Rage of a Demigod

AN: Hello there, my dear readers! This is another update for my story, and hopefully, there won't be any technical problems that will make it hard to see. So please enjoy!

Now to reviews.

hawkeyestratos1996: Nice to see you excited.

Hiilikepie69: Yeah, it sometimes happens to me too.

RedHood001: Nice to hear you enjoy the show. And yeah, it's annoying how Hades is constantly portrayed as a villain.

And nice to hear all the praise coming from you. It means a lot. The reason why Zeus doesn't claim will be revealed.

And even if Ares knew who Marcus' godly parent is it wouldn't matter since Marcus is way over 16 years of age so the prophecy doesn't apply to him.

I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

11 Camping Troubles

Zoe Nightshade was currently walking through the already very familiar route to Camp Half-blood, one she took so often with her sisters. Well… former sisters now. She arrived through the entrance and was met by Argus, the hundred-eyed giant who let her through.

It has been many months since the day that Artemis banished her from the Hunters of Artemis, and she had to live her life on her own. That didn't turn out easy. She tried to do some normal jobs, but her speech impediment as it was called would make others feel a bit uncomfortable, so whatever job she took didn't keep her for too long.

And hunting as she did before wasn't really an option. Now that she was on her lonesome the hunting became much harder, since a lot of the time she had help when it came to shelter and such. She was ashamed to admit it, but her life of hunting was pretty much over.

Zoe then made a decision to come back to the place where she and her… former sisters weren't exactly welcomed by the residents, Camp Half-blood. Despite that, it was the closest thing to her old life as she knew it. She also hoped that… she could at least see Marcus again.

Ah, yes, the demigod who was the reason she was let go from the Hunters. After hiding her feelings from him for a while, it all came back to bite her. But now that it was over, she could finally be more open with her feelings and had no fear of Artemis.

Strolling through the camp, Zoe saw that not many demigods spared a glance at her, though it's understandable considering she isn't in a large group. Which was probably a good thing since she would receive fewer distractions.

Looking over other demigods, she saw they were engaged in many activities such as sparring, riding a Pegasus, and practicing archery. There was one particular demigod that she was currently looking for. Well, it's actually two particular demigods but Zoe knew she would have an easier time looking for one than the other.

And find him she did, seeing him at a training field where he was having a sword fight with another demigod.

Percy Jackson was grinning as he deflected a strike from the demigod and tripped him with a sweeping kick, with the demigod falling down with a grunt.

"Ah, man!" the demigod moaned as he got up and dusted himself. "That's the tenth time in a row!"

"Look, Mike, it's not that bad," Percy said. "You lasted longer each time, and while you did end up on your behind quite a bit, that is still an improvement." He remembered the time where Marcus trained him and saying the exact same thing. The advice was really quite useful. "Now take a break, we'll continue the practice later." And that part definitely wasn't from Marcus, who would only splash Percy in the face to get him energized.

"Thanks, buddy, see ya later!" Mike exclaimed before quickly going away for an important matter, which Percy could guess was the dryad that flirted with him.

"Perseus Jackson." The son of Poseidon was caught off guard by the sudden call and was surprised to see the face of a familiar Hunter of Artemis.

"Zoe, is that you?" he asked as he looked her over. She wasn't dressed in her winter coat like last time, wearing a short-sleeved shirt instead. And there was another noticeable difference. "And have you… gotten taller?" Percy almost smacked himself for not noticing earlier, but she was indeed taller. He actually had to look up to meet her eyes. She resembled one of those hot teenage girls from those high school shows and movies, just more serious and muscular.

"I have indeed," Zoe said. "It has been a while since we have seen each other. Thou have also gotten taller."

"But, I thought… I thought the Hunters of Artemis don't age," Percy said confused, before looking around and noticing that she was alone. "Speaking of which, where are the other Hunters?"

Zoe raised an eyebrow at that. "What do…? Wait, thou do not know? I'm not a part of the Hunters anymore."

