I don't own PJO or HOO

Percy POV

When I woke up the next morning, everything was still black. I sat up, freaking out for a second, but I realized I was still in the sleeping bag with Bianca and the black was her hair.

I carefully pulled her out and pack any useful supplies I could find in the ranch house, careful to always keep one eye on Bianca, there was no way in Hades I was going to let anything bad happen to her.

When I had packed both bags full of any rations I could find, I slung both bags over my back, put the helmet of my now fairly dented armor back on, and gently picked Bianca up. I jogged with her back to the labyrinth entrance and plunged back into the darkness.

I wanted to say I had a plan, but I had no idea where I was going or what I was supposed to be doing besides from completing a quest and finding Selina and Beck. I ran blindly through the maze for a while, but I noticed the paths were becoming brighter, the walls looking more like black glass.

I heard a vicious roar from behind us and I just took off, I couldn't fight something huge and carry Bianca at the same time. I kept running until I saw a large archway in the distance. I kept going until I was through the arch.

"Hey wait up dude!" A familiar voice called from behind me. I turned and found Beck and Selina chasing after me.

"So are you the forth quest member?" Selina asked

"Yup, good to see you again guys." Of course that got some confused looks, I really need to just full up lose the armor. I pulled my helmet off and gave them a sideways grin.

"PERCY" they shouted in unison and tried to jump me, but I moved back quickly so Bianca wouldn't fall.

"We can catch up later, we have to focus on the quest right now, and Bianca mostly filled me in." I told them and they nodded.

"So where are we exactly?" Beck asked, looking around at what looked like the inside of a volcano.

"You have found your way to me my son, Nice to see you Charles." A gravelly voice came from the doorway on the other side of the volcano hallway. Standing there was a giant man, maybe 6'7", he had fairly strong looking arms, but two robots were supporting him, his legs were both in bulky metal braces. His hair and shaggy beard had what looked like sparks running through it. His face was deformed and twisted, like a boxer who had lost a match with a flaming hammer.

"Dad?" Beck cautiously asked, looking a little hopeful.

"Yes boy that would be me." The disfigured smith god chuckled, he clearly was uncomfortable with the entire situation.

Beck looked stunned for a second, he cautiously approached his dad, like he was trying to sneak up on a bull that might suddenly turn and charge.

"I'm not gonna hurt you Charles, I'm your father for Zeus's sake." Despite being socially removed, the smith god could obviously recognize how nervous his son was.

Beck ran forward and almost knocked Hephaestus over, not with a hug though, but a solid punch to the gut.

The forge god let out a grunt and fell to one knee, his leg brace releasing a hiss of steam and bending to accommodate.

Beck turned from Hephaestus and marched to the back of the cavern, presumably into Hephaestus's forge. My theory was confirmed a few minutes when I could hear the bangs of a hammer at a forge.

Selina discreetly flipped off the forge god and made her way back to the forge where Beck was.

I watched the robots next to the forge god help him up, his expression was blank, void of any emotion.

"If you don't mind me asking Lord Hephaestus, why would your own son hit you?" I asked the forge god gently, trying to avoid angering him further.

Hephaestus simply grunted and gestured for me to follow him into a side room. I carried Bianca the whole way, she was slowly beginning to stir. Hephaestus motioned for me to put her on a bed that was in the room. I placed her gently on the bed and gave her a light kiss on her forehead.

I followed Hephaestus back into the main area and into the forge. Beck was furiously pounding a large sheet of metal into a chest plate. Selina was trying in vain to calm him now.

"Beck, I'm sure he's tried everything, but you know how she can be, all the stories agree." She said while rubbing his back soothingly. Beck finally put the hemmer down and threw the chest piece aside into a cooling bucket. He then drew Selina into a long kiss.

I groaned and turned away, partly because it gross that two of my best friends were making out in front of me, partly because I hadn't done the same with Bianca yet.

Hephaestus cleared his throat and Beck reluctantly pulled away from Selina.

"Yes Lord Hephaestus?" he asked in a bitter tone. I had no idea why Beck was acting like this, he was never mad at anyone, ever.

"I had no idea until she told you son, I swear I will try to get her to reverse it." He said, I was still clueless.

"Anyone want to tell me what the Hades is going on here?" I asked

"Charlie and I ran into Hera after we lost Bianca, he tricked her into admitting she cursed Hephaestus and his children." Selina said while rubbing circles on Beck's back, calming him down.

"And I had no idea, when we have our next meeting, I am going to make her reverse it." Hephaestus grunted, his beard starting to smoke, his eyes dancing with an angry bitter flame.

"Well, all the family drama aside, we must be here for a reason, the labyrinth led here so what are we supposed to do Lord Hephaestus?" I cut into what was probably going to turn into a long, angry and loud argument between father and son.

