A/N: So sorry that it took so long. As I said, updates might slow down due to school, but that wasn't the reason this time. I had actually almost finished this entire thing on thursday but it somehow got deleted and I was really frustrated for a few days until I finally motivated myself to write it again. Also I broke my own record again, first time over 3k words. :D

Jay

As soon as Hermes dropped to the ground, the throne room erupted in panic. The gods started talking amongst themselves, hastily and interrupting eachother mid-sentence. It was like a group of kindergarten children who had just been told there was no dessert today. Some of them argued with one another, some tried to stay calm, but looked like they were about to burst any second and some were just talking to themselves.

It would have been funny if it wasn't so utterly terrifying. What could have a bunch of gods, immortals who rule the world, so completely frightened? Before I could think about it any further my father slammed his bolt into it's pedestal once again.

"Silence!" He thundered and when I say thundered, I mean literally. It souunded like his words were formed from the sound of thunder. That seemed to shut the council up.

"We knew this day would come. Hephaestus has warned us many times that he wa stirring and we listened. We are prepared for this. So when he arrives, we won't run away like the last time. We'll stay and we'll fight and with the full force of the Olympian council we will strike him down.

"With all due respect father," Athena spoke up. "we are in no way prepared for this. The truth is, we were prepared to fight Typhon on his own and with the council at full power. We were prepared to fight the Titans under these same circumstances, but we never stopped to consider that we might have to fight them consecutively, much less at the same time."

"Then it's a good thing we won't have to. The Titans are not our fight, defeating them is not our destiny, it's his." Apollo said pointing at me.

All the gods turned to look at me and my expression probably resembled that of a student who was caught cheating in a test.

"You can't be serious, Apollo. We've been over this! We can't let the fate of the world, our fate, rest on the shoulders of a mere demigod. He is a contingency plan at best." Athena argued.

"Well, if the circumstances are really as bad as you just told us, a contingency plan might be just what we need." Apollo said with a smug smile.

"Enough, both of you!" Zeus shouted. "The threat of the storm giant is imminent and unavoidable. And while the Titans may be close the rising, they're not out yet. We have no other coice but to deal with Typhon now and discuss the matter of the Titans later." He paused dramatically, before continuing to speak. "I, Zeus, Son of Kronos and Rhea, God of Thunder, Lord of the Sky and King of Olympus declare war on the storm giant Typhon and all of the Titans who dare to rise up against Olympus. Everyone suit up, we're going to war!"

Everyone flashed out leaving behind their unique trail. I liked Poseidons ocean breeze, Hades screming skulls and gruesome death scenes however freaked me out. Apollo took Hermes with him, presumably to the infirmary.

My father shrunk down to his mortal size, which was still more than twice as tall as me, to talk to me.

"You must return to the palace immediately. The storm giant has risen and..."

"I know father, I was listening and I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. You heard Athena, she doesn't trust me to protect Olympus, she thinks I am just a stupid little demigod and I bet she's not the only one. This is my chance to prove myself to them, to show them I more than that and that they can trust me to protect them."

"Jay, listen to me. You have the heart of a hero and the power of a god, but you're also untrained and inexperienced. If you go out there today, you will die. This is not your fight, this is not you destiny. Your time will come and when it does all of the gods will believe in you and you won't be alone."

When I didn't reply, he knew he had convinced me.

We were still about a mile away when I heard the explosion go off. We both turned in the direction of the explosion, noticing it came exactly from where we had left the van. I looked at Zoe for a second and could see she was thinking the same thing. Neither of us said anything but, as if on cue, we both started running.

The first thing I saw was the smoke, then the fire and finally the crater which was exactly where the van used to be parked. The good news were that apparently all of the quest members had gotten out in time. The bad news? They were currently surrounded by a small army of Sparti and Clarisse looked like she was hurt and was missing a piece of her armor.

I could see Thalia knock one of them back with her shield while using her spear to sweep another one off his legs. Before he could get back up she stepped on his chest sending electricity through his skeletal body. As she was doing that, another one of them had snuck up on her and was preparing to stab her fom behind, but before he could make a move I had drawn my bow and shot a lightning arrow into his forehead.

"You can shoot a bow too? What can't you do?" Zoe asked incredulously.

I smirked internally but kept a straight face.

"Kill these guys permanently, unfortunately." I answered and just as I said that, I saw the Spartoi I'd just shot yank the arrow out and continue his attack.

This time, instead of shooting another arrow, I zapped next to Thalia and delivered a kick flip to the skeleton warrior, sending him crashing into one of his comrades. When a third one swung his sword at me in a low strike I did a side flip over it before landing a roundhouse kick to his face.

"Nice of you to finally show up." Clarisse said sarcastically.

"Well, now that you're here, can you like kill these guys?" Percy asked.

