I Don't Own Percy Jackson

Leaving the Wolf House was fine and easy, hitchhiking my way back to LA wasn't the best, but I managed, and I only had to break two creepy old men's hands who did a bit to much looking. From there, once I arrived, I got back to a lovely studio, went in, Charon didn't have to say anything, just sighed in contempt, and then headed to the back, I just ignored him.

We went just far enough to enter the Underworld, before I just hopped out of the boat in the the River Styx, it was nice and refreshing, I had to surface after a few minutes because I did need to breath, but the water was relaxing, healing, and calm, as I let the current carry me on downward. I spun around at the turns in the river bed, and it was fun, Adriel was a bit pissy about it though, apparently he doesn't like being in the Underworld, didn't feel natural for him since this wasn't his afterlife, I stop him to suck it up and we'd be heading out soon enough.

Probably... Maybe, depends on how easy one of these things is going to be.

I could have just stayed in the current, but I got out after a while, I didn't really need to go for a swim, but it didn't hurt either, plus this way was faster to get where I wanted to go, as I moved in the water until we hit the side where we moved through a near freezing section of the Underworld. It's then that I got out of the water, letting the water flow from my body back into the stream. I was here for a few reasons, both of the main ones involved this river.

Leaning down, I looked down into the stream for a long moment, before seeing just what I wanted. Ice, at the bottom of the river bed.

Stygian Ice to be more accurate, the end result of water from the Styx being cooled and condensed while in the Underworld. It had a lot of capabilities, but very few were actually known from the stories themselves. But what I did know is that it doesn't melt, and while a bit fragile, won't break easily.

As it stood, I had a few ideas for this item, so I held out a hand and focused as the river spiraled and swirled about before the ice rose to the surface so I could pick up a number of big chunks of the stuff. I let the water flow off the ice once it was in my hand, before pocketing the stuff in my bag. From there, I took a breath in before looking around as I kept walking.

The River Styx moves around the entirety of the Underworld nine times, it was a very long walk, I got bored and went back to letting the current carry me. I've done enough walking for one life time already damn it! So I just floated around, speeding up the current a bit to speed this up a bit, but not much more than that, I was just vibing. It was like being in a mattress store and you make the biggest combination of parts of all the mattresses and pillows, and then just jumped into a pile of them all, it was felt nice and relaxing.

It was around two hours in of just floating about when I finally got to the area I was looking for. The punishment field where there was miners.

Getting out of the water, I just walked on over and picked up a few big chunks of the ore they were mining out of a wall and kept on walking, the next place was pretty close near by, the area where the damned were forced to forge stuff, constantly burning and hurting themselves, they weren't what I needed, and while I am certainly a subscriber to beginners luck, as let's be honest, I had that in spades.

It still wasn't exactly enough to make me an expert forge expert, but that was fine. I just moved back to the river, and a long while later of chilling and talking with Adriel, I got to the area of the good part of the Underworld that housed mostly children of Hephaestus, who spent their days as forgers for Hade's needs. They were perfect to have what I wanted done.

I gave my request, a few dozen of them, well, I first asked if they had any of the things I had wanted, they didn't, but were more than happy to help. They just liked doing stuff with their hands, and with more than a few, given most of Hephaestus kids managed to get here, it meant I had a lot of man power who were willing to help me out.

I had to stick around for another day or two, which Adriel got all whiny about, but I had a few packets of jerky and time to kill, so I spent most of it just watching and asking questions from the more experienced of the group.

I even got to work the forge a bit, it didn't go perfectly, in fact I fucked up a lot, but I got a cool skill out of it, though it was pointless to show it right now, it just helped me forge at the cost of Stamina, it wasn't worth thinking to much about. I mean, I h ad a whole group of Santa's helpers to make my toys for me, I didn't really need to know how to do it myself unless I just had free time in the future to spend.

So I spent the time chatting with whoever was around, and just existing. And finally in the end, I was given a number of things.

A large number of Stygian Iron weapons, which, yes, I can use. They are forged from metals from the underworld and then cooled in the River Styx, they were just as much my right as the Legacy of the river itself, as any child of the underworld.

The one that was most important to note was one of the items I had get made from both Iron and the Ice, along with the scrapped pieces of some of the armor I hadn't really worn in months.

The item was an arm guard on my left arm, from the wrist to the elbow, made from a leather pad golden string from my cloak, cased with ebony black Stygian Iron, with an incredible designed pattern of Stygian Ice filling the gap between metal and leather. It was frankly beautiful, as strong as a shield made from Celestial bronze, and it had Stygian Ice, which I was always in contact which.

And this was the reason I had this piece made, along with a simple Stygian Iron necklace with a Stygian Ice pendent. Which I was now wearing under my shirt.

Either or had the most important piece to it, the Stygian Ice, and ice is just water slowed down and cold, this ice was no difference, and my System agreed with me.

[Notice: Perk [Legacy of Styx] has been applied, all stats increased by 20]

Stygian Ice never melts, and so I will always have that plus twenty unless both my arm guard is removed and the necklace is taken away. It was an idea I had during my time with Lupa, when I basically never had access to any of my boosting abilities that would have made my life incredibly easier. This way, I didn't have to worry about it as much about being able to get the right circumstances for at least one of my boosts, one that currently gives the highest of all my boosts, even Son of Nike, with it's twenty percent boost doesn't give a flat plus twenty to all my stats yet, they all'd have to be at least one hundred for that.

Anyways, point is, I have a lot of new fun weapons and items I had some cool ideas for.

