Here we go boys, chapter fifteen and the first and only chapter in the Children of Thunder arc. This arc/chapter is just going to be the establishment of the relationship between Thalia and Zane, and then we'll jump right into Titan's Curse. We won't beat around the bush for too long and jump into what you guys care about next chapter. Okay, first, lets get into some reviews.

Jay: "I almost don't want Thalia and Jason Grace to have power ups lol. Canon Jason could summon like 3 small dick Lightning bolts before gasping for air and Percy shrugged both his and Thalia's electricity like someone accidentally touched a hot stove.

So to say, stung like a bitch but hardly debilitating."

Response: Don't worry, Jason and Thalia will not have the power ups that Zane has. Zane's Thunder Form is completely unique to him, a gift from Zeus all the way back in chapter one. Also, yeah, Thalia and Jason's lightning suck, just sparks compared to Zane's lightning bolts. We'll be exploring that in this chapter. Also, don't you have some shitty Hunt fanfics to compile?

Echoxenvy: "Wow, what a great ending to the arc. I loved the fight, it was very well written and damn brutal lol, it reminded me of Invincible kind of. Also, Zane's development has been amazing to read, he's really come around and I actually really like him again, a feeling I missed since the first arc. That fight though, it might be even better than Percy and Zane vs Ares. I wasn't expecting Luke to nearly kill Zane, that only made me hate him more man. If you don't plant on redeeming him, I can't wait for his death. Only thing I have a question about is, why is Zane still confused about Taylor's feelings? I get being confused about Nico's, but Taylor's? I mean, does he sleep in Arthur's bed? No, he sleeps with Zane apparently. I would expect Zane to take that as a hint now that he knows he's gay as well. But it doesn't matter, I get that you want to build the relationship more, so it's cool. All in all, great chapter, can't wait for the mini arc and potential Kane Chronicles Arc. But what I'm really hype for is Titan's Curse, really excited on how you'll handle that one.

P.S. Luke vs Levi, who's the bigger POS?

Response: Thanks, man. I kind of thought the fight was a bit repetitive as it just involved: Zane attacks, Luke time stops away, Koios attacks, Zane counterattacks, Luke saves Koios from dying, Luke attacks Zane, Zane counterattacks, rinse repeat. But I'm glad you like it, as I thought you'd say something similar to what I kind of think. Anyway, so you did get around to watching Invincible? That show is something else, huh? I thought about Luke nearly killing Zane before I even started writing Sea of Monsters, so that was in the works for awhile. And I did answer this over Snapchat, but Zane being confused about Taylor's feelings is just him being an idiot. If he wasn't confused, he'd probably ask him out right away cause he ain't no pussy and we can't have that yet since they're so young, so idiot Zane it is for now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and enjoy the Titan's Curse arc when I get to it.

Shadowhunter2077: "Dude just the fact that you considered my idea about the Kanes Chornicles os already very cool to me I honestly though it was to far fetched, but like I said this would be to mostly to train Zane self control, because he will need when he meet the Hunters of Artemis, because while Artemis is a feminist (she understand that man and woman are both capable of making a lot of good and a lot of evil), the Hunters are faminazis (they believe woman are superior in every way when compared to man) so Zane instand of destroying then he could humilite then and show then that one day they might piss of someone way more powerful than Artemis and that will be their end.

Also I curious about how you will handle the Bianca problem in the Titan's Curse because while she is powerful (she is the child of Hades) she is not poweful enough to have to bring the help of the gang (Zane, Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Taylor), so I have another suggestion, you could bring demigods from others pantheons like Hindu, Shinto, and Christian, this would make any satyr ask for help because they never saw that kind of demigod, it would also be good (in my opinion if ti was 5 demigods , Bianca, Shinto demigod, Hindu demigod, Nephilim, Cambion (Half-Demon).)

