Chapter 2 – Return To Camp

A/N: Chapter 2, remastered for your reading pleasures. I hope you guys enjoy it :)

Percy woke up in what had once been a familiar surrounding for the young demi-god. Was he back at Camp Half-Blood? No he couldn't have been! The last thing he remembered was tracking the Abomination before it... No, that couldn't be right, it had beaten him? Yes, it was true, the Abomination had brutally beaten Percy to within an inch of his mortal life, but Artemis had saved him at the last moment right before he was killed off. Towards the end of things he had become certain that he was to be killed, but apparently the Goddess had other ideas about him. Now resting in an older part of the infirmary that he didn't recognize he stood on uncertain feet before finding some suitable clothes to wear. If Artemis or the hunt were still anywhere nearby they wouldn't appreciate his hospital like garments that could be quite revealing.

'Oh? We're alive, how about that? For a moment there, I could have sworn that I'd been permanently destroyed, something that I would only have been able to register if our body was so badly damaged that our mind had given up. Interesting.' There it was, the voice pitching in his two cents, something that Percy wasn't too happy about keeping around. Though in the past however long he'd been alone for, he'd always had the company of the sometimes reasonable voice in his head. He desperately wished that he wasn't just flat out insane though,

Percy took shaky steps as he emerged in Camp Half-Blood. Whispers everywhere were heard inside his broken mind, all of them confirming rumors as to the reason that Artemis had come to the camp. Percy ignored them all, instead he kept walking towards the pier, the only place he knew that he would be safe from any distractions, the only place he knew for a fact that he could escape to if he needed it. The solitude that the lake provided from everyone else was bliss. Nearly everyone, Percy's little brother Jack could still try to aggravate him under the waves, but if it came down to it the only being that could even remotely prevent Percy's wrath underwater was their father, Poseidon, and even he wasn't that keen on Jack. Percy was still his favorite and between him and Artemis, they were the only Gods aside from Hephaestus and Hestia that he actually liked anymore. Hephaestus because he too hated the Gods, and Hestia because she was innocent of the God's crimes.

As Percy neared the very edge of the pier a stern and arrogant voice called out behind him. "You got a lot of nerve to come back here, brother." Jack called him out. Percy didn't even bother turning around, he just shakily continued to the water's edge before staring down at his own tortured reflection. He was broken, just as much before the rippling water made it evident.

'This is happening Perseus, if you don't kill that arrogant little prick, then I will. I promise us that.'

"Jack, don't." He faintly heard Annabeth whisper behind him. She knew only too well what Percy was capable of, and Jack was definitely not in Gaea's league. Percy had taken down giants and monsters alike before the Earth mother revealed herself. In an unbridled rage, Percy had taken down the earth-mother, Gaea, by himself before the eyes of his friends and the Gods, forcing the Earth back into a deep sleep.

"What!? Why are you defending him? He's the scum of the sea, he doesn't deserve any sympathy from you or this camp, and I'll prove just how much of a coward he is. Jackson, you have five minutes to leave this camp forever before I run you through myself." Jack sneered. This got Percy's attention.

'Game on you shit stain.'

'That is a challenge father, I cannot ignore the call of a duel, I'm sorry, but you may find yourself one son shorter in a few minutes.' Percy explained calmly and regretfully for his father's part as he stared into the waters that ran freely into the seas. He felt a great sadness building, but even his father could see that it was inevitable. Jack would not stop until he was revered as the strongest, and that could not happen with Percy alive, not in a million years.

"Are you even listening to me Jackson? You should respect your superiors." Jack pouted as he folded his arms. Percy shocked everyone when his pen was pulled out, a few gasps were heard when instead of turning into Anaklusmos it turned into a shimmering trident that shone as brightly as his sea green eyes.

"Impossible, father didn't even give Triton a trident for a weapon, how did you get one!?" Jack snarled, pulling his own weapon free. A nameless bronze xiphos, it was laughter worthy compared to Percy's weapons. He didn't need a trident to destroy Jack's attempt at fighting, in fact it might have even been more iconic if Percy had fought back with his own xiphos, the renowned Anaklusmos, but truthfully he'd changed a lot since he'd last been at this camp. He was no longer the Percy Jackson that they all knew, and this new one just wanted to show his younger brother just how outmatched he really was.

"Is it not obvious? I've saved Olympus itself on several different occasions Jack. I refused godhood twice. When they offered to make me a master weapon I simply couldn't deny Hephaestus the challenge. So he made me a perfectly balanced trident, and I must admit it's beautiful." Percy started to marvel at his own creation. Just as he turned back towards Jack, the trident seemed to burst to life as water started to snake around it.

'I'm taking so much more pleasure from this than I should, and I already know that, but this twat has got it coming. Not even father is stepping in to stop us. Though, what CAN he do? Our power over hydrokinesis is such that he would actually have to focus to beat us back at it, and he's not exactly going to strike down the near Champion of Olympus over the sake of a son he doesn't much care for.'