So with that, I headed out of the Underworld once more, everything set, everything I could possibly need for a long while in the bag at my hip, as I moved forwards. It's time to head on home.

The travel back to Camp Half-Blood wasn't hard, I've walked the distance of countries, and have ran with and from wolves for weeks at a time.

Catching a few buses was the least of my troubles, the average monster was hardly even a light challenge anymore, they were just in my way for the most part, like a road bump. Literally, I can just open a jar and throw liquids at them to kill basically any monster I come across. I literally have an instant kill option just in my bag. Sure, it actually uses the Styx water up, so I ain't getting it back, but that still doesn't change the fact that I could win any combat by myself as long as I wasn't insane hurt already.

Plus it really isn't hard to get more of the stuff.

It was like that before Lupa as well, remember the plane crash? That wasn't my favorite time, but the only reason I nearly died from those wind fuckers was because I literally rode a plane into the earth. So now I just didn't have to really worry about any normal monster right now, maybe one or two that are named, like the Minotaur or whatever, you know, the big known ones.

Doesn't really matter right now, since I was currently instead working my way through the woods to Camp, it was just a nice to be back, it was also nice to have be able to have a warm shower as well, which is what I did when I got out of the wolf den. Clean clothes were very nice, I ran out of them around the end of the first month and had to get by with just using the river for everything cleaning.

I think I'm immune to cold water now, but that's a thing for later.

It was nice, I was clean, my hair looked like a rats nest since it had ten months to grow so I just hacked at it whenever it annoyed me to much. So I looked half feral and half normal, though my clothes were hardly clean clean, just laundromat clean as a shirt and pants worn over ten months of wolf life can manage, so call it what you want, I did the best I could with the limited shits I gave about my appearance.

My orange shirt was a bit to tight, and torn up in other spots, like, all over from wolf claws, my jeans were the same, and while I could have just stolen some clothes on the way, well, I would like to refer back to my shits and the lack of which I am able to give them. I could care less what I looked like as long as I was comfortable. It's also why I find this cool thing called a bra binder, the the bras I had weren't really fit to size anymore, and breasts annoy me when their on my body, so a binder was the next best thing.

It... wasn't super comfortable, but it made me feel better and therefore I didn't mind.

Anyways, that's just the currently understanding of how much like roadkill I looked like as I headed through the main gate into camp, as I hummed cheerfully as I looked around, campers all over were stopping as I passed them, as they turned to look at me, in equal measured confused worry and recognized shock. I just continued on my way, heading over to the Hermes Cabin, it's where I'm sleeping after all.

Pushing the door open, I looked around as I walked in before frowning with a sigh, they gave someone my bunk bed. Reaching down, I picked up the bag that was sitting on my pillow, and just tossed it over my shoulder, onto the floor and placed my bag where the other had just been.

Sitting down with a small huff, I looked around for a moment, before a voice spoke up.

"Nick? Is that you?" I blinked, as I rolled my head over to look in the direction of the voice and came to look at Travis, as he looked at me in shock, I just smiled. He and his little brother, who was about my age, were both silly and mischievous, we got along pretty well on a decent day way back when, though our styles of fun were different. They liked nabbing things and watching the fall out by blaming someone else, while I preferred running words around people making them confused and regret talking to me.

"Hey Travis, long time no see!" Travis was about two years older, and Conner, the younger one, was around my age, still, with the shocked look he was still giving me, he more looked like a frozen picture more than a normal fourteen year old. I waited a moment before waving my hand about, trying to get his attention. It worked as he snapped back into focus and said.

"Uh... I thought you were dead" I blinked again before saying.

"Common mistake, did you hear about me going down with a plane over the ocean?"

"...What? No! I- Silena threw a fit ages ago, when you vanished and asked Mr. D about where you were. I think she wanted to go out and strangle you until you came back or something, which, man, it's crazy how much you rile her up, she's nearly a pacifist with everyone else. But, uh, Mr. D said you belonged to the Underworld now, and... Well... Only way to take that" I just blinked, trying to figure that out before saying with a sound of realization.

"Oh! I did spend some time in the Underworld, and technically I belong there, I mean, Styx claimed me as her grandson, and I got a blessing from Hades meaning I can just sort of go there whenever I want, so I'm kind of like... a duel-citizen there? Like, I got a green card for the Underworld. I actually just got back from the place actually, picked up some stuff, it was pretty cool" He slowly blinked before taking a breath in and said.

"I have no idea how to approach any of that, so I'm just going to not, also you just tossed my half-brother's stuff on the ground, he arrived last week" I just shrugged, as I stood up, reaching into my bag for my old weapon sheath, and then pulled out a long black blade that seemed to eat the light that it came in contact with, before sliding it into the sheath, before pulling out three daggers, one of each flavor, Celestial Bronze, Stygian Iron, and Bone Steel, and put them into the belt on the opposite side before saying as I walked past him.

"He can fight me in something if he wanted them back" Travis made the wise decision of not saying anything, well, nothing much, just muttered about how I got even more scary, which wasn't that just nice of him to notice!

My sleeping situation back and set up again, I continued my walk, as I headed towards the Aphrodite Cabin, a happy smile on my face. Sure, Silena thought I was dead or whatever, but that just means she'll be extra happy to see me!

[Adriel: You're a dumbass]

My thought processes are full proof!

Walking up to the cabin, I hummed happily, as I knocked on the door, waited, got bored after two and a half seconds, and walked on in.