And about Cthulhu is a normal mistake people uselly think that "if Cthulhu is the most well know then he most be the most powerful" which is almost the same problem the Percy Jackson fandom suffers, to better understand this I will show the power ranking of the olympians: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, Apollo, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes, Dionysus (or Hestia if your going with Vs Battle). Now the problem is that every one thinks Hestia is the most powerful of all the gods even though is stated in the canon that she is the weakest of the olympians (or at very least of her siblings) but the great majority of the fandom likes to portray her as the most powerful olympian who could overpower Zeus anytime she wanted, which is bullshit. And one question about the Roman Gods will they be their own gods, because people usally think just because they have greek counterparts they are the same gods when that is not true, a good example is Mars the roman god of war he is so important that he is only below the Roman Big Three in power, while Ares don't even came close to them in power (also I think Mars could easily beat both Ares and Athena in fight)

And dude I have a another suggestion of powers to Arthur, Zane and Zeus, to Arthur you could have him control solar fire like a backup power that he have when Apollo his riding the Sun Chariot and When Helios is riding he have like a ultimate form in mid day like Escanor have, and Zane and Zeus you could give then Law manipulation so that way they could manipulate the Laws of reality and basically warp reality.

And for last could you show us the tier stats that Zeus in this fic have, just for us to see how powerful Zeus is compareble to Zane."

Response: So unfortunately, I won't be able to do the Kane Chronicles because I don't exactly have the books, so I'll have to put that idea on the back burner. Zane will have his resolve tested when he meets the hunters, don't worry. But he won't murder them like he probably would have in the last book. I will respond to your other questions and suggestions at the end of the chapter, as I need some time to think about them.

Anyway, enough with reviews. Let's blow this pop-stand.

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything (Except the OCs). If the fact that this is on a fanficition site didn't tip you off, you're fucking retarded.)

(000)

*August 6th, 2007*

The sound of an alarm woke me from my sleep with a jolt. I reached over to my little nightstand to snooze my alarm clock, careful to not shatter it with my grip. When I finally managed to get the alarm turned off, I sat up in my bed and rubbed my eyes. I haven't really used an alarm until recently, as I liked to wake up whenever, but now that Thalia was here in the cabin with me, Chiron was more adamant about me being on time for every one of my classes.

Speaking of Thalia, my half-sister was on the other side of the room in her bed, which had been added once she moved into the cabin with me. My old king-sized bed had to be thrown out for fairness sake and I now had a twin bed instead. I was initially somewhat bitter about that, as Taylor and Nico wouldn't be able to bunk with me anymore, but I realized it wouldn't be fair for me to have the larger bed and having both me and Thalia sleep in the same bed would have been weird, no matter the size of said bed.

I crawled out of my bed and onto the floor, clad in nothing except my underwear. Thalia was still asleep, as I set my alarm a few minutes before her's went off so I could get dressed without it being awkward. I grabbed my clothes I had set out on my nightstand and went into the bathroom of my cabin. I turned the light of the bathroom on, my eyes squinting from the sudden light, and I started to brush and braid my hair for the day. As I did so, I looked at the still fresh scars that were arranged all over my torso.

Dozens of deep, nasty scars were spread out over my abs and chest, sending me back to the day where Luke had practically gored me with his knife. If only I had killed Luke or put him out of his apparent 'misery', these scars wouldn't be here. I rubbed my fingers across several of the scars, thankfully not feeling any pain from them anymore like I had been feeling it a few weeks ago when they were still fresh. I took my eyes from the scar tissue once I finished my final braid in my hair and started to get dressed. I threw on a orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, along with some tight, form fitting shorts. I made sure my nails were painted dark blue and I grabbed my axe, Keravnos from the corner of the bathroom and put it on my back in it's sheathe.

I let out a yawn as I put on my Nemean Lion pelt over my neck and wore it like a cape, something I hadn't done in quite a while. I left the bathroom as I heard Thalia's alarm start to go off, prompting my half-sister to groan on her bed. I shook my head and left the cabin to my first class, secret Greek history, as to avoid any potential awkwardness with her.

That's the one thing I can say about our relationship for certain. Awkward. We just didn't really know how to exist around each other, much less actually talk to one another. Both of us were used to being the 'only child' so to say and to have that ripped away from both of us was rather jarring. Also, Thalia started to hang out with my group as well, due to both Percy and Annabeth being there.

Thalia hung out with Annabeth due to obvious reasons, but she started to tag along with Percy a lot due to him being the first one she saw when she woke up from being a tree for five years. So as Annabeth and Percy were part of my group, Thalia and I did a lot of pretending that we didn't exist around each other. I also noticed that Thalia, when she had to speak with me, talked to me very different than she talked with everyone else.

Around Percy and Annabeth, Thalia was carefree and even fun-loving to an extent, and around most people she was kinda bossy and liked to take charge constantly. But around me, she was subdued, almost intimidating even. Perhaps it was because of how powerful I was, or something?