The sea-green eyes widened at that. "You're not a part of the Hunters? Wow, I'm… I'm so sorry to hear that," Percy said, wondering why on earth she would be kicked out. Then he remembered that conversation he and Marcus had with Aphrodite and it all began to click into place. 'Did Artemis find out about her feelings?' He would ask her but it was probably a bit too personal for Zoe.

Zoe on the other hand was saddened to hear that her exile was seemingly kept as a private matter. "It doesn't matter now, Percy Jackson," she said dismissively. "Tell me, how is Annabeth?"

"Oh, she's doing great actually," Percy said with a smile. "After the whole ordeal, she's been doing better, and it soon all came back to normal. Though, she was jealous she wasn't at the Hoover Dam with us."

"Yes, I remember how thou explained her enthusiasm about such things," Zoe said. "And if I may ask, where is Marcus?"

That question got Percy to stand stiffly for a moment, though he honestly should have known that the question was coming. "Oh, uh, Marcus? Um?" Percy gave a cough to clear his throat. "Well, here's the thing about that. Marcus is… gone."

A deep and awkward silence followed for the next several moments.

Zoe stood there shocked, her mouth slightly open. Did she hear him right? "Gone? What do thou mean he is gone?!" she asked in a slightly more aggressive tone.

Percy sighed, expecting such a reaction. "We aren't sure either. I remember several months ago, almost immediately after we finished the quest, I waited for Marcus for our usual lessons but he never showed up, and he is very punctual. I went looking for him and I couldn't find him. I also asked around if anyone has seen him, which also included Zora and Lora, but nobody did. Chiron said he might have gone on a quest for Ares but, and here's the really weird part, Ares also came here looking for Marcus so even he didn't know."

Zoe's mind was going a hundred kilometers an hour, processing all that she heard. Marcus was gone? She couldn't believe it. After all this time she finally went to see him only to find out he has been missing for months? She was almost certain that the Fates were screwing with her.

"Was he kidnapped?" she asked.

"We didn't see anything out of place in the Big House, or the beach, or any of his usual spots. It looks like he just went somewhere and didn't come back," Percy said. Though, he felt bad for it as he saw her face struggle not to look upset. He then put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Zoe."

Zoe blinked at the out of nowhere gesture. "Thou art sorry? What for?"

"Zoe, I know," Percy simply.

"What are thou talking about? Know what?"

"When Aphrodite wanted to talk us back then… she told Marcus, and I heard," Percy said.

Zoe's eyes widened as she realized what Percy was talking about. The love goddess told them? Of course, Aphrodite would know. But that meant… "So Marcus knows?"

"Um, yeah, he does," Percy answered.

"Well, does he-" Zoe quickly shook her head. 'Focus, Zoe! You can think about it later!'

"Are you alright?"

"Perseus, I need to speak to Chiron," Zoe said.

"Wait, why-"

"Perseus!" she interrupted before taking a slight breath to calm herself. "Please, I have to see him."

Percy gave a nod and led her to the Big House. They quickly arrived at Chiron's room where he was listening to his… cultured choice of music.

Chiron was humming to himself before noticing who entered. "Oh, hey there Percy, and… Zoe? Zoe Nightshade?"

Zoe bowed her head respectfully. "Indeed, mighty Chiron. And as thou can see, I no longer have the immortality that was bestowed to me by Artemis."

"Oh, I see," Chiron said. "Very unfortunate. But nevertheless, you are still very much welcome in Camp Half-blood."

Zoe bowed again. "I thank thee very much or thy kindness. But even so, I would like to request that I be made a resident in the camp." Seeing Chiron's confusion, she elaborated. "Understand, it's hard for me to function as a regular member of today's society. In the camp, I have a sense of familiarity with my roots."

Chiron stroked his beard in thought. "That is quite a request you have, Miss Nightshade. You do realize you would have to contribute something to the camp since you aren't a camper yourself?"