"Hello?" I called as I walked in as half a dozen eyes turned to look at me, as I smiled and waved, as I looked around, only to pout as Silena was no where to be seen.

"Nick! You're ok!" I nodded, as a the teens moved over and huddled around me, as excited chatter filled the air, as I fell into the conversation. It was easy, as I just chatted about what happened, and how I was in fact alive and everything was cool, just Mr. D being a little shit. It was nice.

We talked, a newer guy, who arrived about a month after I left was real excited to meet me, apparently I was the talk of the town for a little while until it was just chalked up I was dead, after that my name became something of a taboo subject. Which was just rude, I put a lot of thought into that name, so much so I was going to get a sex change for it!

I think what was more insulting is that they all thought I would just die out there on my own, like I hadn't been by myself since the beginning and did just fine! Apparently my habit of getting hurt wasn't the best for my strength's reputation. Chiron got up in arms about Mr. D letting me leave, but since one of them was a God and one wasn't, the argument ended up dropped before it got overly heated.

From there, I got mostly caught up on the events, we were getting to the end part of July at the moment, Clarisse went on a big bad quest and got the golden fleece back, and then after a while the fleece in contact with the big tree spat out a girl, who, unsurprisingly to me, was a girl named Thalia, daughter of Zeus. So that was something. Percy was still in camp at the moment, same with Thalia, since she didn't really have anywhere to go, and Summer wasn't up for Percy to head back to the normal world just yet.

Which was good, I had plans involving those two, so I was ready to head out and try to beat the hell out of Percy again, and maybe Thalia as well, when my thoughts were derailed as a vice grip of a hand found itself on my shoulder before I was yanked around as I came face to face with Silena, who looked... huh, she looked pissed. Weird, but whatever, I just smiled wide and said happily.

"Silena! I've been look for yo-"

Smack!

My words were cut off as her perfectly manicured hand came up and slapped my across the face hard enough that my head was bent to the side, as I winced a bit, before reaching up and rubbing the spot for a moment with a pout, even as it quickly healed over from the insane healing boost Legacy of Styx gave me.

"Ow? What was that for?" She was still glaring at me, as I just tiled my head to the side in confusion.

"You idiot!" She slammed a finger into my chest, "What the hell Nick! I thought you were dead!" I just blinked in even more confusion, I mean, yeah, I knew that, logically, but at the same time-

"Why?" She gave me a look as I held up my hands in a hopefully peaceful gesture and said "Seriously! I said I was going to go to the Underworld and that I had a plan! I don't really know why you thought I was dead when you heard I was there" She glowered at me for that.

"Because you just left! Didn't say a word, didn't hear from you in months! I thought you died by doing something idiotic!" I pouted at that.

"Hey! I don't do idiotic stuff" She smacked my chest with her pointy finger again.

"Yes you do! You do dumb stuff all the time and just assume it works out! I was scared and sad, and angry and one of my best friends ran off with barely a word and I thought got themself killed! What was I suppose to think you jerk!" She was still glaring at me, but her eyes were beginning to water, and before I knew it, I was pulled into a tight hug, as I just blinked in confusion, before finally shrugging and hugging her back.

I had missed her, it had been a while after all.

"You can't just do that ok Nick? There are people here who worry about you if you just run off alright? Oh gods, I'm so glad you're alive!" I thought about it for a long moment, before deciding I understood where she was coming from, it was like with Mo'Leon, I have no idea what's going on with her, and that didn't make me feel good, therefore, Silena didn't feel good not knowing I might not be fine.

Ha, this having emotional connections thing is totally easy!

"Got it, I'll keep you up to date I guess in the future" She huffed.

"You don't get it at all do you?" She sounded almost fond, and her emotions were leaning away from the mess they had been, so I assume I'm in good territory again.

"Not fully, but I get the gist"

"You're so weird"

"I think that's been covered"

"You're telling me everything that happened, you know that right? The entire camp is up in arms about you showing up again, returning from the dead, their is already a ridiculous rumor you're friends with the King of Hell"

"Yeah... Crazy" She sighed, loudly, before pulling back slowly, shaking her head, a small smile on her face as she turned to look at me, before freezing.

"Oh my gods... Oh my gods! What the hell did you do to your hair! And what's with those clothes? Gross! Are those the same clothes you got last year! They don't even fit you anymore, you're jeans are like, riding three inches up your ankle and I can see your mid drift! And, oh Mother, that hair! What did you do? Roll around in the dirt for a month?"

"I mean, kind of?" She groaned, before pulling me deeper into the cabin before shoving me into a chair, as she started calling out for everything from a spray bottle, to hair clipper, to a new set of clothes. She spoke like a doctor asking for a tool mid surgery, as my head was head in place as I got a good look at myself in a large vanity mirror. I mean... it didn't look that bad?

I was homeless and living with literal wolves for a year, it could be worse.

"And what happened to your chest? You weren't exactly flat the last time I saw you, and those things don't have a tendency to shrink" I tried to shrug, and Silena grabbed onto my shoulders and forced them still as my head was pulled around harshly for a moment, as she viewed it from all angles, before putting her hand on my head, forcing her fingers deep into my scalp, as I spoke while she seemed to focus on something.

"Binder" She just grunted as I watched with interest as my hair slowly at first, but quickly after, unknotted and untangled itself from around her fingers, until it was straight and hanging from my head like it was nothing. Demigod magic from the daughter of beauty, that must be handy in the mornings, as I watched as the grime and dirt literally shed itself from my head, falling in thick globs onto a tarp that had been put on the floor, properly for situations exactly like this.