Before my first class, there was breakfast. I sat down at my table, waiting for my friends to arrive. The first one who arrived was always Grover. Before we came back from the Sea of Monsters, I didn't really know Grover all that well, as I had only talked to him in passing when he was around and he vanished for a year out of nowhere, something I didn't even notice. But once we rescued him from Polyphemus, or should I say Percy rescued him, he started to hang around us at camp as well.

After he had a hand in retrieving the Golden Fleece, the Council of Cloven Elders had pardoned Grover and given him his Searcher License. But instead of jumping back into the fray of trying to find Pan, he decided to settle down a little bit before going back. I was sort of kinda forced to interact with him, and I found he wasn't actually that bad of a guy. I wouldn't exactly call us friends just yet, but we definitely knew each other a lot more than we did before the whole Sea of Monsters quest. "What's up, Zane?" Grover asked as he sat down in a seat diagonal to me. The satyr had his reed pipes with him, tucking tightly into his pockets.

I shook my head as I fiddled with the empty goblet on the table in front of me. "Nothing much, Grover." We didn't say much else as we waited for all of our friends to arrive. Slowly, one by one, campers started to fill up the pavilion. I caught Dionysus out of the corner of my eye sitting down at his table, a bored expression on his face as he sipped Diet Coke out of his wine goblet. Ever since I figured out my sexuality, I've been noticing the appearance of others quite recently.

I had known that Dionysus was incredibly good looking, but holy shit was he hot. I felt kind of weird think about that, since the wine god was my camp director and he was like three thousand years old, but I had to be honest with myself. Luckily I haven't really spoken to him straight up since the quest, as I don't think I could really look him directly in the eye right now. I shook those thoughts from my head as I noticed Annabeth arrive and sit down in one of the seats around my table.

"What's up, Annabeth?" I asked the daughter of Athena, copying Grover's question to me when he sat down. The three of us started a conversation while we waited for the others, which consisted of talking about whether monsters could be permanently killed or not. Our conversation was interrupted when Nico, the son of Hades and one of the guys I currently liked, arrived and sat down right beside me. "Nico, how are you doing?" I asked, the tiredness immediately vanishing from my voice and my face brightened instantly as well.

The son of Hades yawned as he sat down beside me and he put his head on the table and murmured, "I didn't really sleep all that well last night..." I felt my face heat up a little as he rolled his head over to look at me. Before my realization about myself, I didn't really notice how amazingly cute Nico was.

His hair, which was a little bit longer than it was one month ago, looked great and draped down in an adorable mess on the table. His pale, but not unattractive complexion and his smooth symmetrical face made my eyes light up. The son of Hades wore his signature black T-shirt with a skull on it and a pair of dark grey gym shorts along with black and white sneakers. "And what about you, Zane? How have you been doing?" The expression of slight concern on his cute little face made me skip a breath.

But for those wondering why Nico would be concerned, the past few weeks I haven't been having the most pleasant dreams of late. Not the 'Kronos whispering in my ear' dreams I had before the quest, but the kind where I relive the deaths I've caused and seen. Even now, flashes of me killing tourists and civilians flashed through my mind. I did my best to ignore them as I answered Nico's question.

I shrugged, trying to not look too suspicious. "I'm doing alright, all things considered." Nico's face looking at me with a slight deadpan expression made me sigh. "Oh, alright. I've still been having nightmares and stuff. Not to mention bunking with Thalia hasn't exactly made my nights the most peaceful." Even though Thalia wasn't exactly the most calm and collected person, even though she acted subdued around me. Thalia was rather intense and focused, which really showed in the way she spent her spare time.

She trained, a lot. She would even train inside the cabin at night whenever I would try to sleep, which has resulted in me telling her more than once to quiet down and go to bed. I shook my hand and held my chin in one of my hands. "The past month or so has been kind of hectic, with us preparing for the war that's going to be coming up pretty soon. I really just want a chance to kickback and relax for at least a little while." I may have forgot to mention, but the camp was a little more militaristic now. Not to the level it was when the barrier was being broken down, but more that it usually was. Training occurred more often, guard duty around the camp increased significantly from normal levels and weapons were still constantly being carried.

While the tension of a couple of months ago was gone, the atmosphere still felt a little off. "Anyway, enough about me, Nico. Tell me about this new deck you've been building for Myth-O-Magic." Surprisingly, Myth-O-Magic was still the most popular game played in camp. When Nico introduced it to all the campers, I was pretty sure it would die down in a week, but surprisingly, it was still going strong a year and a half later.

