DISCLAIMER!: WE DON'T OWN ANYTHING! You hear that Apollo! I don't own any books!

Bulba Fett: Oh….wow...I JUST did a 500 favorite celebratory quick update on tuesday and we've already broke 600...I'm so proud :')...and….very sorry on the late update, I've been pretty sick and haven't been able to write without trying to pass out at my computer for the last few days...soooooo yeah...but enough about me and my several illnesses, on to what you came here for!

TO THE STORY! :D

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Chapter 7: The Maelstrom Returns

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Kurama looked at the two, from the blade, to Luke, and back to Thalia, several times before a dark look appeared on his face. "Luke...just what have you done…." the blond man growled in fury, his blue eyes turning red with a slit pupil. Soon his entire visage just screamed bloodlust, a light growl escaping the blond man as he took slow steps towards the teen.

And only one thing could come to Luke's mind as visions of his own, bloody and gruesome death played over and over again in his head.

"...Fuck…"

. . . .

Luke began to shake in fear as the blond man made his slow approach. Thinking quickly he pressed his dagger even closer to Thalia's neck. "Ah ah ah. One more step and I'll slit her throat." the blond follower of Kronos said, a small trickle of blood appearing under his blade.

Thalia glared up at Luke and winced slightly in pain. "When I get my hands on you Luke, I swear no punishment in all of Hades will come close to what you'll feel." she snarled up at her one time friend. Luke looked down at her and pressed the blade a little closer. "Shut up! I gave you the chance to join me Thalia, but now it's too late. So just lay there and be my little hostage for now." the blond snarled back before his eyes went back to the encroaching menace.

Kurama kept up his glare, but the rest of his body language became indifferent, loosening to a near relaxed state. "So...I see you still fell into darkness...the one thing I warned you of." he said with a little salt to his words, angered that his teachings went ignored. "What's it going to be Castellan? Give up and take your punishment like a man? Or slit Thalia's throat and face my wrath afterwards? I highly recommend the first option. Trust me, the last guy I had to beat to a pulp in this situation both learned his lesson and lost an arm, and you seem pretty attached to yours." the blond man asked while an aura of oppression erupted from his body, making it difficult for all of the onlookers to breath.

Percy and Annabeth unconsciously took a few steps back, even though it wasn't directed at them, they could still feel the bloodlust rolling off of the immortal. The son of Poseidon looked to his friend and raised a slightly terrified eyebrow and pointed at the blond. "You're gonna have to explain this later Wise Girl." he said with a slight shake in his voice. All Annabeth could do was nod in response as the two looked back to the standoff between the traitor and immortal.

Luke tried to hide his fear by snorting at the blond man. "Come now Kurama? What happened to not letting hatred guide you? You seem to be acting on anger right now!" he mocked the immortals words, earning a darker scowl from the man. "Ah, but Luke, you see...I've raised some kids before, of course I wasn't the best father, but I did know how to punish them when they were being brats. Now, would you like to go over my knee? Or will a timeout do? 'Cuz I'm about to break out the belt, and I don't think you'd enoy that very much…"

While all of this was going on, Artemis was busy looking over her fallen Lieutenant. Zoe was currently laying on the ground, her head resting on her mistress's lap. "This...this is not good. The poison's already too far into her system…" Artemis began to panic. Zoe had lost consciousness after Kurama appeared, leaving her unable to fight off the effects of Landon's poison. She didn't have any other options, she needed to do something she would hate herself for.

"Kurama! Zoe needs help!" She called to the blond, making him halt in his advance and turn towards the goddess, seeing the downed hunter. Luke smirked at Kurama, knowing full well what he could do to escape. "Oh? So what's it going to be Kurama? Will you forsake the little hunter bitch to stop me? Or will you let me go to save a life? Come on, I'm waiting for an answer, I know little Zoe there can't wait much longer."

