I don't own PJO or HOO

Bianca POV

I woke up again, Percy and I must have dozed off again. I heard a muffled sound coming from outside my cabin, like a riot or something.

I slipped out of Percy's sleeping arms. He drooled when he slept, who woulda guessed.

I made my way out of Percy's room and to the door. The sight at my door wasn't one I expected. There was a black bubble surrounding my cabin, as well as a few campers and around several hundred skeleton warriors, all protecting the cabin. What they were protecting us from became apparent as I looked past the bubble.

Most of the camp was up in arms again, archers shooting arrows, the Ares cabin all had their swords drawn, except Clarisse, who was one of the few campers defending the cabin.

The others were Beck, Silena, Jake, Will, and surprisingly, lord asshat himself, Darren.

"What in my Father's name is going on here?" I yelled out, and all attention turned to me.

"You are harboring a powerful enemy, a threat to the gods, turn him and yourself over to the gods at once." A voice called from the mass of campers.

"The hell is wrong with all of you, Percy isn't a threat, he saved you guys, and how many of you would have bleed out if it weren't for him closing your wounds?" Beck called out, but the words fell on deaf ears.

"He's too powerful, he isn't one of us, he's a freak!" a voice called out, I cringed at that, it seemed no matter what Percy did, those words carved on his back haunted him everywhere.

"He hasn't even been claimed yet, he's probably the son of a Titan." Another voice called.

"There's no way Percy could be a threat, you guys don't remember him he's the weak guy who was here before Artemis was captured." Darren honestly tried to help, but he failed miserably.

"Well, I can see what I'm worth here." I heard a dejected voice from behind me. It was Percy, he had put on some fresh clothing and he looked good as new, but the look on his face told me otherwise. He was broken. All his life he had been pushed away, branded as different, as less than everyone else. And the one place he thought he would be accepted threw him away like old trash after he pulled all their asses out of the fire.

Percy slowly made his way back inside and I followed him without hesitating. He had gone into his room and was packing a bag. His foil had connected with the cone thing and formed a lance. He was going through the closet and drawers, pulling out any clothing and supplies, throwing them roughly into his bag.

"Percy." I tried to come up with words to get him to stop, to stay, but they died in my throat. What reason did he have to stay? Even those who defended him thought little of him.

"Please don't try and stop me Bi, You saw that mess out there, none of them care, you've seen my scars, how broken I really am. All my life I've looked for a place to fit in. I thought this place would be the place to accept me, to not mind one more different person. But I was wrong, no one understands, nobody can ever understand." He said, completely dejected, his eyes didn't hold the sparkle they always held. They were shattered, completely lifeless, like a corpse.

"You think they accept me either." I said in a small voice that got his attention.

"You think they accept me, the daughter of the god of death, one of the most feared gods in existence. The only reason they aren't up in arms to make me leave is because they are scared. If you are leaving, then at least let me go with you. In case you haven't noticed, Nico isn't here, he left, ran away because he felt the same thing you feel now, the same thing feel. Let's go together, let's find him and it'll be just the three of us again, no more hate, no more neglect, just us, a family." I tried tom talk him off the edge, but my words bounced right off him.

"I know you don't want that Bi, you have friends here, they stand outside right now, defending you, you don't want to leave them, so stay, let me go." He begged, the look in his eyes told me his words were empty.

"They defend you too Percy, they realize what you did to help them that you saved them. Hell, Darren is out there right now, the guy who used to bully you, standing up for you, because no matter how twisted he can be at times, he has a sense of honor, he recognizes you saved his ass and he respects that." I was in tears now, Percy couldn't leave again, not again.

"I doesn't matter, none of it matters Bi." His voice was so downtrodden, filled with so much pain, I could feel it.

"It doesn't matter how many people believe in me, not if I can't eve believe in myself. I need to face me my demons Bi, I need to face my own monsters and beat them myself. I need to erase these scars. I need to be free of this pain, I need to fly." I could see in his eyes, nothing I would say was going to change his opinion, he was going to do this, he was going to find a way to grow into himself, to shed the past, to fly. And he was going to do it alone, nothing was going to change that.

"Well, then promise me this, if you succeed, you'll come back, back to camp to protect it, yesterday was proof enough they need you, even if they don't know it yet, promise you'll come back, for me if nothing else." I was in tears and almost didn't hear Percy's answer

"I swear on the river Styx." He said in a hushed tone as he shouldered his backpack. I couldn't take it anymore. I ran forward and hugged him. I let out al the pain, all the hurt, all the misery I had felt since coming to this awful camp. It tore my brother and I apart, severing any close ties we once had. And now it was tearing Percy away from me too.