Before Nico could start to explain why Poseidon being buffed in the latest patch was going to be the magnum opus for his deck, I caught Taylor out of the corner of my eye approaching the pavilion. He sat down in the other seat beside me, interrupting Nico's explanation. "Hey, guys. What's up?" Taylor's angelic voice reached my ears and I felt my soul that had been battered by constant nightmares about my horrific crimes against humanity strengthen immensely.

My eyes lingered on his perfect long red hair, which today wasn't pulled all up into a braid behind him and was allowed to be free. He was wearing his outfit he had gotten from Circe back on her island, before I blew it up that is. The only thing different from his appearance than normal besides his hairstyle was the fact he was now wearing a pair of glasses. Apparently, during the fight with Krios, Taylor had his eyes damaged by a particularly bright blast he had stared directly into and was now wearing a pair of glasses until the healing magic used by the Apollo cabin could take full effect.

Or at least, that's how it was for the first week. He continued to wear them afterwards because they, in his words: 'looked cute.' I agreed with the son of Ares in his assessment, as the glasses coupled with the perfect amount of freckles that ran across the bridge of his nose did indeed 'look cute.' "I'm sorry I haven't been able to hang out with you guys for the past couple of days. All my camp duties have gotten a little bit hectic."

I shook my head and waved off his apologies. "No worries, Taylor. It's alright. Besides, you're here right now aren't you?" As Taylor had said, he hadn't been able to hang out with us too much, but he left some of the story out. For the past month and a half, Taylor had been a little absent from our friend group, though not by choice.

Whenever he brought the Fleece back, Taylor basically was considered a hero by the entire camp, which was justified as he brought back the thing that literally could save them all from death. Taylor was basically one of the main campers of the camp overnight. Taylor had been a prominent figure in the camp before, as he was the councilor of the Ares cabin, but now he was basically the most recognizable person in the entire camp. Thanks to this, his duties for the camp increased exponentially. He had to help in almost every class he was apart of and he was apart of a lot.

While he was basically able to skip doing chores, he basically had to take hold of most leadership activities in the camp, not even including all the leadership duties he held for the Ares cabin. Taylor was constantly busy and unfortunately, he was often unable to hang out with us because of it.

He was apologetic about it constantly, which was unneeded as we knew why he was constantly unavailable. "So how is the planning for the next chariot race going?" Another duty of Taylor's, which he really didn't like to do. Taylor said it was boring and dull to plan the chariot races, which made him start to dislike them. I couldn't blame him, as I was starting to dislike the chariot races as well. It was fun when me, Nico and him were able to race together against the others in the camp, but now that Thalia was here I had to race with her.

Racing with Thalia was awkward, as I wasn't even going to try and build a chariot with her. I constantly just paid Beckendorf to make me a basic one, which I would use to cheat by using my wind powers, getting us the victory every time. I was boring, but I knew I would get humiliated or should I say, Thalia would be humiliated. I didn't really care whether I won or lost the races, but I know for a fact Thalia did. I won for her sake, since you know, she's kind of my sister. I know our relationship was awkward at best right now, but I didn't want her to be constantly miserable or anything. I'm not that much of an asshole anymore.

Taylor groaned a little before setting his own head on the table. "Ugh, don't remind me." Taylor sat up from the table and his face scrunched up in irritation. "Mr. D wants to incorporate ramps and bridges in this race, despite the face there isn't any rivers or ravines to build a bridge on in the entire camp. But nooooo, Mr D's all like 'I don't care if there isn't anywhere to build a bridge, make it happen.'"

Taylor imitated Dionysus' haughty, holier than thou tone as he motioned his hands to exaggerate the whole situation. "So now I've had to organize my cabin to start building trenches so we can make some makeshift bridges to satisfy Mr. D's stupid fantasy and now my own cabin is kind of pissed at me. And don't even get me started on the ramps! How the fuck are you supposed to create actual functional ramps on a dirt road for chariots? Chariots are hard as shit to turn, so if you come upon a ramp at a bad angle, goodbye chariot! I swear, Mr. D. is just doing this to make me irritated."