After another minute of my hair becoming incredibly clean, she spoke up.

"Just make sure you don't wear it to long, half-blood durability or not, those things can ache after a while from what I hear" As the only openly trans person in camp that I knew about, I had no idea where she heard this information, but just nodded all the same, as she pulled out a comb and quickly began dragging it through my locks, measuring it, before the cutting began.

It went by fast, apparently I ruined my hair beyond repair for the style she had gave me when we first met, but there was just enough on the top to manage a some what good looking side undercut, which was apparently what it was called while Silena waited for my hair to grow out long enough to cut into a proper style that suited me. I personally liked it, the sides were shaved short, and the top flopped about when I moved my head about, it was funny to watch.

Or it was until Silena slapped what felt like half a gallon worth of gel into my hair and pulled it back and up, giving it a very wind sweptback look. It looked good, I could admit that, but being honest here, I liked it more wild than having product in it, but Silena would skin me alive if I mentioned it, so I didn't, though I'm sure she noticed my thoughts on it, as before I could even say anything-

[Notice: Status Effect [Permeant Make-Up] has been applied; all products applied by Silena Beauregard can not be removed by any means that isn't by her own hand]

Huh, so that's how Aphrodite kids manage to look perfect no matter the conditions they are in during training, they cheat using magic... This is honestly not that surprising, just wish she didn't do it to my hair, but I guess I can't really do anything about it right now... Well, I could, but then she'd get pouty and then we'd have to do this all over again, so I'm just accepting my fate to this look for a while.

From there we just talked, I changed into properly fitting clothes, which was nice, and I got a pair of shoes, I kind of threw my last pair out when they got to tight. Anyways, I caught Silena up with about everything, she was pretty surprised to learn I gained a Legacy and three separate blessings, though I didn't go into to much detail about the Lupa thing, since I was waiting on that reveal for later. Just that I spent the last few months training under a cool minor goddess who had a dog thing going on.

In the end, it was real nice to be able to talk to her again, I hadn't really missed her company per-say, well, I had when I thought about her or camp, but usually I was to busy to think about the people I didn't have time to talk to, and besides I had Adriel and Lupa's pack for the most part to talk to. Adriel himself basically meant I never had to deal with being alone again, sure he can't do much anything by himself, but he was a constant presence which was very appreciated.

If I had him before the cross country walk, then that whole thing would have been a lot easier on me.

We still spent well over an hour talking, Silena had a lot to share about the camp, and I was even given my necklace, with a trident bead on it, she said she made it just to have as a reminder, but I just found it super sweet so I gave her a massive hug and put it on, so I now had two, this one went over my shirt. It was honestly awesome, made me feel a lot more at home with the thing showing even if I wasn't here for it all, I was still a camper here.

Afterwards, it was apparently time for lunch, which was wild, as a concept I kind of just got used to getting food, aka hunting for it, whenever I felt hungry, so a schedule was going to take a bit to adjust back to.

I got a lot of looks as I landed myself at the Hermes table, as I loaded my plate up with food before standing and walking over to one of the two tables that only had two teens sitting at them, as I dropped myself in front of Percy Jackson and-

Perseus Jackson
Age: 13
Level: 33

Mana Points: 15,700/15,700
Stamina Points: 26,250/26,250

That's the bullshit I expected, damn, how does he do it? He's still not even a higher level than I am! And he's only been on two major quests! Which means he's gotten that much experience from just those alone! In my personal opinion, it was super unfair.

"I want to beat your head in" He blinked, looking startled before squinting to look at me before saying suddenly.

"Nick! You're-" I just nodded quickly.

"Yep, alive, the stories of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, blah blah blah, how are you stronger? I've been doing insane stuff for the last year and you still have way more raw magical power and stamina than should be possible!" He blinked before slowly shrugging. His mind chugging on, dealing with my apparent living situation, before he managed to just accept it and move on, he was good at that.

"I don't know? I don't think I'm that strong or anything?" I just stared at him, before pouting as I flicked my hand at him and watched as he yelped as the the glass of water he was drinking shot up and splashed him in the face. He gave me a startled look before, like he wasn't even noticing, the water moved back into the cup as he just continued to stare at me.

"How'd you do that?" He seemed mystified, like he didn't do something that required a lot more control and it had barely done even the slightest dent to his mana.

"Styx is my Grandma, she's kind of a River most of the time, I got some perks for it, now stop avoiding the question! What do you do! Steroids perhaps? What kind? Ocean salts maybe? Do you snort them, is that the secret?" I leaned over and stared at him, as he just leaned back, looking a mix between amused and confused. But with a spark of something in his eyes that I knew all to well, it was sass.

"No I don't snort salt! Look Nick, I don't know what to tell you, I just sort of am ok! If you have an issue with that, then that sounds like something you need to work on instead of blaming me" I frowned before saying.

"Wanna fight?" He just shrugged.

"I mean, not really, I'm eating right now man" I nodded, like that made sense before saying.

"So the second you're done eating I can jump across this table and stab you, got it" He paused, for a long second, before sighing, he just seemed a bit tired, but finally nodded, like he was doing something that he would have wrapped up in a few minutes and he might as well get it over with. That pissed me off a bit... lot, it pissed me off a lot.

"Yeah, alright, but could you wait until we can be at the proper place for it? I don't think Chiron would like blood stains on the dinning pavilion" I just nodded before turning and heading off back to my table, and sat with a huff, before digging into my food. It was better than anything I've eaten in nearly a year, so it was pretty hard to keep being angry after that, but that's not the point.

