A/N

Good to update. How's life guys? Before I start I'd like to give a couple shout-outs.

England 3, Bulgaria 0- good job Rooney! Wales 2, Montenegro 1- Nice one Wales, it's good to see Ramsey back. And here we have the proverb of the chapter-

"A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword" (English proverb)

Dinner was an uneventful affair. It sucked that I was forced to sit by myself. All the other tables had at least two people at them. Chiron made some announcements, we had a new camper, blah blah blah, and then we trickled out of the pavilion. Some to the campfire and some to bed. I went to bed, although I wasn't aware of the whopper of a dream I was about to have.

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My eyes shot open. I was lying on a strange... what was it now? Daybed. I was lying of a daybed. I slid off, and realised that I was in the most beautiful room I had ever been in. There were no words to describe it, other than the fact that I knew the type of building. It reminded me of the Espai D'art Gallery in Barcelona. I went to the balcony and looked out.

It WAS Barcelona, albeit with a light dusting of snow. That usually didn't happen. I went back into the room, and out the other door, which led into a corridor. A woman with long dark hair was fixing a bouquet. There was a flower on the ground. It looked like it had only recently been dropped, so I picked it up and went over. "Excuse me, does thi-" The woman turned her eyes on me and I dropped the flower. Hurriedly I picked it up again.

However nice the flowers were- and they were really good- this woman was twice as beautiful. She smiled at me.

"Oh, thank you sweetie." She took the flower from me and arranged it into the bouquet. "Now, dear, why don't you come with me. We need to talk about... things." She looked sad, like she'd been dreading this moment, but she also looked... cheerful? No, she looked proud.

"Look, lady," I found myself saying, "Who are you and what do you want?" She looked a bit disappointed, when I asked her that. She sighed.

"Dearest, who do you think I am? Do I remind you of anyone?" I looked closer. Her eyes were hazel green, like mine, she had the same colour hair as me... "You look like me... coincidence right?" She rolled her eyes.

"Guess, Aaron. Don't tell me you're as stupid as most heroes are." She was scolding me like a mother. Then it hit me.

"Are... are you Hecate?" Are you my mother? She smiled.

"Finally. I was wondering if my own son wouldn't recognize his own mother." She frowned. "Now sweetie, come with me. We need to talk about things." She pulled my arm and dragged me along, to an open air room with a sofa in the middle of it. We sat down, and she looked at me fondly. "Now, what do you think?" She threw her arm back, gesturing to the room, to the... house?

"It's really cool." I said. "But I thought the gods were silent?" Hecate sighed. She began running her hands through my hair, totally messing it up.

"Most of the Olympians don't trust me, dear. I... I didn't very well support them in the second Titan War." I backed away from her.

"You didn't support... Why not?"

"Oh dear, it was hard not to! The Olympians were losing support anyway, and my role in the universe was always small. I, perhaps I wanted something more than just this."

"But, mother," I decided to put the whole, My-mother's-a-traitor thing behind me. There were more concerning matters to attend to. "I thought the gods weren't supposed to be talking. At all." She rolled her eyes.

"Most of the Olympians don't trust me, so they let me build my own palace. I chose Barcelona. I'm quite sure, yes you like Barcelona, don't you dear?"

"Don't change the subject. How can you be talking to me if the gods are supposed to be silent? Wouldn't Zeus have... silenced you or something?"

"I'm more or less under house arrest. No, I'm not supposed to be talking to you, but it's been so long since you last saw me. 8 years?" It suddenly dawned on me. She was the one who had been arguing with my father when I was 8. She had been fighting for me to move to England. But dad had stayed firm.

"You were the one who was arguing with dad! But... after the accident I did move..." I looked at my new mother with realisation dawning on my face. She looked pained.

"Dearest, it wasn't easy to do that to him. But you needed to move. The monster attacks would only get more frequent, and you needed to be safe!"

"So why not send me to Camp Half-Blood?" I yelled. "I'm there now! Why didn't you do it before?" She cringed, as if this was actually hurting her.

"Aaron, I couldn't send you there then. At the time I was... preoccupied. And I couldn't bring you over any time quicker because of the Titan War."

"Percy told me that you supported the Titans. Is that true? Is that why I was sent away?" Hecate had a faraway look in her eyes. She was in pain, that much I could tell. Could words- my words- hold that much power?

"No, I... I did support the Titans in the second war. I thought... I could have a bigger slice of the universe. And now look at me." She laughed a hollow laugh. "Under house arrest, and not even on Olympus." She looked straight at me and said, "You need to understand something. Everything I have done to you and for you has been for a reason." I was lost. "Aaron, I sent you away because I knew at Camp Half Blood you wouldn't survive. You would join the Titans, and you would die in the Titan War. What I know from the fates is that you will die fighting an enemy of the gods. I sent you away to preserve you. You are my champion, my son. Your father wouldn't have you going to overseas."

I looked at her with anger, but it quickly faded as I could see she suffered just as much as I did. And I realised another thing. Dad wasn't all that great. He didn't agree with, or even like, my love of soccer. He wanted me to be a skier. All the best things in my short life had happened in England. I looked at Hecate. She had tears in her eyes.