"I will come back Bianca." Percy whispered into the top of my head. I tilted my head up and looked him in the eyes. The hurt, torn broken look was still there, dominating most of his facial features, but there was something else there too. Buried deep within his pained sorrow filled gaze was a glimmer of hope. Hope he could overcome his past, hope everything would be alright, hope he could be free from the pain, and fly.

I kept staring into his eyes, and him back into mine. As if it was instinct, we both leaned forwards, and for the first time (with both of us conscious of course.) we kissed.

It was nothing like the night before when I kissed him while he slept, this was something entirely new, something better. Our lips moved in sync, like we were kissing for the hundredth time instead of the first.

When it was finally over, he lifted his lance over his shoulder, I was honestly surprised he could carry it, even though I knew it was hollow, he was stronger than anyone ever gave him credit for.

"I'll be back Bianca, You'll see." And with the he was gone. He jumped out the window in the back and fled into the forest, only looking back once, I could see the tears in his eyes as he ran, he didn't want to leave me, but he had to, for both of our sake.

I couldn't take it anymore, I curled up in a corner and cried, I cried and cried.

Percy POV

Leaving Bianca was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, it was more painful than everything Gabe put me through, more painful than anything supernatural, heck, it was more painful than the two put together, but I had to do it. This was a decision I was making completely by myself, not my mysterious dad, not some other quest member, not fat ass Gabe, but me.

If I was going to do this, I needed to start where all the problems began.

My mom always told me she met my father in a special place, a secluded beach. I needed to start there, the literal beginning of my path.

I made my way into NYC, flipping up the hood on my sweatshirt. Early September wasn't very cold, but it was brisk and windy.

I knew the address to where I wanted to go by heart, it was a place my mother would talk about often, even if we never got to go.

She called it Montauk beach. It was in upstate New York. The beach itself was rather large, but the place I was looking for was specific.

It was a little cabin, sheltered away from the rest of the world. It was in a hidden inlet, shrouded in mist, no normal mortal could have found their way here.

The inside of the cabin was covered in dust. Everything looked like it hadn't been touched in years. The cabin wasn't very big, about the size of the Hades cabin back at half-blood. It had a main sitting room, centered near a kitchen.

There was no real table, just a bar window half in the kitchen, half in the main room, with chairs on both sides.

There were three doors leading out of the main room, one led to a small bathroom. The shower looked like it hadn't been used in years, I considered myself lucky mold and mildew wasn't growing anywhere.

The next door led to a bedroom. It had a large queen sized bed and a closet, along with the normal bedroom furniture.

I left the bedroom and faced the final door. My gut was telling me that beyond this door was the reason I had come.

When I entered the next room, my breath caught in my throat. It was a nursery. There was a crib and other things, but what made this room different was the pictures. On every available surface were pictures. Of my mom, years younger, smiling and full of a youthful life I can barely remember her having. In a few pictures, she was joined by a skinny, pale white baby, with sparkling yellow eyes. That could only be me.

Just above the crib though was the picture that caught my attention. My mom was hugging a tall strong man who was holding baby me. He looked almost exactly like he had in my dreams, except he had taken his sunglasses off. I could only see one of his eyes, the other was covered by baby me's little fist, but the eye I saw was glowing, even in the picture. I could feel the power he held, his gaze gave it away.

This was my family, my full real family. I took the picture down from the wall and held onto it. My mom must have known about this picture, she was in it. If I had seen this when I was younger, my whole life might have been different.

I felt a piece of myself heal when I looked at the picture. This was my family, no matter how far apart we were, no matter what had happened to each one of us over time, When 'I saw that picture, I knew leaving, going to find myself was the right thing to do.

I put the picture in my bag, and left the cabin. I sat on the beach until sunset, just looking out at the waves. I thought back to everything I had heard about my father, every little clue I had. My mom would always call him an angel, a gift from the heavens. I was fireproof, scratch that, I was heat proof. I could manipulate light, use the sun to my advantage. Being in darkness made me weak, I went from beating Luke, to getting my ass handed to me as the sun set. I knew my father wasn't a god, probably, the only one who matched my power set was Apollo, but his children weren't like me, and he had told me himself I wasn't family, but he knew something.

I needed to know what he knew. When I told him on the train about my father, he had been worried, panicked even. I decided that was my next step, if I was going to do this, I needed every piece of information, and that meant finding Apollo.