Taylor finished as he put his arms across his chest, a cute little pout coming up onto his face. I just barely resisted the urge to grab his cheeks and pull on them like an elderly person would on their grandchildren. Taylor opened his mouth, probably about to rant about more stupid chariot duties, but someone sitting down on the seat beside him interrupted me. Arthur Wayne, son of Helios. Ugh.

Arthur smiled at Taylor with his stupid perfect white teeth. My hands clenched when I saw his smile at the son of Ares sitting beside me. I can safely say I hated that sunny son of a bitch Apollo kid ripoff. I initially just disliked him as he didn't talk to me after I showed of my power and the fact that Taylor apparently liked him, in a romantic way. I let that dislike fester and grow for the past couple of months and now I can clearly state I really hate Arthur.

Not in the same way I hate Laestrygonians or Ares, but in a childish, petty way. I wouldn't wish harm or death on him, but if he ever got pranked really bad in front of the entire camp, I wouldn't pretend I wouldn't find it funny. Ever since the quest, Arthur has been hanging out with my group since Taylor was here. Also, coincidentally, Arthur helped Taylor out with a lot of his stupid camp duties, so the son of Helios spent more time with Taylor than even I did.

I really wanted to punch him in the face and break all his pearly whites but I swore to be a better person ever since the quest ended, so no murdering or attacking fellow campers, no matter how much I wanted to. "Hey there, Taylor. What's up with you?" Arthur asked the son of Ares in his suave, surfer boy-like voice.

Taylor turned to the son of Helios and started to explain the exact stuff he said to both me and Nico a few moments prior, so I tried to tune the conversation out. But Taylor, surprisingly, kept talking to me as he was explaining things with Arthur. "Mr. D is such an numbskull for even thinking that ramps would be a good addition for this month's iteration of chariot races. Zane, what do you think would be a good add-on?" I was a little touched that Taylor was doing his best to keep me engaged in the conversation.

He talked to me as much as he talked to Arthur, perhaps even more so. I took a little pleasure in seeing Arthur being a little uncomfortable interacting with me and seeing him get a little irritated that Taylor's attention wasn't entirely on him. Seeing that made me involve myself in the conversation a lot more directly, as I started answer Taylor's questions towards me with long, thought out and detailed explanations. Eventually, Arthur was subtly booted from the conversation all together, and me and Taylor conversed about random shit.

I normally didn't like conversation about stuff I don't care too much about, but since it was with Taylor and I got to see Arthur's downcast and frustrated expression on his face, I really enjoyed this conversation. The fact that Taylor beautiful, gleaming hazel eyes were focused on me the entire time made it even better. I swear, I could get lost in the eyes of the son of Ares.

"What's this about Dionysus getting drunk off of Diet Coke?" Both me and Taylor turned our heads to see who was butting into our conversation, only to find that it was Percy. Percy had stumbled into the bit of our conversation where we talked about why Dionysus could be a little absent minded sometimes.

We had speculated that he's either a total dick or he gets drunk off of Diet Coke somehow. I leaned towards the former. "I mean, I guess Dionysus could get drunk if he wanted himself to off a Diet Coke, but it doesn't change the fact how it's a little goofy." Percy sat down in the sat beside Nico, leaving the last remaining seat to his left. The son of Poseidon's appearance hadn't changed too massively over the last month and a half, only that he was tanner and he pulled his now long hair that started to reach to his shoulders into a man bun on the back of his head. I say that the hairstyle suited him, making him look mainly look mainly even at the age of thirteen.

I smirked at Percy's dumb question and waved him off. "Don't worry about it, man. Taylor's just a little salty Dionysus keeps changing the requirements for the chariot racing. It's nothing really. How are you doing, bro?" Me and Percy's relationship was much, much better now than it had been a month and a half ago. When we had initially gotten back from camp, there was at least a little bit of awkwardness, mostly due to a few days ago Percy yelled at me for murdering people and he almost got me killed by trying to convince Taylor I had left the island.

Luckily, we got past that pretty quick and we quickly returned to our normal friendship. If anything, the entire ordeal may have actually made our relationship better. We talked a hell of a lot more and Percy even gave me advice to controlling my powers so I wouldn't accidentally kill someone with them just by training. In return, I tried to affirm whether Annabeth liked him or not. While Percy would deny eternally that he didn't like the daughter of Athena in that manner, I knew just from how he looked and acted around her that he was interested. Unfortunately for our fallen brother, Annabeth didn't seem to like him romantically at the moment, as she was still a little hung up on Luke. My brow furrowed a little, as even just thinking of the traitor son of Hermes made me angry.

