Chapter 14: Found

Previously

"Everything is just to confusing right now but I know one thing. I can't give you false hope Annabeth I'm sorry. As much as Zoe hurt me, gods help me, I've already forgiven her. I don't know what was done to me but I need to think. I just need to think." Percy said quickly and readied himself to flash away, when an arrow flew by his face, missing only due to Percy's godlike reflexes. He looked up and saw a relatively new Apollo camper who must have been on patrol fumbling to load another arrow. Percy's face grew dark with rage and he snarled as he raised his hand. A focused beam of black fire shot from it about the size of a nine millimeter bullet. The next second he lowered his hand and the Apollo camper dropped dead with a neat hole burned completely through her head. The dead camper hit the ground and Percy disappeared in his flames leaving Annabeth horrified and heartbroken on the now clam beach.

Tartarus

Zoe lay on the bed wishing she could just go back to sleep. It had been a week in the world above which was almost three months down in the pit. Almost three months since she watched Percy realize what she had done. She buried herself in a pillow as she remembered how angry Tartarus was after Nyx had left. The Primordial really had no idea that Percy was, for all extensive purposes, a non-willing leader. Tartarus refused to let Zoe leave his realm to go look for Percy in a attempt to give his adopted son time to cool off. He also had kept the time flowing at the same agonizing rate and Tartarus had told her that if her love for Percy was not so real he would have condemned her to an eternity in the darkest corners of his realm. As it was, Zoe could only train and worry. She wanted to go find Percy, to explain why things happened as they did but she was denied even that. Sighing Zoe resigned herself to another day of training and she slipped out of bed. She put on her black light armor and started for the door. Suddenly she was consumed in a flash of fire and next thing she knew she was deposited in Tartarus' throne room. The god of the pit sat dark and foreboding on his throne. Zoe made no attempt at conversation lest she lose the chance she was sure she was about to get. Silence reigned for a minute before Tartarus broke it.

"Percy does not wish to be found. He has masked himself from me and every other immortal I would imagine. He must be found. The connection you forced upon him with my brothers help will allow you to track him as I cannot." Tartarus said with a hint of venom. Zoe winced but still a small smile broke out over her face. Tartarus noticed.

"If it were up to me, I would have you here until he returned. Then he could decide your fate. As it is I figure sending you to him will speed along the process." Tartarus said grinning wolfishly. Zoe looked a little worried at that and Tartarus laughed.

"Worried? You should be. Percy has paid a visit to a certain titan of memory. I bet that was informative." The god said and then with a flick of his hand she was consumed by black flames. Zoe found herself roughly deposited in a dense forest. She looked around confused until she heard a voice in her mind.

"This is North carolina or more specifically it's woods. Percy is in the state but that is all my connection with him can sense. FIND HIM." The last two words blasted through her mind with such force she staggered and had to steady herself against a tree. She let her head clear and then started walking forward. She walked to the west, letting some subtle instinct guide her. The connection Eros had made between her and Percy allowed them to sense the others basic emotions. Since Percy had disappeared Zoe had felt nothing but an emptiness. Now though, as she continued in her westward path, she felt flashes of emotions and they were certainly not comforting. An anger so strong she shivered slightly was foremost but a underlaying pain was also present. After an two hours or so, Zoe found herself at the base of one of the many mountains in the area. The mountain was oddly lacking in trees but stranger still was the cave in front of her. The entrance was large, over twelve feet in either direction. Zoe could feel him. Percy was in the cave. She approached the entrance when she saw the ground. Her many years with the hunt had taught her to track well and this led to an ability to see an event based only on the traces left in the dirt. She saw that something had fought here and that whatever it was had ended the fight in the dirt unmoving. The thing had then been dragged into the cave. Faint but unmistakeable drops of golden ichor were visible in the dirt. Zoe frowned at that. Percy was in there with an immortal but Zoe had never heard of any god or goddess who lived in these parts. Then Zoe remembered a hunt sometime in the early eighteen hundred's she and Artemis had gone on in these woods. The two had spent days tracking a rouge group of werewolves who had attacked and killed a son of Zeus. Zeus had charged Artemis to kill all of them immediately. So the goddess had taken only her most experienced hunter, Zoe, to help with the hunt. After two days the duo was closing in on the werewolves but in the last leg of the hunt Artemis had called it off suddenly after seeing where the werewolves trail had led. She had said a Titan resided in the mountain without life and that the werewolves would not be an issue any longer. Zoe scrunched her eyebrows as she tried to remember who the titan was. Zoe knew it was a woman and that the woman held a powerful domain but...Zoe gasped as she remembered. She ran into the cave at full speed. As she ran by torches along the wall ignited in green flames when she passed them casting an erie glow on the long passage. She reached the end and saw something even worse then she had feared. Mnemosyne, Titan of memory, was suspended in the air by tendrils of dark water. The titan was unconscious and her skin was the palest Zoe had ever seen. Cuts were everywhere along the titans body, so many they were impossible to count. Each cut had a tiny tendril of water latched on and seemingly random burn marks littered her body. Mnemosyne was missing her left hand, three of the fingers on her right hand, and her left ear, each wound was cauterized, but was oddly not growing back as an immortal should be able to will it to do. Zoe was shocked. She had seen Percy torture some monsters in the pit when they challenged him but this was much more intricate. Suddenly the water on the cuts expanded and widened the cuts making more ichor pour from them and stopping any possible healing. As the Titan moaned in pain Zoe saw a flash of red from behind Mnemosyne.