I spent the night at Montauk, then proceeded on my journey. I did a little research and found out the easternmost point in the US was in Maine, to be specific, to was Westover hall. I figured with the school year starting soon, I would just make my way up there and if I was lucky and got there fast enough, I could pass off as a student.

So I walked, and hitchhiked, and hopped illegally onto some buses and trains. I saw a few monsters, but they were no problem. Despite its looks, my lance was rather light, although I couldn't figure out how to get it to detach into a fencing foil again.

I got to Westover a day before classes started. Thankfully the mist cooperated and let get in as a new student.

I went through the motions as the year went on. I was 15 now and it was hard to believe everything that had happened since I was last here. Everything was quiet, I stayed invisible. I hardly knew anybody and even fewer even knew my name.

But I was here for a reason. Every night, I would sneak out, into the forest. I went to the same clearing that Apollo last came too, and light a fire to sacrifice some sausage or whatever food I had collected through the day.

Every time, I asked the same thing. 'Tell me what you know about my father'. Each and every day,, nothing.

Despite Apollo never answering me, my time at Westover wasn't wasted. The constant exercise was working wonders on me. I was growing muscles like no tomorrow, not to mention growing up as well. Bout damn time puberty hit.

That wasn't all. They had a fencing class for older students, I gladly jumped at the chance seeing as my current weapon was a foil, sometimes, still haven't figured out the trick to detaching the two parts of my weapon.

Time passed and it was time for the winter dance. The same dance that this whole disaster started at last year.

I went to the dance for a bit, but only to get some food, the school put out its best food the day of the dance. I stuffed as much as I could in my pockets and went to use the back exit to go to what I had dubbed the sacrifice-to-Apollo-but-he-never-answers field.

"You know, if you get caught stuffing your with cocktail shrimp, people might think you're crazy." A familiar joking voice said from behind me. Lo and behold, there's Apollo, wearing a horrible yellow tux.

"So an audience with the high and mighty Apollo only takes 4 months of sacrificing food, you've lowered your standards then." I'll be honest, I was ticked it had taken this long, but oh well.

"I'll be honest, Zeus has had Artemis and I working double overtime killing monsters so they don't side with the Titans that I only noticed to constant prayers yesterday. You're a cool kid, even if Zeus wants your head on a platter for making him piss himself in a consul meeting."

"Are you for real?" I asked and Apollo pulled out a smartphone and showed me a video. It was of the Olympian consul, watching the battle at the labyrinth, before I had gotten there. Zeus and Hera were completely unmoved, while most of the others looked distraught. Even Mr. D looked pain to see camp under attack.

The iris message they were watching on flashed completely white, even sending light through the iris message, blinding the gods and the camera phone. When the picture came back, the iris message had broken off, and I could see a little yellow dribble coming from Zeus's toga. Camera Apollo pointed it out and Zeus went from embarrasses to raging, then the video ended with him pointing his bolt at the camera.

"HAHAHAHA" I couldn't help myself, I completely cracked up, and Apollo did too. Some people looked at us funny, but who gives a damn about them.

"That is gold Apollo, pure comedic gold." I said between laughs, and he could nod in agreement.

"Back to why you called me here." He straightened up after several minutes of laughing his head off.

"Yeah, when I talked to you last, on the train to save your sister and I described what my father looked like to you, you flipped. I know you know something and I'll do anything to know what."

"Anything is big talk kid, be careful when you use that word, it'll get you into trouble one day." He said, almost in prophecy like way.

"Well, I trust you not to make me do anything too fucking crazy, so lay it on me, what do I gotta do?" I asked and he chuckled.

"I need to see a picture. Whoever the guy is, he has some serious power, hiding you and blocking off my memory. A picture should give me enough to jog my memory." I knew this was fate. Going to that cabin gave me the next step, now this would lead me to the next one.

I pulled the picture I had taken from the cabin and handed it to him. He smile tugged at his lips when he saw it.

"I remember." He said in a soft tone, I could barely hear what he said, but he had my complete attention.

"It was my first day as god of the sun, Helios turned over the chariot to me I was so excited. I went to get in, but a tall albino man with an eyepatch stood between me and the chariot, when asked to move, he only raised an eyebrow at me. I was going to force him to move, but he unleashed a small portion of his aura, and I almost fainted. He was more powerful than all of Olympus together, I was terrified.

He warned me this job was nothing to laugh at, that if I ever joked around with driving the sun, he would take the privilege from me. I took him dead seriously."

I followed the story and could see why Apollo would be a little scared at the prospect of this god being my father.