"Damn my heroic senses…" Kurama grumbled before rushing over to Zoe. "What's wrong with her?" he asked as his hands began to glow green, running a diagnostic. "She was poisoned by Landon." Artemis responded, earning a confused look from the man. "Who?-wait, not important. I need some room…" he said with a shake of his head. Artemis looked to her Lieutenant, and back to the man she asked to save her life. After a few seconds she reluctantly left Zoe's side and let the man do his work.

Luke smiled as he got off of Thalia and made a break for it. Artemis watched as Luke ran off, unable to interfere without Luke directly attacking her or her hunters. But before he got too far away, a hand made of some sort of golden aura snatched the boy by his ankle, causing him to fall to the ground. "What in Tartarus!?" he cried as he looked to the source of the hand, seeing it sprouting from Kurama's back. The man looked to the blond traitor with an amused smirk. "Please kid, you're a million years too young to trick me with this kinda shit. Now stay there while daddy thinks of a proper punishment for his bratty kid." he growled before turning his full attention to Zoe.

Kurama sighed out in frustration before cutting off the medical technique. "Alright...let's get this over with…" he mumbled to himself. He raised his bandaged hand up to the hunter's chest, right over her heart. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, channeling his power into his palm. At the center of his palm glowed a small golden sun like circle, and soon after, a pulse of power escaped from the immortal, transferring into the hunter. Black symbols scrolled over Zoe's body, escaping from the man's hand.

Kurama slowly began to lift his hand, revealing that the circle was placed on the girl's chest, and as he raised his hand, a green fluid rose with it out of the circle, following his hands movements. The blond immortal breathed out a sigh of relief as the last of the poison escaped Zoe's body, forming a sphere roughly the size of a baseball in Kurama's hand. The sphere quickly hardened and formed a marble like object before Kurama crushed it in his hand, turning it into dust.

And as Kurama released his grip on the now destroyed poison, Zoe surged to life with a sharp intake of breath, which continued as she regained consciousness. "ZOE!" Artemis called, embracing her oldest hunter. The Lieutenant's eyes widened in shock from the actions of her mistress, not entirely remembering what happened.

Before Zoe could ask what was going on, her savior turned back to the captive blond with a bloodthirsty smirk. He slammed his left fist into his right palm and began cracking knuckles. "Ah Alrighty then~. What should I do first?" he mused as he slowly made his way over to Luke. Said blond was nearly shaking in what appeared to be fear, and that just made Kurama's smirk wider. "What Luke? Scared of what I'm about to do? Well...here's a hint…" he began before stepping a little harder, cracking the ground beneath him. "It ain't gonna be pretty." he said with an absolutely savage look in his eyes.

But, Luke wasn't shaking in fear, if his smirk could explain for itself. "How wrong you are, you old piece of shit…" he growled out as his body began to shake, a light glow emanating from his skin. He began to shake even harder as the glow brightened, until his body began to tense up, nearly screaming in pain.

Kurama's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of something, something hovering over Luke. It was some sort of specter, a ghostly image that remained cast in shadows. A dark laugh escaped the specter as the light coming from Luke's skin exploded out, blinding all within range. "AH!" Kurama shouted in shock, getting caught up in the light. Once his vision returned, he could barely see Luke standing near the cliffside, Thalia held hostage in his arms again.

"Goodbye Kurama! Better luck next time!" he cackled as he fell over the edge with the daughter of Zeus. Thalia screamed as she went over the edge, fully believing she was about to die, only for a hand to lash out and grab her by the ankle, stopping her fall. She slowly got ahold of her shaking breath and looked up to see Percy holding onto her ankle, Annabeth and Kurama holding onto him by the waist, keeping him from going over the edge as well.

Percy grit his teeth as he felt Thalia's weight tug at his shoulder, trying to heave her back up. "D-Don't worry! I got you!" he gritted out as Kurama and Annabeth dragged the two back up onto the mountain top.

While the kids were getting their bearings after the explosion of light and the near death experience, Kurama sighed and looked over the edge of the mountain. "Damn...not a single sign of him…" he grumbled to himself, seeing that Luke was now nowhere to be seen. He couldn't even sense his presence anymore, and that was troubling. Nothing escaped his sensory abilities. He turned away from the cliff and moved back to where the Goddess of the hunt was. "So, anything else I could do to be assistance of?" he asked Artemis, earning a strange look from her.