"Mom, I forgive you. All the best things in my life have happened because dad died." I wrapped my arms around my mother, forgetting that she was a goddess, she was my birth mother, not my foster one.

Already she meant the world to me. I wanted to make her proud. She had called me her champion. I had no idea what that meant, but I knew it made me an important demigod. We embraced for a few minutes, and then I withdrew. "Mom, thank you. Thank you for giving me this." I pulled out the lighter. She smiled.

"You are such a sweetheart. God's don't usually get an in-person thank you for a magical item. Now, dear, I've got to go. But, I do need to give you a message. That old Hera is playing a deadly game. She's bringing the two sides together. The old gaffer's hoping he'll be able to lull the earth back to sleep, and things are going to have to get a LOT worse before he changes his mind.

Listen to me, dear. Sorcery, magic and crossroad... they're all fine. But you must remember that you need to find your own strengths. All that I patron is just... trivia." She winked at me. "You'll figure it out. Good bye dear, we won't be able to talk for some time.

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My eyes flew open. I was back in my cabin. "It must've been a dream... but so vivid? More like a message." I murmured. "But, if she can contact me... maybe other gods can too." I shook my head. Things were getting weird. Little did I know that was the first of many dreams, and let me tell you, without a doubt the most pleasant.

I rolled off my sofa and stared at the fire. It was almost hypnotic. I thought back to my dream. Find my own powers. How was I supposed to do that? And what was with that trivia nonsense? Maybe it was just to emphasize finding my own strengths and powers? Why did gods have to be so mysterious? A conch horn blew. "Breakfast time," I murmured.

Breakfast was low key. Nothing much was going on. Although, hopefully Percy would be back today. That would be cool. I still wasn't sure what to make of my dream. I wanted to tell someone about it, but it was pretty damn embarrassing. I didn't know gods could act so... motherly. I didn't eat much that breakfast. Maybe that was a mistake, because I was barely aware that I had the two most gruelling activities coming up before lunch.

I looked up at the climbing wall. I made a sound that might've been a whimper. "Do I have to do this guys?" I asked, my eyes not leaving the lava spill. Will chuckled.

"We've all gotta do it. It kinda sucks, but that's camp for you." He shrugged. It was easy for him, he didn't have vertigo.

"Dude, Will, I can't do this. I actually can't. I'm..." I motioned for him to come closer. "I'm scared of heights, and I don't mean scared of being burned to death. I have vertigo." Will had a bemused expression on his face, like he couldn't tell if I was being serious or not. "Will, I can't do this. I'll panic and you'll have to clean up my charred remains." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Hey man, don't embarrass yourself. Little kids do this. You've seen little Harley? He did it pretty quick." He shrugged and then said, "Get your harness on." I shook my head. There was absolutely no way I was doing this.

Most of the other campers had gotten to the top of the wall fine. It was just me and a girl I barely knew called Kayla. She looked at me and laughed. "Nervous?"

I managed a weak chuckle. "Me? Never..." I swallowed. Words washed through my mind. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down!

I heaved myself up the last three feet. I lay on the top of the climbing wall, gasping like a fish while Kayla just laughed at me. My shoes had partially melted, and some of my hair was burnt off. "Oh my gods, that was the funniest thing!" Kayla could barely contain herself. I glared at her.

"Like it's my fault I'm scared of heights! Stop laughing and help me up." She held out her hand and she pulled me up. My legs were shaking. "Gods that was scary. I'm not doing that again." She giggled.

"C'mon Aaron. The good news is, you don't have to climb DOWN the wall." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. What are we doing next?" She raised her eyebrow.

"We? No, Apollo and Iris have archery. You, Hades and Hephaestus have sword fighting class. See you round."

I stared up at the arena. Sword fighting class? Sure, sounds great. I walked into the arena. A bunch of big burly dudes looked over at me. Off to the side, a guy and the girl, Andrea Gomes, stood, talking quietly. A big girl in a tank top came over to me. She looked like one of those women in action movies, with her tank top and camo pants. "You Aaron?" She asked.

"Yeah. Who wants to know?" A flicker of a smile played across her face.

"Watch the attitude sparkly boy." I felt the corner of my mouth pulling into a smile.

"Sparkly boy?" I asked. "What's up with that Mrs. Schwarzenegger?" This time she did smile.

"Shake a paw Aaron. Names Nyssa, acting leader of the Hephaestus cabin. I hear your new. I'll set you up with Andrea. She was the newest. Before you came, that is."

Well... this was my chance to get to know Andrea. She was gorgeous. I needed to get to know here. I picked out a sword that fit right in my hand, and squared up to her. I grinned at her. Nothing. I winked at her. Nothing. "Nice to meet you?" I said. A flicker of annoyance passed through her almost-black brown eyes. She shook her head. Clearly she was playing hard to get.

A/N

Sorry about that chapter guys. I don't care for it much myself. The bit with Hecate was maybe a bit overkill. I wanted Hecate to be motherly though. Tell me what you think. Please. I really would like some nice reviews. Once again, thanks for reading guys.
So the part about our Hero finding his own strengths... Tell me what you think his power should be. I've already decided on something although I'm not entirely sure if it's what I want. Give me your thoughts.

And fixed. There you go. It might be easier to read now. Hopefully.

COYS!