"But that wasn't all. He handed me this." And he held up a small white wristband. "He said this was a token of the sun, that if I found anyone worthy enough, to give this to them, he never explained what would happen if they were worthy, only what would happen if they weren't."

"And that would be.." I prompted him

"They would spontaneously combust. Helios had one as well. He gave it to his son Phaethon, he died in seconds and the wristband vanished." Well, isn't that cheery.

"So if it's only going to kill me, why bring it up?" I ask and the playful glint returns to his eyes.

"I have a feeling he meant for this to fall to you, I'm not sure what power it has, but it was clearly meant for you, his son." And he handed me the wristband. I was a little nervous at first, but as I looked over it, gold designs and words appeared on it.

There was the golden image of a lance, exactly like the one I had. Next to it were the words Φλέγομαι λάμψη.

"Blazing Luster." I said softly, Apollo looked over my shoulder and gave an approving nod.

"I told you it was meant for you." He said, grinning.

"Thank you lord Apollo, this has been most helpful." I said and he nodded.

"So where are you going next Perce?" he asked as I noticed something else on the wristband.

"Sacramento." I read off the band and Apollo gave me a blank look.

"Any reason?" he asked, and I showed him the new word on the band.

"Ah, well, good luck then. Although I'll warn you now, you need to finish whatever self-searching quest you are doing and be back in NYC on exactly August 16th. Not a day sooner or later, or everything falls apart." He warned me and I shrugged. August was a long ways off, I'd have plenty of time to finish, most likely.

"Sure thing Apollo, thanks for the wrist band of destiny and story." I said, making my way up to the dorms to pack my stuff, dumping the shrimp out of my pockets as I went.

"Good luck." I heard Apollo say in barely a whisper, then I felt his presence vanish.

I looked at the wristband again, reading it over. When I got up to my room, it immediately reacted with my lance, wrapping itself around the handle, like a grip. Then the whole lance began to glow and shrink. I was left with a small glowing red stone. A sun stone. It was a perfectly smooth oval. On one side, it read Sacramento, with a distorted golden image above it. The other side held a picture of my lance. Under it was the same word as before. Φλέγομαι λάμψη. Blazing Luster.

I rubbed the side that had the lance, like it was instinct. The Sunstone gave off a flash of light and I was left holding my lance, but it was different, knowledge flowed into my head on how to use it, different fighting styles, tactics using a lance in combat. I felt there was still more blocked to me, but I still had more journey to go.

The most prominent piece of new information to me was how to get the foil out of the lance. I focused on the foil within, not thinking of it as a separate weapon within the lance, but as another piece of the lance. The lance cone fell to the ground with a loud thud and I was left holding the foil. It was made of the same crystal white material as the lance and it was nearly invisible. I didn't know how sturdy it was, but the knowledge imparted to me told me it didn't matter. The foil wasn't for a direct fight, but instead of flowing through multiple opponents, slicing their defenses away with what looks like no weapon at all.

After toying around with my new knowledge in the weapon for a bit, I finished packing my stuff, started at my lance for a second, wondering how to return it to stone form, when it did so on its own. I put in my pocket and my gut told me that even if I lost it, I could always find it in my pocket.

I packed everything I could carry comfortably, slipped my sun stone into my pocket, and left Westover.

I made the journey west again, although without a magic train, it took a lot longer. I skipped buses and trains, I just walked until I got tired or ran into monsters. Then I stopped and took care of business. It was March by the time I reached Sacramento, granted, I did stop for a week in the junkyard of the gods to see Leo again. He had given up on the Talos project and was building a celestial bronze dragon instead, he was doing a pretty damned good job, he just needed to work out the 'get a several ton dragon to fly' problem.

I stayed in Sacramento for a week before I felt I found what I had come for. Although, I didn't think it'd be another albino wanderer I met while camping out in the basement of the Crest Theatre (real place, thank you google).

"Some storm." I heard from a guy with a trench coat, fedora, and gloves after I slipped through an egress window of an opera house or something.

"Yeah, not normal for around here for sure." I said, giving the guy a once over, the clothing pointed to monsters, but he wasn't threatening like one, I kept my guard up just in case.

"Yeah, that's what the lord of Storm giants will do to an area though, ya know?" his tone was casual, but he knew just as well as I did that Typhoon was causing these storms, monster.

"So, gonna drop the mortal attire and fight me?" I asked as I drew Blazing Luster

"Nah, pretending to be mortal is fun, plus it means I get to be lazy, although, I imagine my 'boss' is going crazy, seeing as I vanished on." His tone was casual and relaxed, but as he finished talking, he glanced up and gave me a crooked grin. One I saw on my own face back before the bullies, or when I was around Bianca.

