Welcome comrades! If you're wearing socks then be prepared to have them blown off by the latest chapter of Hydromancer! Last we left off Thalia and Nico were beginning a secrete quest to keep Bianca safe on her first quest, though Thalia has her own reasons for accepting the task. How is the quest for Artemis going to be? Will they keep Bianca safe? Is Zoe going to die at the end still? Do you want these questions answered? Well you're in luck because this chapter will answer none of these questions! What will it answer? Read on to find out!

PREVIOUSLY:

Nico nodded and tried to stand up out of his bed when his chest and arms flared up in pain. Hades raised his hand and touched his son on the center of his forehead while his eyes glowed an eerie black. The pain Nico was feeling slowly ebbed away, and seconds later Nico was feeling good as new.

Nico stood and checked himself over. Seeing as he wasn't in anymore pain, and feeling that his wounds had all healed, he threw on his shirt that was sitting next to his temporary bed and then hugged his dad. Hades stiffened slightly at the contact before he relaxed and hugged his son back. Soon the two disconnected and Nico gave one last look at his dad.

"I'll make sure she comes home," he stated confidently.

"I know you will son," Hades replied, "Oh and you might want to take the eavesdropper with you. She should be of some assistance."

Nico cocked up an eyebrow at what his father said, before his dad pointed at the infirmary door and using his power slid it open.Thaliastood there with a shocked expression on her face at being caught. Hades just stared at her amusedwhile Nico couldn't contain his laughter.Thaliasighed, she should've known she couldn't eavesdrop on an Olympian god. She walked up to Nico and threw her arm around the shorter demigod.

"So," she said with a grin on her face, "Got any room for one more on this secrete quest?"

NOW:

Pain

That's all Percy could feel right now

Pain, pain, and more pain

Four whole weeks

Four whole weeks of being stabbed, sliced, bludgeoned, poisoned, berated, and anything else that came to her tormenters mind

Four whole weeks….and she was almost broken, all it would take was one more push

As she stared up at the cracked stone ceiling from her cell, her dull green eyes peering at oblivion, a large part of her just wanted to die. She looked down at herself and saw the reminders of the pain she still endured. Her clothes, which at this point looked more like rags, had holes and tears adorning the once beautiful fabrics that had been stained black with blood and dirt.

Her body was crisscrossed with scars big and small, some still oozing blood. Black and blue bruises accompanied the scars, as if her body had become an amusement park for wounds. She was disgusted at what she saw, and if she could still cry she would've. Sadly though, her tears had run dry weeks ago.

She was once a proud demigod warrior, fighting monsters, laughing with friends, and training like nobody's business. She used to rise at the crack of dawn and turn in late, always active and for the most part carefree. Now she just wanted to close her eyes and descend into the realm of Morpheus for the rest of eternity.

She knew she couldn't though...because that's what they wanted

It's what Kronos wanted

The King of Titan's had spoken to her on several occasions, however, her first meeting with him will forever be the most shocking. Despite being nothing but a bunch of titan nuggets packed away in a golden coffin, Kronos still had the ability to petrify almost everything within his presence. She thought foreshore she was going to die then and there, but then Kronos did something that shocked her.

He offered her a chance to leave Tartarus

Percy would've jumped at the opportunity if she hadn't known better, an offer always comes with a price.

That price just so happened to be Thalia and the rest of the campers.

That was a price that was too high for her to pay. She refused to give up her friends.

Kronos didn't like that answer too much.

That night, when she was tossed into the cell that would become her new home for the past four weeks, for the first time since Gabe she cried herself to sleep.

Percy didn't even bother to look up as she heard footsteps approaching her cell. Only two people ever came to get her since they were responsible for her torture down in the pit. Her hands unconsciously clenched as she heard the footfalls stop, the people having reached their destination of in front of her cell door.

"Rise and Shine Percy, you don't want to be late for your torture, do you?" spoke a cheery voice that the daughter of Poseidon knew all too well.