Before Percy could ask me what was wrong, my half sister ran into the pavilion, one of the last ones to arrive. She stopped in front of my table where she sat beside Percy, comically panting and wiping her forehead. "Thank the gods. I made it just in time." Thalia had a tendency to be late for anything that had to do with taking care of herself, which mean food as well. She stayed up late a lot and trained constantly, which caused her to sleep in.

She would often lose track of time pushing herself so hard, causing her to be late constantly to stuff as well. Thalia jumped down into her seat beside both Annabeth and Percy. "What's up, guys?" To say Thalia looked like me was a bit of an understatement. Her hair was the same shade and texture of mine, only shorter and spikier. Her face even looked a bit like mine, as I was a bit androgynous and she actually looked like a female completely. She just wore a shade of black lipstick, which was something I didn't really do. Our lips were basically the same, though. The only really big difference were our heights and frames.

Despite that Thalia was fifteen, I was taller than her by a couple of inches, standing at about five foot eight and she was five foot six. I had gotten taller than Percy over the past month and a half, something he was kind of bitter over. I noticed Thalia's electric blue eyes darted over to me and looked away almost immediately, a expression than was very common since she moved into my cabin.

The rest of breakfast continued very routinely. As we finished our meals Dionysus stood up on the pavilion, spouted some ignorant, stupid shit and told Chiron to send us on our way. Chiron did so, handing out chores to every camper to complete today. I got the chore of making sure the sky wasn't too cloudy and was sent to secret Greek history class, which was in the Athena cabin. Unsurprisingly, Annabeth was the one leading the class and I had to listen to her drone on about historical figures who were Greek demigods, and what they did for the gods and all that crap.

Annabeth was a good teacher and all, but she tried to shove the knowledge into our brains rather than make the lesson entertaining or something like that. Luckily, this was the only class I had with Taylor and even more fortunately, Arthur wasn't here to get in my way or piss me off or anything. Once we were done with the lessons with Annabeth, she sent us with a partner to corners of the cabin to just do some general study while she did some councilor duties. That means I just get to talk with Taylor for the rest of the class period while Annabeth was off doing shit.

Me and Taylor were in the western corner of the cabin, sitting at a little side table while I pretended to be studying my hilariously empty notebook until Annabeth was gone doing her stuff. I closed my notebook and turned to Taylor, who was actually studying. "Thank the gods she's gone. She was either going to put me to sleep or give me a lobotomy with her teaching style." I joked. Taylor immediately turned his eyes from his notes and starting scolding me on how mean I was, but I could see the smirk building on his face until he stopped pretending.

The son of Ares started to laugh from my smirking face, and I felt myself entranced by the angelic sound of his laughter. I really needed to know his situation with Arthur and if he still liked him or not. "Hey, I know this is probably a weird question, but how are things with Arthur?" I lowered my voiced as I continued. "Do you still...well you know, like him?" I almost cringed from how weird and a little 'in your business' that sounded, but I already said it and can't take it back now.

As Taylor's laughter subsided, he put a hand to his chin and held a thinking expression. "I think I still like him." Damn it. Taylor smiled and he looked at me. "I've been hanging out with him a lot more ever since the quest from the Sea of Monsters and I have to say that he's a really cool guy. He likes to listen to what I talk about, he gives me advice on my problems, he's really nice, he's really good looking and his powers are so cool."

I had to put deliberate effort into not snapping the pencil I held in my head in two as I heard all the reasons on why Arthur Wayne was apparently so cool. Apparently, I didn't bring any of these qualities to the table. I like to think I listen to Taylor's problems, I mean, did this morning not happen or something? I give advice to Taylor about his problems, or at least I think I gave Taylor advice.

Ever since the quest, I think I've been pretty nice since then, or at least a hell of a lot nicer than I used to be. I am really good looking and that's not something I think, that's something I know, I mean, have you seen me? And are my powers not cool or anything? Is lightning and wind not in the now anymore. Is flying overrated and is super strength boring or something? Taylor continued as I thought in my head. "Do you know how to make him like me, Zane? I can't just go and ask him out, that'll ruin our friendship if he says no."

I tried to not let a scowl show up on my face as I responded to Taylor. "Uh...I'm not really sure how, Taylor. I've never dated anyone in my entire life, so I think you would know as much as me in this regard, if not more so." I felt myself grow a little angry. What had I done to deserve the one I liked asking me how to make the one I hate like him? Maybe killing all those innocent people.

