AN: Sorry about the delay on updates everybody. I had the unfortunate cocktail of getting several new games at once and a severe case of writer's block where I wanted to write but couldn't muster the motivation or energy to do so.

The Silver Hunter

Chapter 13

-Rachel-

"-worthless piece of gods damned shitty sons of whores who should have been drowned in peanut oil like the worthless soy Jacks they are!" Rachel panted as she finished her angry rant that had started the moment Percy, Annabeth, and Lou had entered the eighteen wheeler's rig and saw the abused animals. An albino lion, clearly starved with an empty water bowl and a pile of turnips to eat. A Zebra that had slimy water and a pile of ground beef. And a gazelle that had the rest of the beef and a silver birthday balloon tied to its horn.

"…Where the hell did you learn to talk like that?" Alex gaped at her, most of the various demigods gathered all staring slack jawed.

"Language!" Rachel pulled out her swear jar, gloriously full from whenever she used it on the other guests…mainly Alex.

"Did you even pay attention to what you just said in your little rant?" Alex huffed with crossed arms, pointedly not paying his tithe to the swear jar.

"I didn't say what you did." Rachel sing songed, shaking the jar as Alex grumbled about her spending too much time with Percy before dunking in a quarter, the sound of Percy clearing his throat on the screen drawing everyone's attention back to the Hephaestus TV.

"…Soooo…what we talkin about? What we doin?" Percy asked as he sat on the floor of the rig along with the strange group of two pretty girls and three animals.

"We are going to Vegas." Lou pulls a pack of cards from…somewhere and starts shuffling them "Strip Poker anyone?"

"Lou!" Annabeth covered her still fully clothed chest with her arms, giving a scandalized glare to her cackling friend while the animals all snickered, enjoying the correct meals thanks to Percy and the girls correcting the food in each cage the moment the door was closed and they wouldn't get caught.

"The question is Annabeth, would she try to win to get a view to enjoy," Percy mused "or would she deliberately try to lose to seduce us."

"…Us?" Annabeth looked nervous "Don't you mean you?"

"Oh, don't worry Annie, I wouldn't leave you out." Lou blew a kiss to the blonde who let out another squeak, turning cherry red.

"You know, Percy is asking the important questions there." Rachel chuckled at how flustered Annabeth was getting, looking forward to meeting those two in person.

"Wait, you're not upset at him potentially playing strip poker with them?" Maria asked surprised at her lack of angry reaction.

"I doubt he'd actually play." Lou shook her head with rolled eyes as, on the screen, Percy proved her point by shutting down the idea of the stripping but keeping the poker "But at least I'd still get quite a show if he did."

"I should really stop trying to guess how you'll react to things." Alex shook his head with a sigh.

"Or you could try being smarter." Rachel offered 'innocently'.

-Lou-

"So, since we obviously aren't going with Lou's idea." Percy began as she finished dealing the cards, happily ignoring the finger Lou was giving him "Wanna talk about our mortal families? I've told y'all about Mom and Rachel, but I don't think I know anything about where you two come from." Lou's hand stilled at that, glancing over at Annabeth who's expression had turned sour, a fact that Percy easily picked up on.

"It's…not pleasant." Lou scowled darkly.

"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't push." Percy set his cards down, reaching out to clasp their hands, a soft squeeze conveying his concern and want to help.

"Mine isn't as bad as Lou's." Annabeth sighed, adjusting her cards into whatever order made the most sense to the bookworm "It's just…I guess I feel more disappointed in them than anything else at this point. Athena met my dad back when he was in college, he even said she was the only reason he passed some of his exams." Which Lou really hoped was a joke otherwise it made her question how capable Mr. Chase was " But once I was given to him…he didn't want me. He even asked Athena to take me away, to raise me herself so he could focus on himself and his work." Percy scowled at that, Lou well aware how much Percy prided the concept of family "Eventually he got married to a mortal woman, had to regular 'mortal' little boys, and I…well I'd say I wasn't 'needed' but that doesn't fit it exactly. Monsters would attack us, spiders too, and I was always blamed. I heard them fighting, those arguments being the only time my dad ever really seemed to acknowledge me."

"Um…I feel I'm missing something, spiders?" Percy looked confused, apparently not knowing everything about their world.

"Arachne was the first spider and that was because mom cursed her into becoming that." Annabeth explained "All spiders are her children or descendants, and they all share her hatred of Athena and any children of Wisdom that exist. I don't know how many times the spiders would fill my room, biting or scaring me, and when I would cry out, my stepmother would come in, the spiders would hide, and she told me to stop making up stories no matter how much I cried or how many bites I had. By the time I turned seven I had enough and ran away, met up with Luke, Grover and…and another friend and we headed to camp."

"Did you ever see them again?" Percy asked, his tone soft as he tossed a card down onto the pile, his heart clearly not as into the game as it was when she dealt the cards.