"Immortal sibling?" I guessed, he grinned and nodded, then took off his hat and coat, laying back on some loose sandbags.

"So, you gonna go jealousy crazy on me and kidnap me like my fantastic stepmother already did, or are we good?" I asked, not lowering my defenses.

"We're good, I'm kinda the black sheep of the family, dad made me in an accidental science experiment, all his other kids are natural kids, so that leaves me as the freak." I finally lowered my guard and put my lance away.

"Good to know, I'm Percy by the way." I went to shake his head, but he just let it hang.

"Call me Ray. And I already know who you are, I gave you a hand last winter, you were getting the crap beat out of you, again, and I finally could lend a hand, although all I did was lift the bock on your powers."

"Wait, you mean when I gave Daren that nasty sunburn, you helped with that?" I asked and he flashed me a smile brighter than Apollo's.

"Not really, but yeah. Good move getting him to smack himself, good to know my sense of humor is somewhere in the gene pool, not just scientifically put into me." He joked, I felt there was a story behind that remark.

"So I have other siblings?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Not many, the 4 elder cloud nymphs, can never remember their names, they're complete air heads, lets see, the original lightning nymph, and one more I can never remember." He drifted off into thought, lost in thought.

"You're the cool one then?" I said with a grin, toying with my sun stone, tossing it from hand to hand, sitting against some sand bags across from Ray.

"Oh for sure, but you got the heroic genes it seems." He said, snatched my sun stone from me hands and gave it an appraising look. "Damn, where in my great uncle's name did you get this?" he asked, rubbing the side with the lance, before flipping it over and frowning. "And why is it incomplete?"

"I made the base lance out of energy crashing from the atmosphere, and then I got a white wristband from Apollo, so there's more I need to find?" I asked as he kept looking over the stone.

"I have a story to tell you Percy." He began, "In the beginning there was Chaos and Order, Chaos created life as he pleased, without rhyme or reason. Order had a different job, she had to organize that life in a way that would keep balance in the world. To do that, she created to weapons of immense power, power that rivaled the creators themselves. They were called simply Purity and Corruption.

Both Chaos and Order decided that these weapons were too powerful for any one person to have, so the dismantled them. But they didn't destroy them completely. In the hands of the right people, and once certain steps were completed in the correct order, then these ancient origin weapons could be formed once again.

Each one had different steps to reform it. Corruption, the blade of darkness, needed many sacrifices and for its intended user to be one of mercilessness and cruelty, but still recognizes where balance is needed.

Purity was the opposite, its chosen wielder would have to be one of flawless heart, forged in the fires of pain and suffering. And instead of sacrifice, they would need to be freely given the things they needed to complete the blade."

As he told me the story, I'm pretty sure my brain shorted out. He was talking about beings was above my pay grade, I mean, weapons of the original universe, that has to be some bad joke.

"What you have here." He continued, "Is the beginning of reforming Purity, the epic blade of light and justice."

"So, dad wants me to remake one of the most powerful weapons in existence?" I asked and Ray gave me a deadpan look.

"I highly doubt that, you would burn up if it even got to half strength. No, he probably wants to help form an early stage of the blade to use, that is the only explanation that makes sense." He explained

"Well, I'll just go along with that then, would you happen to know what the next step I need to do next?" I asked as he fiddled with the sun stone that I suddenly had much more respect for.

"Yeah, the breath of the Sun." he said nonchalantly. Great, I need to find Apollo again and get him to breath on a rock, this should make a good story.

"So I need to find Apollo again, seriously?" I asked, groaning.

"No, the literal sun, you know, the chariot he drives that is incredibly sexy, has a great sense of humor, and really wishes he would stop picking up nymphs and minor goddess and banging them in the backseat." He deadpanned, I could only stare at him blankly. He blew lightly on the stone, then handed me it back.

"That should be good. Good luck kid, last piece of instructions should be on there now." And with that he was gone in a bright flash of light that left me blinking spots out of my eyes for at least a minute.

When I could see clearly again, I gave the stone a new appraisal, not giving any thought to the fact that I just had a conversation with the literal sun, who also happened to be my older brother. The stone was slightly bigger, but it wasn't really noticeable unless you really looked. It was also a lighter shade of red, now bordering a red orange instead of a blood red. The sign of the lance was a deeper, richer gold, and on the flip side, there was a new city written on the back of the stone.