Percy raised her head and glared at the smiling face of Annabeth Chase as she stood smugly outside the cage with Luke behind her, a similar expression on his face. A low dangerous growl rumbled out from her chest before it was replaced with a hacking cough, spittle and blood flying from her mouth.

"Don't strain yourself too much girly, we wouldn't want you hurt before the fun starts," chuckled Luke as he swung the cage door open.

Percy didn't even bother to try and resist them as they entered and yanked her up by her arms, a groan of pain being smothered in her throat as they half drug half carried her down the hall. The daughter of Poseidon had been extremely surprised when she first got here and saw the two, and for a moment she thought they'd been taken and trapped down here to like she was. Then she looked at them really close, they were smiling at her, but not a nice one, no this one was darker and more sinister.

Her friends had switched sides, they weren't her friends anymore.

Percy shuddered involuntarily as they passed the room they usually tortured her in and continued their trek down the hall, the sound of roars and cheering growing louder and louder as they went. Luke and Annabeth turned to her and grinned before Luke spoke,

"Oh no no no! You see, Lord Kronos doesn't take lightly to being refused so he decided he doesn't need you anymore so today is your last day alive. All of this could've been avoided if you just give in and join our side, the winning side."

"F-fuck you!" Percy growled out as she put all the hate she could muster into her glare.

Before she died down here, she promised herself that she would see Luke and Annabeth dead at her feet. Suddenly, a wave of pain erupted inside her. She clenched her teeth hard as she stiffened involuntarily, riding out the wave until it disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared. Those sudden spasms of pain had been coming more and more frequently. Apollo's antidote was proving more harm than good. She only hoped it ended soon, she didn't think she could take to many more of them.

"You alright seaweed brain?" asked a smirking Annabeth, getting a glare aimed at her.

"D-don't you f-fucking call me that l-like we're s-still friends!" Percy roared out in reply, only getting laughter in her wake.

The noise was growing deafening now, and an exit was in sight, glowing an ominous rustic red that showed it led outside, well as outside as you could be in Tartarus which means not in a cave. As they exited Percy slammed her eyes shut, the light burning her eyes as for the first time in four days she stepped out under the red sky.

When she opened them again, she wished she could go back in the cave.

She was being drug out into a massive coliseum, thousands of monsters of all shapes and sizes adorned the stands, roaring in anger and excitement as they watched the young demigoddess be drug out into the center of the arena. Percy's dull green eyes darted around the arena taking it in. It was rather sparse, the only things worth note were the various weapons that lay scattered around the dirt and the river that was running through near the coliseum edge.

A small ting of hope flared in her chest as she gazed at the lake. Water, if she could get to it then she could heal herself and cause some havoc. Luke and Annabeth dropped her unceremoniously on the black glasslike sand before addressing the crowd.

"Monsters! You've been gathered here by Lord Kronos' command to witness a very special event! Most of you have heard of Percy Jackson have you not? Child of Poseidon," yelled Luke, his voice amplifying to cover the entire arena getting roars of bloodlust and rage at the mentioning of Percy, "Haha I see you have. Who hear would like to have a shot at killing the demigod?"

The stadium erupted in a symphony of hatred and excitement at the prospect of killing the mighty child of Poseidon. Many of them had been sent there by her and would love nothing more than to eat her.

"Well today's your lucky day, because each and every one of you will get a shot," continued Annabeth getting roars of approval as monsters began to surge forward onto the field before she raised a hand to halt them, "Ah ah ah not so fast, Lord Kronos wants this death to be long and drawn out. One at a time, on my mark."

Percy shakily stood to her feet as she watched the pair of traitors walk up into the stands and made their way to the emperor's seats, organizing the monsters into a massive line as they waited, salivating at the chance to tear into Percy. When they finally reached the top, Luke reclined in a c hair with Annabeth sitting in his lap as she raised her hand and uttered a single word,

"Begin."

