Chapter 9: Rough Start

Darkness clouded Percy's vision as he opened his eyes and gave out a pained groan. Raising himself up onto his elbows, he winced at the lances of pain that flared up in his torso, and tried to hold his stomach down as a wave of nausea nearly floored him.

'Holy Hel..." he thought as his vision cleared. "Did anybody catch the number on that truck… er, wolf?'

He clutched his head and cringed as both a migraine and a sickening rumble from his stomach assaulted him, and he made a mental note not to use so much of his mother's powers at once any time soon. Though quite powerful and more than a little useful on the battlefield, the intense nausea and pain that accompanied so much chaos was more or less a bit too much to handle all at once. Not to mention that, being chaotic in nature, his powers could very well hurt him just as bad as they could an opponent.

After another minute or two, Percy slowly pushed himself upright and, forcing down any of the remaining pain or illness, made the effort to stand from the cold, stone floor he'd previously been sleeping on. His head swam for a brief moment before abating to a slight pain that, thanks to his brother, managed to cover his entire body.

Thoughts of his previously-thought dead relation made him cringe as they brought up what else happened that night. Artemis trying to fight the golden wolf, only to fall before his speed and strength; the relentless beating he received as he was outclassed and bloodied; and, worst of all, the silent acknowledgement that he wasn't nearly strong enough to fulfill the prophecy if he could get so easily beaten.

So focused on these rather down heartening images, the demiwolf didn't even watch where he was walking. As such, he managed to not only trip, but land face-first into the cold stone.

Percy sucked in a breath and managed not to yelp as pain once again assaulted his body. He rubbed his now sore foot and took a glance at the offending object.

It was a short but thick length of chain; one that had not weathered the advances of time very well, if the rust coating it was any indication. It was heavy, he noted as he hefted it up, and it looked as though someone or something had broken it, seeing as though the ends were rather shredded and destroyed. Despite its obvious wear and tear, it was still rather strong and firm, seeing as how the demiwolf couldn't snap it with his own strength.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered aloud, "wait, where is here?"

He sighed as no sudden epiphany or answer came forthcoming and released his grip on the chain, only to yelp in surprise as it didn't let go of him. It snaked up and around his wrist, crawling up his body as he tried to dislodge it. Settling around his neck, it tightened its grip and suddenly seemed to gain more weight, dragging him down to the cold ground in a thrashing heap.

As he groped for his neck, Percy roared in pain as the chain began to burn, scorching his hands and causing his entire body to spasm before everything turned white.

Ω

"Hurry thyself, boy. There is no telling how far Lady Artemis has been taken, and the longer thou takes, the farther she shall be taken yet."

Ethan sent the immortal huntress a glare as he readjusted his grip, "My name is Ethan, remember? And maybe I could go a bit faster if you were, I don't know, helping me out."

Zoë merely sniffed in response, brushing past tree limbs and trunks with practiced ease as she led the way, "Carrying his feet is beneath me. Thou art far more suited for this kind of menial labor."

The son of Nemesis opened his mouth to retort, but instead closed it as he tightened his grip on the unconscious demiwolf. There was nothing he could've said that would have helped any; it would have only harmed whatever fragile, flimsy alliance he shared with the huntress. Tearing it apart would have only further influenced her already skewed view of mankind, and he was unwilling to destroy the small balance he'd only just created.

"Are thine ears hard of hearing? I said hurry thyself."

Balance is important, balance is important, balance is important…

His mantra lasted him up until the trio reached their destination; a parking garage that Charon had commissioned a few years back. It stored the camp's several delivery vans as well as any number of stranger, more so magical than mundane modes of transportation. Their centaur director had announced that it was suited for campers old enough to drive, but the son of Nemesis was more inclined to believe it was to prevent the destruction of cabins via godly chariot, as had been the case not a week prior with Ares and the Hera cabin.

The garage door awaited them, but before Zoë could open it, Ethan cleared his throat. The huntress threw a look over her shoulder before she leaned down to pull it up, only for the same sound to stop her in her tracks. She whirled around, and the son of Nemesis found himself on the receiving end of a patented death glare.

"Boy, what could thou possibly desire that would prevent me from opening this door."

She sounded as though she was chewing on the words thoroughly, and the slight twitching of her hand seemed to indicate a need to retrieve her bow and shoot at something; namely, him.

He was quick to raise his hands in a placating fashion, only to cringe as the unconscious demiwolf slipped from his arms and fell face first onto the ground. If the crack he'd heard was anything to go by, he would owe his friend both an apology and an ice pack once he woke up.

Shifting his remaining eye from Percy to his companion, who looked far from impressed with his previous action, he answered her. "It's a matter of principle more than anything."

The huntress stared at him as if he'd suddenly grown two more heads, fur, and became Cerberus before his meaning settled in, and she scowled. "Thou cannot be serious."