Still, I wanted to see how I stacked up against him, and I was going to get it, so even if I was a bit annoyed I was being blown off, I was still getting what I want. So with that in mind, I looked up at Travis and said.

"Five thousand on me beating Percy" He blinked before leaning back.

"How would you even have that muc-" I tossed five thousand dollars at his head, he just sat there for a long moment before taking a breath in, then out, picked up the money, got up calmly... and then sprinted away as half the Hermes table stood up and charged at him, gleams in their eyes... Yeah, that'll probably be fine.

Beyond that, since I just made this a bet I can win-

[Notice: Perk [Son of Nike] has activated]

[Notice Status Effect [Victory's Blessing: Skill] has activated]

Good, I wanted Skill over Talent right now, ten extra stat points wouldn't be making a big difference in this situation with my other two stat bonuses on right now, but something like an additional eight levels to all my skills would be incredibly helpful.

This was a big moment, the last year was a grind fest for all my skills, to make up for the difference in raw stats, which would let me stand a chance against the big threats that would give the biggest Exp rewards, allowing me to gain a lot of stat points through leveling, as well as allowing me to power level naturally though finally dealing with the plot.

There was a reason I did things in the order I did, and that is the reason, this made damn sure my skills wouldn't be the thing to fall behind, and they won't be for ages, even if my level doubled right this second, I don't think my skills would be all that far behind, honestly, they'd thrive on it at this point, since the only thing holding back me being able to properly train my magic skills is lack of power in them, I had to wait for my points to go back up to use them again, and that means leveling would finally allow me to use my skills to their fullest potential.

So when I finished up eating, I figured it was finally time to see just where I rank now.

Before, when I was at a mere average of fifty in my physical stats, I was on par at best with a young Ares brat, now the average at the moment was well over a hundred, and the total level of my melee skills were about five times greater.

Realistically, I could contend with someone like Clarisse, who was probably the strongest and most skilled fighter in the camp, outside of Percy, and with liberal use of Trade Off, I doubt I'd lose to her nine times out of ten. But the issue was that wouldn't work against someone like Percy, as it stood, he just had so much Stamina and Mana, his staying power compared to me was insane.

Meaning, I had to just beat him down fast and hard and not let him recover. All I had to do was overwhelm and then pin him just long enough to make it a clear win for me.

Overwhelm the most power and skilled demigod this camp as ever seen in a hundred years, if not ever. Easy enough right? If I could, I'd have us fight under a full moon to get me that juicy plus twenty to my skills, but that's a bit harder to maintain, but I'll be able to find a way to find a way to break that ability at some point as well to have it always. I mean, there is always a loophole if you look hard enough.

But I had a few months until I could manage that one.

The rest of the meal time shot by quickly enough, I could have chatted with Thalia, but I wanted to deal with the big three children one at a time. And before I knew it, after a brief exchange of some stuff with Silena who just rolled her eyes at me, I was in front of Percy who was looking around with a frown at how many eyes were on us, no doubt my little bet inspired a war among the campers, and no doubt that most of them where for Percy, I was good, the people who remember me know that, but I wasn't close to that good.

"Ight, ready Mr. Otter?" His face scrunched up as he pulled out a pen which quickly transformed into a sword, as he rolled it around for a moment, readjusting himself to the familiar weight while I pulled out my own blade, and was quite pleased with the looks of confusion and awe at my sword. I should name it at some point, but that's thoughts for later, as I said, "You know, cause you look like a sea otter. Cute and cuddly"

"What?" I just laughed a bit as I swung around my own sword, god this guy was dense if he couldn't even notice play flirting.

"You'll figure it out, now, ready?" He blinked before his expression hardened, as he lowered himself into a stance, I did the same, as we both waited until... he nodded, and we both moved at once.

It was clear I surprised Percy with just how fast I was, as my blade swung up ready to take his head off, as he blocked it, and then he was surprised at how strong I was, as he gritted his teeth and shot his other hand to hold the handle to not let it go flying from his lack of expectance, as I rolled the blade into another, jabbing strike.

he skidded around it, and skillfully slid his blade along mine, aiming to slash right across my chest, my other hand shot up, dagger of iron in hand, as it shot up, blocking the strike and sedning vibrations up my entire arm to the point it felt numb. as we locked close, blades pressing against each other, because with either of us tried to move, the other would get an easy strike in.

To bad for Percy, even if my hand with the sword was locked between us, in the struggle, I could still use it, as I dropped the blade ebony steel sinking into the ground, hilt up, as I bent my wrist to focus right at Percy and said to him with a grin on my face.

"Venti pressura dis" He blinked, before yelping in shock as his side was blasted with a pretty strong blast of wind, stumbling him tot the side, as my dagger found proper purchuse, as I pushed the blades up as my foot shot out to kick him right in the chest, he was to off balance to react in time, when as he tried to brace himself as my foot slammed hard into his chest, as I could feel his ribs flex back from the force as he was tossed off his feet like a ragdoll, flinging back and landing on the ground, only to manage to force himself into a roll, putting him into a half couch, blade already raised.

We stared at each other for a moment before Percy said, with a small grin of his own.

"You've gotten better, I didn't know you could do that... And we're using powers now?" I just shrugged, as I moved, pulling my sword free and said.