"Yeah, after a couple years at camp he sent me a letter, saying he loved me, saying he missed me, asking for a second chance." Annabeth's grip tightened on the cards in her hand "I tried but it was just like before all over again. Monster attacks, me being blamed, and my dad never giving enough of a flying fuck to even acknowledge me outside of arguing with my stepmom about what to do with me and my 'unnaturalness'. It didn't even last a month before I left again."

"Then fuck em." Percy scowled darkly "They act like that then they're just blood, not family."

"You aren't going to say I should try again?" Annabeth looked stunned at their three-quarter god friend "That they're still family and I should try to make it work?"

"Family isn't just blood; family is the bonds you have." Percy shook his head "I love my mom, she's great, but blood ties aren't everything. I have a lot of honorary 'aunts and uncles' who I don't have any blood tie to at all. Hell, technically I'm related to the Bitch Queen Artemis, and I'd never consider her family."

"Heh." Annabeth let out a weak little chuckle as she gave Percy a somewhat wavering smile "Thanks Percy."

"I guess you'd find out mine soon enough anyway, not exactly a secret." Lou sighed, putting down her cards as she decided to try and give a new topic to discuss and let Annabeth recover herself "My birth dad was great, as was my stepmom. My stepmom was barren you see, and they really wanted a kid, something Hecate found out as her mortal disguise had become friends with them. She offered to help and, dun dun, I got born. My childhood was great at first as I had two loving parents, and even knew about my heritage going in, Hecate having taught my parents enough magic that even mortals could do to keep them safe. But them my Aunt and Uncle found out about what I could do. They were…extremely paranoid about the supernatural and killed my parents, tried to kill me too before they got stopped and taken to an insane asylum, still screaming about me being an unholy witch that had to be burnt. Chiron came down and adopted me, taking me to camp where I've been ever since." Letting out a forced breath, Lou's foot bounced, hating that story which is why she'd made sure to get it out as fast as she could.

"I…I'm sorry Lou." Percy set his hand down and pulled her into a hug, softly running a hand down her back as he comforted her over the old memory, Annabeth joining the hug as Lou found herself returning the embrace, feeling safe around them, safe with them.

"Not your fault." Lou gave a weak watery chuckle, wiping the moisture from her eyes before she let her usual bright smile come back "And we're going to the underworld, maybe I can see them…say what I never could before."

"Right." Percy gave her a warm grin, "That sounds like an amazing quest reward to me Lou."

"Percy, why not share more stories from your family while we play?" Annabeth offered as they picked up their cards again, the mood not as light as before but their bonds feeling stronger.

"And if you really want to cheer me up there's still the strip poker?" Lou offered, unable to stop her wild laughter as her friends just threw their cards at her, the mood hopeful as they continued to drive on.

-Percy-

Frowning, Percy looked around the mist filled realm he'd found himself in once he went to sleep, Annabeth taking the current watch in the truck in case the drivers stopped early. Where he was now though felt unnatural, unsafe, and completely foreign. Shards of obsidian made up the ground under his feet, fog filling the swelteringly hot air, screams of agony coming from all sides as Percy moved as carefully as he could to not make any noise, even if seemed to be a transparent specter to whatever events this demigod dream might let him witness.

"Tell me," the hissing drawl of good old grandpappy Kronos stopped Percy in his tracks as he listened intently, able to hear the Titan of time but not seem him through this chaotic fog "what do you have to report my little lightning thief?"

"The camp remains on intense lock down my lord." The voice speaking was distorted, almost 'rippling' for lack of a better word, the speaker clearly communicating down into Tartarus rather than being here themselves "Ever since Jackson revealed what Artemis and her hunt had been doing to Demigods, Chiron has been ramping up security as much as he could."

"I see, I see. And anything from those defenses that we could use?" Kronos sounded genuinely interested, something that gave Percy all sorts of bad juju vibes.

"Perseus made some sort of automaton replication array." The traitor who stole the lightning explains "I've been trying to find a copy of it to provide but Chiron and the Hephaestus cabin have it under tight guard as they install it where they can, not to mention the specifications for the special automaton model that the Hephaestus cabin built with the help of Sally Jackson."

"Keep working at it then." Kronos demanded, "Such an aide such as those would certainly help in our plans. Or be used as a bartering tool for further allies. Furthermore I-…wait, we aren't alone."

"What?!" The lightning thief, who Percy still couldn't identify through the distortions, seemed stunned "But how?! Who?!"

"Jackson." Kronos chuckled "Come to visit me again already? How kind of you to come all the way down here. Surprising too, you are so full of surprises."

"Nope!" Percy turned and ran, doing everything he could to wake up "NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!" slapping himself as he ran, he suddenly felt his body shaking before his eyes snapped open as he shot up, face slamming into the Zebra's cage bars with a painful clang.

"Percy!" Lou and Annabeth started checking over him concerned "What happened?"

"The Lightning thief." He panted, eyes wide and breaths ragged "They're still at Camp."