"Percy?" Zoe asked her voice filled with uncertainty. She could now see the glowing red flecks in his eyes. Nothing else was visible as Percy was in a unlit part of the cave.

"Nice of you to come by Zoe. Me and Mnemosyne were just finishing up. You wouldn't believe some of the things she was saying. Or maybe you would if what she said was true." Percy said his voice cold and unyielding. Zoe never would have imagined that tone directed at her but she recovered quickly.

"Percy if you let me explain-" Zoe started but was cut off.

"I don't want some rehearsed speech about how Gaia made you do it or some other shit like that. Tell me how you could lie to me for three years. If I don't think your being one hundred percent honest with me, I will flash myself to mount Olympus right now and swear on the styx to fight for them till my last breath. One chance Zoe, thats it." Percy cut her off. His voice cracked a bit at the end and he stood up, activating the closest torch as it sprung to life. In the faint green light Zoe saw Percy was wearing a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, and black combat boots. Not to mention the wicked curved knife he was holding. Bu the thing Zoe noticed most was the pain in his eyes and the trail of a single tear down his left cheek. Zoe looked at him and resisted the urge to run up and hug him, unsure if she would be embraced by his arms or by the knife. So she gazed into his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Percy I was afraid something like this would happen. Every day I wanted to tell you and every day I decided against it so as not to risk what we had. I was to happy to tell you. Even though I hated myself for it, I couldn't tell you. Please understand Percy, I love you, I love you, I love you!" Zoe pleaded trying to read his emotions through those dark eyes. For the briefest second she saw her Percy, the mirth filled eyes that could brighten her day with just a it was gone and the pain returned. He closed his eyes for a second and brought his hand up to his head, rubbing his forehead. Then he suddenly yelled in anger and flung the knife. It sunk hilt deep into Mnemosyne skull and the titan slowly turned into golden dust. The earth mumbled as if displeased. Percy opened his eyes and looked down annoyed.

"Yeah yeah, fuck you too." He muttered before he looked up at Zoe.

"I believe you...but I need more time to deal with this." Percy said quietly and Zoe saw he was ready to flash out of the cave. She leaped forward and tackled him and they both were engulfed in black flames. The two reappeared on a beach with Zoe landing on top of Percy. The two stayed that way for a second. Then Zoe leaned down and kissed Percy. She tried to pour all her remorse and love into one kiss. Percy for his part had missed Zoe more then he felt he should and this kiss was making him forget all his anger as he remembered everything they had shared. But a small part of him was able to retain his anger and he broke off the kiss albeit with extreme reluctance. Zoe made a small noise of disappointment but stayed on top of Percy and rested he head on his chest. Percy tried to gather the energy to move her but found he couldn't do that. It just felt to right to have her with him as close she could be.

"Where are we?" Zoe asked quietly. Percy absently mindedly started to play with her hair as he answered.

"An island around the Key Largo area. As much as I hate Poseidon, the sea still calms me and the keys is the best place in U.S. territory to enjoy the beach in my opinion. It's like a different world down here where everything just moves slower. Nothing is in a hurry." Percy said and looked up at the stars. It was a beautiful night out Percy thought to himself. The waves were only adding to the atmosphere with their constant and relaxing movement. Percy felt the anger drain out of him. He realized it wasn't even anger at Zoe, it was just anger. He had been pissed off as all hades at Zoe at first but by now he had forgiven her completely. He just hadn't wanted to let off on that so quickly. He gently kissed the top off her head and he could feel the relief radiating from her. They laid there for a few minutes before Zoe broke the silence.