Tampa Bay. Onto Florida I guess.

The trip back east took longer than the one west had. I was racing east against Typhoon, and I wasn't doing so well. I had wasted almost a month for him to move farther north, while I cut south to Florida.

Once again, I just walked, resting when need be. If it weren't for my wonderful defining skin tone, I would probably look like a Mexican person (no racism intended) with all the Texas desert hiking I was doing. The heat never really bothered me though, I just kept myself stocked with plenty of water and everything was fine.

I reached Tampa by mid-June, just before the summer solstice. I had a pretty good guess as to who I was looking for here, it was kinda obvious going off what Ray told me.

The original lightning nymph, another sibling, hopefully one that would like me like Ray.

I tried at a few weather stations, looking for someone who knew what was really going on, all the weather places were going on and on about was the massive storm system cough Typhoon cough that was making its way across the Midwest.

After almost two weeks of hard searching, I decided to give myself a break and used some of the money I had to pick up some scab tickets to a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. The seat was horrible, as was the game, the Lightning were getting trashed by some Detroit team.

"Sad isn't it, such a good hockey team with such horrible luck." A woman's voice said from my left. Sitting there was another albino. She had short light blue hair that looked both dyed and natural at the same time, like she only changed the shade of blue. Her eyes were a sharp yellow and crackled with untapped power. Found my sis.

"You better have a good reason for looking for me illegitimate space waster, or I'll fry you where you stand." She threatened, her fingers glowing and sparking. Great, another spiteful family member, thanks dad.

"Sorry for existing, it wasn't my idea." I complained, she glared at me, but she put the Taser fingers away.

"So do you have a reason for searching for me?" she asked, I responded by pulling out my stone, that caught her attention, like eyes bulging jaw dropped kind of attention, she recovered herself rather quickly though.

"So, you have begun to reforge one of the most powerful weapons in all of existence, and that is supposed to make me like you?" she asked, giving me the stink eye.

"It worked with Ray." I tried, but she snorted.

"That numbskull is as responsible as a teenage guy is, he thinks he is all that because he has his own group of gods to lead." She complained

"What group of gods?" I asked and she waved me off.

"Unimportant, what's important is you need my help for your mission, and you need to prove you deserve it." She stared me down, like she was challenging me to accept.

"What do I have to do?" I asked, bracing myself for some horrible job that would most likely kill me.

"Win the game." She said, pointing down at the ice.

"Huh?" was my genius answer.

"My team is losing down there. I'll just body swap you with their captain, use mist to cover you, then you go out there and win the game. If you can do that, I'll help you, if not, well, I can think up some more tasks for you to do." Her grin at the last remark made me really want to win this hockey game.

"Ok, beam me down Scotty." I told her, getting one last crack before she snapped her fingers

Next thing I know, I'm sitting on the bench, in a blue jersey and pads.

"My boys are down by three with 5 minutes left in the last period. Your job is to win the game anyway you can." The voice of my half-sister rang through my head.

"You're up captain." A suited guy, maybe the coach patted my shoulder and next thing I know, my body went into auto pilot and I was flying onto the ice.

I knew the basics of hockey, how not to get penalized and stuff, but other than that, I was pretty useless.

I just played as best I could, trying not to give the puck up, get it to other guys in blue. After a bit, I was back on the bench.

"You gotta lead them, you're the captain, go out there for the next shift and be decisive." The coach guy told me, sending me back out onto the ice.

His words got me thinking. I didn't have to do anything big, score all three goals, I just needed to ignite those around me, inspire them. That gave me an idea.

One of the guys in red had the puck, I slammed into him as hard as I could. It was the other captain so I figured that would get some kind of response out of some player on the other team, it sure as hell did.

A second guy skated up to me, dropping his stick and gloves in the process, he was scowling and glaring at me, here we go.

I dropped my gloves and stick too and grabbed his jersey when he got close enough. We both started beating the crap out of each other's faces, fists crunching faces. Whoever the guy was, he was good.

I gave one strong downwards on his jersey and nailed him with an uppercut in the process. He went down like a bag of stones.

The refs walked us off, the other guy spitting out a tooth. I could feel my nose was broken bleeding, but that didn't matter, both the crowd and the rest of my team were hopping with energy.

While I was in the box, my team scored 3 goals to tie the game, and after everyone, the goal scorer would skate by the penalty box and give a bang on the glass.

By the time I got out of the box, it was in overtime. The coach guy put me back on the ice and I shot off, determined to finish this. I grabbed the puck from one of the guys in red and took off down the ice.