"I'm being completely serious."

"I am fully capable of opening this door myself, and I certainly do not need a boy to complete such a simple task."

"Ethan. My name was, is, and will forever be Ethan, and I never said you couldn't. It's just a matter of principle and chivalry."

"I am neither royalty nor thy betrothed, so thou art free to keep thy chivalry to thyself."

"That's not how it works anymore. You don't have to be either for someone to be courteous or for a good gesture to occur."

Zoë seemed intent on burning through the demigod's head with her glare, but he merely met her gaze with his own cool one, single eye half closed as he waited for her to respond. After a moment of silence, she slowly drew one of her knives and pointed it at Ethan.

"I am going to open this door, and if I see thee move, thou shall be less inclined to do so with a blade in thy chest."

"… fine."

The huntress smirked and seemed to glow in her victory; more so than usual, at least to the son of Nemesis. He backed up until he was next to Percy and watched as Zoë stepped towards the door and pulled it up with a loud clatter.

"Took you two long enough."

The huntress leapt back an impressive distance upon hearing the sudden voice, crossing the distance between herself and Ethan with enough speed to bowl them both over. They crashed together onto the icy ground not far from Percy, a bout of laughter joining them in their fall. Ethan shook his head and managed a blink as he found himself face to face with the huntress, who seemed momentarily stunned by their closeness before she scowled and shoved him off of her and onto his back.

She stood to her feet and brushed off the snow on her clothes before she sent a glare at the daughter of Zeus, leaving Ethan to pick himself up with both a glare and a dark grumble towards the huntress.

After another minute of laughter, Thalia managed to compose herself enough to speak. She stood to her full height, wiping away a few mirthful tears as she spoke, "Oh gods, I wish I had a camera on me. That was just… man, that was great. I've been waiting for some poor suckers to show up and try and take our flag, but I didn't expect that to happen." The mirth on her face disappeared, however, a soon as she caught sight of Percy. "Hey, what happened to Lassie? Is he okay?"

Before Zoë could respond, Ethan stepped up to the two girls with a shake of his head, "We don't know; we showed up at Zeus's Fist and found him like this, in a clearing not too far from it." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "The goddess wasn't there, either. Just pools of ichor."

Zoë turned her glare from Thalia to Ethan, but nodded nonetheless. "He is correct. Lady Artemis has been taken, and I fear for her if we do not make haste." Her glare disappeared as she turned back to Thalia, a steely look in its place. "We must leave tonight."

The daughter of Zeus glanced between the trio silently for a moment before she shrugged, "Alright, I'm game; where are we heading off to?"

Ethan quirked a brow and glanced at Zoë, who blinked, a look of surprise covering her face that quickly transformed into annoyance, then distaste as she gave Thalia a once over, "Absolutely not! I refuse to deal with the likes of thee for this quest. Gods forbid me to endure a single night in thy company, much less in the rescue of Lady Artemis! I should rather- art thou even paying attention?!"

Thalia glanced up from her bracelet, an innocent expression on her face. "I'm sorry, did you say something? It's your, by the way; nobody says thy anymore."

The huntress seemed ready to boil over if her face was any indication, so the son of Nemesis stepped in before a literal storm of arrows and lightening fell down between the pair, "Isn't there something a bit more important at stake? Say, your goddess?" he pointed towards Zoë as he spoke. "Do you think she'd really want you to be arguing instead of, I don't know, rescuing her brother? Make peace with yourself, Zoë, because I don't have a problem with Thalia tagging along, and I don't hear Percy protesting."

The huntress grit her teeth, "It is not only his decision when it comes to this quest; I have yet to choose another… and thou hath forgotten that he is unconscious!"

"Your point? Unless I'm mistaken, you told me you'd already chosen another huntress, and the prophecy only said five members; nothing about the ratio of hunters and campers. Besides, Percy seems to get along with Thalia just fine."

As if in agreement, the demiwolf snorted and shifted in his forced sleep. Zoë stared hard between the two demigods for a long moment before she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long-suffering sigh, "Fine. I will allow thee to join us on our quest."

Thalia let out a snort but nodded before she walked past them and over to the unconscious demiwolf, leaving the pair momentarily out of ear shot as Ethan turned to her.

"Thank you."

The huntress pinned Ethan with a look, and her hard, onyx eyes seemed to bore into him with an air of slight surprise, then suspicion. "For what?"

"For not trying to argue your point too much. I think we'd be standing here all night if you had, so thanks." He turned towards the aforementioned daughter of Zeus and watched as she poked the demiwolf, who merely twitched in response. "We'll need all the help we can get…"

For a moment, Zoë's eyes softened for just a moment before she nodded and turned towards the forest, "Thou art welcome. I will return shortly; I must retrieve Bianca from the game."

