Archive of Our Own ^beta

I swear it wasn't supposed to be this long. Anyway, I hope the whole fighting scene is good for you guys because I spent like most of the day trying to find out how to write a fight sequence.

Happy reading :D )

Ch43 – SoM – Sparring and Confessions

Loud chatter filled the amphitheater as the occupants started walking out towards the more open spaces in the palace. Percy walked with Annabeth, Tyson and Grover with their other friends walking nearby. Once they reached the lawn spread out just beyond the amphitheater, Tyson pulled out the sheath that he had been making for Annabeth and stopped the little group so he could show it to them.

Annabeth, Percy and Grover and a couple of their other friends looked at the small object in Tyson's huge hands. The object looked like a thick, black bracelet cuff that could be straightened to form a handle. Tyson pressed a small button on the side and a dagger protruded out of the handle.

"Whoa! Is that the drakon bone sword that I gave you in the morning?" Annabeth asked, fascinated by the dagger.

"Yes. I know you like dagger more than sword. So, I made it a dagger and a sword." Tyson said proudly as the demigods looked impressed with his skills. He then pressed the same button again and the blade extended to become the full-fledged drakon bone sword that Annabeth had been using for the past month.

"Oh gods! Tyson, this is amazing! Thank you so much." Annabeth said and hugged Tyson.

"Told you she'll love it." Percy grinned at his brother as Tyson showed Annabeth how to use the magical sheath.

They spent the next few minutes watching Annabeth get a hang of the new handle. It was quite entertaining to watch Annabeth's skills. Even a few hunters had stopped to watch and compliment her moves.

"That is really good." Perseus said as he came to stand next to Percy and watched Annabeth turn the dagger, midway through a move into the sword and still carry out the maneuver with precision.

"Thank you." Annabeth said smugly as she turned it back into a cuff and put it on. Looking at Percy and Hercules, she asked, "Are you both planning to spar anytime soon? Because that is something I need to see." She looked at Percy and added, "Otherwise, I need a sparring partner for practicing with this." She lifted her right hand which had the cuff on it.

"Oh, please spar now." Leo piped up excitedly and no one knew whether he wanted Percy to fight with Hercules or Annabeth. Soon, all the demigods nearby were excited at the prospect of seeing some action.

Hercules shrugged and said, "That is good with me. If it is alright with you, we could spar now." He looked challengingly at Percy, who smirked and shrugged.

This was going to be fun, Percy thought as a ripple of excitement went through their not so little group.

"Child of Zeus versus child of Poseidon." Reyna said. "This could get ugly pretty soon."

"Yeah." Piper said, having seen Jason and Percy's spars. It usually ended with destruction of the already destroyed property and lecture from Chiron about responsible use of powers and whatnot.

"That's why someone needs to find Chiron." Annabeth said. She knew she could get Percy to calm down if things went out of hands but she wasn't so sure about Hercules. All the legends said that in a fight, he was ruthless. She didn't want him pushing Percy to lash out in anger.

Percy and Hercules chatted about their techniques and preferences till Rachel and Grover returned with a skeptical Chiron. Trotting up to the two, Chiron asked, "Are you both sure you want to spar now?" When he got two nods and a couple of 'duh' from the crowd, he asked everyone to go to the arena because Hera would not allow anyone to 'destroy her lovely lawns'.

Soon after Percy and Hercules had reached the arena, the surrounding seats were occupied by demigods, hunters, gods and even some of the other citizens of Olympus. Apparently, news on Olympus spread faster if not as fast as news in Camp Half Blood.

Percy warily eyed the spectators and Hercules asked him, "Do you not like an audience?"

"It depends on the situation. But I don't like being entertainment."

"I understand what you mean." Hercules said solemnly and Percy was reminded once again of how badly the gods treated the famed hero. "But I would like to think of it as an audience rather than being entertainment… I think it would be best if we just ignored the gods."

Percy smiled and said, "Αμήν (amen)."

"Are you not going to use armor?" Hercules asked as he and Percy walked towards Chiron and a couple of other campers who were standing to one side of the arena.

"I don't usually. Anyway, I don't have my armor over here with me." Percy replied and then asked, "What about you?"

"Seeing as you are not going to be using any armor, how can I? In any case, I prefer to fight without it. Shield?"

"I have mine with me." Percy lifted his left arm and showing his new watch. Hercules nodded and went to collect his sword and shield from Perseus and Theseus, who were standing a bit further away from the campers from the future.