"If you are looking for work, one of my forges keeps getting broken into, but whatever is doing it flees when it senses my presence. If you lot could go find and preferably kill whatever is breaking into their, that would be most helpful, in exchange, I'll help your quest along." He pulled out a map and marked a spot on it. The he pulled a full sized automaton from his pocket and set it on the ground.

"This will lead you to my forge if you decide to go." He said and gestured to the automation, which started walking out the door.

"You two go, I'll stay here with Bianca." Selina started pushing us out the door, but didn't let Beck go without another quick cough long cough make out session, I had to hold back a groan.

Once they were done, Beck and I jogged and quickly caught up with the slow automaton.

"So how's things at camp?" I struck up a conversation with Beck, the quiet was unnerving.

"Actually quite terrible. Nico went completely Goth, Chiron is disheartened, Darren is an even bigger prick than before, and Bianca is completely out of whack." He grumbled, I was surprised.

"All because of me, but I can hardly do anything, I'm just me."

"And that right there is why so many people miss you. You act like a real hero, not like Darren or his goons."

"Because they can do stuff, they can fight, all I've managed to do is not get blown up inside a giant robot."

"That's actually more than Darren or any of his goons have done. He makes himself seem like a bigshot, but Annabeth and Grover on his first quest, he sat back and did nothing. On his second quest, he wasn't even supposed to be there, he snuck himself and Annabeth out with his half-brother who he bullied into going. Clarisse and Tyson did all the work, but Tyson was killed in the end, and all Darren had to say was good riddance."

"But Darren beats up everyone up in the arena, if he does nothing, how could he be so good?"

"Have you ever looked at who he fights? Only his friends who let him win and people with no experience."

"And you're saying he got worse than when I was last there?"

"Yeah, he sends probably 3 or 4 younger kids to the infirmary every day, and no one can stop him because they may risk Poseidon's wrath."

"I knew him before he was at camp, the same thing happened then, no one said anything because of his rich family."

"That's why we need you back, you may have gotten crushed by him, but he ended up just as bad, he couldn't bully anyone for a week. Best week of camp in years, and you did that, no one else."

"I didn't know I made a difference at all, I thought I was just a punching bag, someone the gods would push around for fun, I've been treated like dirt my whole life."

"I don't anything before camp, but you are strong, I've seen it, you went toe to toe with Artemis's best hunter before you got even a week's worth of training, we need you back, I sure as Hades know Bianca does."

"I had no idea, I'll come back, for sure, I wasn't trying to be gone forever anyway, I was temporarily held hostage in a junkyard by my father." I groaned, remembering how I had just appeared back in the middle of the junkyard, Leo hammering away at fixing the giant Talos again.

"So you know who your father is?"

"No, he shows up in dreams sometimes, and influences what's happening around me, but he won't tell me who he is."

"He'll tell you eventually, he bothers to help you, which is a good sign, he cares, just sounds scared." Beck said, we had reached a second volcano entrance at this point, Mt. St Helens.

"Guess this is our stop." I made my way into the forge, quickly followed by Beck.

When we were inside, we snuck through the passageways until we made it to the center. There were multiple hanging platforms hanging over a bubbling pit of lava that was the floor of the entire center of the volcano.

"Careful!" a shrill voice cried from one of the higher platforms. I looked at Beck and pointed up, the made a quiet motion, he nodded in response. We made our way up one of the narrow paths along the side of the volcano and soon made it to the platform where we heard the yelling.

I wasn't quite sure what they were, but some sort of monster was hammering away at an anvil, the blade it was forging was curved and I could feel it radiating an evil aura.

When the dog-seal thing that had human arms and legs stopped hammering, two more carefully picked up the red hot blade and dipped in a vat of a red liquid that probably wasn't Kool-Aid.

When they pulled the blade back out, I could see clearly what it was. I was part Celestial bronze, part mortal steel, and some kind of gold. The base of the hilt had an hourglass design. The blade itself was thin, but layered, all the metals looked pressed together like it had gone through a trash compacter, several times. It was a work of art, but the amount of evil and death that came off it made me want to hide. This could only be one weapon.

Kronos's scythe.

I gave Beck a sideways glance, and his jaw was basically in the lava, he was staring in awe at the forging masterpiece.

"Good, master shall be pleased, only a few more hammerings and at least two more cooling's in blood and it should be done." What looked to be the lead...thing... said, obviously proud of the work that was happening here, it made me sick however.

"Poseidon will regret the day he cast us out, we shall show him the Telkhines are the greatest forgers the world has to offer!" The lead one continued, raising a fist and starting a chant.

"UP WITH THE TITANS DOWN WITH OLYMPUS!"

Beck pulled me aside and whispered to me, "I've heard of these guys, they worked for Poseidon, but when he caught them cursing the weapons they were making for them, he cursed them to never be able to forge below the seas again, then he banished them to dry land, but maintain their aquatic properties."