I was streaking towards the net, with a defender close on my ass, I knew I wouldn't get a clean shot off. There was seconds left in OT, I had to do something, not let my effort go to waste.

I saw a crashing second man for my team, unguarded. I knew I could get a pass off to him, I just needed to let the defender get closer to me, this was probably gonna hurt. I stopped like I was going to take a shot, and at the last second before the defender decked me, I passed the puck backwards.

My entire world flew and I crashed into the boards, my entire body hurt, these mortal athletes could hit harder than some monsters.

It was worth it though, I heard the goal siren go off. Mission accomplished.

Next thing I know, I'm in my real body again, groaning in pain as I clutch my freshly broken nose, great.

"Good job, although I would have preferred you were a little less violent with my favorite player." My sister huffed, but she tossed me back the stone.

"You passed though, I hope you learned from it, if you truly wish to be able to use as much of this weapon as possible, you must decisive, quick thinking, ready to inspire, like lighting itself." She said before disappearing, great, I didn't even catch her name, so much for a big happy family.

I made my way back to the streets, looking over the stone closer. It was mostly an orange color, but it had hints of red. The second symbol on the back was a little clearer, I could tell there were two parts to it now.

Underneath the foggy symbol was an address. Not just a plain city this time, but a very exact address, down to the room number.

My mom's room number in the hospital back in NYC. Looks like I'm going home.

It took me considerably less time to get back to NYC. I really hope this was the last step, because it was August 14th when I got into the city. Apollo said I had to be here at exactly August 16th, early is better than late I guess.

I got into the city late and the hospital wasn't accepting visitors that late at night, so I camped out across the street in an alley way.

In the morning, everything was going along normally. Cars honking, taxi drivers yelling at each other, the general hubbub of New York, I'd missed it, despite traveling across most of the US, there was no place like NYC.

I went into the hospital around 10, my mom was just like she was every other time I saw her, unresponsive. Her vitals were strong, but she was still out. Like her mind was still trying to process her body had healed.

I waited for some time, nothing happened, but a little after noon, my mother gave a rattled gasp, then shot bolt upright in her bed, gasping for breath. The machines showed her vital signs were spiking, beeping loudly and flashing red. I called for a doctor, but none came.

When my mom's short seizure ended, she started grilling me on what happened. I told her everything. I showed her the full extent of what Gabe did, told her about Bianca and my time at Westover, about everything that happened since I learned I was a demi-god. I told her why I left, my journey across the States, meeting my brother and sister. She thought Ray was hilarious.

I showed her the stone, she took it and held it.

"Percy." She said, her voice had become weaker as we had talked.

"Percy, I want to tell you I love you, the real you, and from what you've told me, so do others. So go find them, help them, go get your girl, I do want to meet her someday, but you have to go, and so do I. I love you son, be free." And those were the last words my mother ever said to me. She died, with a tear streaming down her face.

I cried. I cried and I begged for her to come back, to not leave me. I didn't even register the fact that no doctor came in, and everything, except the flat lining machines was completely silent.

As I cried, holding my mother's body, Blazing Luster, which she had been holding fell from her grasp into my hands.

I held it and looked at it, it hadn't changed. My mother had died and the stupid rock wouldn't even do whatever it was supposed to.

"You know, she didn't wake up on her own." The voice behind me made my insides flare with anger and pain. Everything, all the loss and pain I'd had to feel, the separation on stupid training missions, only one person was to blame, and I could finally meet him, fist to face.

"Hello dad." I practically spit out, letting my sorrow well up inside me, not even turning to face him.

"The Titans are advancing on New York, they had Morpheus, god of sleep and dreams put every mortal into a cursed sleep. But for those already in a cursed sleep, or coma if you will, it threw them awake without first being spiritually healed. Comas are both mortal and godly injuries. When your mother was forced awake, she still had severe spiritual damage to recover from." His tone was calm and even, but I was full of anger and pain and sorrow, I wouldn't hear him.

"So what, I came here for self healing, to shed my scars. But this, she was my only family. The only person who really understood me." I was crying still, my tears raining down on Blazing Luster, staning it with my tears.

"I'm sure if Ray heard that, he'd be upset, and while she may not like you all to much, Skyler has gotten quite protective of her baby brother."

"Protective, she didn't even tell me her name." I grumbled

"Yes well, she never really has been a people person." He sighed and I finally turned to face him. He was exactly like in my dreams. He stood at a solid 6'3" and was built lean and light, but still with more than enough muscle to deal some serious damage in a fight. His hair was short and spiked up, like skate border before they got helmet hair.