"Frankly, no. Only a child of Hades can." I explained.

"You can slice up the Nemean Lion but these guys are too much for you to handle?"

"The Nemean Lion doesn't reassemble itself after you kill it."

"I know, right? They're like this guy my brother likes, some ninja in red spandex... don't ask." Bianca said.

"Guys, less talking more fighting." Thalia cut in. Just as she said that, Bianca did a backflip over a Spartoi behind her slicing open his ribcage with her hunting knives. As she landed on the other side, the monster erupted in black flames and crumbled to dust.

"You're a daughter of Hades?" Percy asked incredulously, cutting off the arm of another warrior.

"I don't know," Bianca stuttered. "maybe. Either way, I have no clue how I just did that."

"Adrenaline, most likely, but we can't rely on that to work every time. I could teach you how to do it, but not right now." I said before smashing my hand into another skeltons stomach and igniting σχίζω-ἀστεροπή cutting him up from the inside.

"Well if we can't kill them we have to find a way to escape." Thalia concluded before impaling two Sparti with her spear.

"I'll stay behind." Clarisse said grimly. "I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape."

"No way," Percy said. "We're not leaving you behind."

"Think about it, someone has to keep them occupied so that the others can escape. I'm already wounded and they have my scent, I'd only slow you down or even worse lead them to you. I'm by far the most expendable." Clarisse said "I haven't accomplished much in life, even on my own quest you did most of the work, but if I sacrifice myself to save a goddess, that's what I'll be remembered for."

"Clarisse, that's crazy. I know we've had our differences in the past, but I'm not gonna let you commit suicide. There's got to be a better way."

"There isn't." I said. "Clarisse is right and if this is what she wants none of us have the right to stop her."

I paused for a second before continuing.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked her.

She nodded ever so slightly. Then, without another word to any of us, she ran into the biggest bunch of Sparti she could find, shouting all sorts of insults at them.

The plan worked. As the Sparti started to converge on her positon, an opening slowly started to form on the opposite side.

"Go!" I shouted at the others, and slowly they began to move. Backwards at first and probably as slow as they could muster. After a while they turned around and started picking up their pace, but still turned back their heads from time to time. Then they started running, faster and faster, never looking back.

I couldn't see anything, but as Clarisse' insults turned into screams of pain I had a pretty good idea of what was happening.

Everything she had said was true, logically this was by far the best option. I also knew this was the fates way of fixing the prophecy, but it was still hard leaving her behind, knowing full well I could have taken her place and lived.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, looking back one last time before running after the others.

I hadn't known how long we would be running. I hadn't known where we were running. None of us did, we just ran. Eventually we had reached a train station where we had boarded a freight train called SUNRISE CONVOY. Inside we had met a homeless man standing at a trash can fire between all the luxurious cars. It might have looked funny to someone else but none of us felt like laughing. After a while the man had left giving us some privacy. That's where we are now.

After a few minutes of silence I took the pelt from Thalia before beginning to speak.

"I was gonna offer this to the fates," I said holding up the spoil of war. "to appease them and to beg them to have mercy on us. I guess it's too late for that now." I paused for a second. "I didn't know Clarisse very well, in fact, I didn't know her at all. But I know that in their last moments, people show you who they really are, so if after today anyone asked me who Clarisse was, I would say, without any hesitation, that she was a hero. That's how she will be remembered. To Clarisse!" I said, throwing the pelt into the fire.

"To Clarisse." Everyone repeated.

After another minute of silence Zoe spoke up.

"It's getting late," she said. "we should all get some sleep."

Everyone nodded wordlessly and left, each choosing their own car. As did I.

I got about ten minutes of rest before I was interrupted. When I heard the door open, I saw Zoe slide into the seat next to me. No words were spoken for a few minutes before she decided to break the silence.

"How you holding up?"

"You told me why you don't hate me, but isn't this taking it a little too far?" I said sarcastically.

"I'm just doing my duty, Lady Artemis told me to look out for you, remember?"

"Right, well, you don't have to. You shouldn't have to burden yourself with my problems. It's not like you can help me, anyway." I said turning away from her hoping she would leave. She obviously didn't.

"What happened to you, Jay," she said after a while. "what could happen to a person to leave them so hopeless, so broken?"

"A lot."

"Care to be more specific?"

"No."

We didn't say anything for a while and I was just hoping she might have fallen asleep when she spoke up again.

"I'm not leaving until you tell me, you know."

I sighed exasperated. "It's..."

"Do not say a long story."

"...an extensive story, the telling of which would require too much time."

"Nice try Thundercracker, but you're not getting rid off me that easily."

I sighed again, she was really starting to get on my nerves. What annoyed me the most though was that I was actually considering telling her. I had wanted to talk to someone for a long time now, but I had learned the hard way that I couldn't trust anyone. I don't know why I told her in the end. It's like something came over me and suddenly I couldn't stop myself from talking.

