Chapter Two
The Problem With Titans
A dusty, barren patch of ground split open with fire spewing from the edges of the cracks.
"~with the help of Father Time!" Dante sang the whole way through the tunnel much to Clarisse's irritation, which thinking about it, was probably entirely the reason that he was doing it. The worst part was the fact that the tunnel itself had become attuned to Dante's singing, and somewhere in that tunnel, she could hear what the actual music was meant to be.
It was a strange sensation, to say the least.
She sighed heavily. While it annoyed her to no end, it was good to see that he hadn't changed much in the past few years. It was as if the Gods had bestowed immense immortal powers on a man-child, so to speak. She knew that wasn't true though as when he needed to, he always managed to keep his focus on something, he was one of the best people for this job role that he'd landed himself. Not that she'd ever actually admit that, to anyone. Ever.
The tunnel opened up and they stepped out onto Greek soil. "Where are we?" Clarisse asked him, looking around. For a daughter of a Greek God, she wasn't doing so well with her geographical placements.
"Athens, I think. My means of travel gets less accurate the further away I have to go, but... We're very close to the giants. I don't know how in Hades a hyperborean giant managed to come this far, but it's messing shit up pretty badly and making a ruin of these… Well, ruins." Dante smiled at his own little analogy before returning to his serious stare.
"I thought you said it was a group of giants?" Clarisse raised a single brow in question.
"I did, it's just that one of them is a hyperborean. Seriously though, it's lovely and hot out here, what the hell is an ice-giant doing in Greece?" It seemed that he'd arrived somewhat later than his cousin as there were already signs of battle. I.E, there was a smouldering set of giant armour on the ground, surrounded by dust.
A muffled sound to their left alerted Dante that he had to be on his guard. A split second later his facemask materialize out of nothing and many of the plates on his armour seemed to pull towards the centre of his body and lock into place.
Before Clarisse could even ask, he roughly pushed her back before avoiding a huge sword that came crashing through a stone wall to their left. Out of the debris, a small giant emerged, bloodthirsty and looking at potential prey. It was maybe thirteen or fourteen feet tall at most, a small giant was still a giant and while this had to be a fairly young one it was still one that could pose a dangerous threat.
The giant's blade was inches from Dante's body when it came down. Clarisse only then seemed to notice that he had his foot on the blade, effectively sticking it in the ground. The giant tried to dislodge it but failed remarkably. Grunting in frustration, it left its weapon and went to punch Dante but he caught both fists with his own, the size difference between their hands looking almost comical.
Clarisse didn't wait around for Dante to be the only hero. She pulled up one of her knives and threw it straight at the giant's ugly head. It lodged itself nicely in place. Clarisse ran and Dante felt a sudden weight on his shoulders before he noticed that she had used him as a springboard.
Clarisse slammed the pommel of the dagger in her free hand straight into the one already lodged in the giant's head making it turn to dust. Dante refused to comment on how good her move had looked, knowing that he would be feeling biased due to the fact that he'd used those very same moves only an hour earlier on the Minotaur.
As she fell through the dust left in the giant's wake, she managed to grab both of her daggers before landing on her feet. They were holstered by the time she had stood up straight again. It was an impressive feat to be achieved by a Demigod, despite the fact that Dante had done something very similar to the Minotaur not long ago.
"You… Are an incredibly skilled warrior." He admitted. She couldn't believe he had just said that and was in just as much shock as he was.
"I know, that's why I'm in love with her." A voice from above called down to them. They were greeted by the sight of Mason gliding toward them. Thalia was holding onto him with no fear present as his wings gracefully fluttered every now and then to give more leverage in the air before they finally landed softly on the ground next to Dante and Clarisse.
Thalia seemed to love the flight that her older brother had but she was also thankful to be back on the ground. "We should speak to Percy about extending the Guardian Corpse," Dante told his cousin, already seeming to call their little group a military unit. In other circumstances that would have been frowned upon, but most of their job was hunting down dangerous monsters and keeping Demigods safe, so Dante was the closest to finding a name with a justified application to it.
Mason raised an eyebrow at his cousin as if questioning his judgement on the matter. "What? You know as well as I do that we need a few more Guardians. There is no reason that we shouldn't increase our numbers. Besides, you would be making your girlfriend immortal. You would be beside her side for eternity." Dante's words were coated with silver. His tongue was slowly seducing Mason's more tempered side and slowly changing his point of view.
There was however a slight risk to introducing more Guardians to their ranks. The power was enough to send lesser men and women insane. Dante had no doubts about Clarisse being strong enough to become a Guardian, however.
"So bird brain. You have eyes in the sky, what's the situation look like?" Dante changed the topic. They needed to get back to the problem at hand and they were all itching for more combat. They all walked towards a clearing just past the edge of the ruins that they'd found themselves huddled in.
"It's not good. There's seven or eight giants all huddled around what looks like a hole in the ground. Could be an emergence hole. There's only one way to find out." Just as Mason was finishing explaining his recon they heard a thunderous voice call out to them.
"Ahh. Son of Hades. I'll kill you first, a sign to your father." The voice held malice of only the highest regard.
Dante turned towards his adversary and sighed heavily at the Gigantes. "Today Alcyoneus, tomorrow a dragon." Dante sighed before walking toward the giant. Mason grimaced at the fifty-foot tall supergiant. Alcyoneus was specifically created to destroy Hades. Could it have been a mere coincidence that a Gigantes was leading giants into Greek soil? Mason doubted it but kept his thoughts unvoiced for the moment. If anyone was to take on this giant, it was Dante, by birthright if nothing else, but Mason was also weary because of the fact that much of Alcyoneus' power would also directly affect Dante.
"How did we not feel him immediately? Must have just climbed out of that wretched hole." Dante mumbled under his breath before marching over to where the Gigantes was standing, almost as if he was guarding the emergence hole.
"You are not even a worthy adversary for me to waste my time with." The Gigantes scoffed before lifting his foot to try and crush Dante. Dante stood with his arms crossed until the giant's foot was physically above him. He slowly unfolded his arms and seemingly braced against the impact of the foot.
"You're about to witness the power of the Guardians. Granted, Dante is possibly the toughest of us, but the gap in our power is minuscule." Mason explained to the two women. He felt a small shift in the air, the tiniest vibration that told him a new presence was near. It was the sea breeze that alerted him to it next. Upon a rocky outlet near them, stood Percy in his Guardian armour, watching intently. Alcyoneus' foot crunched grittily against the ground, moving from side to side to ensure that he'd decimated his enemy.
The girls gasped. There was no way that Dante could have survived that. They both felt their stomachs drop upon hearing the earth beneath the Gigante's foot crunch as he pushed down. Alcyoneus laughed heartily before turning his attention back to his foot. There was a sensation of pain shooting up his leg, a pinprick at first before it escalated into a burning feeling that was quickly spreading.
Slowly but surely the Guardian pushed back, lifting the Gigantes from his very footing until he was standing at his full height, hands holding Alcyoneus' foot high above his head. With one final thrust of strength, Dante pushed back, forcing a massive wave of pressure to go flowing up Alcyoneus' leg, forcing the Gigantes to stumble backwards and begin to fall.
It tripped the monster and a moment later Dante's aura grew wildly. Percy, from the rock, followed suit and a moment later Mason stepped forwards glowing with a volatile yellow and blue. The girls could see a very clear lightning bolt emblem come to life on his chest plate. Percy rematerialized right next to them and the girls noticed that Percy too had a similar mark, this time a bright blue trident had appeared on his. They had no doubt that Dante would have a similar mark.
The air seemed to warp around the son of Hades as if reality itself was burning around his hands as he grasped onto a rapidly materializing weapon of pure light. In one deft movement, the Guardian had pirouetted and launched the mesmerizing pillar of destruction.
As if in synchronisation, Percy and Mason threw up similar-looking weapons that all impaled the Gigantes in the face at the exact same spot. A huge watery trident, a searingly bright lightning bolt, and a blazing pitchfork all embedded themselves firmly into Alcyoneus' face. The ethereal weapons faded just as the giant crumbled into dust.