"I don't think we've done it on a beach." She said casually. Percy looked at her in surprise and could see the grin on her face even though she wasn't facing him. He let out a laugh.

"No I don't suppose we have. Planning to change that?" Percy challenged. Zoe sat up and now he could clearly see her mischievous grin.

"If your up to it." She said with a challenge of her own. Percy just smiled happily and thought to himself how lucky he had gotten.

Same Beach, Ten Hours Later

Percy was woken from his pleasant and peaceful sleep by a loud squeal. He shot up quickly tossing a very surprised Zoe off him in the process. The couple looked up to find a gorgeous woman standing in front of them. Percy couldn't describe her exact look because it kept on changing. His eyes narrowed.

"Aphrodite." He growled. The Goddess looked surprising unperturbed at the angry Percy, instead her eyes wandered over both Percy and Zoe who realized at the same moment that their clothes were not on them but laid out on the sand beneath them. The love goddess squealed again and Percy covered his ears.

"You two are just to cute! Look at you Percy, the pits treated you well. And the hunter who found love! Oh this is perfect!" Aphrodite exclaimed. Percy looked at her annoyed as tugged on his boxers. Zoe had quickly thrown on Percy's t-shirt which hung past her hips.

"What do you want Aphrodite?" Zoe asked coldly. Aphrodite looked at her, ignoring the tone of voice.

"Well Zeus was told about how Percy was out of the pit and wandering around the mortal world by Athena. So He sent the council out to search for you." Aphrodite said casually. Zoe looked curious as she wondered how Athena would know about Percy leaving the pit. Percy noticed and quickly changed the subject.

"How did you manage to find us?" He asked. Aphrodite giggled.

"Your little reunion kinda falls into my realm. Wasn't to hard to find you when you were...in my domain for lack of a better way to put it." Aphrodite said and Percy mentally face palmed. Of course the goddess of love and all the things that come with it would be able to sense their little make-up sex session. Percy readied himself to fight and saw Zoe do the saw. Aphrodite seemed as unconcerned as possible.

"What now?" Percy asked apprehensively. Aphrodite looked at him curiously.

"Now I offer you a deal." She said. Percy was taken off guard. He was expecting a all out beach side battle but a deal was more suited towards Aphrodite he reasoned. She would probably try to charmspeak him into a trap of some sorts. What she said next though turned that theory up on it's head.

"Things are not looking good on Olympus Percy. I'm considering a change of venue as I feel you are poised to win this war. Plus basically being a Primordial certainly makes me more sympathetic towards your side of this whole thing." Percy was shocked but Aphrodite wasn't done yet.

"I will require a few things of course. Mainly a husband who is not a deformed antisocial hermit. In return I can serve as a spy on Olympus as well as using my powers to make the two camps much less cohesive. Eros may be able to form unbreakable bonds of love but I got the other end of the spectrum power wise. I can throw the both camps into chaos with all the scandals I can cause." Aphrodite finished leaving both PErcy and Zoe stunned. Percy was the first to recover. He went to ask a question but Aphrodite beat him to the punch.

"I swear o the river styx that the offer I just made is genuine." She said slightly annoyed. Percy looked at her critically.

"I need to talk this over." He said hesitantly. Aphrodite clapped her hands together beamed at him.

"Oh take your time! I'm in no rush. When your ready just rub this mirror and you'll be able to contact me. I'll leave you two alone now, bye bye!" Aphrodite giddily exclaimed before disappearing in a pink burst of perfume. Percy and Zoe looked at each before they shrugged their shoulders at the same time. Both of them started to grab their clothes and shake the sand out of them before getting dressed. Percy still had one last thing to ask though.

"Tartarus really didn't know?" He said with a bit of hope in his voice. Zoe shook her head.

"He only knew about Prometheus's part. He had no idea about the rest." Zoe reassured Percy. Percy smiled and now fully dressed reached for Zoe's hand.

"Good. I think it's time to go home. It's time to begin working on the Romans." Percy said as he and Zoe disappeared in black flame.

A/N

Sorry I had major writer's block for a little while. Thanks for reading and please review with what you thought!