"Many years ago, before I was cursed with immortality, I had a team. They were my friends, my family to an extent. I also had a girlfriend, Lea. During the first Rise of the Titans, we were the elite team leading the charge towards Mount Othrys. I was told that it was my destiny to die to save everyone else, but that's not what happened. When we reached Mount Othrys, my team stayed back to stop the other Titans so that me and Lea could go up the mountain to fight Kronos. We hadn't anticipated how strong the Titan Lord would be. He trapped me in a time spell while he was fighting Lea. She was putting up a good fight, so when I felt the spell fading, I hesitated thinking that if I waited for it to dissipate completely I could suprise him, but in that very moment he whipped out a dagger and stabbed her through the heart. In that very moment, when her lifeless body hit the ground, I could see my entire world, my soul shatter right in front of my eyes. I don't really know what happened after that. I later found out that the rest of my team had been killed by the other Titans, that everyone I cared about was dead. Now, every day I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't hesitated, if I had just attacked him. What would my life be like? Would I even be alive? Would I have died to save everyone else, like I should have? I'll never know."

She was quiet for a while, presumably deep in thought.

"I'm so sorry." she finally said.

It wasn't much, but she probably knew that nothing she could say would make me feel better and I honestly preferred this over the usual 'It's not your fault, there's nothing you could have done.' that I had heard so many times. I kinda expected her to say more, but when I looked to my right I could see her fast asleep in the passenger seat.

It took me a while but I finally fell asleep too.

In my dream I was wearing an old-fashioned Greek tunic and laced leather sandals. The Nemean Lion's skin was wrapped around my back like a cape, and I was running somewhere, being pulled along by a girl who was tightly gripping my hand. It was probably a memory, though I could not remember these exact circumstances.

"Hurry!" she said.

It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could hear the fear in her voice. "He will find us!" Her voice seemed familiar, but softer and weaker than I remembered, so I couldn't quite place it.

It was nighttime. A million stars blazed above. We were running through tall grass, and the scent of a thousand different flowers made the air intoxicating. It was a beautiful garden, and yet the girl was leading me through it, as if we were about to die.

"I'm not afraid," I tried to tell her.

"You should be!" she said, pulling me along.

She had long dark hair braided down her back. Her silk robes glowed faintly in the starlight. We raced up the side of the hill. She pulled me behind a thorn bush and we collapsed, both breathing heavily. I didn't know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed so peaceful.

"There is no need to run," I told her. The voice sounded familiar but not like my own. "I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."

"Not this one," the girl said. "Ladon is too strong. You must go around, up the mountain to my father. It is the only way."

The hurt in her voice surprised me. She was really concerned, almost like she cared about me.

"I don't trust your father," I said.

"You should not," the girl agreed. "You will have to trick him. But you cannot take the prize directly. You will die.'"

I chuckled. "Then why don't you help me, pretty one?"

"I… I am afraid. Ladon will stop me. My sisters, if they found out… they would disown me."

"Then there's nothing for it." I stood up, rubbing my hands together.

"Wait.'" the girl said.

She seemed to be agonizing over a decision. Then, her fingers trembling, she reached up and plucked a long white brooch from her hair.

"If you must fight, take this. My mother, Pleione, gave it to me. She was a daughter of the ocean, and the ocean's power is within it. My immortal power."

The girl breathed on the pin and it glowed faintly. It gleamed in the starlight like polished abalone.

"Take it," she told me. "Conjoin it with the pelt, make an indestructable Chestplate of it."

I laughed. "A hairpin? How will this help me pretty one?"

"It may not," she admitted. "But it is all I can offer, if you insist on being stubborn."

The girl's voice softened my heart. I reached down and took the hairpin and as it touched the pelt it grew bigger and heavier around me until I was wearing a familiar looking chestplate.

"It fits" I said. "Though I usually don't wear armor. What shall I name it?"

"δικαιόσυνος," the girl said sadly. "The Protector of Justice. Made to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

Before I could thank her, there was a trampling sound in the grass, a hiss like air escaping a tire, and the girl said, "Too late! He is here!"

Before I ran off to fight the monster, I managed to get a clear look at the girls face. I was shocked when I realized that I knew her. It was Zoe Nightshade, the lieutenant of the hunt.

A/N: So, Jay finally told someone the truth about his past, well most of it anyway. :P Sorry for just copying the dream from the original, but I saw no point in rewriting it since nothing really changed, aside from the final outcome which I told through Zoes dream in a previous chapter and the few things I edited. I'm not gonna ask for reviews, but you know I want them. (guess I kinda asked now anyway, oh well...) Also, if you were wondering, the ship name for Jay and Zoe is Jay Z xD