"What, you thought I wanted to beat you at a handicap?" His grin grew, as we faced each other off as he got to his feet, as a familiar look came over his expression. When it was for a quest or the world was on the line, fighting was a drag, it sucked and was just a pain to deal with. But we were bred for combat, so a thing like a spar that got the blood pumping without any stakes? Well, there is a reason dueling with real, magical weapons is one of the camp's most popular activities.

I think Percy never figured that out in the books, since he never had a time where he wasn't fighting for the world, where fighting at all made him stressed. I might be doing most of everything for me, but I'm not heartless either, if I could help somewhere then I would, and Percy always needs help.

"Fine, but this is on you for how this goes" I just smirked back at the teen and said as we started to circle each other.

"Big words for a guy who hasn't landed a hit yet" His grin was set, but his eyes were focused... He was doing something, but what?

Oh... clever, I waited, until-

"Try again" I rushed forwards, just as my skill alerted me to dodge as I jumped out of the way of the blast of water that had just shot up to try and tackle me to the ground, which had come from the lake nearly two hundred feet away. He was better than he was in the books, that's for sure, my little early training sessions to get him use to using his powers clearly had an effect. But he wasn't that good yet.

It was a race, he couldn't fight back while using his powers like this as the water rushed to catch up to me, as I shot to him. I needed to get to him, and I'd win, he needed to take me down before I got to him.

My legs pounding, Trade Off flooding my body with power and speed, I shot my blade up, just as the water rose over the both of us, ready to take me down, as I grinned, I won!

Then Percy's blade caught mine as I had swung up to put to his throat, a forced surrender, but it was blocked, and the force of it tossed the blade from my hand, I hadn't thought he would be able to defend, meaning he put a lot more power into his strike than I had, as I blinked in shock as Percy gave me a very cheeky grin, just as both of us were doused in a few gallons worth of lake water, as I sputtered and moved back, pulling out two daggers as I shook my head to clear my eyes off.

"I knew it. You have control over water, but you aren't immune to it's effects" It was only because of my hyper awareness, that my hands shot up, blocking the sword coming at me with my two daggers, the strike was so strong a low whirling sound echoed out from the harsh vibrations as it felt like my arms just got run over by a truck as I gritted my teeth and stumbled back, my eyes clearing up enough to see the drenched Percy who just activated his water boost.

Well then, this wasn't good.

The tables were suddenly and mercilessly turned in a blitz of speed and power I could only keep up with from liberal use of Trade Off, I was forced into exchanging strikes, as I was pushed back, stumbling back more like from every other strike. It was insane, it was like his entire being was enhanced twice over from what he was before, as I fought back with everything I had, as we went on for a solid few minutes, before I realized I was quickly running out of Stamina to use for Trade Off, and was actively applying debuffs by the second to just not instantly lose against him now.

Neither of us had landed a decisive hit, but I had way more than just one or two cuts along my body while Percy only sported a much smaller count of two total, both of which healed in seconds.

I was wearing out fast, and I had next to no chance if I kept this as it was. In a straight fight, Percy would beat me every time, I had no doubt about that now. But who said I was going to let this continue to be a fair fight?

I didn't mention it, but Illusions were another magic that I had, it didn't really help against the wolves since they could just smell where I was, but I still worked on it. If I needed to, I could use them, and I was about to use them.

I managed to back up just enough where I could mutter out-

"Celare quod nolo videri!" Percy tensed, moving back, knowing I had said something strange the last time I used a new power, but he didn't need to worry, as suddenly I charged right at him, as he reacted to what was in front of him. Swinging down hard, expecting me to do something, I didn't, and the blade went straight through my body... Well if it was my body, as Percy tensed, trying to move away, only to freeze, as both my daggers placed themselves crossing over his throat, one wrong move in either direction his throat would be slit open, he go after one hand, the other would still be there.

I felt myself grin as I said into his ear.

"I win!" Percy was frozen for a long second, before...

"I think it's a tie" I blinked before groaning as I looked behind me at the water that had rose up and were currently in the shape of multiple very pointy spikes of lake water right at my back, ready to stab me to death. With a pout I said to him simply.

"I'd like to point out I could have killed you before you'd be able to do your water bending"

"Could have, but didn't, you waited to long to declare victory" I pouted, but harder, as I said after a long second of contemplation.

"Fine, we tied" I moved the daggers away, before moving so I wasn't pressed up against his back, as the water dropped harmlessly to the ground, Percy turned to look at me, only to find me as well on the ground as I laid on my back taking a deep breath in, waiting for my stuff to regen enough so I wasn't really tired. Percy just smirked.

"You're super strong, but you get tired really easily" I just glared up at him for that before huffing and looking away.

"Yeah yeah, blame the kid from the minor god that he doesn't have as much stamina as the big three otters" He was still smiling and was annoyingly perfect, even reaching down and holding a hand out... He was hard to stay angry at, so I reached up and clasped my hand into his own as I was pulled up onto my feet. As I looked around for a moment, before saying.

"I put five on me winning... I also put five on me drawing, wanna split it?" He blinked before giving me a look.

"You want to split five bucks?" I just rolled my eyes.

"No, five thousand" Heh, there was that expression the shocked cute one.

One nice thing about being back at camp, I'm surrounded by hot people again, and while that is pretty annoying, it's also... not. For reasons I'm sure everyone can figure out on their own with their big boy thinking caps.

"So you in?" He blinked before asking.

"What have you been doing for the last year? Robbing banks?" I smirked before shaking my head.

"Nah, most of it was living out in the woods, running with wolves" He just rolled his eyes.