With that, she disappeared into the woods, leaving behind both demigods and their unconscious friend in her wake. Ethan looked over his shoulder and watched her go before he turned back towards Thalia, "Alright, let's get Percy loaded up in one of these vans. We'll figure out the rest when Zoë gets back…"

Ω

He was surrounded.

Their voices came together, molded and meshed into a single cacophony of burning sound and painful noise that had him snapping in irritation. He found himself to be pleased by their reaction, as they scattered like leaves on an autumn wind, only to regroup behind their king, their leader, their master as he stepped forward.

His lone eye glimmered with an age old wisdom and stories of battles lost to a time long forgotten, and the spear in his hand was scratched over and about its surface; innumerable stories etched onto its blade and shaft. His armor gleamed in the sun, and it seemed as though the very air seemed to pause in its flowing and blowing for him to speak.

"Have you readied yourself for the challenge, Fenrir?"

Yes, that was his name, wasn't it? Was he not the great wolf? Yes, yes indeed, for he was both Fenrir and ready for his challenge.

"I am."

He nodded, and with the fall of the king's hand, the contest began.

Against the chain, he buckled and growled and struggled against its confines, against its smith forged might. His breaths came out in pants, and the heaving of his chest stirred a murmur amongst the sheep, amongst the crowd as they laid eyes upon him, upon the monster.

His eyes searched and picked those he knew from the crowd; the smell of thunder had him seek the thunderer, uncle; the scent of fresh blood and rusted metal, his closest friend. But these were not the one's he sought, no, he sought only one in his struggling, in the struggling of the wolf god.

He sought his father amongst them.

Finally, when his struggles seemed to weaken with his breath, when his chest burned from his exertion and the crowd seemed ready to rejoice in his failure, he found him. Hidden amongst the sheep, he found the scent of snake, of horse, of death, and when he looked past them and into the eyes of his sire, his father, he found the strength.

With the roar of a mighty hurricane and the force of the fiercest of gales, the chains fell from him; shattered and tattered and utterly destroyed with the strength behind his howl, his call, his cry of freedom. The people were scattered once again, though this time he knew they would not return, despite the presence of their master.

He did not congratulate the wolf, his grandson; he merely looked past him and hardened his stare before disappearing. The thunderclap that followed in his wake told the same for his uncle, leaving only his father and friend to congratulate him…

Percy gasped, his lungs screaming for air around the chain still fastened around his throat. With a growl, he clawed and tore the chain from his throat, tossing it onto the rough stone. He ignored the dull clatter it made upon impact as he rubbed his raw throat and tried to draw in as much air as he could.

"What… what was that?"

"A memory from a time and place long forgotten."

The demiwolf whipped his head around, only to groan as a wave of vertigo assaulted him at the action. He clutched his stomach and cringed as he doubled over, his body betraying him at the worst timing possible. As he endured the sickness that was plaguing him, the tapping of the stranger's footsteps announced the shrinking distance between them as they grew closer and closer until they were not an inch from them.

Instead of an attack, Percy coughed in confusion as the stranger's hand patted firmly against his back, like one might a baby or child. His voice was soft but deep in his ear, almost like an echo as he went about his menstruations.

"Easy, easy goes. Memory flashes are always the worst your first time around, and yours was rather intense, from what little I saw of it. Take a couple of breaths, would you? It usually helps."

Percy merely nodded, finding himself too nauseated to do anything else at the moment. He swallowed a lungful of air and released it after a moment, before taking another. After a few minutes of this, he managed to push down the sickness and risked a glance over his shoulder, taking it as slow as he could.

The stranger had backed up after instructing him, and with the distance between them, Percy was able to make out a few noticeable features, even in the dark of the cave: a pair of eyes that seemed to dance with colors, as if their owner couldn't decide which he preferred; a grin that seemed to both mock and lift his spirits at the same time; and a head of pale hair that reached down to his shoulders. His cloak hid any other features the man might have possessed, though the demiwolf doubted he hid any more than he showed now.

His tongue felt like sandpaper, and his throat was just as rough as he coughed out a few words, "Who are you?"

The stranger cocked his head and stared at Percy before he chuckled, then laughed. The musical noise was strangely beautiful, and it made the demiwolf want to join him, eve n though he had no idea what he was laughing at or for.

After a moment passed, the man waved him off, an apologetic smile replacing the grin from before as he spoke, "Oh, sorry! Forgive me, I just seem to have forgotten my manners for a minute there… or did I lose them over there?"

He scratched the back of his head idly before shrugging, "Oh well, it doesn't really matter now, does it? I mean, you know how I can be, right? Of course you do!"

Percy stared at him in confusion before he blinked. "I do?"