"Hey, check it out," Dante said with a grin before he shadow travelled the very small distance back to his peers. "We totally just deep-sixed a Gigantes. They're only supposedly killable with the combined force of a God and a Demigod. They are so fucked now." The son of Hades laughed immaturely at the discovery.
"Well, if all else fails, we can just use the triam against the dragons." Percy reasoned with a nonchalant shrug. It clearly took a lot out of them to pull off that move. They all agreed that it was necessary against such a powerful enemy, however.
Clarisse moved a little bit. Unnerved by the word 'triam'. "What's a triam?" She asked, with a bit of an edge to her voice. Percy was the one to explain it to her.
"The triam is actually something that Hephaestus came up with thousands of years ago for our fathers. He concluded that if he was to create a weapon more powerful than Zeus' master bolt that it would have to be compromised from a combination of Zeus' bolt, Poseidon's trident, and Hades' pitchfork. It was to be called the triam, an ultimate weapon. We decided to take the inspiration and it quickly became the name of our 'ultimate attack' so to speak." Percy explained. It made sense to them, it wasn't even overly complicated.
They suddenly heard the sounds of rolling thunder rumbling violently but it felt like it was underground. "Hey, you guys feel that?" Mason asked rather stupidly. It was obvious that they all felt it. Mason decided that the source of the ground shaking was coming from the hole that the giants were all seemingly guarding.
"Last one over there has to polish my armour-Oh Gods dammit!" Dante shouted. The two cousins had gotten used to Dante saying things like this and had both teleported before he could finish his bet. Sighing he shadow-travelled over to the shadow of one of the giants. Clarisse and Thalia were left watching in awe at the trio fight the giants with such grace. These giants were clearly not in the same class as a Gigantes, that much was evident from the way that all three of them were dispatching the foes effortlessly. As one giant fell another climbed out of the hole to replace it.
"Do you think they're just showing off now?" Thalia asked Clarisse, looking a bit disappointed that they didn't seem to need her help. She quickly decided that they were getting help whether they wanted it or now. She held her spear high and a second later a lethal bolt of lightning turned one of the giants into dust.
The two women stormed toward the battlefield. Before they got very far, Mason appeared in front of them and grabbed them by the shoulders before going back to the fight at hand. He wasn't about to exclude them from the fight and they'd spend most of that time just getting there. They gave their thanks before getting back to the challenge at hand. More giants were piling out of the hole. Mason decided that they needed to do something about that.
"Hey guys, someone has to go down there. I volunteer, I have wings and can easily come back out." He told them, between decapitating a giant.
"Oh no way dude, Ro Sham Bo!" Dante shouted furiously as he cut the arms from a giant, using the giant's own body to traverse as he scaled around to dismember it. He reached the ground just in time to see the giant stumble, looking confusedly at the stumps situated at it's shoulders before roaring in pain and rage at the Guardian who had done this to him. Dante jumped high into the air and drop-kicked the almost limbless body back through the emergence hole.
A few seconds later and the Guardians were all huddled around, ignoring the threat that was imminent to them. Clarisse and Thalia continued to kill some small giants while the Guardians played rock paper scissors.
Again, for the second time that the cousins had done this, Dante had won. He shouted his victory cry before deciding to crack a few jokes to lighten the sudden downed mood. "If I'm not back for dinner, feed it to Mrs O' Leary." He smirked before noticing the visibly uncertain look that Thalia was giving him.
She sure as Hades didn't want him to jump down a hole that would most likely lead to Tartarus but he really didn't want anyone else to do it. It was true that while Mason had wings and would likely have a much easier time getting back out, the underground was Dante's domain and he would be best suited for it.
"I'll be fine." He told them all. It was thinly veiled and it didn't get past Percy or Mason but it was aimed at Thalia. She nodded at him before he let himself fall backwards down the hole. He wasn't certain of where it would lead but if it was going anywhere of importance, he was confident that he was about to end up stuck in the depths of Tartarus. He sighed, not wanting to be right about this. His faltered attitude quickly disappeared before he bellowed a whopping Major Kong scream as he reached terminal velocity and bolted down the hole towards Hell itself.
When Dante was clearly out of sight and the giants had seemingly stopped climbing out as quickly as they were being killed, Percy turned to Mason. "A hundred drachma says this leads straight to Tartarus." He said without any trace of sarcasm. Mason looked back down the hole for a moment before he responded. "We're both obviously thinking that it's Tartarus but I'd love to be wrong, so you're on." Mason nodded with a solemn smile before fist-bumping the son of Poseidon, sealing their gamble.
The giants had stopped coming for now and the Guardians saw no point in waiting for Dante to re-emerge. It was fruitless, and they would know instantly the moment that he was in danger.
"Time works differently in the underworld, there's no telling how long we'll be waiting here for him. Our best plan of action is to go back to Artemis' camp and await word of-", Percy couldn't finish, a rocky staircase opened up in the ground spewing flames, and out stepped a slight ichor covered Dante. They all sent him questioning looks.
"Who had Tartarus?" Dante asked seriously, looking tired. Percy fisted the air in victory while Mason sighed, handing his cousin a small bag full of money.
"No more giants coming up from there. I had to kill my way through a prison and back into the giant's camp before physically climbing high enough to reach the hole in the ceiling of Tartarus before I could get close enough to form a passage." Dante chuckled lightly before he sat down and rested his tired muscles.
He placed a hand on the ground next to him and focused hard. There was a slow rumble at first before it grew in strength and intensity before the hole slowly filled in and closed up with rocks, dirt, and sand.
The act had left him even more exhausted than he was, but that had definitely finished their mission. There had been a lot of monsters down there, far more than he was expecting. Tartarus wasn't a place that he would have willingly jumped into if he'd known beforehand. Time worked differently down there, obviously, barely any time had passed up here but he'd been down there for a significantly longer time.
"How long were you down there? I remember Tartarus, it was a bastard to navigate." Percy muttered, crossing his arms as he analyzed the state that the son of Hades had returned in.
"A few days, at the very least. I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me when we're… Somewhere other than Greece." Dante mumbled before flattening himself against the sandy floor of the ruins of Athens. He began to snore and Clarisse couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Ro Sham Bo?" Percy asked, looking at his cousin. They both nodded. The difficulty with teleporting another Guardian was that sometimes things went wrong. When Mason did it Percy had appeared stuck in a tree, and the last time Percy took Dante anywhere, he'd nearly drowned.
Mason lost, therefore he had to take responsibility and teleport Dante back to Artemis' Hunter encampment. They all disappeared at once. It was only the second time that the Guardians had appeared to the Hunters but they had already become accustomed to it.
Percy noticed straight away the look that the Goddess herself had started giving him from the confines of her personal tent. She quickly looked away when she realized that he'd caught her staring. "Where's Dante?" Thalia asked suddenly when she noticed that he wasn't with them anymore.
"Well… Shit." Mason cursed before checking the skies. There in the blazing image of the sun, a small blotched figure was falling to the Earth at terminal velocity. "So do you wanna catch him or shall I?" Percy asked his cousin. Mason briefly gave a nonchalant shrug before he extended his wings and shot into the sky at rocket speed to rise up to meet his heavy cousin.
A few moments later and Dante had been safely laid out on the ground. Artemis herself had come out to investigate what had happened. She just pointed to the body on the floor and gave each of the Guardians a questioning look. They both responded with an honest to Zeus innocent shrug. "Little brother." Artemis glared at Mason who refused to crack. Thalia sighed briefly before answering for them.
"There was some kind of hole in Athens that kept throwing out giants and the odd Gigantes. We had to figure out where the hole led and how to stop the giants from coming out. Obviously, they played rock-paper-scissors for the privilege of jumping down it which turned out was Tartarus. Dante did his thing and literally just climbed up and out of there. He's pretty fatigued, so he passed out." Thalia filled her sister in on the details that her idiot brother and Percy found it so humorous to not do.
