A/N - Hello. I am Lady Artemis - Moon Goddess.
This story is not mine. It belongs to vPxForerunner x. Any and all plot that is not made by Rick Riordan does not belong to me, only vPx. I am simply rewriting it for grammar and consistency, as well as changing most/all first person to third person. vPx relies heavily on speech, anyway, so I figured I'd add slightly more depth this way.
I might add some parts here or there, but that only serves to add more of a tone for the chapter.
Without further ado, ladies and detestable males, I bring to you Titan of the Hunt: Chapter one.
Falling.
Blacking out.
Falling.
Blacking out.
A little screaming thrown in for good measure while falling. Annabeth…
Blacking out.
Wind whistling in his ears…
Falling.
Screaming. Possibly his own.
Darkness.
Falling.
Darkness.
Falling.
Falling.
Darkness.
Screaming, inhumane in origin this time.
Suddenly… nothing.
Percy awoke, only to find himself in what seemed to be a darkly lit cave with an invisible ceiling. However, recent events told him otherwise. He spied some blonde hair a little ways away beginning to stir, easily visible against the black obsidian ground.
"Annabeth," he asked, concern edging itself into his voice, "are you okay?"
"Other than being in Tartarus in the middle of a war after fighting the mother of all spiders," Annabeth said, "I'm fine, Seaweed Brain."
"No need to get sarcastic, Wise Girl," Percy said, mock hurt in his voice.
"We need a plan if we're to survive this and meet up with the others at the doors," Annabeth said, pointedly ignoring Percy.
"Well, last I checked we don't own a map of the place," Percy began, "which means we either wing it or we have to deal with the locals. Who, I might add, just so happen to be some of the worst monsters known to Olympus and hate me for putting them back down here."
"Not everyone is as well 'liked' as you are," Annabeth commented amusedly. "Hopefully, most of them will be in the world above now that the doors are open. Either that, or they're guarding the doors for Gaia."
As if answering Annabeth's hopes, a nearby pile of boulders began to shift, revealing one injured and very pissed off Arachne who was glaring at the two demigods, eyes full of hate.
"You were saying?" Percy remarked. It came out without warning, resulting in Annabeth turning to stare at him, her face saying the all-too-familiar message of, "Now is not the time."
He gulped, frightened at her expression. "I-It's not my fault," he explained. "Some people get scared. I get sarcastic."
"Like mother, like daughter," Arachne muttered in a hate-filled tone, "both take everything away from me. But now," here, her expression changed to one of manic glee, "I will get my revenge by killing you, in the process ridding my nemesis of her favorite daughter!"
There were few things that truly annoyed Percy, and Arachne happened to discover three of them: betrayal, hurting women, and hurting Percy's friends and family. So as soon as Arachne finished ranting, Percy placed himself between Annabeth and the giant spider-woman, drawing Riptide as he did so. This, however, only served to make her smile wider, if at all possible.
"Ah, yes, the son of Poseidon," she mused, "the mistress has plans for you. I'll capture you after I deal with Athena's spawn."
"Percy," Annabeth whispered frantically, "I have a plan,"
"I'm all ears, Wise Girl," Percy said in the same tone. "Our favorite spider seems to have the patience of one and hasn't moved anything aside from her mouth so far. I can't see that lasting much longer."
"I need you to attack her left legs while I go invisible and attack her right ones. She's already injured, so if we can incapacitate her, we should be able to escape."
"Why not kill her?" Percy asked, confused.
"Because I feel guilty for her," Annabeth said without missing a beat. "My mother made her like this simply out of jealousy. I saw her works in Rome and they were truly as good as mother's."
"Fine," Percy said, dropping the subject. "On three. One, two―"
Just as Annabeth was reaching for her Yankees hat, she found herself entangled in spider web that Arachne had thrown at her, causing Annabeth to stumble and fall, in turn giving Arachne an opening. Seeing Annabeth helpless turned Percy's vision red as he charged the spider queen. When he neared her, she swung at him with her left foreleg, but missed. Percy had already sidestepped to her right anticipating the move, swinging Riptide in a downward arc as he did so. Soon, three legs fell to the ground, severed at the hip. But Percy didn't stop there, no. He proceeded to slice off all of her left legs, ignoring her screams of pain, before returning to Annabeth.
The thread around her was like steel, forcing Percy to use Annabeth's knife that had conveniently fallen to the ground outside of the sticky substance. Soon, all of the threads were broken, the thread easily cut by the celestial bronze blade.
"Percy," Annabeth said in a small voice, "thank you."
"You know me," Percy said in his usual oblivious tone, a goofy grin on his face. "I could never ignore someone in distress. Loyalty is my fatal flaw, rememb―!" Annabeth cut him off with a kiss, leaving him gaping like a fish as per usual.
"Close your mouth, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth ordered. "You'll catch flies, or whatever they have down here. Now, let's deal with Arachne and get out of here."
The spider in question had watched the scene progress, an expression of revulsion and distaste growing on her face with every passing second. Her wounds appeared appeared to be fatal, as evident by her body slowly but steadily crumbling into dust. Seeing this, Annabeth shook her head in dismay, looking at the ground.