"Right, keep your secrets"

"You're going to feel real silly about that later. Plus I don't lie"

"Really?"

"I mean, yeah. I talked to my grandmother Styx for a while, like I said, I literally can't lie anymore, though I can tell when people are lying to me, so that's handy" The part about not being able to lie was obviously a lie, but Percy didn't need to know that. No one did, it'll give my word a whole hell of a lot more credibility if people think I can't be anything but truthful. It's a simple manipulation, but one I'm sure will be handy in the future.

From there we went back and forth or a while, just catching up. We weren't that close in terms of friends, I was no Annabeth or Grover, but I was one of the people who spent the most time just hanging with him out of anyone else in the camp when he first got here. So I was probably one of the people he was closest with here outside of the two mentioned.

It was nice, I wanted to be friends with him, I was just to busy getting things done the first time, when he was around, so I was looking to fix that here.

I wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon. I've spent to long away from the camp, and with everything about to go crazy, the next three books happening in the next two years time. I wanted to be around for it, and this proved a point to myself. I wasn't weak, in fact with that little stunt, I probably just propelled myself up to top five of all the campers here, in everyone's eyes.

I liked that, I mean, it irked me I wasn't in the top spot, hell, I was probably only in third on a good day with Thalia being here, but it was something. Considering that I got beaten around by kids years younger than me before, last year, and now I was at where I'm at, I was pretty proud of my progress.

It wasn't enough, of course, dear old Jason Grace kicked the shit out of a titan by himself, and since he's sort of on Percy's level, I need to be on Percy's level bare minimum, not from some trick, but I'm on the right track.

Stygian Iron has a lot of cool properties, but the coolest of which, it can actually hurt gods, because Stygian Iron adsorbs instead of disperses energy from the things it hurts. Celestial Bronze would sting a deity, but Stygian Iron can kill one. It's the strongest among the three blessed metals of the Greek Parthenon for a reason, and one of the reasons I was so very thankfully Styx was a grandparent of mine. Life would be so much harder without all the stuff I got from her.

The first few weeks back I spent a lot of time talking with people.

It was cool, having more than two people who could speak back to me.

Nothing really happened to be honest, I just trained, it was simple and easy, I won a lot, but that wasn't hard against most of the people in camp, so it wasn't super satisfying. Thalia was neat, we weren't exactly close in any real way though, she was really closed off for the most part and refused to talk to anyone that wasn't Annabeth, but we traded words on occasion which was something to make note about.

I mostly hung around Percy and Silena, and whoever Silena was hanging around at the time more than anything, but I did bounce between cabins on occasion, just seeing what everyone was doing between activities. No one called me out on it, but I did have a few looks of confusion once in a while when I hung around the Demeter kids for a few days only to start pestering the Ares campers.

Chiron had some talk ready to go for me, outside of the whole glad to be alive thing. I apparently needed to tell him just how I figured out Luke was a traitor before anyone else, I just said I was that good. He didn't like it, but I didn't budge on the matter. Oh, I played a lot of games with Mr. D, never won properly, only ever drew still, which was fucking aggravating, and he was way to blase about the whole thing, but it was nice to do again.

Mostly because I liked telling him what a piece of shit he was and how I'd like to kill him dead one day, but that's besides the point.

Still, it was cool, I spent a lot of time with Percy just making him do stuff. He was actually really cool and chill, and when he didn't have to use his powers to win against insane odds, it was clear he enjoyed using them or just casual fun. Or at least I made him have fun with the powers. What's the point of having powers if you can't have fun with them anyways?

I bet he didn't even have the thought about that he could enjoy his abilities, seeing them just as something he had to deal with and use them to help others when he had to. Now I made him make rings of water and push boats over of campers, to make the water move and make shapes out of it, making images. I tried to do the same, buy my fine control and his were on two very separate level.

Maybe I should look into getting a blessing from Poseidon? A minor blessing from Hades got me a lot of stuff, and he barely liked me if I'm being honest, but Poseidon is pretty chill, honestly one of the best gods in the group... Thoughts for later. I didn't need water control, it was Percy's thing, and he got a lot more out of it than I did, but it was still fun, just playing with our powers.

It helped me learn more about him as a person and not just a character, as well as get him used to using his water in more and more creative ways. Plus while he was pretty terrible at giving tips on manipulating water, he once in a while would drop a nugget of genius that actually helped out my own abilities more than he'd know. He was just so entuned with his powers he didn't know what he was doing different from another person that made him so much better, so he didn't know how to explain it.

Normally, that level of humbleness would probably just have pissed me off, since, surprise surprise, I'm not very good at being humble myself, but he just... had a way about him. It was easy to see just why so many people fell in love with him over the course of his journey. Not me though, he was just a friend, a good friend, but I had no interest in dating at all at the moment.

Plus the guy was way to dense, and I think only Annabeth could deal with that, I'd go mad in the attempt, plus it's clear he only liked women.

Beyond all that though... I thought about it for a while for all my friends and... I don't know, they all were attractive, literally all of the campers here could be a model in someway, if not in face then in body, like the case with the Ares kids who were all jacked. Which I still didn't find fair at all, since I really didn't have anything like that going for me, since it's clear my entire body looks bad, but whatever.

I talked to Annabeth herself for a bit, she didn't trust me, lowkey accused me of being a traitor and that's how I knew about Luke's plan, but she was keeping that to herself, and just kind of stalking me, Awareness told me that, letting me know when she was following me around when she was using that invisibility cap of hers. I just made sure I was doing extra weird things during that time.