"Unless you can somehow teleport us to Mount Olympus, then I believe your done here…" she said to the blond, her usual venom gone from her voice, replaced by a tiredness that seemed to convey just how much crap she was going to have to deal with soon, and the fact that she just held up the heavens for a few days. Though, she did quirk an eyebrow at him when an evil smirk played onto his face. "Actually young miss, I can do exactly that…" he said as he began to chuckle darkly.

Before Artemis could question him, Kurama turned on his heel and spread his arms. "Alright kiddies! All who need to make it to Olympus in the next 0.001 seconds, grab onto my arms!" he called with a grin.

Percy, Thalia and Annabeth shared a look before looking back at Kurama, shrugging, they stood up and latched onto his left arm. The son of Poseidon looked to Annabeth and repeated his earlier statement. "You. Explain. Full detail. Later. Got it?" he said with a deadpanned stare. All Annabeth could do again was nod, before looking to Artemis and Zoe. "Are you coming?" she asked the goddess and the hunter.

Artemis' eye began to twitch as she grabbed Kurama's arm. "I was kidding, you ass…" she grumbled, making Kurama laugh. "Well, whatever! Here we go!" he yelled before a flash of light encompassed the group, leaving the top of Mt. Tamalpais vacant save for the now silently cursing Atlas.

. . . .

Zeus, the king of gods, sighed once more as he watched the bane of Olympus do another flip in the sphere of water it was gifted, mooing happily as it swam around. He palmed his face for the umteenth time before glaring at his elder brother, Poseidon. "Again, why is the Ophiotaurus in my presence and not destroyed yet?" he grumbled like the thunder he ruled over.

Poseidon looked up from his fishing magazine and shrugged at his king. "Well, I believe mister Underwood had a good reason, right?" the sea god said while shifting his gaze at the Satyr in the room. Said Satyr froze on the spot and began to shake in fright. "Uh...uh….um-Baahhh…" he stuttered out before bleating like a goat. Zeus just gave the Satyr a deadpanned stare before rolling his eyes. "Brilliant…He looks like he's going to keel over any second, and he's one of the quest takers..."

"Now now Zeke, where are your manners?" a voice said from behind the kings throne, making him and the other Olympians jump in surprise.

Ares lept from his throne, a sword already in hand as Hermes looked up from his phone, wondering what all of the commotion was about. Zeus spun around, trying to find the mystery man. "Who dares sneak into this chamber without perm...per...pe-..." he began to shout until he blanched and lost all of his anger.

Kurama stood with the demigods and Artemis, giving the king a wave while smirking. "How ya been, sparky?" the blond immortal asked before clapping a hand onto the gods shoulder. Zeus rose a shaking hand, pointing at the blond. "Sen...sen-sen-sen….SENSEI!" he shouted before leaping back and landing on his hands and knees, bowing to the immortal. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he began to beg while repeatedly bowing to the blond.

And it was at this point the other gods were just staring in shock and confusion. The Goddess of the moon simply shook her head in exasperation before making her way over to her throne next to her twin brother Apollo. The blond god was watching his father repeatedly bow in a combination of amusement and shock. He barely registered his formerly kidnapped sister was standing next to him. "Oh...hey Arty….any idea what's going on with pops?" he asked, earning an exasperated shrug from his sister. He just nodded and went back to being shocked and amused.

This lasted until the usually quiet and docile Hestia bursted into laughter, reminding several of the gods she was still by the hearth in the grand room. "Oh geez! You were right!" she laughed out while she watched her youngest brother bow and plead before his former teacher. Kurama turned to the brown haired goddess and gave her the signature 'Nice Guy' pose, tooth shine and all. "Do I ever lie?" he asked with a wide grin before turning back to the still begging Zeus.

"Now Zach….what was it I heard about you sleeping around and cheating on your wife?" he asked with a false innocence that sent shivers down several of the god's backs. Zeus shrieked in horror as he bowed faster and faster, fearing his former teacher's wrath.