The stranger gasped and clutched at his chest, as if the truth of his words were causing him some great, unseen agony, "Y-You mean… you don't remember me?" His strange eyes seemed ready to tear up any moment now, and he sniffled morosely, "B-But what about all those good times we had together? When we used to go and chase Dad's tail all around the den-"

"That never happened."

"- or how we used to practice our sword fighting together-"

"Nope, not really ringing a bell."

"- or that time we kissed the maiden goddess?"

"That hasn't even happened yet- you know what? Never mind."

Percy stood slowly to his feet, keeping a careful eye on the stranger as he spoke, "Look, I have no idea where we are, who you are, or what just happened. So if you could please just, I don't know, tell me something, I'd appreciate it. Really, I would."

The stranger stared at him with that same look from before, but snapped out of it in a few moments. He disappeared, only to reappear next to the startled demiwolf and lean on his shoulders, a grin on his lips as he chuckled, "Alright, alright, I'll let you know what's going on."

"It's simple, really." He began, releasing Percy's shoulders as he began circling him idly. "You are here with me in your mind." He took a minute to stop and gesture towards the walls of stone. "It doesn't feel like just some old cave, does it now? Rather cozy instead, right? Probably because it resembles the safest place you know; the den, back with Fenrir and Eris."

Percy looked around as well, and nodded; he hadn't felt trapped here or alone, just unsure as to where he was and why. He looked to the stranger and nodded.

The man continued, tracing his steps back to the demiwolf and prodding him in the chest with a single digit, "As for me, well, it's a teeny, tiny bit trickier to explain. To understand who I am and what all I represent, you have to understand who you are. Not as a hero or villain or something like that; you have to know what you represent."

"Because, in a sense, I'm you."

The look of shock, as well as unease, on his face made him chuckle again, "Let me clarify a bit, clear things up for you. You see, I know you know how being a big, bad, half-breed demiwolf is good, but being the son of two pantheons is… not so much. You know how it is, no godly transportation, no godly weapon fondling, and that last, unfortunate bit we'll save for later. Knowing that, I'm sure you can also piece together the fact that, we being the way we are, there has to be a separation of power, of blood really."

The stranger stepped away from him, letting the knowledge sink in a bit before continuing, "Which is why I'm here. I represent one half of your powers, and you represent the other half; to be blunt, the main half. Which is why you're the one steering us around for the most part when it comes to living and fighting and the whole prophecy shtick."

Percy stood completely bewildered before he shook his head, "Wait. Just… just wait a minute. You're telling me that you're, what, one half of me?"

"Yep."

"Do you… do you see what I see?"

"For the most part. There are times where I like to make sure I can't, like when Sköll beat you into the ground. That wasn't something I wanted to watch."

Percy nodded, the reminder of what happened to him bringing back the previous pain and feelings of guilt before he shook his head; there was no use dwelling on something he would surely fix, and he needed to ask one more thing before he figured out how to wake up.

"Alright, say I believe this whole 'half and half' deal you- me- we have going on now, and that we won't be talking about this later, I need you to tell me something."

"Ask away."

He gestured to the length of chain, the feeling of its wright around his neck unsettling him just in memory alone. "What was that? I saw things like they were my own memories, my own life."

For once, the grin on the stranger's face faltered, only to reappear moments later. He let out another chuckle, though this one seemed hollower in comparison to earlier, "I could go on and on about how me and you- er, how we are special and unique and just full of surprises, and how we get the honor of reliving how things went and passed… but I'm not, because it's not."

The distance between them was closed in an instant, and Percy had to force himself not to flinch as the stranger stopped just inches from him, his soft voice echoing all around him.

"It's a curse."

His grin slipped back into place, and leaned over and ruffled Percy's hair before gesturing with his head towards a portion of the cave that seemed much darker than the rest, "That's the way out; everyone's waiting for you. Time to go safe a goddess, right?"

The demiwolf stepped back and shook his head before looking the stranger in the eyes. "We'll talk later. About… well, about everything."

With that, he ran towards the exit, leaving both the stranger and the chain behind in the darkness.

Author's Note: I'm sorry.

I mean, let's be honest, folks. I've been dragging my ginger-bearded self through almost an entire year of hellish school, and the farthest thing on my mind has been updating any of my stories. For what little I'm sure it's worth, I'm sorry it took me so long to finally update, and I will do everything in my power to continue to do so on a good basis.

I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far, and I hope you all will continue to do so.

P.S: I know a few things might annoy some of you; namely, the stranger present within Percy's mind. For this, I apologize, but I feel as though this is the best way to progress, as it will tie upcoming events rather well. Feel free to ask questions if you have any, by the way.

P.S.S: Oh, and just in case you were wondering, IT'S NOT CHAOS. I will not, nor do I ever plan to write a story with Chaos in mind unless I get struck with an inspirational bolt of lightning that does everything for me. Otherwise, not so much.

Sincerely,

kingofsecrets15