Comments:

DepthWalker:

Thanks for the comments on the transformation scene, I didn't intend to make it similar to those at all, but as someone who loves Naruto a lot, I'm sure I got some subconscious inspiration lol.

As for Percy's anger, I do think Percy trying to kill 2 hunters when Armani 'died' is about as angry as one can get. Other than that though, This is a different Percy than canon, and as you can see in this chapter, he does get angry Armani, he just knows when and where to channel his anger.

TheFourthFate4Ever:

Wow, big review, all right time for the lightning round then.

Glad you really like the Nemean Lion fight, I was rather unsure about it myself so it reliefs me to hear that people actually liked it. With the symptoms, you should be seeing more of those sooner rather than later, if it wasn't already obvious, Armani isn't fully recovered even though it's been hours at this point.

With third-person perspective, yeah, honestly I feel the same, it was a trade-off I needed to keep things under wraps pretty much.

I also agree with your stance on 'internal conflict', it poses an interesting dynamic for our characters and their journey, one that I plan to use to its fullest.

'Trials of Artemis' hmmm ;)

Thanks again for the input, I always appreciate it. :)

p.s. Debate abilities grown with siblings seems to be a common theme lmao.

Percy P.O.V.

Unfortunately, when we finally got off the train we found ourselves at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. I was glad for my new haori, which suspiciously had 'Like a Lion' in greek lettering.

We wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, but there were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow like they hadn't moved in years.

A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. We must've looked pretty pathetic, because he gave us a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

We huddled around his fire, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-great."

"I think my fingers are frozen," Armani complained.

"You should move closer to the fire then," I grumbled, keeping it civil for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

I gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And we were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person's fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," I said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand.

Suddenly I noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of us was cold and empty as if he'd taken the flames with him.

"Well, that's not suspicious at all…" Armani mumbled.

An hour later we were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now because we all got our own luxury car. Bianca was crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Thalia and Armani had taken a black Mercedes SLK, meaning Armani was either trying to ignore Thalia, who would definitely be asking questions, or she would try to meditate and regain energy.

Not wanting to interrupt the two I made my way to what I assumed was an empty car, but instead housed Zoe.

"Can I uh… Join you?" I asked her awkwardly, trying to play my presence off as intentional.

She regarded me in silence before shrugging, so I climbed into the shotgun seat.

There was a lull of quiet in the car, neither of us said much as we felt the rumbling of the training move through the car.

"Nice cloak," Zoe told me suddenly.

I glanced down at the haori around me, thankful for the warmth. "Yeah, it's more Armani's style than mine but I always thought they looked cool." I shrugged.

"...The Nemean Lion wasn't the monster we're looking for, was it?"

"No, if it was this quest would have been much easier."

"Whatever this mystery monster is, the General said it would come for Thalia. They wanted to isolate hear from us, so the monster will appear and battle with her one-on-one."

"You're sure that's what he said?"

"Well, something like that. Yeah."

"That's great. Even more pointless distractions to be worried about." Zoe dropped her head into her hands, groaning quietly.

"No idea what the monster might be?"

She pulled her head out of her hands and shook it slowly. "But you know where we're going, don't you? San Francisco. That's where Lady Artemis was heading."

I remembered something Annabeth had said a while back: how her dad was moving to San Francisco, and there was no way she could go. Half-bloods couldn't live there.

"Why?" I asked. "What's so bad about San Francisco?"

"The Mist is quite thick there because the Mountain of Despair is close. Titan magic—what's left of it—still lingers. Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn't believe."

"What's the Mountain of Despair?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "Something I'd rather not talk about."

She looked out the windshield. I wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but I also didn't want to sound like an idiot. I hated feeling like anyone knew more than I did, and when you're around someone like Armani it wasn't very hard.

Zoe shifted to look back at me again, "I think it's time for me to ask some questions, Percy."

"We're friendly enough for you to call me 'Percy', instead of 'boy' in the casual conversation now?"

"I have called you Percy before."

"When I was trying to kill you." I pointed out.

"Fair point," she pouted, "anyway, what's the deal with you and Armani?"

I felt myself go stiff, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, sorry to say it but, you two clearly aren't related."

I snorted, "Ah, what gave it away, her cat ears, or the berserker rage?"