Percy grinned at his inner voice, he was right. He WAS going to enjoy this far more than he should. "So, you've issued the challenge, let's cut the five minute bullshit, you want your shot at killing me, so let's get right to it shall we?" Percy asked them all rhetorically. He slammed his trident into the pier as it shook violently. Annabeth was thrown backwards into the beach and the bridge had been destroyed. Water took its place as a raised platform for the dueling demi-gods. This was a battle to the death that only a son of Poseidon could fight in.

The younger brother lunged forwards, pushing his bronze blade out in a desperate attempt to kill Percy as quickly as he could. To the surprise of nearly everyone present, Percy backhanded the blade away with reflexes so fast that almost nobody had seen him even move.

They only really noticed it when they saw Percy's left hand in the air, and Jack spinning around, desperately trying to regain his footing. 'You know what I don't get? For a son of Poseidon, a sixteen year old one as well, he really doesn't have that much control over the element, does he? Look at him, he's recovering from a relatively powerful counter attack and at the same time, most of his focus is on not falling beneath the waves. We don't even think about that, and we're only a few years older than this roach.' Percy hummed slightly in agreement. He wasn't wrong, Jack was using nearly all of his focus and power on staying upright. If Percy used a water attack, then Jack would be finished. He wasn't going to destroy the last piece of dignity that the loud mouth had. This was a fight to the death, so he would at the very least try not to make it look SO effortless.

Behind the demi-gods, there was an immortal watching, almost enchanted by the sheer majesty that Percy was commanding the flow of this fight. It was beautiful in it's own sense of the word. So why had he nearly died at the hands of an abomination that it had taken only herself and six others to fight off with arrows?

'End this now, Perseus. There is no point playing with him. Look at his eyes, he's already realized that death is imminent. If you let him continue, he will turn into another Octavian and start preaching to the camp about how it had always been your plan to dethrone whatever sense of victory and success that he ever had.'

Jack nervously lurched forwards. Percy sighed, knowing that the voice was right, the time to finish this was now. With another slam of his trident, Percy collapsed almost all parts of the bridge, making the waves come crashing down on his brother. Percy stood stoic before slowly rising in the water, trident in hand before he threw it into the waves at an unknown target. A few moments later and the small storm that had amassed had died down. The waves did not seem calmer, but that was no longer Percy's doing.

A son of Poseidon had died today, the sea God was mourning, and it was becoming evident on the surrounding waters as they started to rampage the further out they went, thought the ones all aroudn the camp only served to mirror the image of Percy; a cold and collected machine.

Percy calmly walked over to Annabeth who was in shock and tears. "I'm glad that you at least cried for one of us. Remember this day Annabeth, I don't break my promises. A son of Poseidon now lies dead beneath the waves of your precious camp because you could not control his stupidity." Percy sneered before a huge wave shot forwards from the surf and formed his trident in his hands that he then collapsed back into a pen.

As it was, Percy was just about to leave the camp when a certain Goddess stopped him. "Perseus wait." She called out to him. He turned with a slight glare, "It's Percy. What might you need of me Goddess? I am willing to repay the debt that was saving my life but I will not do any ridiculous tasks or you." He told her straight up.

'I wonder if anyone has ever had the same thoughts as us right now and NOT immediately become a eunuch?' The inner voice was NOT helping. Gods he hated that thing being right all the time. So he HAD for a few brief seconds quickly let his mind flitter over the fact that, seeing as Artemis had aged somewhat and was pretty much biologically just as old as him, she was actually incredibly beautiful. It caught him off guard for a few seconds.

"Firstly you should watch your tone, I know that you are powerful but I am still a Goddess, and should be respected as such." She told him quickly, returning his glare before it all dispersed. She sighed slightly before continuing to her point. Taking note of how Percy never once flinched at the possibly prospect of an angry Goddess standing right before him. "Perseus I know a broken man when I see one, and I have an offer for you that no man has ever been given before. Come, let us speak with the council, they are a bit edgy that you just murdered one of your own brothers." Artemis told him with a sad glint adorning her silver eyes.

'It's really not like we actually have any choice with this.' Percy agreed with a soft hum, the only thing he had ever permitted himself to respond to his inner voice with. He knew that if he ever got used to having fully vocal conversations with it, then if there ever came a time that the voice was NOT with him, then his mind would just fabricate something new and then he'd be truly insane.

Percy glanced at Artemis' piercing silver eyes and merely nodded, allowing her to put her hand on his shoulder and take them to Olympus.

A/N: As always, thanks for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed this newly updated version of the story, stick around for any more chapters that might be published very soon. If you CAN, then I'd love to hear your reviews, or messages, I enjoy getting both.

If you feel like supporting my other hobby, you can come and watch me play a load of old games from my childhood, a lot of nostalgic playstation 1 gaming happening at the moment, check it out. /channel/UCuR41yuScY68Z7r84rp0nZg