At this point Hermes was taking pictures on his phone while nudging Apollo's side. "Hey, how much do you think this'll be worth in blackmail?" he asked with a snicker in his voice.

Demeter was idly feeding the Ophiotaurus pieces of cereal as she watched the free show, wondering if the blond liked cereal.

Dionysius was sipping on his diet coke, silently watching his father fall from grace in probably the best way possible. "This'll teach him to take my wine from me…" he grumbled before looking back to his wine magazine. "Karma's a bitch...thanks Nemesis…"

Hephaestus was too busy sharpening a spear head to notice what was going on...and frankly even if he did notice, he wouldn't even care.

Aphrodite had a finger to her lips as she watched the display, wondering what she was feeling between Hestia and the new guy...just before an evil smirk played onto her pretty face. "Oh, I could have so much fun with this...plus his whisker marks are pretty cute…" she mused as she twirled a lock of hair between her fingers.

Hearing this, Ares snarled as he watched his father make a fool of himself. "Now I just want to kill this punk even more…" he grumbled, his sword constantly changing form, trying to find the perfect counter for the blond.

Poseidon was rolling on the ground laughing as he watched his-ahem-perfect little brother become a fool voluntarily. All the while, Hades was chuckling as he watched his brother beg and plead. "I don't even know this guy...And I already like him…" he chuckled out resting his head in his palm, leaning into his throne to further enjoy the show.

While all of the other gods were having their own reactions, Hera, the queen of the gods was probably the least noticeable. All the queen did was raise an eyebrow inquiringly, wondering why Zeus was apologising so much.

Kurama walked up to the bowing Zeus and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Zuke…" he started to say, before Zeus decided to interrupt him. "Ah...it's Zeus Sens-" he started before a fist found its way to the top of his head, planting him flat on the ground. "LET ME FINISH!" Kurama scolded, leaving a large bump on the kings head. "H-HAI, SENSEI!" Zeus called back, huge faux tears running down his face.

Kurama cleared his throat before he began to speak again. He took a deep breath before slamming his fist into Zeus' face, sending the king flying across the room. "YOU FOOL!" he yelled at the flying god.

At this point, Percy just shot his hands into the air and turned away from the rest of the room. "Okay, this is just way too much crazy for me!" he exclaimed as he started to leave, just for Annabeth and Thalia to grab him by his shirt. "Wait, this is getting good…" they said in unison, never taking their eyes off of the two. The son of the sea's eye began to twitch as he look at his two companions. "That was just freaky…"

Over with the king and master, Kurama kneeled in front of the bowing Zeus and clasped a hand onto his shoulder. "Now...what did I teach you all those years ago?" the blond said to his godly protege. Zeus hesitantly looked up and began to tremble. "To n-not go back on my w-words and a-always be faithful to th-those I love?" he squeaked out, trying to keep his voice under control. Kurama nodded along with the words of the god before closing his eyes in a deadly smirk. "And what did you do?"

All Zeus could do was gulp in fear. And then everything went black for the king of the gods.

Kurama sighed as he stood up, shaking his fist out after punching out a god. After he finished working out the kinks in his hand, he turned back around to the rest of the room and took a deep breath. "Hello!" he called with a grand smile. "Now, you all may be wondering who, what, why, where, and how at the moment, so let me explain." he started before looking to each of the gods, a large smirk playing across his face. "I…"

A long pause left the gods in suspense...until Artemis got fed up with it and blurted out for him. "His name's Kurama. He's an immortal that's around the age of the Primordials." she yelled, a sinister smirk formed on her face when she saw the blond man deflate in defeat.

"You're no fun...you know that?"

. . . .

(A/N): To be continued…

Bulba Fett: Again, I'd like to apologize for not updating on Saturday. I was VERY sick and have been trying to get over it for the last few days. Also, I had a little trouble with the chapter since I was sick and kinda not thinking straight and rewrote parts of this like five times before deciding to actually keep it. Soooo…yeah...sorry 'bout that!

Remember to REVIEW! And like always, I'll see ya next time!