"You shouldn't have answered her. She gets hilariously angry." Percy chimed in, shooting the Goddess his trademark bad-boy grin and looking directly into her silvery eyes with his own sea green irises. She looked away and he could have sworn that he saw a slight blush. If Annabeth was right and Artemis really did have something beyond curiosity for Percy then he was going to push it and make it really hard for her.
"He climbed out of Tartarus? How in Hades is that even possible? You know what, I don't want to know. I'm going to assume that you Guardians have dealt with the problem… What a jackass." Artemis said plainly before walking back into her tent. Thalia followed so that she could fully brief her mistress on their misadventures in Athens.
'Annabeth', Percy tried to reach out to his friend on Olympus. He wasn't actually sure if he could link himself to Gods or even get that far with his empathic link, but he assumed that because of how close they were, she might be able to hear him.
Nothing but silence returned to him, however, so he decided to try another day. A Huntress that neither of the Guardians knew, brought over some ambrosia and nectar so that they could heal Dante a little bit. At least enough to get him back on his own feet. They could have waited for him to sleep it out but they didn't want to play babysitter that long.
Mason nodded to Percy nonchalantly before taking Clarisse back to Camp Half-Blood. Percy also wanted to go and relay the information of what happened to Annabeth, because he saw no better person to talk to about it.
Once Dante was up, he decided that he too would go with Percy to Olympus. He used his instant version of teleportation where the ground literally swallowed him whole and spat him out above ground somewhere else, in this case, Olympus. It was far more effective than carving a staircase out of the ground but it could sometimes be more taxing on him. The two Guardians split off in different directions. Dante went to go and find Apollo, and Percy went to find Annabeth.
Annabeth had been doing the exact same thing that Percy had found her doing three hours prior. "Do you not have anything better to do?" He asked her, quite seriously. She looked at him quite startled but when she realized that it was him, she kept her godly form instead of shrinking.
"I'm immortal. So no, I do not, as a matter of fact, have anything better to do than plan the architecture of Olympus itself." She responded back sarcastically. How was he supposed to know that was what she was doing?
"Alright wise girl, calm down." He added before he teleported onto the table that she was sitting at. It didn't make much of a difference to her, except for the fact that he nearly trampled over her Ambrosia. He made a mental note to never do that because of how sticky it would be in his boots.
"Anything new happen?" Annabeth asked him absent-minded. Percy thought to test her for a moment and just summarised everything as briefly as he could.
"Dante defeated Alcyoneus by throwing him off his feet, jumped into Tartarus, defeated more giants, and then climbed out again before forcing it to shut with willpower alone," Percy told her without any sarcasm present. She stopped writing and immediately looked over at Percy.
"He did what?" She questioned, just to make sure that she wasn't hearing things. No one had ever literally climbed out of Tartarus before, Dante would be the first. But then, when she reviewed that entire sentence in her head, she realised that if anyone was capable of such a thing, it would always have been these Guardians.
"Dante being… Dante." Percy sighed. He was about to say something about Artemis but it seemed that Annabeth was already ahead of her.
"I overheard Artemis saying something to Apollo while you were doing your Guardian thing in Greece. She cannot understand why she's so fascinated by you. Apollo laughed and made fun of her for 'falling for the Guardians' because you guys are basically male versions of the Hunters." Annabeth smirked, looking up from her work to see Percy's reaction. She wasn't disappointed.
He frowned slightly, "Well we haven't exactly dismissed the company of women or men alike, but we more or less hunt monsters in the same regard. Besides, having an interest in someone is completely different to 'falling' for someone." Percy tried to defend himself but didn't get very far with it. He soon gave up and just sighed at his godly best friend.
She looked up from her work and gave him a wink before going back to it. He cursed her for being so good to him but such a joker at the same time. He clenched a fist in front of him, summoning a load of moisture into her hair, making it damp and frizzy. She cursed him and threatened to destroy him before laughing about it. He took a quick sip of the nectar that she had on her table before evaporating completely.
On the other side of Olympus, Dante found Apollo, the God he was looking for. Apollo seemed to notice that the Guardian was seeking his attention. "My lord." He raised his arm to his chest and kneeled in front of the God in question.
"No need to kneel." Was all Apollo said at first, "What brings you to me?" He asked with a warming smile. Dante smiled back before mustering the courage to make a request of the God in front of him.
"I come with a request if I might be so bold as to ask it. I cannot take these matters to any mortal." He quickly explained. Apollo waved it off and let him explain. He quickly took human form so that it was a more informal conversation between immortals.
"You are the God of art, so I come to you for the request of body art implementation. I could not take these things to a mortal, if somehow their tiny needles ever pierce my skin they'd be greeted with ichor. I would not have enough mist to shield their eyes for such a prolonged amount of time and none would be as skilled as the God of art." Dante reasoned, slowly changing Apollo's view on it round to his own.
Soon enough the sun God agreed as a personal favour. When they were done, Dante went to stretch and surprisingly felt no pain from it. "Yeah, forgot to mention, there will be no scabbing, no fading and no negative effects. That's how I roll." Apollo winked before he disappeared. Dante admired the small simple black rendition of Hades' helm of darkness that sat just inwards of his right hip and ran down to his waistband. His reason for wanting it was morbid but logical. If he was ever to find himself stuck in Tartarus again, unable to escape and thrashed by the constraints of time and punishment then it would serve to remind him of who he was.
He clicked his fingers and his armour instantly formed around his body. He decided that he should return to the Hunters to talk about the dragon hunting expedition that they were about to undertake. He couldn't exactly summon a staircase on Olympus, Annabeth would never forgive him, so instead he went back to the Hunters' camp the same way he'd left.
Artemis saw the ground open up out of the corner of her eye. Dante was spat out before it closed up once more. She noticed something different about him though, he was glowing with the blessing of Apollo. She didn't know how he got her stubborn brother's blessing but she was sure to find out.
"How did you do it?" She hammered him down straight away, the moment he entered the strategy tent.
"How did I do what?" He asked her, thinking that she was referred to as climbing out of Tartarus. Because that was fairly straightforward, he'd literally climbed back out.
"Get my brother's blessing. How did you do it?" She repeated. He looked at her in confusion, the first thing that came to his mind was to check the tattoo. He waved his hand over his midsection and a part of his armour just melted away into dust, revealing his incredible toned, bare stomach. Right next to his abs was a rocking tattoo that trailed down towards his waistband, and even further.
It was glowing brightly when freed from the armour. "Huh, that's pretty cool. Didn't know that meant getting a God's blessing, I only wanted the tattoo." Dante muttered before waving his hand again just for the armour to reform. Artemis rolled her eyes at the ignorant man. She was extremely annoyed that the Guardians had gotten Apollo's blessing over hers just because Dante had wanted a tattoo from the God of art.
"So anyway, how goes the planning for the dragon thing." He asked. She gave him a questioning look, 'Dragon thing'? She wondered if he really didn't know the proper terms for these things but decided not to ask, for fear of him ruining his perfect image of being a man child. She enjoyed making jest at him for it. Then she remembered how he'd gone to Apollo first and she quickly got annoyed with him again.
Percy materialized into the tent with a swift sea breeze. He ended up forming right next to Artemis which made her blush slightly. She quickly hid it from sight with her power. The same power that she used to determine all of her godly and human appearances.
Artemis started explaining everything before remembering that Mason wasn't there. She asked if they should wait for him, but Percy and Dante both decided instantly that it didn't matter. They could relay all of the information telepathically to their other Guardian. Dante kept feeding him false information though, as a form of a practical joke. Percy found it semi amusing, Mason didn't.
When they were just about done with making the plan for hunting the dragon, they moved on to each separate aspect of this dragon hunt. They knew what they were up against and they knew the best way to kill it.
Mason would be in the air alongside Percy and Blackjack, all trying to ground the beast, and from there, Dante and the Hunters would finish it. Bonus points if they could capture and interrogate it before turning it into ash. The Guardians knew that was what Artemis wanted to do but they weren't quite as good at capturing monsters alive as their excitement for battle usually got in the way.
The Guardians had been told about the dragons organising themselves and determined that there must have been some intelligence telling them what to do. A greater dragon hierarchy perhaps? They couldn't know until they'd sifted through each of their options.