He wore his blue raybands over his eyes I knew were a crystal yellow like mine. His face wasn't impassive like it was before, his face with filled with sorrow and worry.

"So why did the stupid rock send me here then, to feel even worse about myself."

"No, the spirit of Purity sent you here to heal. Think about it, has beating yourself up ever helped you feel better, has belittling yourself ever helped. By becoming smaller, did you escape bullies?"

A solid head shake to that.

"Then you have to go the other way. Become bigger than the bullies, encourage yourself, show why you should be loved. You aren't just going to be accepted, you will be threatened and chased away, but there will always be those running alongside you, and I know you know who they are." I was slowing hearing his words, seeing the truth in them.

"But what about my mother, she'd gone, and there's nothing I can do about that."

"Maybe not right now, but if you become stronger, and can come to terms with the past, and look to the future, there is no telling what you and your friends can accomplish." My outlook was becoming brighter, when I looked at my mother, I didn't see a dead body, I saw a person free from pain.

"She wouldn't want that, she wouldn't want me to bring her back. She'd want me to move on, be happy." My mother was my hero, and now she was gone, so I had to do everything I could to honor her memory.

I have to let go. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. I forgave everybody, every bully for every scar, even Gabe. I was better than them and I was going to prove it.

"Now take the stone, and touch it to your mother's tear. That's the next step, the final tear of a pure soul." His voice was gentle, but I listened. I opened my eyes and touched the stone to her final tear. Her one final gift to me.

"Thank you mom, for everything." I said, and I closed her eyes.

When the stone touched the tear, the whole room flashed a harsh bright white. I felt a burn on my back, like I was being branded by an iron as hot as the sun. Then my back exploded in pain, and I passed out.

The last thing I remember was a soft voice, my mother's voice,

"Be free, Son of Aether."

Bianca POV

Camp life had turned from fun summer camp to full war time army camp. Campers went out on missions all the time, sometimes to kill monsters, other times to get equipment stored around the mortal. But never recruitment, it's as if all the remaining children of the gods have vanished, and I have a good idea where too.

All the missions weren't without causalities. Jake Mason would have to wait years before he could walk properly again, or even lift his arms, he was lucky to be alive after meeting the business end of a fully grown dragon, yeah dragon not a drakon. Much worse.

Clarisse had been missing for 4 months, but Ares cabin refused to accept she was gone, so there had been no shroud burning had happened yet.

The biggest blow was Darren. He and Beck went on a mission to finish off the Princess Andromeda, Beck went to set the explosives while Darren caused a diversion. Kronos, now being hosted in Ethan Nakumura's body, was about to kill them both when Darren knocked him over with a wave and managed to protect Beck while he triggered the Greek fire bombs. Darren died a hero, getting Beck home safe for Silena, I had never seen her cry so much.

But with Darren and Clarisse gone and Annabeth long dead, we were leaderless. About three quarters of the camp wouldn't listen to me, Beck was to quiet, and people wrote Silena off as a ditzy Aphrodite girl. Chiron was doing as best he could, but he was only one man, horse, centaur.

But worst of all, I missed Percy. He had been gone for almost a year now, as he had left the day before his birthday the previous year. I had no contact with him, even Iris couldn't track him. My father assured me he wasn't dead, but maybe he missed him somehow.

But I had to stay positive. My mace had been shattered by Menoetius, so my father gave me a set of large throwing knives that could be used as daggers for hand to hand as well.

So I trained. I trained and I trained, using my new found power over reanimation, using my magical throwing knives, using shadows and just general physical fitness.

The battle of the labyrinth had been a wakeup call for the entire camp. They had only heard the stories from quests, not having seen the full power of the enemy against us.

So we all trained, from sun up to sundown, lying in wait for the day when the Titans would strike, that day came when Clarisse returned, and boy, had she been through hell.

Well, I hope this 8284 word chapter keeps you guys happy for a little while because I may have to slow immensely, if not stop writing until summer. I'll be writing where ever inspiration comes so just wait and see. I felt this chapter was needed, Percy letting go and becoming more the sarcastic Percy we all know and love. There will probably be another foreshadowing chapter, from Nico's POV, then 2 or 3 about the actual battle for NYC, then jump into the giant war, with my own twists. If anywhere the name Nitrous appears, I meant Ray, I changed the name halfway through the chapter for future reasons that will affect the Giant war.

Any and all reviews are welcomed and appreciated

Happy Reading- Centurion Africanus