"Oh, I think both of you have that in spades, but no, I meant how'd you meet? From what I'd heard at camp she'd never been there before, and yet she was definitely taking more charge than some of the others."

I sat in thought for a moment, "Armani's just like that, she takes the lead without even realizing it most of the time, she hates it."

"Hates leading people? Why?" Zoe inquired.

I shrugged, "She said it reminds her of a dream she had, not one she'll tell me about though," I paused, "As for how we met… she fell into my life, literally, fell right off a roof."

Zoe looked at me like I was crazy, her head tilted slightly to the side, "I'm sorry, what?"

"She fell off a roof. In front of my face, in hindsight, it's pretty funny. Then she got up and told me to mind my own business, and I didn't see her again for a week." I chuckled, it was quite funny, truth be told.

Zoe scowled, "How do you deal with that?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you deal with her just blowing you off all the time, doesn't that make you angry?"

I snorted drily, "I'm always angry, Zoe, the life of a demigod and all that."

"That's not what I was asking, Percy, and you know it." She scowled.

It became quiet in the car for a few moments, mulling the question over and over again in my head. It wasn't like I hadn't asked myself the same thing before, maybe it was more than saying it out loud was harder, or maybe it was just saying it to Zoe. Who I used to think hated my guts, but now I wasn't so sure.

"I- I do get angry with her, sometimes, who wouldn't? But sometimes, you have to trust that when someone needs to tell you something, they will, I didn't tell Armani about the two quests I went on during my first few years at camp either. Man, she beat the hell out of me for it too."

I looked down at my hands, the light of the afternoon sun fading in through the window.

"I like to think of us as siblings, but sometimes it's hard to know if she even feels the same, and she's just so distant. Maybe I don't push enough, maybe I should push more, but I'm always afraid one good push will make her leave and-"

I felt a hand on my shoulder, completely derailing my train of thought, it was Zoe's hand on my shoulder. Which shocked me more than anything really, I felt my face heat up a bit at the contact.

"While I'm not close to you, or Armani, I can tell you care deeply for each other. Your Aura, the amount of love you two give off is insane. So don't ever doubt yourself again, alright?"

"What is that anyway? 'Aura'? Armani explained it to me once but I was kind of… distracted."

'If practicing with a javelin in the living room counts as a distraction.'

"That's a bit difficult to explain, in fact, it's almost impossible to explain to someone who can't see it, I know you've said you can feel it sometimes but…" Zoe pushed her hand through her hair, I could see the gears turning in her head as she tried to explain it to me, "It might be better if someone else explained it to you, like Armani, but in basic terms, it's an energy that flows between everything."

"Although I've never seen anyone use it like-"

"Armani?" I finished for her.

She nodded, "The only way to compare her is to use Lady Artemis as an example, the way they command it as easy as they breathe."

"Well, that's not surprising, considering the circumstances." I snorted.

"The ones which still confuse me," Zoe muttered, looking out the window once again.

"Maybe when we find Artemis we can ask her about it, although that's Armani's business, and maybe to some extent yours, but not mine. You'll tell me in secret though, right?" I snarked playfully, I could feel a smile dancing across my face.

"In your dreams, Percy." Zoe laughed.

It was such a wonderful sound too, Zoe's laugh, like clear bells… like… like…

'Woah, Percy, slow down. DO NOT start flirting with the hunter, she will gut you.'

"Uh… thanks, by the way, for what you said earlier. It means a lot."

I looked over at her, and for a moment our eyes met, holding for a brief time before they broke away again.

"It's no problem at all." Zoe said quietly, "You should try and get some rest, it'll be a while before we get there."

I could already feel my eyes drifting shut, "Yeah maybe you're right…"

It wasn't long before the realm of sleep took me once again, only this time it wasn't plagued by monsters and gods, but memories of a happier time.

Armani P.O.V.

It was quiet besides the low volume of the radio echoing through the interior of the car we were sitting in, the 'we' in question being me, and Thalia. It was an odd choice, and not one I would usually entertain, but I couldn't handle Percy after everything. Whatever had happened back in the museum.

'You mean you don't want to worry him more.'

'Shut. Up.'

I groaned loudly, drawing attention from Thalia, out of everything that had happened today, confirming you had another voice in your head wasn't something I particularly wanted to find out. Even worse was the fact that somehow, it knew what I had confirmed and had become even more chatty.