"You look excited." Jason said as Percy approached them.

"Hey, it's not every day that I get to fight with Hercules." Percy grinned and repeated giddily, "Hercules!"

"Yeah, well, don't forget that he is a son of Zeus. So, be careful not to fight like how you do with Jason. Otherwise, there will be a natural calamity." Annabeth said.

"Are you both ready?" Chiron asked.

Percy nodded and Annabeth kissed him and explained, "Tradition." Then she added, "Have fun." She didn't need to wish him luck – he never had it anyway and his skills compensated for all the bad luck thrown his way.

Hercules, too nodded his assent and turned to face Perseus, who deadpanned, "I am not kissing you." He looked towards the couple to their right and turned back to face his brother and wished, "καλή τύχη (good luck)."

Hercules rolled his eyes and said, "ευχαριστώ (thank you)."

When Percy, Hercules and Chiron had reached the center of the arena, a hush fell over the spectators as they impatiently waited for the centaur to announce the beginning of the spar.

"Alright." Chiron said, loud enough to be heard by everyone and causing both Percy and Hercules to take a step back from the loud volume. "Before we begin, a few ground rules." Chiron looked at both of his students and said, "One, no using of powers. We do not need a catastrophe on our hands."

Needless to say, a lot of demigods and gods were disappointed. They had wanted a complete showdown.

Hercules shrugged and said, "I do not use them much, anyway."

"Two, if I feel the fight is about to get out of hand, I will stop it." Chiron said, hoping he didn't have to use this particular rule because he too wanted to see two of his best in a fight. "And three, no maiming or severe injuries allowed. Use the flat of the blade as you usually do in a friendly match."

This again caused groans from a couple of gods who were rooting for blood to be spilled, but they quickly kept quiet under glares from Zeus and Poseidon. As much as the brothers wanted their child to be the winner, they did not want the child to be hurt too badly.

The boys agreed and took their positions. Hercules stuck his shield in the ground since he and Percy had agreed to use the shield only if absolutely necessary, and flexed his hand as he clutched the base of the sword. Percy took out Anaklusmos and looked at Hercules shield. Relieved, he thanked his lucky stars that it was not the shield that had Akhlys' images on it. He didn't know if he would be able to handle that reminder.

Chiron banged his hoof on the ground to signal the start of the match and both Percy and Hercules grinned at one another in challenge.

Hercules went on offense first and struck his first tentative blow. The swords clanged as Percy met the strike midway and pushed back. Then he countered with a strike of his own that was parried by Hercules. The boys threw another couple of harmless strikes to get a feel of each other's fighting styles.

Chess. That was the thought in Percy's head as he sidestepped another one of Hercules' strikes. Off-handedly, Percy thought that sparring with Hercules was like playing chess. They both were studying each other's moves more than actually starting the fight. Till date Percy's fights with any other demigod had either been a series of continuous practice sessions or a do-or-die moment. He hardly ever got the chance to study the opponent in an experienced first time fight.

Hercules saw the slash a split second before it could catch him in the arm. He quickly moved backwards, just out of reach of Riptide. Bringing down his own sword, he pushed Riptide out of the way. It felt different – fighting an opponent who was using his previous weapon. But Hercules could see the difference in the way Percy held the sword and how he twisted his wrist just slightly and the sword responded as if it was an extension of his arm.

Ares groaned as the boys in the arena moved around, throwing lazy strikes. He was going to lose his mind if they didn't pick up the pace soon enough. But in this slow paced fighting, the god of war could see just how much both the parties were holding back and he knew that in a proper fight, both will be formidable enemies.

As if on cue, Hercules landed his first powerful blow that would have caught Percy's shoulder had he not blocked it in the nick of time. But the gods could see that both the boys were still just playing around.

Percy side stepped and used his blade to push Hercules' blade upwards, causing Hercules to twist his wrist in a painful manner till the older demigod accepted defeat and stepped back out of Percy's range. Grinning, Percy slashed towards Hercules' torso. Hercules deflected the blade.

The older demigod feinted to the left, causing Percy to move Riptide to meet the blow. Instead Hercules twisted the blade just a second before it hit Percy's torso and pushed him backwards.

Percy lunged. Hercules caught the blow and riposted. They continued in the same fashion for some time. Attack. Block. Riposte. Circle-parry. The sounds of metal clanging were heard in the entire arena. The spectators had grins fixed on their faces as the boys picked up speed.