"I know that, and I assure you that I do plan on contributing to thine camp. I may not be a Hunter, but my skills with a bow and arrow haven't changed. I can teach other campers proper archery, and with a war on the horizon I'm sure thou need all the help thee can get."

"Hmm, you make quite a compelling case," Chiron said. "But you're right, the camp will need more and any help is appreciated. So, Zoe Nightshade, I officially welcome you to Camp Half-blood." He then extended his hand which Zoe gladly shook.

"Congrats, Zoe!" Percy said with a smile which the former Hunter returned.

"And Chiron, I've heard that Marcus has… disappeared," Zoe said with a slight strain in her voice. "I would also like to help thee find him in any way I can."

"Oh, so you know," Chiron said. "Well, I'm glad that you are willing to help, but you should know that so far we don't have any leads, not even from Ares. But we will not stop, and your help in this matter is also appreciated."

"I once again thank thee, mighty Chiron," Zoe said. "I promise not to be a bother to you or the camp."

The ancient centaur smiled. "I'm certain you won't," he said before turning to Percy. "Would you be so kind to show her around? Zoe has been here before but she doesn't intimately know the camp."

"Oh, sure," Percy said before addressing Zoe. "Would you mind?"

Zoe shook her head. "Not at all, Perseus. Thou art one of the few men who have my respect."

Percy couldn't help but blush at the compliment. "Well, thanks. So, come on. I've got plenty to show you."

The next few months have been good for Zoe. After Chiron introduced her to the campers as a new archery instructor, they were a bit uncertain but she proved her worth after outperforming several children of Apollo.

So she spent a lot of time teaching the campers archery, and there were improvements. Teenagers definitely learned faster than the young girls that Artemis usually recruited. But despite that, there were still no signs of Marcus, which always had Zoe worried. Was he dead? Did the enemy capture him? She tried her best to not let those questions distract her but it was hard.

Then came a monster attack, giant scorpions to be precise. After they got rid of the monsters Percy and Annabeth said that they discovered a passage that led to the Labyrinth of Daedalus. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson went to investigate the Labyrinth and find its creator, Daedalus, so his genius doesn't fall into Kronos' hands. Percy had another goal, save Nico di Angelo, who Zoe heard was supposed to be a son of Hades. Zoe couldn't believe that at first, but then she remembered how Bianca di Angelo was the only one capable of hurting those undead skeleton-men.

During the quest, Percy also apparently died, and they even had a funeral procession for him, only for the son of sea to show up in the middle of Annabeth's speech. It turned out he was on the island of Calypso, a daughter of Atlas. Despite sharing a father, Zoe didn't know much about her, but from she heard she loved their father still, which is something Zoe could relate to.

Then Percy and Annabeth returned to the Labyrinth for further searching, but not too long after that, the camp was attacked by monsters.

Right now, Zoe and other archers offered support to the demigods on the frontline, but the monsters were great in number.

After some time of shooting, several giants were upon the archers.

"Scatter!" Zoe ordered as the group dispersed, avoiding the giants' assault. Zoe herself ducked under a club swing before shooting two arrows into the giant's kneecaps, causing it to fall down before she took her hunting knife and piercing the giant's skull turning it to dust.

Zoe really wished her... that the Hunters of Artemis were also here. They would have been a great help.

She then avoided a sword swing from a Dracaena before shooting an arrow into her head, reducing it to dust as well. Zoe then quickly retreated back to further to avoid the hoard of attacking monsters and regrouped with the others.

Percy and others joined the fight too, with Percy using his water powers to hold them at bay, and Grover actually letting out a screech that seemed to scare some monsters off. Nico, who Zoe recognized from before, also joined into battle, summoning skeleton warriors to fight, which made Zoe glad that these were on their side. Tyson was able to pound the monsters with his brute strength, and while Annabeth didn't have flashy abilities she was still able to fight.

The tides were turning in the Camper's favor, but it was too good to last. Out of the entrance to the Labyrinth came another monster, one that Zoe recognized as one of the most fearsome monsters, the guardian of Tartarus, Kampê. Zoe shuddered in fright. This was a monster that even Artemis would hesitate to hunt. A fearsome sight, snakes for hair, dragon wings, demonic dog heads on the waist, a centaur-like body, and her incredible size.