Percy's eyes darted to the roaring tank sized Hellhound that was tearing towards her, its maw open and ready to devour her. All the pain she had been feeling before this flew from her mind as she got into a battle stance, legs shoulder length apart and bent at the knees for maneuverability with her arms up in a traditional boxer's style. Her gauntlets flashed onto her hands, the bright silver hissing and glowing in the dim light of Tartarus. Percy let the familiar hum of battle take over her as she cleared her head.

She knew she was going to die here, but she wasn't going down easy. She was killing those two bastards before she died, and if she had to kill an entire coliseum of monsters to do so then so be it. Just as the beast reached her she dodged to the side, narrowly missing the beast serrated teeth crunch down on the earth where she had just been. She leapt forward and delivered a superman punch to the side of its head. What she was expecting was to stun the beast long enough to go in for the kill, but what happened was it whirled around and backhanded her.

The blow smashed into her with such force that she felt her ribs crack, and she went flying across the stadium. Twenty feet and six seconds of airtime later, she smashed back down onto the earth, the black glasslike dirt slicing into her back as she skid to a halt. She shakily rose to her feet as blood poured down her back and out of her mouth.

The wounds she'd sustained over the week have taken a toll on her. Her strength, speed, stamina, all of them had been greatly depleted and her water manipulation was all but nonexistent. At the moment she was too weak to manipulate even a glass full. Her eyes darted over towards the river that was running through the arena floor. Right now the Hellhound that was slowly stalking towards her was the only thing that was standing in between her and her salvation.

She looked to her left and saw a giant stygian great sword jutting from the earth. The blade was double edged and at least four foot long and a foot wide, the grip designed to be wielded with two hands. She reached over and yanked it out of the ground, stumbling backwards as she tried to balance the weight of the blade in her shaking arms. She settled into a simple stance, handle being gripped with both hands as the blade rested on her right shoulder and her legs bent and spread apart in preparation to move.

She knew she wouldn't be able to beat the beast into submission, so hacking it into pieces would have to do.

She also knew she had to time this right. She was already slower due to her injuries, add onto that a giant fucking sword and well it was going to be hard for her to move all too quickly. The beast was charging, its long claws tearing up the sand as it flew at her with its maw open in an ungodly roar. Percy almost waited too long. Just as it entered within striking distance it lunged forward like last time, and like last time Percy managed to dodge to the side, the beast slicing through the air where Percy had just been.

Not giving it any chance to recover, Percy surged forward and with a roar of her own hefted the blade off her shoulder into the air. The giant sword fell in a lazy arc as gravity took hold and aided Percy in sending earthbound. The blade collided with the back of the hound's neck and Percy's arms began shaking slightly as she felt the resistance on the blade give into its downward motion, slicing straight through to the earth below.

Blood erupted out of the massive neck wound as the beast' body writhed around in the dirt, the last vestiges of life slipping from its body as it slowly dissolved into golden dust. A blood covered Percy fell to her knees as the pain from her cracked ribs caught up to her. Her vision blurred as she let her gaze roam the arena, the roar of the monsters fading as she tried to hold onto consciousness. If this was how much it took out of her to defeat one hellhound, oversized as it was, then she was not going to last much longer.

Her senses returned just in time to receive a crushing blow to her back courtesy of an enraged Cyclops and his club. The blow sent her skidding across the floor as she screamed in agony, her back nearly shattered. Sliding to a halt she tried to stand up, but the pain was overwhelming. The most she could manage was getting onto her knees as she struggled to stay conscious, her vision swimming in and out, getting darker and darker with each heartbeat.

Through her hazy vision she locked onto the one thing that might save her.

The river

If she could get to the river then she just might be able to survive this, but there was one problem. The river was a good deal to her right, and with the Cyclops ambling towards her and her current state of health she sure as hades wasn't going to beat the beast over to it. A large part of her wanted to give up. It's not like she could make it to the river so why bother trying? She'd been in so much pain the past couple of weeks, why not just let the Cyclops end her?