Percy ducked as he felt Hercules' blade cut through the air just above him. Using the flat of the blade, he hit the other demigod just below his knee, causing him move backwards in surprise. Quick as lightning, Percy stood up and slashed towards Hercules' sword hand. Hercules held his hand just out of reach and twisted his blade to meet Percy's. But it wasn't there.

Percy moved his blade and slashed at the other demigod's legs. Hercules managed to jump over the blade and brought down his sword in quick successions on Percy. Each blow was met with a strong defense but Hercules kept pushing Percy to the edge of the arena.

Cheers of 'Hercules!' or 'Percy!' were resounding in the entire stadium as Percy got annoyed with defending and hit Hercules' wrist. Hercules gritted his teeth as he almost dropped his sword thanks to wrist hit. It had been actual years since someone had been able to get their blade close enough to make that hit. Cursing himself, Hercules lunged at Percy only for his sword to meet empty air.

Percy moved away from his opponent and slashed at him from the side. Hercules felt the blade graze his upper arm and he quickly dropped his arm out of the blade's range. That was the one use of Percy using the same blade as Hercules used to. The older demigod knew the blade's range by heart.

Swinging the sword in a wide arc, Hercules brought it down on Percy's head. The swords clanged as Riptide caught the blow and Percy used his sword to push Hercules' in almost a complete circle. Getting the upper hand, Percy tried the disarming technique that Luke had taught him.

Hercules's sword clanged out of his hand. Everyone stared in surprise but Hercules saw Percy's shoulders tense and he sidestepped the oncoming attack. The match would only be over when one of them would be in a sort of check-mate position.

Riptide slashed the ground where Hercules' feet were just a moment ago. Someone in the crowd shouted, "May the force be with you." Percy's educated guess? It was probably one of the Stolls.

They were again almost in the center of the arena. Hercules' sword was still a few feet behind them. The older demigod kept on sidestepping and blocking the attacks using his hand. Blood trickled out of a couple of wounds in the palm of Hercules' hand but he just grinned like a madman at Percy, which unnerved the latter.

Poseidon was grinning as he saw his son advancing on Hercules. No one had ever beaten Hercules in a sword fight and the god was hoping his son would.

Zeus on the other hand, was controlling himself from throwing a lightning bolt at the annoying son of Poseidon. Could the boy not see that Hercules was unarmed? But he realized that Hercules was edging him on. Surely he had a plan. After all, no one could defeat Hercules.

Hercules jumped backwards once again as Percy's sword slashed at the ground near the older demigod's feet. Hercules grinned and Percy realized what Hercules was going to do. The son of Zeus hit the ground and rolled, picking his shield on the way and came up on one knee. He held the shield above his head just in time to catch Percy's blow.

Pushing with all his might (and Hercules had a lot of strength), he stood up and the force made Percy stagger backwards. Hercules aimed a high kick at Percy's chest and the younger demigod fell a few feet away. The famed hero dashed to pick his sword just as Percy jumped up and opened his own shield.

"I want to bet on Percy too." Dakota said to Travis, who had just returned from collecting all of the bets.

"You can't bet on both of them, vlakas." Travis said as he took his seat next to Connor.

"And you can't change bets either." Connor said to a pouting Hedge.

Hedge proceeded to shout at Percy, "Come on, cupcake. Show him who the boss is!"

Percy chuckled at Hedge's shout and blocked Hercules' strike with his shield. This was fun, he realized. They could have finished the match so many times by now. But, he wanted to see more of Hercules' tricks. Percy had even seen a few new moves that hadn't been taught in camp.

Whop! The sound was too close to Percy's head for his comfort and he tucked and rolled as Hercules brought down another strike on him. The son of Poseidon came up on his knee behind Hercules and quickly twisted and hit Hercules behind his knees with the flat of his blade.

Hercules staggered but maintained his footing. He turned just in time to prevent a blow to his back. It wouldn't have injured him but it would have hurt like Hades. Hercules slashed at Percy's leg. Managing to move only one leg out of the way, Percy's right leg caught the strike and he felt blood starting to flow out.

Damn! He thought as he tried not to put too much pressure on the injured leg. Percy hoped that the blade didn't cut anything important.

Hercules was starting to feel tired and it wasn't because he lacked the stamina. He had fought for hours at a stretch. It was just that he always fought to kill and now he had to be careful not to kill. It had been years since he fought in an actual practice fight against an opponent who could last for more than a few minutes. He could see the strain of not killing starting to show in Percy's stance. The hero realized that maybe even Percy had always fought to kill. Hmm, they were more evenly matched than he thought possible.