The monster attacked, immediately descending upon the demigods, cutting through many of them at once. Zoe and the other archers quickly went to shower the Kampê with volleys of arrows, but none of them were able to harm her.

Zoe wasn't sure what she could do, facing her head-on would be suicide. Then she saw Percy attacking the monster, making her groan. Honestly, why was she surprised? The son of Poseidon threw himself at Atlas so this wasn't far off. Annabeth soon joined the fray, attacking Kampê along with Percy. Zoe cursed her situation, wanting to help Percy and Annabeth but the monsters kept her and other campers busy.

Percy and Annabeth put up a struggle, avoiding Kampê's strikes and countering, but the monster was too much. Zoe could only look in dread as she saw the monster about to finish the two of them, and reached into her quiver, desperate to help them.

Then a large rock hit Kampê in the head, throwing her backward. This got almost everyone's attention as they saw a giant with many arms appear, one of the Hecatonchires. Zoe recognized this specific one as Briares.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore!" Briares exclaimed as he began hurling giant boulders at Kampê, who couldn't defend herself as she was being completely covered by boulders. Some blood leaked from the boulders, as the pile suddenly shrank, showing that Kampê has disappeared.

The rest of the monsters look in fear at their defeated ace, before quickly making a run for it into the Labyrinth entrance, disappearing from sight.

The campers began to cheer in their victory, throwing their weapons into the air, embracing their loved ones, and some crying tears of happiness at their survival, while others felt saddened by who they lost.

Zoe gave a sigh, and sat down on the grass, finally feeling the effects of exhaustion. Out of all the battles she had been in, this one was definitely one of the closest. She then smiled as she saw the demigods be so happy, making them seem like an actual family. And seeing Tyson giving Briares a high-five was also heartwarming.

Getting up, she set her sights on Percy Jackson, and quickly walked over to him. "Thou never cease to amaze, Perseus Jackson."

"Yeah, well, I try," Percy said as he rubbed the back of his head.

Then Zoe remembered something, one hope she held throughout this quest. "Tell me, have thee by any chance…?"

To her unease, Percy shook his head. "I'm sorry, but no, we haven't found him. Even Daedalus said it's highly unlikely he was within the Labyrinth."

"I see," she said in disappointment. "That is… unfortunate to hear. But we can't waste any more time. Let us help the injured campers and clear the battlefield."

Percy nodded before following her along with the others. They had a lot of cleaning to do.

Percy had to say, he had a really rough time lately. After he was attacked by monsters at his school a whole new slew of problems appeared. Chris Rodriguez was brought by Clarisse, driven insane in the Labyrinth, then there was a secret passageway for monsters to invade, fighting giant scorpions, fighting a guy with three torsos, getting blown up in a volcano, meeting a Titaness that he pretty much fell in love with before deciding to abandon her for his friends, something he was still sad about.

And he also actually ended up late for his own funeral.

Then he finally got Nico to come to his senses after being manipulated by Minos, he found out that one of the campers was Daedalus in disguise, he fought his crazy half-brother, met with Luke who was actually still alive, and being betrayed by Ethan Nakamura, a son of Nemesis.

And in the end, he fought pretty much a war within the camp itself, and almost ended up getting killed by one of the most feared monsters in Greek Mythology.

On plus side, he and Annabeth shared a kiss and Percy got his own hellhound.

After all that exhausting experience, Percy went back to his cabin, finally to get some proper rest. He hoped that at least get a decent dream to calm himself.

As usual, he hoped for too much.

In his dream, Percy blinked in confusion. Seeing himself in some sort of desolate place, but looking back it seemed to be some sort of an island. Then his eyes were met with a familiar figure, Marcus.