Despite how much she wanted it to end, there was a small part of her she couldn't deny. No matter how small its primal voice was overwhelming. It was a voice that drove every living thing. It was a voice that demanded survival at all costs, a voice that demanded you fight to the bitter end no matter what. It was that small part of her that kept her going.

Struggling with each movement, Percy slowly and painfully rose to her feet and began hobbling towards her only salvation. That was the only goal in her head, to make it to the river. Nothing else mattered. Not the roaring of the crowd calling for her blood, not the slowly advancing Cyclops that was behind her, not the giant smirks on Luke and Annabeth's faces, nothing else mattered.

Percy's single minded determination carried her halfway there before her body was engulfed in pain, but not from the Cyclops behind her. This pain originated from inside her and it was becoming more and more intense as the seconds ticked by. She fell to her knees in absolute agony, her mouth gapped in a silent scream of abject torment. It was as if the pain would double every second growing white hot in the pit of her stomach as the unbearable heat slowly spread throughout her entire being. She wished she could die or at least sink into unconsciousness, but the pain kept her gripped in the waking world.

It took Percy a few seconds to realize she was airborne. Her bloodshot dull green eyes barely even registered the rustic red sky she was staring at grow closer and closer until the process began to reverse. As she spun slowly over the crest of her lazy arc she saw the vicious looking face of the Cyclops that had just punted her into the sky and then the black waters of the river rushing towards her. Closing her eyes she braced for impact with the water surface, ready for that invigorating rush to wash over her and take the pain away.

Percy was expecting relief, but what she got was pain on a whole other scale. She opened her mouth to scream, but the dank water rushed into her mouth and quickly filled her lungs with a pain so searing and so mind numbing it felt like her soul was slowly being unraveled. She thrashed around wildly trying in vain to will the black water to do her bidding, to control the liquid around her, but the liquid would not yield to her command. And with that her mind shattered.

This was it

This was the end

Fourteen years and it was all coming to a close

She couldn't fight this

She was going to die here

A child of Poseidon dying by drowning….

Oh the irony…

.

.

.

"Don't You Dare…"

Wha….

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!"

Whose that…

"I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS IF YOU DON'T START FIGHTING THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW I'LL MARCH DOWN THERE AND KICK THE SHIT OUT OF YOU!"

Who in the hades?

The blackness in her gaze suddenly gave way and she was graced with the sight of a livid girl with short, spiky black hair and tear filled electric blue eyes, and a shell-shocked younger boy with black eyes and equally as black hair. They were standing in what looked like the middle of a desert, bruises and scrapes adorning them but for the most part fine.

Who the hades we're these kids?

"Perseus Ajax Jackson if you don't get up and fight….please don't give up! Don't let them win! You're not a quitter are you? NO! So stand up…stand up and fight!" the girl shouted at Percy.

Percy blinked as an undeniable determination filled her. She didn't know why, but the girl and her words filled her with the will to keep going despite the fact that she didn't have a clue as to who she was or who this Perseus was. Regardless, she was right. She would not give in, she was going to get out there and fight, and she was going to destroy everything in her wake.

A bright flash overtook her, and when it left Percy Jackson was revealed in all his glory, wounds closed, bones mended, and a severely pissed off look on his face. With a roar he shot upward and out of the river, soaring a good twenty feet in the air before he crashed down next to a giant obsidian colored blade.

He looked around, curiosity mingling with his anger as he took in his surroundings. The sky was a rusty red color and the sand beneath his feet was more like black, jagged glass. The air that was filling his lungs burned on the way down, and the feeling he got from being here was one of cold dread. He was in some sort of arena with an army of monsters in the stands. A Cyclops was in the middle of the arena being cheered on by his comrades in the stands. He didn't know why he was here or where here was exactly, but he knew one thing. He wanted out of wherever here was, and the monsters were in the way.

A large bloodthirsty grin made its way onto his face as he clenched his fists. He wasn't expecting the gauntlets to appear on his arms, but after a brief shock his grin only widened. It was always nice to have a toy that would let him pound things into pieces. He reached over with his right left hand and grabbed the giant blade.