"Vlakas! Left." Annabeth said a second before Percy jumped to the left to avoid Hercules' strike. The boys had been fighting for almost forty minutes now. While the crowd was cheering and still placing bets and encouraging the boys in the arena, Annabeth was starting to get annoyed. Annabeth huffed.

"What?" Jason asked. He was standing next to Annabeth and Chiron just in front of the seats.

"Percy is just playing. He could have finished this ages ago." Annabeth said in annoyance.

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you are getting bored." Thalia said as she got up from her seat behind Annabeth and came to stand with them.

"Not bored. Just annoyed. The fight is not progressing. They are just tiring each other out, when they could have finished it long ago. Percy left so many openings unattended." Annabeth complained. She hated it when people stalled in a practice fight. Sure, in an actual battle, the stalling could result in life or death, but in a spar it was useless. And she hated useless things.

"He is doing what?" Jason asked. He didn't see any such thing.

"Percy is well… how do we say it… toying with his food." Chiron said with a smile. He already had a feeling who would win. He knew that Hercules too was leaving a lot of chances, but it was because Hercules was proud and would not defeat an evenly match opponent so easily. But the centaur knew from experience that Percy was just waiting for something.

"So is Hercules." Perseus spoke up in defense of his brother.

"Why?" Jason asked, ignoring Perseus.

Thalia spoke with a smile, "Brother dear, when you have had as many fights with Percy as I have, you will understand that Percy is just waiting for something to happen."

Jason rolled his eyes at his sister's antics and asked, "What is he waiting for?"

"Dunno." Thalia shrugged. "Last time he did something like this during a fight with me, he waited for me to shoot lightning at him and then he summoned salt water to create a shield in front of him. The water caught the lightning and he shot the water back at me."

"So, you got hit by electrified salt water?" Perseus asked.

"Yes. It didn't affect me much, but Percy used that chance to disarm me and win." Thalia said sourly.

"But they cannot use their powers." Theseus joined in.

"Who knows what Percy is waiting for?" Thalia replied.

Percy did a one eighty and ducked just as Hercules struck from behind. Using his shield as a base, Percy swept his leg and managed to topple Hercules. He needed a moment to breath. In the past five minutes, both he and Hercules had gotten a lot of small cuts. And he knew that any moment Hercules would hopefully perform a good sword trick. That was what Percy was waiting for – for seeing a disarming trick. He knew that Hercules had one that Chiron hadn't taught Percy. Hercules had even used it some time back but Percy had managed to block it halfway through before realizing that it was a new trick. Now he wanted to see it completely and hopefully be able to repeat it.

"Hades!" Ares growled.

"What?" Hades said in irritation. He hated it when even the gods threw his name around in vain.

"They are still playing around." Athena said with narrowed eyes.

"So? My son will win." Zeus said. "No one can defeat Hercules."

Poseidon rolled his eyes and said, "Well, my son did disarm yours."

"If he was strong and skilled enough, he would have already won." Came the reply.

"Considering that he has fought and won wars, I am sure that he is competent enough." Poseidon said in irritation. "Maybe he just likes to play around with his food."

Before Zeus could retort, Hera said, "Keep quiet and just watch."

Percy felt a bead of sweat make its merry way into his shirt as he blocked another attack. The sun was almost on top of them. Was it noon yet?

He contemplated ending the match. Percy knew he needed only around five to six moves before he could win. He already had gotten a hang of Hercules' fighting style and while Hercules' was in no way predictable, he was starting to get more offensive in his fighting. It would only be a matter of time before he slipped and gave Percy the opening he wanted. But, a part of Percy – the part that probably came up with all of his crazy ideas – wanted to see the disarming trick.

Another five minutes of blocking, lunging, sidestepping and overall cursing and sweating, went by before Percy's wish was granted. Hercules used an old (or rather current, seeing as they were in ancient times) disarming trick that Percy had only read and seen the pictures of in one of Annabeth's books. This time Percy didn't stop Hercules from completing the trick and surely, Riptide fell out of his hand.

"Yes!" Zeus shouted and the gods turned to look at him. The king just raised his eyebrow and sat in his place as if he had not uttered a single word.

Poseidon gave his brother a side eye and said, "The match is not yet over."