"You ok?"

I glanced over at Thalia briefly, my new ears flickered at the change in noise within the confined space, which was still annoying, "Yeah, tired, but I'll be fine." I felt my tail twitch from underneath me, it was really uncomfortable to sit with. "Now if only these appendages weren't so damn annoying."

Thalia just chuckled at my expense, clearly not understanding my dilemma, "Why not just wrap the tail around your waist or something. At least while you're sitting down, it might be a bit more comfortable?"

How I hadn't thought of it before wasn't something I could figure out, but I tried it anyway. After shifting a bit in my seat, and a bit of trial and error, I was able to get it around my waist rather snugly.

"Oh, that's soooo much better. Thanks for the idea, Thalia, now if only I could do something about all this damn hair."

I ran my hand through my hair, which since I woke up outside the museum, had become much longer. I was pretty sure it was nearing the middle of my back, and it had even more silver in it than before, which I couldn't honestly say if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"You could probably just cut it, no need to keep it if it bothers you so much," Thalia said while turning the dial on the radio, changing the channel to something else entirely.

"I tried," I admitted, "Right before we hopped onto this train, that's where I went for a few minutes, but it grew back before I even made it back. And now all my energy is out of whack and I can't get any control on it."

"Speaking of," Thalia started, "are you ok? After all that earlier?"

It took me a minute to get what she was talking about, everything was still rather fuzzy after all, "Ah, you're talking about the museum, right? Cause I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't remember much after we all got to the ground floor." I rubbed my head sheepishly.

"Well, ah, I can tell you, it's just that," Thalia fumbled for the right words, "I'm still very, very confused myself."

"Just tell me what you know then, it can't possibly be the worst thing I've heard." I half-joked, the sarcasm clearly evident in my voice, or at least I hoped it was.

Thalia hesitated before sighing, "Fine, just don't blame me if it's not something you want to hear, because I don't intend on stopping."

And so she did, she told me about my screams of pain like I was on fire, how I had transformed into some form of… beast, how I had skewered the Nemean Lion with a thick pillar of ice, and how I had killed two humans without mercy.

"...and you're sure I talked? During all of that?"

"Yeah, but, It didn't sound like you. Your voice was all warbled and bent like it was fused with another person's voice put on top of it!" Thalia explained, her hands moving wildly as she did so.

'I knew it…'

"Hey, Thalia, do you trust me?"

Thalia blinked, "What?"

I breathed in slowly, "I said, do you trust me? Cause this would be really awkward if you didn't." Chuckling, I looked at her again, the swirling of thoughts behind her eyes. I didn't make a habit of spying on one's emotions by aura, or 'mind-tapping' them, as I called it, but this time I already knew the answer before I asked.

"Yeah, Yeah I guess I do, which is strange considering I've only known you for a few days but, I feel like I've known you longer than that." She smiled, the sun from the window of the car illuminating her features, making them even clearer.

'Gods, you're so pretty.'

…

'Oh hell no, this is not happening.'

"Thanks, Thalia, now just give me a moment here."

"For…?" She asked, not getting an answer from me for a few seconds, as I was trying to focus and almost missed it.

"To get some answers. If anything weird happens, probably a smart idea to leave the car and get Percy." I stated this so nonchalantly, I almost convinced myself I wasn't worried.

"Should I be worried, or-"

I cut her off with a hand, "I'll be fine, just a precaution."

Thalia just nodded, settling into silence, but not taking her eye off of me as I closed my eyes and tried something I had feared trying before.

Entering my own soul.

I didn't want to risk getting trapped within myself or breaking something I couldn't fix, a soul was just that after all, a soul. Irreplaceable and kind of needed to keep, you know, living. So I attempted it in the only way I knew how, by meditating. Instead of extending my aura, however, I sent it inwards, piercing the very essence of my body and hooked it.

It was then that everything went red, and the outside world was lost to me.

When I opened my eyes mere seconds later, I was no longer in the car I had been in moments before, but instead a room of… odd properties.

The area I stood in was like any other kitchen and dining area, it was off to the sides, however, that was odd. To the left, where a living room would have been, stood a large open area with a large stone overhang, under the overhang was a burning fire pit and a throne of a deep stone facing it. In front of me, behind the kitchen, was what looked like a long medieval castle corridor, something you would see out of a movie.