What most people didn't realize was that Dante was able to control and manipulate fire, and explosions to a certain extent. Perhaps it was possible to use that against the dragon should it be able to breathe fire.
The Guardians were to be the bait for this initial hunt and as a result, they made sure to say their goodbyes to the relevant people. They'd never hunted a dragon before, they had no idea how this fight would turn out.
Naturally, Mason took a moment to speak to Clarisse. Percy thought he saw him trying to use the empathic link like he had done earlier but it didn't work. Instead, he made a quick iris message to Camp Half-Blood.
Dante strolled right over to Thalia and started teasing her about how she would have missed him if he'd died in Tartarus. Percy however stayed right next to Artemis. He was determined to make it painfully obvious that he was teasing her. After another brief blush, she returned a scowl that told him that the game had only just started, and yet so far he was in the lead. If anyone else, literally anyone else had done this then they'd be dead by now, but Percy had some kind of diplomatic immunity, and they both sensed that. It infuriated her but she wasn't going to let him see that, for as long as possible at least.
The day had stretched on and before any of them knew it, the sun was rising on the morning of their hunt. The plan was set, Artemis and her Hunters were getting themselves ready for the big fight.
The three Guardians slowly walked the rocky path to the mountain. Up in the stone cliff edges lay an old cave formation. It was here that Artemis had tracked the dragon.
"So what information do we have about the monster itself?" Percy asked, offering the only piece of conversation that they'd had the entire trip. Mason was focused on getting up the mountain, and Dante had his earphones in again, sucking on a lollipop he'd bought along the way.
He jovially hung behind Percy and Mason, making sure that they weren't ambushed. Mason gave Percy a slight glance before relaying the information that he had. "As far as we know, it's a lesser dragon, maybe even a wyvern. But Artemis thinks that it can lead us further up the chain, and it's our duty as Guardians to aid her cause." He sighed slightly as he felt a vibration in the dirt.
The two cousins looked back to get Dante's opinion but all they saw was him slip into the ground. Sighing once again, Mason unfurled his wings and took to the skies, bringing Percy with him. He hoped to get up to the cliff edge before Dante somehow managed to get his immortal self killed. The Hunters were right behind then, concealed in the shadows of the surrounding woodlands.
"We've lost one of the Guardians, where is he?" Artemis called out to the two that were beginning to gain altitude.
"We'll give you three guesses," Mason replied before they all saw the air at the mouth of the cave entrance begin to warp with heat. It wasn't clear who the cause was but it was obvious that Dante was already in the cave, greeting their target.
They all heard a powerhouse scream as fire breached that very same cave that the Guardians were heading towards. Just out of reach from the edges of the fire, they could see Dante gingerly escaping the licking flames. He splayed his hands and they noticed the fire separate around him somewhat.
Percy heard Artemis sigh heavily behind them as Dante barrelled down the mountain, protected by his armour. A wingless dragon crawled its way out of the cave. That solved their immediate problem of how to ground the beast, but as a rule, most wyverns were far greater in strength than their flying counterparts.
A claw swiped at Dante who tried to block but was instead thrown twenty feet from the force of the blow. He began a curse in ancient Greek which received him a glare from Artemis. He quickly apologised for being profane in her presence before getting back to the fight. Percy took on the beast head to head as he uncapped Anaklusmos and swung at the front legs, his sword turned into a blur as he got faster and faster.
Mason fired off arrow after arrow at the same rate that the Hunters were, except he was aloft and accelerating his arrows with charges of lightning that periodically seemed to strike his body from the clouds that became darker with each passing second.
Artemis herself joined Percy by his side with blade in hand. A swipe that would have ripped stone from stone was arching directly towards Artemis. The water from Percy's armour suddenly came to life at his will, causing a shield of water to cover them just as he reached her and strengthened the wall. The claw decimated the protective barrier that Percy had put up, but it had slowed the wyvern enough for him to get Artemis to the ground.
She looked up appreciatively with a huge blush spreading across her face. He noticed this and a second later his battle-hardened frown had turned into a grin and he winked at her before willing the water to form a fist and punch the wyvern directly in the face. It hadn't served to cause any damage and only really aggravated the creature but it felt apt.
Mason put his bow away and instead summoned his gigantic great sword and began to charge it with lightning bolts that continuously struck the tip of the celestial bronze hunk. "Dante, distract it, Percy you must immobilize it!" He shouted to his fellow Guardians. This fight wasn't going terribly but it was certainly not going the way they needed it to.
Percy evaporated, leaving the wingless dragon utterly confused and shocked. Dante got in front of Artemis who seemed adamant about continuing the fight up close. "Distract it!? It just punched me through a tree!" Dante ranted to himself before turning to Artemis, "Might wanna take a few steps back milady, this probably won't go quite to plan." He told her with respect but in such a way that made her know that she had no other choice in the matter.
He gently swept her aside before turning towards the threat. "Hey ya big wingless bitch!" He shouted out, strafing away from the Hunters. The dragon's eyes narrowed as if realizing that it was being mocked.
"Dante, dragons are fiercely intelligent. Unwise move Guardian." Artemis told him. The dragon let out a screech that was closely followed by a stream of brilliant red and orange flames.
The heat was intense, but Dante managed to manipulate it to fly straight over his head and out of the way. His powers had increased tenfold over what they used to be. Mason made a mental note to ask him about it later, but otherwise, he kept charging the sword. The wyvern had had enough and launched itself forwards. The jaws opened up and nearly closed entirely over Dante.
Thalia's heart thumped loudly in her chest when she witnessed the jaws close completely over Dante. It seemed to have swallowed him whole and made a triumphant chuckle that emanated deeply in its throat.
Mason looked completely unphased by this though and she considered shocking her big brother. She couldn't see Percy anywhere until she noticed water vortexes swirling around each leg that quickly turned into solid ice. The dragon's throat lurched forwards and its mouth slowly began to open as if against the dragon's own will. The jaws were being pried open from the inside.
"βάλλ' εἰς κόρακας." Was heard very loudly from the inside of the dragon's mouth before Dante has thrown it open and jumped clear of its snapping jaws. It was just in time for Mason's attack to come through. Thalia's thudding heart had managed to slow itself down in the midst of her brain trying to translate what Dante had shouted from inside the dragon.
'Throw yourself? Throw something… No, definitely throw yourself. To the crows? Odd…' She thought to herself as she tore her attention away from the Guardian and back to the wyvern.
High in the sky, Mason was almost done with his task. The last of the lightning began coursing through his celestial bronze greatsword before he nosedived straight to the dragon. His blade was amplified in force as it swung wildly through the beast's neck. It was turned to dust before the blade even hit the ground.
In the blink of an eye, their battle was over. Percy had frozen the dragon in place, Dante had become a chew toy, and Mason had become the executioner in one swift movement.
The groups all gathered around. Dante opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but after his various curses, Artemis didn't care to hear them. She clicked her fingers and instantly they were all back at her encampment. "So that could have gone better. Thalia. Guardians, in my tent." She promptly dismissed the rest of her Hunters who were more than happy with the day's kill. The Guardians begrudgingly followed her back to her planning tent where Dante and Mason were certain that they were about to be torn to shreds, both for different reasons. Percy just walked in with a smug grin spread across his face.
"You." Artemis pointed at Dante. He tensed up straight away, swiping a hand across the air in front of his face. The white metal faceplate rippled through reality and covered him. Artemis countered this with a wicked backhand that smacked him so hard that his faceplate rescinded back into whatever oblivion he summoned it from.
"Ow." He muttered fairly casually considering he'd basically been assaulted. He rubbed his nose before his instincts came back. He thought about saying something in response but decided better of it, just looking dead ahead like he had during his training sessions with Ares.
"You are to never repeat most of those curses in my presence again, are we clear?" She asked, looking more like a scolding mother than anything else.
"Y-Yes ma'am." Dante stuttered ever so slightly but he was finally less tense and let his shoulders flop down to where they would usually hang. Mason snickered slightly and nudged Dante in the sides.