"It may as well be. My son has got the upper hand and your son is defenseless."

"He has his shield."

"Keep quiet." Ares hissed before his eyes widened as he remembered whom he was talking to. Ignoring the annoyed brothers, Ares just kept his eyes fixed at the scene unfolding before him. He soon realized that Percy was still playing when the boy just kicked his fallen sword out of the way and raised his shield to protect himself from the attack.

Percy imagined his legs to be a springboard as he pushed upwards and managed to push Hercules backwards. That guy was really strong. As Percy ducked once again, he thought of whether to wait for Riptide to return to him or not.

Hercules brought down his sword once again and cursed as Percy sidestepped. He got the feeling that Percy was just stalling, trying to get to his sword. In the next second though, Percy kicked him in the shin from the side and pushed against him with all his strength. Hercules knew that he was strong but so was Percy. Although the boy was not as strong as the son of Zeus, the kick to the shin had momentarily fazed the older demigod and Hercules fell down.

Percy scooped up Riptide and brought it up just as Hercules struck down. Swords and shields clanged and the crowd got even more excited. Once again the game was evenly matched.

Getting tired prematurely, thanks to his lack of proper sleep the previous night, Percy decided to end it then and there. After a few more minutes, the son of Poseidon got the opening he was looking for. He had been running the Hercules' trick (as he called it) in his head for some time now.

Percy twisted his wrist and carried out the maneuver that Hercules had performed some time back and somehow it worked. Hercules' sword once again fell down. This time however, Percy did not give the older demigod any chance to fight back. He pushed down against Hercules' shield with his own, effectively stopping Hercules from using the shield. Percy brought his other hand in for the kill and a split second later, Riptide had found its home at the base of Hercules' neck. When Hercules tried to protest, Percy dug in the sword just a bit – not enough to draw blood but enough to warn him not to fight back.

They held the position for a few seconds till Chiron stomped his hoof once again, signaling the end of the match and declaring Percy as the winner.

The crowd erupted into cheers and soon enough everyone was going around collecting their winnings.

Poseidon gave Zeus a smug smile before turning around and going to Ares to collect his own share of winnings.

The two opponents grinned at each other and shook hands and went back to their friends. They both collapsed into the seats once they reached the stands.

Annabeth hit Percy's head and said, "Why were you stalling?"

Percy grinned sheepishly and drank half of the nectar Jason had given him and poured the remaining on his leg wound, which was now swollen and blood still slowly flowed out of it. "Wanted to see the trick." Percy explained to Annabeth who just huffed and rolled her eyes.

"What trick?" Hercules asked as he ate ambrosia.

"Uh…" Percy rubbed the back of his neck and said, "The disarming one…you know the one you did." Percy motioned the trick with his hand.

Hercules furrowed his eyebrows and said, "I thought you knew that."

"No. We do not teach it anymore." Chiron said as he came up to the two and inspected their injuries. He turned to Percy and said in an accusing tone, "I assume you saw Hercules do the maneuver and realized you had not learned it and then proceeded to drag out the match just to learn it."

Percy grinned, showing all his teeth as Nico poured an entire pitcher of water over him. Soon, his smaller cuts and bruises healed themselves and the cut on his leg started closing up.

"But… you did it perfectly… right now." Hercules said as he let Will heal a couple of his cuts that the ambrosia and nectar didn't.

"Uh… yeah. I copied it from you."

The son of Zeus stared at his younger cousin incredulously before throwing his head back and laughing. "You are a really fast learner."

"Thanks." Percy grinned and then groaned as he saw a couple of gods coming their way.

X-X-X-X-X

Hermes grinned to himself as he counted his drachmae that he had won. Thank Olympus, he changed his mind to bet on Percy rather than Hercules. Most of the gods except Poseidon and his family and a couple of other gods had bet on Hercules.

The god heard some sound and looked up. He saw a couple of gods walking towards Percy and Hercules and the hoard of demigods that stood there. His sons – Travis and Connor – were going around distributing the winnings. The god of thieves was halfway out of the arena when he heard, "Dad!" He stopped and looked to his right where Chris was nervously standing, trying to wave the god down.

"Hello." Hermes said cheerfully as he walked up to his son. Why was his son so nervous? "Is something wrong?" he asked gently.

"Erm… I was wondering if I could talk to you. If you are not busy or anything." Chris said, worrying the frayed edges of his camp T-shirt.

Hermes frowned and nodded. "No, not busy. We can talk. Are you alright?"

