didn’t inherit my good looks.”
Percy winced away from the blinding smile.
“Hey, it’s better than looking like Dad. Zeus looks like him… I think that’s why he’s the least favourite,” Hyperion shrugged.
“I really don’t understand the point you’re trying to make,” Percy told him.
“All I’m saying is I’m not Zeus’ biggest fan, but Dad really sucked. Zeus is a bit better.” Hyperion said. “I’m still gonna kill him though,” he added as an afterthought.
“You are terrible at this” Percy groaned, putting his head in his hands.
“Huh, you’re becoming transparent, I guess you’re waking up” Hyperion hummed.
“Thank the gods,” he replied.
“Eugh don’t bring them into this” Kronos complained.
“Will you come back soon? We can play catch,” Krios offered.
“I’m not your son” Percy deadpanned.
“We can go surfing with sea serpents,” Oceanus chimed in.
“Yeah alright, sounds good” he grinned.
“Oh Oceanus gets the family bonding, Oceanus gets to go surfing with sea serpents because he’s the oldest and….”
Krios’ rant was cut off as Percy woke up in his bed.
