Sea of the Moon

by Queen of the Rings

Cassia has been trapped in Tartarus for thousands of years. No-one even knew if she was still alive. But when Annabeth and Percy join her, and Apollo gets a prophecy, there is finally hope for her. But the Daughter of the Sea and the Hunter of the Moon isn't the same as when she fell.

A/N

NOTES: Set during House of Hades. Cassia was Artemis's first lieutenant.

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Cassia held on tightly to the edge of the rock, and stared into Zoe's eyes.

"Cass, I can get you!" Zoe pleaded, but Cassia shook her head.

"You can't reach me." She said, and her voice was immeasurably sad.

"I can! I can Cass!" Zoe cried desperately.

"Tell my Lady I'm sorry. Tell my father I love him. Tell my brother hello." Cassia told her. "I'll see you again." And then Cassia let her fingers slip, and she fell into the yawning chasm below.

"CASS!" Zoe cried, staring after the silver-glowing figure swiftly disappearing into the darkness.

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Apollo shook his head, trying to dispel the growing headache. Suddenly he felt odd, the way he did when there was an upcoming prophecy. Artemis looked at him, worry barely discernible in her eyes. Apollo opened his mouth, and spoke, in harsh, rasping tones.

"Hunter of the moon

The oceans favoured daughter

Returned from the pit

Slayer of giants

Hunter, hunted, prisoner, free

Saviour of the gods

Many years alone

Survivor of Tartarus

She has now been freed

Sibling saves sibling

Words that are spoken will free

Each in its own time"

Artemis stared, before rushing over to her brother, collapsed on the ground.

"Oh, Apollo! That, that was." She gulped, hope in her eyes, hope tinged with fear. "Oh, Cassia." Apollo stared, joy etched into his face, that was swiftly overcome with sorrow.

"Perhaps. We need to tell Uncle. Uncle or the Council" Apollo stated.

"But, we can't! Father won't let us leave!" Artemis cried. "Unless…" She trailed off looking thoughtful. Apollo smiled.

"Artemis, you're brilliant! We can't tell the Council directly, but we could tell someone who can! Also, there are some demigods coming. The rest of the Argo II crew." Apollo said. Artemis nodded.

"Should I tell them, or should you?" She asked.

"I will." Apollo replied.

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Percy was nervous. He wasn't sure if he should trust Bob-Iapetus, and the dream he had had before was strange. He looked over at Annabeth, his eyes tracing the golden curls of her hair. Suddenly his senses were on high alert, and he froze, eyes scanning the landscape around him, just in time to see a silvery figure disappear behind a rock. He pulled out Riptide, turning the pen over in his hands before uncapping it.

He crept towards the figure, Riptide held tightly in his hands. As he rounded the rock, he stared into a pair of sea-green eyes, so similar to his own that he stopped and stared in surprise.

"Who are you?" He asked on an impulse. The girl stopped, and stared, tilting her head.

"Me?" she asked back, then continued win a sing-song voice. "Hunter, hunted, prisoner, free. I am Cassia, daughter of Poseidon, and you, are Perseus, son of Poseidon." She told him, staring at him with her unwavering sea-green eyes.

Percy looked at her then, really looked. She had skin that was probably tan once, but was now ghost-pale. Her long black hair was untameable and wild, like a waterfall tumbling to her knees. Her features were delicate, but her eyes were wary and alert. She wore silver, a ragged jacket, t-shirt and leggings. A bow and quiver was strung over her back, and he saw a glint of silver on her brow.

He turned to walk back to Annabeth, but stopped when he noticed her following. She looked at him and smiled.

"Come, brother. Am I not allowed to come with you? I will do you no harm, I swear on the River Styx. Also, you are going to leave. I want to see the moon and the sea again." She told him, and it suddenly struck Percy that she had been there a long time, and was possibly slightly insane. He sighed.

"Come on then Cassia, although I don't know how I'll tell Annabeth." He told Cassia, who simply grinned in response.

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Leo looked nervously at the sun god. Currently he didn't look very impressive, but he knew that Apollo could smite him at any time.

"So you're looking for the physicians cure, huh?" Leo nodded mutely. "I can give you the Curse of Delos, but I need something from you."

"What do you need?" Leo asked nervously.

"I need you to tell the Council something." Apollo replied, and Leo could tell it wasn't a question.

"Tell them what?"

Apollo patted his pockets, searching. "Here! A prophecy. Don't worry, it doesn't concern you, but it may be of interest to your friends down below, and the rest of the Council."

Leo frowned slightly. "Why don't you tell them yourself? Why do you need me?" Apollo sighed and strung his bow, shooting an arrow off the island. Before it left though, it went in in smoke and disappeared.

"Because I can't. This is what you need to tell the Council.

"Hunter of the moon

The oceans favoured daughter

Returned from the pit

Slayer of giants

Hunter, hunted, prisoner, free

Saviour of the gods

Many years alone

Survivor of Tartarus

She has now been freed

Sibling saves sibling

Words that are spoken will free

Each in its own time"

Leo stared. "Do, do you know who it's talking about?"

"We do." Apollo replied sadly. "We believe it's talking about Cassia, an old friend of ours. She was Artemis' first lieutenant, and fought with her in the First Giant War against the Giants. Because Orion had already been taken out, we helped fight the twins, Alcyoneus and Polybotes. We were helping Aphrodite fight Periboia, when Artemis…" he trailed off, looking at the ground.

"Periboia had a dagger. A big one. It went in up to the hilt." Artemis said grimly, pointing to a spot on her chest. Leo yelped in suprise, and Artemis smiled slightly. "Apollo was, healing me, and Cassia held Periboia off, and then, with Aphrodite, she finished her off. Of course, Herakles got the glory, but it was all Cassia. After, I… I sent my Hunters to check that all of the Giants were … in Tartarus and … and …" Artemis stopped, tears in her eyes.

"And Cassia fell. Into Tartarus. She was with Zoe at the time, and Zoe couldn't do anything to help. We couldn't do anything to help. We were in the Council, and we … we were discussing making Cassia immortal, like with Herakles. And then … and then we sealed Tartarus." Apollo continued.

"And then Zoe burst into the council, and told me that Cassia had fallen just before we sealed the pit. There was nothing we could do. And now, now we believe she could be coming back." She paused, then looked over Leo. "Olympus was not the same without her. She was Poseidon's first daughter, he normally has sons. She was my first Lieutenant. We, the gods of Olympus, would like her back very much."

"But," Leo frowned. "Wouldn't she be dead? She fell thousands of years ago." Artemis gave a small smile.

"Part of the Hunter's Blessing is partial immortality. My Hunters cannot grow old or get sick, and they live forever unless kicked out or killed in battle. Cassia hasn't been kicked out, and I doubt she's been killed, since the prophecy refers to her. So please, tell the other gods if you can." Artemis told him.

"I will do my best." Leo replied. "Now can I have my Delos Curse?" Apollo smiled.

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A/N

So, I'm not giving up on PJ's DADA or Change, but this was bouncing around in my head for a while, so here you go, the first chapter of Sea of the Moon.

It'll probably be a bit darker, because Cassia was in Tartarus for a long time, (I'm not even sure how she survived what she did [spoilers!]) so of course Cassia has gone a bit round the bend. (more than that, she's C0MPL3TL3Y 80NK3R5)

So, yeah.

-Queen of the Rings