"I…uh… needed to tell you something."

Hermes mind started going on overdrive as he nodded encouragingly and took his son to a row of empty seats, knowing that no one would disturb them.

Chris swallowed as he sat down next to his father. He could feel Hermes' worried gaze in his direction, but he couldn't bring himself up to tell the god the truth. He didn't even know where or how to start. Off-handedly he thought whether he should go classic and start with, 'Forgive me Father, for I have sinned…'

He internally rolled his eyes at his wayward thoughts and took a deep breath. He could hear his father ask him once again what was wrong but Chris couldn't gather the courage to talk. What would his father think? Would he even want Chris as his son? What if he hates him? What if…

Hermes shook Chris' shoulder lightly to snap his son out of his thoughts. He contemplated for a second to look into his son's thoughts but decided to keep it as a last minute resort. He could see that whatever Chris was thinking about, was eating him alive.

"Chris?"

"I…" Chris dug his fingernails into his palm hard enough to draw blood and once again took a deep breath. "Father, I…" He looked up at Hermes and said in a low voice, "Luke was not the only one to…" he trailed off and looked at the ground, tears prickling his eyes. He gritted his teeth and willed himself not to cry. He would take Hermes' rejection without crying… He had to.

Realization dawned on Hermes and he turned away from his son and looked forward. Placing his elbows on his knees and bowing his head, the god said, "To turn sides?"

The god heard a sniffle and a small "Yes."

"Can you explain?" Hermes didn't intend for it to come out so harshly, but he couldn't control the emotional turmoil inside of him. Why did another one of his children turn their backs on him? Was he that horrible a father? Why only his children? Did his children in the future hate him? It didn't seem so from the Stolls and Chris, but now he didn't know what to think.

Chris swallowed as only one thought ran in his head, that his father hated him. And he should, his brain supplied, which father would want a traitor for a son?

Pushing away the thoughts for the time being, Chris spoke, "After Luke left the camp… he tried recruiting a lot of half-bloods. Some listened and others didn't. He…umm…came to me in a dream with the titan and they told me to…" Chris wiped a betraying tear as it fell down his cheek and continued, "At first I resisted, but they were persistent and then I gave in. I…I was at camp for years and I still hadn't been claimed. I was so angry. Luke knew and he told the titan. I left before Thalia's tree got poisoned."

The father and son sat in silence for some time, the only sounds in the background being the sounds of laughter from the other demigods, some of whom were sparring.

Hermes tried to process all that his son had told him. Obviously his son would have been angry for not being claimed. Hermes wondered how Chris slipped his mind in the future. He cursed Kronos for being able to manipulate two of his children.

"And how did you come back to camp?" Hermes asked quietly as he watched his son wipe away tears. He wanted to comfort his son but he also wanted to know what had happened.

Clearing his throat, Chris said in a gruff voice, "They wanted to find an entrance of the Labyrinth. There was supposed to be one that led inside the camp boundaries. So, they sent me to find it…"

"Alone?" Hermes asked, horrified with what his son must have seen and gone through in the Labyrinth. Theseus was the only one who had been able to leave the Labyrinth and that was because of Ariadne.

"Yes." Chris said with a shudder. "I went in alone and got lost. I…I don't remember much of what happened inside… there." Chris rubbed his hands together to get some warmth that suddenly felt like it had disappeared at the mention of the worst maze in the world.

The god put his hand on his son's back and encouraged him to continue.

"I… I don't know how… but somehow I must have found an exit. It was somewhere near Clarisse's home. That's what they all told me. Anyway, she took me to camp and they tried to cure me."

"Cure?"

"I…umm… had kind of lost my mind in the Labyrinth. It had driven me insane." Chris winced as he said that. He had absolutely no recollection of those days. "Mr. D was gone on some official duty and there was no one who could heal me. Later, when he returned, he healed me. I…I am… I realized that I had made a huge mistake." Chris' voice broke as his emotions came pouring out. He managed to somehow not dissolve into a puddle of tears and apologized, "I am so sorry, father. I am so sorry."

Neither knew for how long they sat there, with Hermes rubbing Chris' back and Chris trying to get his emotions under control. Ever since he returned to camp, he had put all his energy into proving to everyone that he was not a traitor…that he could be good. That he would fight for them and for Olympus. He never let himself speak these things out loud, knowing that he would break down and the camp could not afford that… not when they were losing so many. Now, after almost two years of nonstop fighting, he finally let himself feel all of those feelings of shame and inadequacy and doubt and he couldn't control himself anymore.