The monsters were still cheering

Time to put a stop to that

He launched himself forward, the giant blade balanced on his shoulder as he closed in on the Cyclops. The monsters noticed Percy all too late as the demigod raised his blade. Instead of attacking the Cyclops with it, he slammed the sword into the dirt and using his forward momentum launched himself into the air, yanking the blade free and taking it with him as he slammed feet first into the beast's eye. The monster bellowed in pain and terror as it was blinded by the son of Poseidon, throwing his hands up in an effort to swat the tiny annoyance away.

Using the raging monsters face as a springboard Percy propelled himself into the air, bringing the blade high before gravity overtook him and he began falling back to earth. Waiting till he was just above the flailing beast he brought the blade down, the stygian metal carving through bone and muscle alike as it made its journey downward, severing the beast in two. Percy crashed onto the dirt with the blade digging itself into the floor beneath him as the two pieces of Cyclops slowly slid apart and turned to golden dust.

Wrenching the greatsword from the ground and settling it on his shoulder once again, he basked in the silence that surrounded him. He looked around the stands seeing the same look of shock and fear across all the monsters faces. His eyes narrowed when they fell on two humans sitting it what seemed like an important area of the stands. The fact that two humans were sitting around monsters, seemingly chummy, without getting eaten by them was more than enough to raise a few flags.

The shocked silence slowly erupted into rage as the monsters from the stands surged forward in an attempt to kill the demigod, all thoughts of prolonging his death forgotten. Percy's grin widened even further as he glanced back at the river he just exited and focused on the core of power that lay in his gut. He focused on the river as he began to try and manipulate it. He could feel it fighting back, and winning but after a few seconds the fight left it and the river conceded and erupted from its banks, bending to the son of Poseidon's will. The smarter of the monsters slowed as they saw the black water swirling around the boy, but those blinded by rage or lacking the intelligence to know better continued on, unaware that they were racing towards their doom.

Percy felt absolutely powerful as he swirled the large amount of water around him. He knew trying to take on all of them with just a bastard sword and gauntlets would spell the end of him, but with this dark water on his side…well let's just say he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Suddenly an idea popped into his head, an idea that seemed more like an old memory. He willed the water to do his bidding, and his bidding it did. Slowly the swirling hurricane of water took the shape of a gigantic dragon.

That was enough to make even the stupider of the monsters pause, but by then it was too late. With a flick of his wrist the water construct surged forward into the sea of monsters and began laying waste to them all. With a mere touch the monsters would collapse in writhing agony, the ones who were fully engulfed or struck dissolved into golden dust on contact. All the pent up rage flowed out of him as he let a dark laugh escape his open mouth, all the while conducting the dance of death and destruction that was going on around him. There were a few monsters that thought that if they attacked him directly then they would fare a better chance.

Annabeth and Luke panicked. This wasn't part of the plan. Before the destruction could spread to them the two were engulfed in a dark light and disappeared. It seemed like hours later, but in reality it was only ten minutes, the massacre was over and all around Percy was mounds of golden dust.

He collapsed onto a knee in exhaustion, all the energy that once filled him left and the control he had on the water was forcibly wrenched from him. The dragon he once controlled turned to him, opened its maw, and roared loudly before plunging back into the river of its origin.

"Well that was certainly entertaining young demigod," spoke a feminine voice from behind him.

Percy sprung to his knees and whirled around, the greatsword clutched in his hands leveled at the woman who spoke. The sight of her brought a feeling of remembrance and confusion over the son of Poseidon. The woman had wavy, jet black hair that fell down to her ankles and matching eyes and lipstick. Her skin was a warm dark brown and she her curvy frame was covered in a simple black chiton. She reminded him of a color swapped version of someone, but who? The smirk she had never faltered as she looked at the tip of the blade that was suddenly in her face.

"It's not nice to point weapons at those that have aided you demigod," she chuckled darkly as she raised her hand, "Without me you wouldn't be alive now."