"You." She said sharply, pointing at Mason who straightened up as Dante had moments ago. Dante hid his snicker just in case Artemis turned on him again. "You are too trigger happy so to speak. Don't let it happen again, next time I wish to interrogate the monster before we end it." Artemis' scolding was lesser on Mason than it had been on Dante but yet the Guardians felt they'd gotten off lightly considering the fact that they were being told off by a Goddess.
Percy looked at Artemis expectantly, as if daring her to say something to him. She looked away but he noticed a small grin play across her face. She wondered how much they would be able to play their games with each other before they would be forced to acknowledge that there was something going on. But what? It wasn't like he could put a label on whatever game they were playing.
Mason had noticed their back and forth looks but had only voiced his observation with Percy and dismissed anything else about it. He loved how typical it was of Percy to manage to get himself in the eyes of a Goddess. A maiden Goddess no less. The Guardians were permitted to stay the night with the Hunters while they figured out their next move. They were unsure of where to go from here as that dragon had been their only real lead.
The night had fallen upon them quickly and each of the Guardians had gone separate ways in terms of finding things to pass the time. Artemis noticed Percy walk over the side of a steep hill. He waved his hand and the water that flowed freely over his armour snaked around his body until was at his feet. He was using the water to surf down the rocky hill and into the lake below them. This was the second time he'd gone to that spot of water. It was proving to be quite a hit with the prince of the sea.
Mason had decided to stretch his wings for a few moments, taking to the skies with great ease. He had no doubt decided to go to Camp Half-Blood to see Clarisse. Artemis was sitting in her chair, silently writing up a new strategy for capturing a dragon as opposed to sending it straight to Tartarus. She'd also have to get the Guardians to agree to it as well. She spied one of the said Guardians talking with her lieutenant.
She couldn't help but notice just how different Thalia was around him. They'd always been close in the past but it seemed that something else was sparking over the past day that Artemis could see. It appeared to be growing at an alarming rate considering the oaths that Thalia had taken.
That being said Thalia was one of the very few exceptions for her reasons for joining the Hunt, so Artemis had always expected that a day like this would come when someone would become an important part of her life.
It didn't really help that those two were very similar to one another in certain things, if there was ever going to be someone that Thalia ended up developing certain feelings for, it wouldn't surprise Artemis if it ended up being Dante. Only time would tell on that one.
There had never been Guardians before, and now that there were, it was new and interesting, and as much as Artemis had seen them in battle, their training was rigorous even by Olympus' standards. She was impressed with them by no small amount.
She couldn't focus on her plans right now, she had other things on her mind or other people. She teleported herself into the tree line that surrounded the lake that she knew Percy would be at.
Over at Camp Half-Blood, a lightning bolt alerted the campers that there was a Guardian in their presence. For some reason, Mr D was visiting Pollux and was wearing his signature tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt. "Dionysus." Mason kneeled at first.
"Oh come now Manso-" Dionysus began.
"Mason." He corrected him, wishing not to be mistaken for the king of the goths.
"Whatever. There's no need to be so formal. I'd prefer if you could treat me like you would your cousins." Dionysus told him in a rare show of mutual respect. Mason flashed the briefest of smiles before continuing.
"OK then. What brings you to camp? Another affair grounding you for a century?" Mason asked without a single trace of sarcasm but a grin plastered firmly across his face. Dionysus frowned before muttering that he'd deserved that one. Mason made his brief apology and the recognition that it was nothing more than banterous jest.
Mason soon found himself standing outside cabin five. He wasn't about to go in there but he had no problems with knocking. It was the father of all cabin five campers who had 'trained' him over the past year. He knocked loudly and nearly scared a girl no more than thirteen who answered the ugly red door.
"Ugh, is Clarisse here?" He asked her, unsure of how to treat accidentally scaring someone to death. He tried his best not to terrify her further but that was becoming more difficult by the second what with him literally being bigger than the door frame and covered in huge plates of power armour.
The girl ran away but was eventually replaced by his girlfriend. She quickly left the cabin and took him by the arm, walking him along the beach. He hadn't even said anything yet but then he guessed that he didn't need to. She knew that he was fighting dragons with the Guardians and the Hunters. It must have just been a huge relief to Clarisse to see him alive after that. He was immortal, so 'alive' might not have been the right word, but not deformed into a million grains of golden dust was more appropriate. The Guardians would reform just as slowly as the Gods, but they would reform eventually.
"So Dante nearly got eaten, burned alive and thoroughly scolded by Artemis," Mason told her. She frowned a little bit. After everything the Guardians had recently been through Mason had started a conversation by listing off everything that Dante had done or things that had been done to him.
"He's not the luckiest of you is he?" She asked rhetorically. The walk had started getting dangerously close to the pier and Mason pulled on her arm, letting her know that they needed to go a different way. He didn't feel comfortable that close to the sea. It wasn't his domain and they all knew it.
Mason had hated every minute of their quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Dante was more or less OK with it at the time, but as the years went on Mason had discovered that Dante had disliked it as much as he did. The son of Hades just hid his emotions better.
"That reminds me. There's a bit of a complication starting to build up between the Guardians and the Hunters." Mason had a huge grin spreading across his features. Clarisse found a nice patch of grass and pulled her boyfriend down.
"Oh yeah?" She looked surprised. She couldn't imagine what. Well, she could imagine what considering that Dante was included, but the Hunters were sworn to be maidens for eternity… So she wasn't certain of what it could be.
"Dante and Thalia seem to be getting kind of close to each other. And so do Percy and a certain maiden Goddess." Mason couldn't help but let out a deep dark laugh that sent a shiver up Clarisse's spine. She sat looking at him in utter shock. A maiden Goddess sworn to be void of love had shown an interest in Percy Jackson. Guardian or no immortal Guardian, she still couldn't believe it.
"Dante and Thalia always were kind of close though, don't you think?" Clarisse asked, looking up at him from where they sat.
He gave a silent nod followed by a shrug, "Yeah, I guess, but this feels different. I dunno, maybe I'm just more observant than everyone else with these things." He added, glancing out at the waves with a wistful look.
"And I, physically, can't believe that Percy has captured the eye of a Goddess, Artemis no less." Clarisse rounded the conversation back to the real bombshell.
"It doesn't really surprise me, to be honest. For the past couple of years whenever we've had run-ins with the Gods those two have always had this strange interaction with one another. I can't explain it but now that we're Guardians, I think something has triggered inside one or both of them. Only time will tell and I'm willing to bet that even once they've figured out what's going on that they'll hide it from everyone else." Mason once again finished his thoughts with a very unbothered shrug.
"Wait, they're both your sisters. How can you be so… Unproductive of them?" Clarisse asked, almost as shocked as what she'd previously heard. Mason tilted his head for a moment.
"Because whilst they're my sisters, they're both sworn to eternal chastity and Percy and Dante are both not only my cousins but my fellow Guardians. Which reminds me. At some point, you're going to be offered a choice. We have not presented anyone with what we're offering you." Mason turned to look Clarisse dead in the eyes so that he could check her reaction for positive or negative signs. Her eyes darted up and locked onto his before narrowing slightly.
Mason explained that when they had time, they would take her to Olympus and offer her a place within the Guardians and bestow their blessing upon her and make it official. It took all three of them to give someone the Guardian's blessing and turn them immortal but it could be done.
Clarisse didn't know what to say and yet at the same time, Mason was certain that she'd take them up on the offer. She was a councillor at the camp but as a daughter of Ares, she yearned for battle. The camp councillor's life was never for her. She answered him silently by tackling him to the ground and pressing her lips to his. Offering her a place in the Guardians was better than some offers of godhood that she would receive. Not only that, but she would be able to visit her father whenever she wanted as an immortal.
"But what do the others think?" Clarisse pulled away from Mason for a brief moment. A flash of worry played across her face. Mason was confused at why she'd asked this.
"Well it was Percy's idea to start with and Dante was very impressed by your show of skill and combat initiative." The words sunk in slowly. 'Percy's idea'. She was amazed at how much Prissy Jackson had changed in the year they had all been training with her father.