"Marcus!" Percy called out before approaching him. "Where have you been? Do you have any idea how much worry you caused? You could have at least informed us you were going and not have us look everywhere for you!" This time Percy was right next to Marcus and reached for him. "Not to mention the whole Laby-" He stopped himself the moment his hand went right through Marcus. "Okay, I should have figured that would happen." He then looked up and saw that Marcus was only looking around. "And he can't hear me or see me. Great."

Marcus then suddenly began running forward, surprising Percy. "Hey wait!" Percy said before running after him. But then the scenery changed, and this time, Percy was floating in the air. He looked down and saw Marcus running on a stone bridge that began collapsing behind him.

The scene changed again, this time Marcus was on some sort of platform with his blades out, and across him was a really tall man with a golden crown on his head, an amulet with a green jewel over his neck, and purple pants. He was shirtless though on his chest seemed to be another, smaller person, completely merged to him with only a head and an arm as its own body.

"Kill him, Castor!" the smaller one said angrily.

"Oh, I will," Castor replied as he was surrounded by a green aura and soon after attacking Marcus.

The scenery changed again with Marcus fighting what seemed to be a group of half-bloods, before he took out something, which Percy could swear were eyes before they shone in bright light, making the half-bloods disappear.

Then it came a scene of Marcus looking surprised before some sort of black sludge was thrown at him as several laughters, Percy could tell that it came from women, rang in the background.

Marcus was then bound by some sort of metal contraption, forced into a kneeling position. His arms were extended as wide as they could be with something pulling on the chains of his blades. A shadowed figure then appeared, putting up its clawed hand and slashing at Marcus, making him scream.

Percy gasped at what he saw before he was suddenly in a pure black void. He worriedly looked around, before giving a yelp as he saw that another person was with him. It was a man who seemed to be purely black in color, similar to the sludge he saw before, with yellow eyes and some yellow crystals on his body.

"Percy Jackson," the man called out before looking down in shame. "I made a mistake."

"Okay, this doesn't usually happen," Percy commented. "Who are you?"

"My name is Orkos," the man said before giving a sigh. "I am the son of Ares and the fury Alecto."

'Man, I'm meeting a lot of sons of Ares these days,' Percy thought.

"And the reason you never saw Marcus during the past year is simple, I sent him on a quest, one that would free him of his bondage to my father," Orkos explained making Percy's eyes go wide. A quest that would free Marcus from Ares? Percy now began to understand why Marcus left so abruptly. "But it ended in failure, and Marcus was captured by the Furies. They are keeping him locked up, and readying him for the arrival of my father."

That did not sound good. Percy remembered the sour mood Ares was in when he couldn't find Marcus, and who knows what will happen if he finds Marcus captured after trying out a quest to free himself.

Orkos then looked around in fright. "I must hurry! Listen carefully, Perseus Jackson! Marcus is being held at the Sea of Monsters! You must come and free him!"

"Whoa, whoa, the Sea of Monsters?!" Percy exclaimed. "Why there?"

"I don't have time to explain! Hurry, come there as quickly as you can! Search for Cottus of the Hecatonchires! That's where you'll find him!"

Percy then abruptly woke up with a large gasp, seeing the ceiling of his cabin. Feeling some sweat trickling down his forehead, he wiped it off with his arm and stood up.

Then he heard knocking on his door.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain, it's almost noon! When are you getting up?" he heard Annabeth call out.

Hurrying over to the door, he quickly opened it, with Annabeth actually looking surprised at the quick response. "Annabeth, I had another dream! Marcus is in trouble, and he is kept prisoner at the Sea of Monsters!"

Annabeth's grey eyes widened at that. "What?!"

AN: And that's it for now! This one is shorter than the last one, but we do need a breather from all the action that happened in the last chapter. And yeah, I skipped over the Battle of the Labyrinth since not much would change there. And you probably didn't expect that we wouldn't follow Marcus through the Ascension storyline, but instead, we will follow Percy and several others. I hope you don't mind.

And I implore you to read my other stories, they are worth your while. And leave a review, they are great motivators.

See you next time!