She snapped her fingers together, and instantly all the agony he'd felt in the river was back full force as he collapsed his knees, using the sword to keep himself from falling completely. She snapped her fingers and just as quickly as the pain returned it fled. Taking a few ragged breaths Percy slowly looked up into the eyes of this strange and dangerous woman and uttered the only question on his mind,

"Who are you?"

"Oh you don't remember me?" she fake pouted before her smirk was firmly back in place, "You were writhing in pure torment in my waters a few minutes ago."

It took a few moments for her statement to sink into his head, but when it did he paled considerably. He just pointed a sword at a river goddess, but not just any goddess, the goddess of the river Styx. Holy hades he wanted to go back in time and punch himself in the face. Seeing the recognition in his pale face the goddess of the river of pain couldn't help but laugh.

"It seems you recognize me after all. As you should. Like I said before, if it weren't for me you wouldn't be alive right now."

"W-what do you mean?" Asked Percy, confusion marring his face.

"Do you honestly think a mere demigod could control the waters of one of the five rivers of the underworld? Of course not! I allowed you control of that small amount, and I could've taken it back at any time I so chose. Hades, it's thanks to me you even survived the dip you took in my river in the first place," she leaned forward and pat his cheek, "You can thank me for the iron skin your sporting now child. The Curse of Achilles is not something everyone can obtain."

"Curse of Achilles?"

"Don't you know your demigod history bo...oh yeah I forgot your mind was broken in your little plunge. I doubt you even remember where you are."

Percy opened his mind to retort her claim, but no words escaped him. His eyes widened and panic began to set in as he saw the truth in her words. No matter how hard he tried, how hard he thought, he couldn't remember anything, his memories were blanked. The practical knowledge he'd already known was there, all the information he needed to survive in this fucked up life he lived he could recall, but personally the only thing he knew for sure personally about himself was that his name was Perseus Ajax Jackson, he was a demigod, and that he could manipulate water.

Tears threatened to fall as his heartbeat increased. What the fuck was going on!?

"Calm yourself young demigod, it doesn't matter how much you try to remember but those memories are gone. It would be in your best interest to make yourself scarce soon, because the monsters will return, and they will return in even larger numbers than last time."

"Calm down! Calm Down! How in the Hades am I supposed to calm down when I can't remember anyone from my past!? It's like someone just erased my memory of all the people I've ever met in my entire life! What the fuck am I doing in Tartarus!?"

A dark scowl replaced the smirk on her face and she raised her hand, silencing him with her nonverbal threat.

"You'd do well not to raise your voice in my presence demigod, lest you want to experience all the pain you've ever experienced at once."

Percy did the wise thing and shut his mouth. He didn't remember a lot about his past, but if his latest memory was of him drowning in the river of pain, hatred, and oaths was any indication, he was no stranger to pain; and experiencing it all at once would undeniably kill him. Seeing him quiet the goddess chuckled darkly before continued to speak,

"Good boy. Now two things, if I could guess I'd say those two demigods who brought you here were working for Kronos, and this was meant to be the end of you, but you survived. Secondly I have a task for you, son of the earth shaker. Destroy this wretched place. That bastard Kronos dared to try and use my waters for his amusement. My river is contained and controlled by no one," she spoke as she turned and began walking back towards her river, "If you can complete that then come to the bank of my river."

"Why?" he asked, a little suspicious about returning to a river goddess that could end him with a single snap of her fingers.

She stopped halfway into the river and turned to him, a large smirk on her face as she replied,

"Because...I want to make a deal."

Aaaaand Scene! Well comrades that concludes the latest chapter of Hydromancer! Percy is back to being a boy, but his mind shattered from the pain he's endured at the hands of his former friends causing him to lose all the memories of all his important people! Now he's blessed with the curse of Achilles and the spirit of the river Styx has just told him she wants to make a deal. Stranded in Tartarus, can he even afford to refuse her offer?

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