"Oh. My. Zeus." Were the only words to escape her. They continued their afternoon before going back to the Big House. Chiron was smiling at them with the corniest grin anyone could muster. Before they could continue to enjoy their day Percy was viciously thrown out of the sea that lined up with the camp. Waves came crashing down upon some of the cabins that had been unlucky enough to be anywhere near Percy when he was in full wrath.
The look on Percy's face said it all. Artemis and Thalia flashed in right next to the spot Percy landed at. Thalia had some burn marks that were glowing a sickly green. Greek fire? No, it couldn't have been, it would have eaten right through her. Something as potent however had clearly been used against her. "What's happened?" Mason asked, his face harder than steel.
Percy's voice was deep and grave, something that none of the girls had seen of him this far. "Dragons. They seemed to have aligned themselves with the Titans. Atlas has once again become unbound. They've taken Dante and placed him under the sky. It gets worse." Percy told him. Artemis stepped up. The waves around the camp were crashing violently. It seemed that whatever was going on had seriously incurred his wrath.
"The one organising the dragons has turned out to be a fabled dragon older than our Gods. He was not of Greek origin, so it's surprising that such a beast exists. Aranost, the icon of death." Artemis told them.
Percy turned to Mason once again. "We need to retain our third Guardian. Now." He told him with absolute power.
Mason was in full support of this but saw no way they could. "Without Dante, we simply cannot."
Chiron frowned before thinking about it for a moment. "If the process takes all three Guardians, why not simply divide the separate pieces that make up the part. I'm sure that if you ask Lady Artemis, she could provide immortality to the Guardian. That way you two can both focus on the pieces that no other could fill in." Chiron's words were sound.
"It's not quite as simple as that but we could give it a shot," Percy added before the three immortals formed a triangle around Clarisse, Lady Artemis not hesitating to help them.
"Before we begin; any objections, Clarisse?" Percy asked, making sure that they'd at least covered the basics and it was something that the daughter of Ares was actually interested in. That was the first step, an acceptance by both the new Guardian and the three original Guardians.
Each of them began to visibly emanate pure power. The moon shone brighter than it ever had and many animals began howling in unison at their mistress bringing so much raw strength to the surface.
The waves at the end of the beach had become so powerful that Dionysus decided to reinforce the barrier around the camp to stop those waves from crashing down and causing a LOT of damage to any of the cabins that lie close to the shore.
The clouds grew dark and terrible before lightning bolts broke free everywhere. The power they had between them was astounding. A bright light engulfed Clarisse and a moment later, the new Guardian had arisen. Her clothes burned away just mere moments before a dark grey underlayer had woven itself around her body, seemingly forming out of thin air. Seconds had passed before her transformation was complete from start to finish.
There she was, the newest Guardian, standing in her now fully formed suit of armour that was tailored perfectly to her body. She could feel the weight in the suit but for all that it was worth, it still felt light to her. That was either a testament to Hephaestus' craft or to her newfound strength. Probably a combination of both.
The waves and sky calmed themselves but the moon stayed bright. Percy didn't waste any time, he lurched his arm back before punching her across the jaw. Mason said nothing but smiled when golden ichor poured from the side of her mouth instead of blood.
Mason silently pointed to Clarisse's armour, turning her focus from getting into a fistfight with Percy. The Guardian's armour, hers was slightly different, she had a smaller trim than Percy and Mason. Her armour, like theirs, was a brilliant shade of white, but the trim shone a brilliant flame red.
Her sensations were slowly awakening to adjust to her new heightened level of sensitivity. She craned her neck to identify what the pull of gravity on her back was and noticed that there was a heavy white shield held on by nothing but its own will. She pulled it free with no resistance, twirling the heavy chunk of metal around in the air like it was nothing.
Hey, eyes scanned around the suit, taking in every little detail there was. She subconsciously pulled free a small indentation that held a strip of the shield itself and gave it a shove in the air. As a result, a magnificent spear of similar shade shot outwards, extending at a wicked speed, coming to full size within half a second. She couldn't help but smile to herself. A Goddess of War she truly was.
"And then there were four," Artemis muttered to herself quietly, looking on in mild wonder at the true power that these Guardians held. The process of creating another member to their divine order had pumped the Guardians up and they were ready to rescue their brother in arms.
A question had suddenly popped up in Mason's mind, however, "How did a dragon manage to capture Dante?" He asked, feeling that it would be rather impossible for such a feat to happen. Dante would die long before willingly being incarcerated. Thalia felt a sudden tug at her heart when Taz asked this.
"This dragon is the oldest and most powerful one there is, apparently, and there wasn't just one dragon, there were four. The others weren't a problem, most not even as strong as the wyvern we killed. But this Aranost sprayed a fire so potent it was enough to rival the damaging capabilities of our own Greek fire. It was not magic however and eventually died out." Percy started explaining. Mason's expression was a deadpanned one, that hadn't explained how they captured Dante, it just reinforced his own theory.
Mason splayed his arms in a way that told Percy he needed more information than that. "The dragons had us cornered and we found out about the potency of this green fire. The black dragon had reared up and was about to let loose on Thalia. She would have died if not for Dante. He dived in front of the dragon's attack. He managed to subvert most of the damage due to his power over the stuff, but he was still pretty badly hurt from it. It wasn't enough to kill him but it definitely did a number on him. The dragons took him and left." Artemis' expression as she explained had become softer. She didn't like the attitude that Dante was in the heat of battle, but she was beginning to see a completely different side of him whenever he was with her favourite Huntress.
This all added a new dynamic to their plans. They hadn't expected any kind of retaliation attack, and their speculation that there was a higher dragon orchestrating them had been just that; speculation.
Far away from where the Guardians were now preparing to embark on their latest mission, Dante woke up bleary-eyed and aching. He wasn't just aching, he was hyper-aware of almost every muscle in his body, all being torn right down to the microfibers in his muscles.
The last thing he remembered was diving in front of a stream of multi-coloured flowers… Wait, no, that wasn't right. It was fire, not flowers, and it was a sickly green not multi-coloured. Where was he?
He looked up and noticed that he was holding the sky… Holding the sky. "Well… Fuck." He said plain and simple as sweat began to roll heavily down his forehead in huge beads. "Guess that explains the full-body workout." He muttered to himself, taking note that his breathing was feeling laboured.
A huge black dragon slowly crawled up the side of the mountain that he could see. "Ladon. Didn't I kill you? Hey man, I swear that was an accident, how was I supposed to know that several dozen decapitations would kill a dragon?" Dante asked casually, still wary about how he'd gotten into this situation.
"Bah! Do I look like that one hundred-headed fool?" The black dragon was incredibly insulted by Dante mistaking him for Hesperides' guard dog. Dante squinted briefly before answering back.
"Honestly? I thought he could choose between them. You know, like a cosmetic change." Dante smirked. He was immortal so if he managed to aggravate the dragon enough into killing him, then he'd just be doing him a favour by freeing him from the sky prison. A huge Titan in a suit walked into Dante's field of vision.
"Just like old times huh, Guardian?." Atlas spat at the last part before glaring wickedly at Dante. Dante couldn't help himself, he just had to make more jokes. In the end, he knew that he may as well try to keep his spirits high as well as the sky.
"Aren't you the lead singer for Skindred?" He asked with his most genuine voice. A whip lashed at the back of his thigh. He grimaced from the pain. Whatever it was behind him had seemingly sought out the weak spots in his armour. They couldn't remove it from him as it only responded to the will of the wearer. "Ow." He said, at last, not wanting to give his captors the pleasure of seeing him in pain. They soon lost interest in the Guardian.
"I must fly back to my roost, we have a coven of our best ready to take Olympus with you. We never had an interest in siding with Kronos because of his limited ideas for this world. I will send word of any news that comes up." The black dragon stretched his grand wings and pounded the air sending waves of biting razor-like slipstreams of air at Dante's face as he left the mountain.