Seeing his son breaking down, Hermes flashed them away to his private quarters and held his son close till all his tears had dried up. He didn't say anything… didn't say that it was okay, because it clearly wasn't. He just held him and let the boy's emotions run their course.

Hermes kissed his son's head and heard his son croak out, "I am so sorry…" Before Hermes could stop him, Chris had started babbling and the god could not make much sense of his talks. Although, he stopped his son from speaking when Chris said something along the lines of 'disappointment and you don't want me here'.

"Chris." Hermes said, trying to get his son's attention. When that didn't work, he ordered, "Chris, look at me."

Slowly, Chris looked up. Somehow, during all of this, Chris had ended up with his head tucked under Hermes' chin. He was ashamed of how he had behaved. He – a 21 year old – was reduced to hysteria in front of his dad. Wow, his dad must be so annoyed with him. He was a god. He didn't have time for such things.

The demigod was brought out of his negative thoughts when Hermes said, "Son, I forgive you." Seeing no reaction, Hermes repeated himself over and over till Chris' eyes widened in disbelief. Hermes gave a small smile of relief at his son's reaction and sat back against the couch's backrest.

"Now listen to me very carefully, alright?"

Chris nodded.

Hermes said, "I am not blaming you for anything. You were angry and rightfully so. I should have claimed you when you came to camp and I am extremely sorry that I made you feel unwanted for years. That is not the case, my son. I am proud of you, like I am proud of all of your siblings. And I love you." Hermes smiled to accentuate his point and sighed in relief when Chris blinked and gaped at the god. At least there was a reaction!

"But I…" Chris protested.

Hermes shook his head and said, "I am proud that you could break the hold of the titan lord on you. I am proud that you were courageous enough to descend into one of the most deadly places in the world. I am proud and happy that despite all the hardships that you faced, you came back to us and you survived. And that is what is important. That you returned home. Throughout our lives we do some things that we are not proud of. No one is perfect, my dear. No one. The most important thing is that you are able to let go of the not-so-proud-things and still do the right thing. And I am sure that you did. I am just glad that you came back safely."

Chris ducked his head and tried to think through what all his dad had told him. He was proud of him? That…that was something…he didn't expect that. And his dad loved him – a traitor?

"You are not a traitor!" Hermes said forcefully. He had been going through his son's thoughts in order to aid him in getting his confidence back. "You may have taken a wrong turn, but you are not a traitor. If you still don't believe me, then I will spend all of the time that we have over here in trying to make you believe me."

Chris nodded and smiled a watery smile. Damn his emotions! What was he – a pubescent? He sniffed and angrily wiped away his tears.

Hermes smiled and brought his son into a hug. He resolved to make sure that his son would get rid of all the negative thoughts and feelings by the time they were done with this reading. This was the first time the god was getting to spend time with a couple of his children and he was going to make full use of it.

They sat there on the couch in Hermes' palace for some time, with Hermes telling jokes and the pranks he played on his siblings, to make Chris smile and it worked. Soon enough, Chris himself was telling of a couple of recurring pranks back at camp.

Almost ten minutes, Apollo banged on the palace door demanding entry. Hermes waved his hand and granted his brother entry and with a snap of his fingers, made his son presentable.

"I have been searching everywhere for you." Apollo said to Hermes as he flopped down on another couch. "Hello, Chris."

Over the past few days, Hermes and Apollo had gotten friendly with each other's children.

"Are they starting the reading?" Hermes asked.

"No." Apollo said, sitting up straight. "Lady Hestia suggested… and by suggested I mean ordered, that we have an early lunch because apparently the children worked up an appetite by just watching the sparring."

"Oh, do not pretend that you were not hoping for an early lunch." Hermes quipped and got up from the couch. "Come on, son."

The three then walked to the dining hall, discussing about the match they had seen earlier.

(A/N - Now I know many people have found it disturbing previously that Percy was able to defeat Hercules but just hear me out. From all that I have found out about any of Hercules' stories is that he always fought with only his strength or otherwise used a bow and arrow. There are hardly any stories of Hercules or most of the other old heroes using weapons, only sheer strength. So that is one reason why Hercules could have lost. Another is that I think that Hercules would hardly have had anyone who would be his match among his peers and therefore wouldn't have much practice in practice matches. This is again what I think and based on this, I had Percy as the winner.)