"We have to get back to your dad now, we can't take this many without getting killed ourselves, and we need to warn camp, Kronos may be coming."

"I SMELL DEMIGOD" one of the sea dogs just had to shout, sending the others into a frenzy, grabbing various weapons from around them.

"You go Beck, tell the others, I'll hold them off." I pushed him to the exit, but he stood his ground.

"Not again, you get the happy ending today, go back to my father, warn Olympus."

"We go together, we take them out and destroy the blade, deal?" I held my hand out for a hand shake, but Beck clasped my forearm in a strong grip,

"Let's hope one of us gets out of here alive then, so what's the plan?" he grinned and I looked again down at the lava, it gave me an idea.

I quickly told him my plan, most of it at least, I didn't want him freaking out, while he marched up to the platform to stall the Telkhines, I jumped into the volcano.

I could feel myself getting a little bit warm, but I couldn't feel myself burning. Guess I could check lava proof off my list of weird power related to heat. That seemed to be the only recurring theme in my powers.

When I sunk to the bottom, I saw something I was completely unprepared for. I wasn't standing on mantle near the Erath's crust, I was standing on a head, a giant horrible terrifying head, and it was in a panic.

"Why are you here light born, do you come to free your father, or are you of shadows, here to free your lord?" His voice was deep and worried, I had no idea what it was, but the monster I was standing on seemed to be acting like a prison guard.

"Who are you, who are you guarding?" I asked and he jerked his head behind him, where two boxes, one made of pure sunlight, the other of the blackest metal I had ever seen. Some kind of shadow liquid was ripping from the light box, while a small ray of light came from the black box.

When the beam of light landed on me, both boxes started rumbling, I could feel the light on me intensifying, making me feel powerful, stronger than I had ever felt before.

The liquid pouring from the other box had turned into a serpent that was slithering towards me with great speed, I went to leap away, but it was never aiming for me. It bit the great guard I was standing on clean in the forehead and slipped in through the hole it made.

The giant I was on stumbled and roared in fury, his skin from where the snake entered outwards quickly turning a sickly gray color, like a storm.

"AT LAST A CONCIOUS TO CONTROL! TYPHOON IS MINE AGAIN, WE SHALL SEND THE GODS TO THEIR KNEES!" A deep and dark boomed from the light box, but it was quickly repeated by the giant, who I know knew was Typhoon, the giant that almost tore Olympus down in ancient times.

He left out a great breathe and thousands of gallons of lava with me in it went shooting upwards, actually according to plan, minus anything alive in the lava, but I forgot to warn Beck what was coming. I heard a loud explosion and felt the volcano erupt, both Beck and I still inside.

Beckendorf POV

Percy told me he could find a way to make the volcano erupt, then he would yell for me to get out of the way, I only had to distract the Telkhines long enough for him to pull it off.

I walked proudly onto the platform, some loose armor from around the forge thrown over me and a giant battle axe in my hands, all the loose equipment laying around this place is actually helpful, not just a pointless mess.

When I got close enough the Telkhines, I swung my axe in a huge arc, killing about five of them and getting their attention pretty damned fast.

"So, a forge spawn, sent by his father to die, you don't have to die you know, our lord searches for one more, just one, come with us, be the one." The lead one jumped right into pitching some crazy idea, I grabbed an anvil from beside me and chucked it at him, damn that thing was heavy.

It dodged easily, but the four or five behind it were crushed into gold dust.

"Well that's too bad, now for some fun. Let's see if your father blessed you like he has other, let us see if you can survive the walk of fire."

It grabbed a handful of molten metal from a forge station and flung it at me, I blocked with my axe, but the shots were coming from all sides. I started swinging my axe like a madman, the armor and axe were slowly melting from all molten celestial bronze flying around.

I was tiring quickly, desperately waiting for Percy's signal to get out of there, but no signal came. I had a chance to escape, but I refuse to leave my friend behind, not now, not ever.

I finally missed a molten shot and I fell with a shriek of pain and I got hit in the face. I could feel my skin melting under the bronze slag.

"Another pointless death, you could have done great things you know young one, you could have been a hero, but you shall die instead, goodbye demigod." The lead thing spat at me and as he prepared to make the final blow, the entire volcano shot up, sending the entire platform flying into the air.

"Atta boy Percy" was all I thought as I flew up and away from the volcano, the last thing I could remember before everything went black was a faint tropical breeze.

Hey, I'm still alive and with no intention of stopping, football has finally ended, which sucks because we made it to the state semi-finals then lost, but now I have more time to write. I promise to be better for a while now since I don't have a sport until Lax starts up in the fall.

Quick poll before the next chapter, should Beck get a sick scar from the bronze to the face, or should it get healed? Yeah or nah?

Happy Reading- Centurion Africanus