The Titan turned back to his captive. "That leaves just you and me." He smiled evilly. Dante couldn't help but bring up a sarcastic grin,
"Yay." He laughed sarcastically, knowing that he was about to receive a level of torture that was surely personal for Atlas. Dante knew for a fact that he had a special knack for getting under the Titan's skin, something that no other Demigod in history had ever achieved.
Time started to move at a worrying fast pace. Dante was strong, he was tough, and he was stubborn, so holding up the sky and being subjected to the ultimate trials of Atlas was something that he was no doubt going to fare better than most others at.
He whistled jovially whilst he was being punished under the sky. "Move bitch, get out the way! Get out the way bitch, get out the way." He started singing, purposely out of tune.
"Shut up," Atlas grunted at him, rubbing a hand against his forehead. It seemed that Dante's psychological warfare was already taking its hold over the Titan.
"Oh no! The fights out, I'm 'bout to put yo' lights out!" He continued singing. This time, when he was whipped, he felt something sharp on the end of it, and he swore that he'd heard a growl of some sort. Was he being whipped by a dragon?
"SHUT UP!" Atlas demanded, infuriated that he was seemingly having such a good time. He was starting to regret picking this Guardian, but they had to make do with what they could get away with. He wasn't conscious when they'd taken him, otherwise, he'd have caused a lot more problems.
Dante waited for a moment before he started to aggravate the Titan once more, "What's your favourite song Atlas? I take requests." He asked him almost in a sympathetic manner. Atlas glanced at him before turning his back on the immortal who had taken his place in the sky prison. "No? I always had you pegged for a Bonnie Tyler man myself." Dante muttered. He smirked to himself before deciding that another sing-along was needed.
"Where have all the good men gone?" He started singing, this time he was actually in tune. This was the last straw. Atlas stormed right over to Dante and punched him in the jaw as hard as he could. Dante had been expecting it though and was prepared. Hurt as much as it did, he was still alive and kicking.
There was a brief show of shock and confusion present in Atlas, but he was quickly thankful that he hadn't accidentally killed the Guardian. "You are tougher than you look little one." He gave him credit where credit was due. Dante looked straight up into his eyes.
"And where are all the Gods?" Dante just carried on with his singing where he'd left off, but this time there was a glare present in his eyes, a challenge to the mighty Titan as if willing him to dare to get the sky off of him and try that punch again. Atlas let off a powerhouse scream of frustration that could surely be heard from Olympus.
Annabeth frowned slightly when she heard a scream from the mortal world. A moment later she had been summoned to the throne room. She went and kneeled by Athena's side. It was a well-respected act for minor Gods to stay with their parents.
A visage appeared out of the centre of the room and everyone watched. It turned out that Atlas had been freed and a Guardian had taken his place. There were dragons lazing around on Mount Othrys. It appeared that Dante had been taken against his will, for the Guardians swore on the Styx to be loyal to Olympus and to free a Titan would be a grand violation of that.
"Summon them." Zeus' face was grave. A moment later Hera had used her powers to summon three Guardians. All-clad in their powerful armour that Hephaestus had engineered for them specifically. Clarisse however had her suit created via Mason's own powers to do so.
Ares raised an eyebrow when he noticed that Clarisse was a Guardian but he said nothing. He was incredibly proud that she was the first one to be offered immortality in the Guardians. To Ares, fighting monsters and protecting Demigods was truly a great way to spend eternity.
In the presence of the Olympians, Clarisse kneeled where she'd been standing, waiting in silence to be recognized by the Gods. Percy and Mason stood tall, not needing to take a knee to anyone. They were the Greater Guardians now, only those that were beneath them would kneel to Gods.
"Rise." Zeus' voice was powerful yet reserved. Mason walked forwards, speaking on behalf of them.
"You have summoned us," Mason stated in a neutral tone. The Gods had every right to summon the Guardians for an audience but right now they were preparing to undertake a mission to rescue Dante, they couldn't afford to waste time. It wasn't a question, it was a prompt for the Gods to tell them why they had summoned them and what they wanted from them.
Zeus looked almost uncomfortable. "We are aware of the capture of a Guardian. We are also aware that the Titan Atlas has been released. Dante has been forced to take his place. We are offering you aid in the upcoming battles. The release of a Titan means that there is something greater at play here, especially if there are co-operating with dragons." Zeus' expression moved from uncomfortable to angry at the discovery of this. There was a moment of awkward silence before Zeus continued.
"We are asking you to rise above and beyond for what is to come. A war with dragons was never expected, yet here we are. Help us, Guardians, work in place of the Gods and I will personally see to it that you are all rewarded." Zeus dismissed the council and flashed away along with a number of other Gods. A few remained, however. Clarisse went immediately to speak with Ares who had shrunk and given her a hug that would have crushed concrete, but the new Guardian had barely felt anything.
Apollo came up to Percy and Mason before shrinking, what he did next stunned everyone. He kneeled to the Guardians before rising and speaking to them as immortals. "I am Dante's patron. I haven't told anyone about this yet but he's shown me a great potential that I sought to reward. I would offer you more support if I could, but the best I can do is bestow my blessing upon the Guardians as a whole." He told them. Apollo flashed a small grin at Percy who seemed to know exactly what it was about before he disappeared in a flash of sunlight.
Artemis came over and grabbed Percy by the shoulder before she teleported them somewhere isolated even by the Gods standards. The teleportation always made him dizzy when it was done by someone else. He stumbled around for a second, trying desperately not to fall to his knees. He didn't even get a chance to prepare himself against it. "You WILL tell me what that was about." She stood impatiently, arms folded and looking at him expectantly.
After his head had stopped spinning he looked around to get his bearings before finally setting his eyes on her. There was a moment of long silence where he just stopped and smiled at her. It wasn't the normal smirk that she'd been granted with over the past day, this was a far softer smile, something that was backed by emotion.
"What!?" She demanded, clearly getting aggravated with him. All he could do was smile, he was loving every minute of this.
"You're incredibly attractive, even when you're angry." He stated without faltering his immense stare or tone. She was surprised by this to no end. She locked eyes with those beautiful sea-green irises that just seemed to anchor her soul straight towards him.
He smiled once again before slowly evaporating and returning to Olympus, having given her no real answer to what she'd been asking. Mason was waiting for him, Clarisse in tow. Mason nodded to Percy to signify that they were ready to go to Othrys. He took Clarisse by the waist and a lightning bolt sent them straight there.
Percy waited for that familiar soft 'whump' behind him. He turned to see Artemis staring at him, like glaring daggers straight through his skull. "You're loving this aren't you?" She almost sneered at him. His response sent her crazy in so many ways.
He walked straight over to her. They were the only ones left in the throne room. He put his face right next to hers. His lips were only inches away. "Yes, I am." He almost whispered. Before she could answer him, Percy had teleported them both to where Mason was waiting at the bottom of Othrys.
"So quick question. Why are we at the bottom? Why not just go up there and fight our way to Dante?" Percy asked, looking a little bit confused by their choice of location. Clarisse and Mason materialised their weapons. Artemis pulled her silver bow from her back. She disappeared briefly before reappearing with a number of her most trusted Hunters. Percy pulled riptide out of the side of his armour. He grasped it with both hands before he pulled a complete replica made from solid water out of the side of the blade itself. Here he was with two swords capable of slowing the enemy, then finishing the enemy.
"Why are they here?" Percy asked Artemis, motioning towards Thalia and some of the other more experienced Hunters. He was appreciative of the help but he wasn't sure that they were going to be enough to pull this off without the risk of more injuries, and he certainly didn't want to put any of the Hunters in harm's way.
"I need to fetch my idiot-THE idiot." Thalia answered them, trying her best to play off the massive blunder that she'd made. She realized that all eyes were silently watching her, waiting for any kind of backtrack.
"You knew what I meant, leave me alone." Thalia huffed before readying her bow and waiting for them to all move on.
"Well, this feels kind of nostalgic doesn't it?" Mason asked with a bit of dry humour. His face hardened as he continued. "NOBODY lift the sky from Dante, understand? No one. Whether you're a Hunter, a God, or a Guardian. He can take it until we force Atlas back under it. Do NOT worry about him." Mason told them. They all agreed, it was fairly obvious that Dante would refuse the sky if anyone but the Titan tried to take it from him. He wouldn't put that punishment on anyone else.