"All you had to do was let us pass," she began, regret evident in her voice. "I am truly sorry that this had to happen. What my mother did to you was wrong. You did not deserve this fate, to be stuck forever as a monster." Tears were beginning to brim in her eyes as she continued looking down, but the entire look was lost as she stared at Arachne's look of pure and unadulterated rage. Percy, who was looking at the spider as Annabeth gave her small speech, noticed the look of rage growing with every word uttered out of Annabeth's mouth.
"I don't want your sympathy," Arachne said, shaking in rage. "What I want is your head on a silver platter. But if I can't get it, than I shall curse you. Whenever you think of yourself with a hope of victory, you will lose everything. You will be cut down in place of everything you hold dear. This, daughter of Pallas Athena, I swear on the Styx." And with those last words spoken, Arachne made one final lunge at the two demigods, only to be impaled on Riptide's blade and crumble into nothingness, leaving but a ball of silk in her place.
Annabeth had a shocked look on her face at the death of Arachne, quickly breaking down into tears.
"But why," she said after a moment, tears breaking her speech, "I don't understand why she would do that…"
"Annabeth," Percy began after a moment of silence, trying to reassure his companion. "It's okay. She chose her own fate. Her ramblings were nothing, only words of a mad woman." He tried to sound sincere but he wasn't so sure himself. It was the rumble, the distant echo of thunder when she had sworn on the River of Hate that was worrying him. Despite that, he swore to himself that he'd protect Annabeth. No one was taking her from him.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Percy said, looking at the ball of silk. Annabeth nodded limply, and they began their journey into the dark abyss.
They walked around for what felt like days, encountering little in the way of monsters apart from the occasional hellhound or empousa. They would immediately attack them and quickly fall prey to Anaklusmos or Annabeth's knife. Speaking of Annabeth, the girl still seemed shaken by the encounter with Arachne, muttering and mumbling to herself about her actions, trying to find understanding in them. When Percy asked her about it, she would stare at him blankly for a moment before flushing and denying any problems. And, only like someone as dense as Percy could do, he simply shrugged and continued walking.
"So," Percy asked after a lengthy amount of silence one 'day', "do you have any idea who we could ask for directions in this place?" Percy asked this mainly to break the tense mood, but to his surprise, Annabeth seemed to actually think about it.
"Well," she said after a few 'minutes', "we would have to hope that we don't find one of the usual mindless drones with death wishes. This place answers to one master and one master only, the Primordial, Tartarus. I would like to avoid him and his followers personally, though."
"Why wouldn't he help us?" Percy asked. "After all, it's Gaia who is the enemy, and she's a primordial."
"Gods, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth explained exasperatedly, "you can be so ignorant. There may be no love between the two now, but you forget that the Giants are the children of Gaia and Tartarus. He may not want Gaia to win, but surely he won't stand against his own children."
Percy replied in his usual eloquent way. "Oh."
The two continued to walk in a comfortable silence for a short while before they began to hear the sound of running water in the distance. To Percy, a son of Poseidon, this sounded like an boost in their chances. After another amount of time that to them felt like a half an hour, they could see pale light reflecting off the surface of a slow-flowing river. What caught Percy's attention was the debris flowing in the current, items that he had recognized from his first visit to the underworld back on his quest to retrieve Zeus' Master Bolt. Things like diplomas, love letters, flowers, and other mementos of broken dreams cut short by untimely death or general hopelessness.
"The River Styx. It flows into Tartarus after leaving the underworld," Annabeth stated factually, as if Percy wouldn't recognize.
Her words disturbed a silhouetted figure that had been sitting by the shore of the river. The figure turned to reveal the form of a man in his late fifties with grey and white hair. What caught Percy's attention, however, was the fact the he was around ten feet tall. His entire body was covered in scars as if it has been sliced apart. Percy's eyes made their way up the man's body, stopping on his face. The gold eyes Percy's own sea green ones met were off putting, to say the least. He had only ever seen them filled with hate and a promise of pain, but now they were filled with weariness and regret.
"Percy, do you know who that is?" Annabeth asked. Clearly, Percy remarked mentally, she had not seen the eyes of the man just yet. Percy nodded to confirm her question, as did the figure to confirm his suspicion.
"Hello, grandfather," Percy called out to the tall figure.
A/N - And that, ladies, is chapter one. Oh, and you males, too, I suppose, not that I'd expect you to read at all.
Let me reiterate the fact that this is not mine. It, as well as the ideas behind it, belong to vPxForerunner x.
As of right now, August 5, 2017, there are 105 chapter of vPx's story. As of right now, August 5, 2017, there is one chapter on here. If I stick to a somewhat daily schedule, well, this should be finished on November 18, 2017, if vPx doesn't upload by then.
Don't worry in the future if this doesn't get updated. I can't update if he doesn't. I'm expecting at least two chapters from vPx by then.
Apart from this chapter and a few other key ones, the A/Ns won't be that lengthy. If they do appear, make sure to read them. They are important in one way or another.
A special message to vPx, if they read this: If you want me to take this down, just ask.
Let me know what you think. Despite my… known preference of the fairer sex, I can and will take advice from the more brutal sex. Don't let your gender stop you from leaving a review.
And now, I bid you all adieu.