It was odd, and if this really was my soul, then why was-

"Finally, She graced me with her presence, it only took thirteen years."

I spun quickly on my heel, coming face to face with a man, an extremely tall man, he had to have been around six-foot-six, at least. I couldn't even make out his face for some reason, just looking at it gave me a major headache and made me look away.

"What the hell are you? And why are you in… here."

Wherever here is.

"What I am is complicated," he paced around me like a shark, and I didn't move for fear of what he would do, "As for who I am, well, you can call me Omen, a pleasure to meet you face-to-face." He did a little bow, a snarkish smile on his face.

"You didn't answer my question, why are you here?"

He just shrugged, walking over from where we stood, to a standing position by the firepit under the overhang.

"How'd you like that power earlier? It looked like quite a rush from in here, feral as hell, a real monster."

"Shut up," I snarled, "it was you, you did that to me."

I stepped forward again, closer to the man, only stopping when he let out a clipped laugh.

"No, I just gave you what was already there, what you've been refusing to acknowledge for a long time. No, Armani, I didn't make you a monster, you did that yourself. With all the distancing from others, and going it alone, we make what we wish to destroy, Armani."

"Stop, you're not getting in my head, you aren't even real."

"Oh, come now, Armani, we both know that you don't believe that. I'm as real as anything else in the tangible world. You just haven't even begun to understand our powers yet."

Despite the situation, my interest was still piqued by his words, "Ours?"

He snorted, throwing a random chunk of rock into the fire, causing it to spark, "Why yes, did you think I didn't provide some power of my own? Not that mine would turn you into a monster-"

"I said stop! You're dead! Stop talking about me like you know everything about me!" I screamed.

Omen regarded me with something akin to curiosity, maybe a little bit of sadness, understanding, 'You don't even know why you just said that, do you? How would you even know if I'm dead, or just a part of you, in some twisted way? Face it, you're dealing with things you don't understand, and all because you keep running." He stepped closer, his face still clouded but almost fully touching my own.

"I-I'm not running." I stammered out.

"Aren't you? Running from Percy every time there's a problem. Running from that camp as soon as you could, running from your home?"

"I-" I couldn't breathe, thoughts, sounds, and memories twisted through my head at speeds even I couldn't read. The amount of input felt like it was tearing me apart until all of the sudden reality bent and snapped and everything went white.

When I opened my eyes again, the world around us was an endless white void, with only a single grey door off to the side. Omen was still there, standing farther than he had been before, eyeing me with a critical gaze.

"It's clear to me that this was much too soon for you, go, we'll talk after your quest. Before you do, however, take this."

He held out a glowing orb, silver, and black and swirling like oil.

"I- what the hell is even happening?"

Omen just laughed, 'While I love seeing you confused like this, you should go, this is a manifestation of my power. It'll help you when you need it most, don't misuse it."

Without much thinking, or even any reason, I reached forward to grab the orb. But before I could, it flew forward and into my chest, leaving an icy feeling there, before slowly fading away as it had never been there at all.

"Now go, the door will take you back. Don't even think about coming here again until your heart's been cleared." He shooed me towards the door.

"What does that even m-"

"Go." He interrupted, now having fully herded me over to the door, which I opened and was about to step through before Omen spoke again, "One last thing, be careful of your allies, one is not what they say they are."

I looked at him, not sure if I wanted to believe him, but nodded anyway. I turned back, and stepped into the inky blackness of the door, falling, and falling until reality bent once again, folding in on itself until my eyes snapped open.

I was back in the car like I had never left.

"So?" I looked over at Thalia, "are you gonna do something or…?"

I sighed, "Already did, and I'm more confused than I ever was before."

Author's notes:

Honestly not much to say here, I'm writing the next chapter already, which should be out after the next Eyes of Heaven Chapter. At the time of me posting this, I'm fairly busy with some school so we'll see how long that takes lol.

Other than that, I'd be glad to hear people's takes on this chapter, it was a bit of a weird one, writing it the way I did, and how I've characterized some of them. OOC and all that, as intended, along with getting the 'train movin' if you know what I mean. *Wink Wink* ;)

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, I'll see you next time.

-Dredgen