The ragtag group fought their way up the mountain until they were practically at the top. A number of dragons and skeletal warriors lay dead in their path. Lesser monsters had rallied under Atlas' banner but it was nothing that they couldn't handle.
They could hear Dante's panting and heavy breathing but they couldn't see the Titan. They had a brief fear that he'd fled, and that they would be stuck with Dante holding up the sky, that was until the Titan in question had appeared at the peak of the mountain, shouldering what was likely the actual peak of the mountain before he hurled it straight at Mason with shocking accuracy and speed.
This threat wasn't great enough to worry the son of Zeus as the Guardian merely held out his hand. The boulder crashed into him but as if propelled, it flew upwards instead of cracking against Mason. When it came down again, he jumped and spun his heel into the back of it, effectively launching it back at the Titan with far more aggression and speed than before.
"I'll handle Atlas, Mason will take the dragons out of the skies, you and your Hunters need to focus on defending Dante." Percy told Artemis with absolute authority.
She looked back sharply, "I'm not leaving you to fight a Titan alone!" It came out much needier than she had meant for it to sound and she blushed immediately. Percy caught sight of this and winked at her. She scowled before cursing herself.
She'd let her emotions take control of her. "This is why I forbid emotional attachments with men." She muttered quietly. Percy only just heard her, and it took all of his will not to say anything. Percy shot the water from his armour forwards, stunning Atlas for a second. It wasn't enough time though.
Mason swung his greatsword in a deadly arc that sent sparks flying, it only just nicked the Titan on the shoulder, but Atlas had escaped the attack unharmed. "Bastard." Mason cursed with a slight hint of boredom in his voice as he had to dive out of the way from an overgrown winged lizard. He saw that as his cue to leave the fight to Percy and rise up to his next task.
With great thrusts from his white-feathered wings, he was gaining altitude, holding out his massive greatsword and collecting bolts of lighting on it like a grand celestial bronze lightning rod. His plan was to collect as much as he could before scattering it across the sky and bringing down all of the dragons that dared to take him on.
"Triam!" Percy shouted, dodging Atals' massive meaty fists as the Titan tried to close in on the Guardian.
rogue lightning bolts rained down below where Mason could spare them, making Atlas have to duck and weave around those as well as fighting Percy. The son of Zeus shouted his response from the sky, "Not strong enough!"
"Try it anyway!" Percy wasn't taking no for an answer, he'd already started powering up. The Hunters had killed the last of the dragons that were guarding the surface of the mountain and had taken up perch next to Dante who was sweating and fatigued. Artemis could clearly hear him singing 'You're the Best Around' in his weary state. It was hard to tell if he was delirious or if this was just his personality. Artemis was fairly sure it was the latter.
Percy glowed a bright mixture of green and blue. Mason did the same but with a blinding white. Even Dante appeared to be powering up. The Triam was a connection between all of them. Clarisse had joined the Hunters at this point in firing at Atlas from their defensive standpoint next to the downed Guardian.
"Clarisse." Dante panted in between breaths. She turned to him instantly, the moment her eyes met his a huge power surged from him into her hands. She looked and the moment she noticed it, her spear burned away to reveal a fiery pitchfork. The triam had to be complete.
Artemis looked on with wide eyes. After each encounter that she was sharing with them, she was finding herself redefining what she'd thought she knew about their strength, and yet again she was coming to the conclusion that the power these Guardians had was intense.
The act of giving Clarisse most of his power had greatly drained Dante, who was now pale in the face and faltering slightly from his feet. In one quick movement he had been reduced to one knee. The sound of the ground cracking underneath the heft of his armour had reached their ears.
Clarisse's instincts kicked in and she knew what to do. Percy threw his trident at one of Atlas' feet, impaling it and holding him in place. Clarisse did the same to the other foot, totally immobilizing the Titan.
Mason's whole body had erupted in a buzzing flow of energy before he unleashed all of the build up power he'd collected in his sword alongside the lightning bolt from the triam. The last segment of the triam struck the Titan dead on, dazing him enough for the rest of them to finish the job. All three struck out at the Atlas' head, knocking him completely unconscious. The triam weapons dissipated to nothingness. Clarisse still had a faint blood-red aura about her as she had become a housing of Dante's power. That much strength was bound to linger in someone who wasn't quite as strong as the original host.
The Guardians had restored Atlas to being the holder of the sky and Dante had been freed. He was still pale and sweaty so the first thing he did was walked over to Clarisse and waved a hand next to her. The aura left her and the colour had come back to Dante immediately but he still promptly fainted after chuckling like an idiot.
On Olympus the Guardians' presence had been felt immediately and most of the Olympians had come as soon as they could. Apollo healed Dante as best he could, but there was still a degree of natural rest that would be necessary after enduring Atlas' prison so soon after his stint in Tartarus.
Zeus called for a meeting so that they could discuss their next step against Aranost, but not much progress was made without the information that Dante had discovered about them.
Dante had awoken in a cold sweat, he'd had a dream about the day that he'd been taken to Camp Half-blood. Something that he greatly wanted to leave in the past. He briskly walked to the throne room which was in full swing. Apollo summoned him so that it was less awkward. He nodded his gratitude and lightly bowed to the council, if only for the fact that he'd technically intruded upon a meeting that was in full swing.
"Tell us Guardian, what have you discovered?" Dante nodded briefly before getting his facts right. The huge black dragon, Aranost? Yes, it was definitely Aranost, he couldn't get that name out of his head no matter how hard he tried. It left a foul feeling on his tongue when he said the name.
"There is an ancient dragon so powerful it was dubbed the death dragon. It is bigger than most drakons I've seen, with slick black scales that look almost impervious to damage. It is as if the dragon was born from the Styx." Thunder boomed outside the throne room. "It can breathe a fire just as potent as our own Greek fire, though it is limited in time." Dante frowned, remembering the feeling of the sickly green fire slowly melting away at his body.
"The dragon is no longer here. It has flown to its nest. I overhead it saying that there was a coven of dragons awaiting further orders to attack Olympus along with a great number of Titans that were awaiting a time to come out of hiding." Dante frowned but it was one with meaning. He quickly turned to his father. "Lord Hades."
"I'd prefer you call me father." The Guardian was met with a warm smile that was very unbecoming from a Lord of the Dead. He smiled briefly before continuing. "Father. How quickly can you check on the Titans in Tartarus? I know your powers remain limited in Tartarus, but we need to check that they are still incarcerated properly, and have no chance of escape." He asked, looking around at a few faces. He knew something was about to happen, a game-changer. Hades' control over the underworld had gradually declined, but they never imagined that it would have been so bad.
"I can open a way into Tartarus and that is it. I cannot even see inside the lands myself. I cannot even open a way out of Tartarus. You would have to seek out Thanatos' doors of death." Hades said grimly. Dante thought about it for a moment before he turned toward the other Guardians. His face was grave and they knew what he was thinking about already. They would usually disagree, but times were about to become a lot more desperate, and such measures would be expected of the Guardians.
"I will venture to the depths and quell the unrest." That was all Dante told them with a tired sigh. "I should get a loyalty card, this'll be my third time." He laughed away the pain of having to go back to the worst place imaginable.
Percy interrupted him quickly, holding up his hands in protest. "Dante, you cannot go alone. You might be a son of Hades and an immortal Guardian, but it is still Tartarus. Let me go with you. Together we can prevent the Titans from joining Aranost in his assault." Percy's voice always changed ever so slightly when he was proposing an act of extreme bravery, or stupidity, but mostly bravery.
Percy received a warm smile from his elder cousin, but before Dante could agree on anything, Artemis interrupted them, "Perhaps such decisions should be had in greater detail. If that is everything father?" Artemis managed to successfully interrupt Percy's decision to go to Tartarus, and made it look inconspicuous. Zeus reluctantly dismissed everyone. Before anything could be said or done, Percy and Artemis both vanished at the exact same time.
A/N: Review?