Oh, speaking of traitors, Silena is in the clear! It's surprisingly easy to get information out of people with a few sample questions and the ability to judge truthfulness. She has had no contact with Luke since he left, and had a pretty big hate boner for the guy, and by that I mean she hates him now, but still clearly thinks he's hot, which... valid, but that just meant I needed to push her even harder towards Charles Beckendorf.

They hung out sometimes, but not a lot, so that was something to work on, or at least it was, until Summer's end rolled around. Beckendorf wasn't a year rounder, Silena was, though she didn't ever say why, so that plan was out. Percy was heading out to, and a fair number of other campers, both Travis and Conner Stoll would be heading home too, apparently there was some kind of family thing they needed to help their mom out with. And since they were the head Councilors of our cabin, I somehow got wrapped up into taking up the mantle for a while.

Only for a few months though, they'd both be back before the new year, sometime around mid of October. I tried to get out of it, but I had easily the most experience out of everyone else in the cabin, which only consisted of two other campers, both of which I was older than, and while I wasn't Hermes kid, I guess since I lived in his cabin I counted enough to get the spot for a while.

And right now, it was the start of August, the day before everyone would be heading back in their own ways, and I found myself by the lake with Percy, it was kind of just became our hang out spot when either of us wanted a break, this was where we could normally find the other. It was in one of the new places with trees that lead to enough shadow to keep the sun out of our eyes, and kept us from most people's views.

I knew the second I had sat down next to him that this was going to be one of those... serious talks, the ones I didn't like having if I could help it with friends.

"So... you're not heading home?" I just shrugged. I could make it simple and clear, a one word answer and he would drop it. I didn't say anything, I wasn't really sure just why, but he continued before I could get my thoughts on the matter in order, "Any reason why not?"

"No where to go" I said it before I could think more about it, Percy frowned a bit, before saying.

"What's that mean?" He sounded so earnestly curious and it's not like I care about my sob story or anything, it hardly effected me, so I spoke up like it was just another day in the life.

"Means I'm homeless, my dad could be dead or whatever, but I've never met him. I've lived the entire life I can remember on the street, bouncing around and about until Alwin, a Satyr found me last year and got me here" Percy turned to look at me, I just turned to look back, his eyes did this weird thing where they were filled with so much warmth it was almost uncomfortable, I just looked way. I wasn't some sob story that needed sympathy.

"That... must have been hard" I just shrugged.

"I've been fighting for as long as I can remember. It's why I don't really get why everyone got so weird when I came back. It's what I do, I come and go, usually just go, it's just how I've lived my entire life, nothing special about it, I go and do what I need. This is the first place I ever wanted to come back to" Percy was quiet for a long, long moment before saying.

"I get it. I felt like that during school, just wanting to be back with my mom, somewhere I belonged... I think I'm starting to feel like that for this place as well" I just hummed, before looking over at him, before holding up a fist and said.

"Bonding over shitty life experiences, nice" He just huffed, but he was smiling, as he bopped his own fist against mine, before saying as he moved to stand up.

"It's what everyone here has going for them at least. I'm going to start packing... I kind of haven't started yet" I just smirked as I watched as he walked away, before turning back to look at the lake water in front of me for a long moment, before sighing as I ran a hand through my still slicked up and ruffled hair. Apparently if I don't actively want a Status Effect to go away when I head to bed, then it won't go away, I figured that out a few weeks ago.

At least it didn't act weird in showers so I barely even noticed it.

Still, I was mostly just still enjoying that fact that I was back in Camp. It was a lot less stressful being back here, though that would only be lasting a few months, then everything would be getting wild.

It also meant that I had exactly until December to figure out who the traitor is.

There had to be one, and they had to be among the ones that were still here, an year rounder. Luke is to clever to leave without finding someone to give him information, as well as I gave Hades that information almost a full week before Luke vanished, Luke probably knew his cover was blown for the entire week, so what was he doing during that time?

It was obvious, I just had to find who was the traitor among the flock here. It shouldn't be to hard, there was more than one reason why I've been floating around from cabin to cabin.

I already had a list, but working to get through it could wait until I see just who will still be here by this time next week.

We be back to the camp, I haven't done much super deep mythological stuff in a while, but that's because we've finally approached the plot, at break neck speeds as well! Isn't that just incredible, we're finally getting somewhere in terms of the actually Percy Jackson story... It only took just under 100k words, which is nice... Yeah, this story has been power written, but beyond that, there will be more cool stuff about the other myths and all, but i do have to make sure this story is in fact based mostly on the books, so we'll be focusing on the plot of the third book soon, and then move on to more fun stuff within Greek Mythology, while Nick continues to find more and more ways of cheating around the system to get stronger and stronger.

Not to say he's weak, he kept up with an water powered Percy for a very respectable amount of time, it's just his biggest hold up right now is just how little points he has in his Mana and Stamina. Like I wrote into the chapter, that really is and has been his biggest flaw, he just doesn't have the power to make use of all his cool powers. Like, Trade Off alone is an incredibly powerful skill that he has had for a while, but to make it have it's highest potential, he nearly has to kill himself with it because he doesn't have enough Stamina to use the skill to make him super strong, without the need to hurt himself in the process. Right now he can only use it for minor boosts in power for a small time, and it burns through his Stamina insanely quickly. That's the issue he's faced with now, so it'll be fun to find a way to get around that right?... Right, super fun to write ways around issues with the System without making them seem stupid or out of no where. So fun. Anyways, See ya.