Yeah, that's probably it. Fuck, this entire thing did not go to plan. I honestly expected Taylor to not like Arthur anymore after the display I saw at breakfast, but apparently I was wrong. I was hoping Taylor would say he doesn't like Arthur anymore and then I would ask him out right after consequences be damned.

But I can't ask Taylor out right now as he liked Arthur and just asked me how to get Arthur to like him back. Maybe it's better I bide my time and think of ways to get Taylor to like me while I try to direct him away from Arthur a little. Now that I think about the potential consequences for asking Taylor out, he could have said that I was like a brother to him if I did, which really would have been bad.

I possibly could have ruined our friendship by jumping in without a plan and that would have really, really sucked. I was saved from having to answer anymore to Taylor, as the alarm for the ending of class went of on Annabeth's desk. Annabeth wasn't back, but she told everyone to leave if the alarm went off. I stood up front the end table and grabbed my empty notebook. "Anyway, I'll see you at lunch, Taylor. I gotta go." Taylor nodded, giving me a smile that made my heart skip a beat and made me irritated that the son of Ares didn't like me. I waltzed off to my next class, which thankfully, was combat class in the Arena.

I'll admit, for the entire class, I was a bit distracted. I was constantly thinking about Taylor and how he like Arthur and not me, and it kind of hurt my soul just a little bit if I was being honest. I mostly just went through the motions, only correcting really egregious mistakes I saw and just ran the class on autopilot.

Luckily, Nico and Percy were also teaching the class, helping me pick up the pace wherever I messed up. I really thought I was a finer catch than Arthur, but apparently not. I guess the son of Helios was just better looking, nicer and had cooler powers than me. Eventually, Nico noticed that I was a little of during the class and pulled me a little to the side.

An expression of concern was laced over the features of his face. "Are you okay, Zane? You've been acting a little of since the class started." Nico's concerned face was so cute, which kind of made me feel worse about the fact that he was also on my list of people who probably didn't like me, as he grew up in the 1930s and probably didn't approve of people like me.

I nodded, trying to pretend I was in a good mood and ready to teach everyone in the class. "I'm fine, Nico. Now, come on. We need to get back to teaching, okay?" Nico nodded and we returned back to the other campers and begun teaching them once more about combat. Nico helped with the more fluid movements and I helped campers who had problems putting power into their strikes. As I trained the other campers, my mind wondered once more.

Maybe I should ask Nico out instead, because as far as I knew he didn't like anyone. If he didn't really like other guys and rejected me because of that, no problem. I was about to casually mention it or something along the lines of it to Nico, but then I realized the problem. If Nico didn't approve of me being...well, you know, he would probably stop hanging out around me and possibly even start to hate me. That was something I knew I could not take and I wasn't even going to try and ask the son of Hades out due to it. As the end of the class was approaching, I started to zone out once more, getting bored with the entire thing.

But something that hadn't really happened yet occurred. Thalia, my half sister who had been training in the arena in Percy's group, walked up to me, her spear in her hand and determination on her face. "Uh...Thalia? Something that you need?" I asked my half-sister, confusion infused into my words.

Thalia stared at me for a few seconds, her face nearly twisting into a glare. "Fight me." I blinked in confusion, unsure of what I just heard. Why would Thalia want to fight me? We had barely interacted for the past month and a half and now she suddenly wants to fight me? I asked her to repeat herself, just to be sure. "I said I want you to fight me. Right here and right now." She pointed her spear towards me and her shield Aegis, a pale copy of the shield of my father with an image of a gorgon imprinted on front of it, in her left hand.

I didn't exactly know what to say. I haven't really fought anyone seriously since the quest, in fear of hurting everyone around me with my powers. I didn't exactly want to fight Thalia, but the look on her face and the way her spear was pointing at me told me she wouldn't take no for an answer. I felt the auras of the demigods in the arena start to surround the fighting square me and Thalia were in, including those of Percy and Nico. I saw Nico was about to head in front of Thalia's front and try and calm her down, but I held up a hand, stopping Nico in his tracks with a look of confusion on her face. I shook my head at the son of Hades, a expression to get him to back down, which he did.

I stared at Thalia for a couple of seconds, before letting out a slight sigh at her words. I didn't want to fight her, but it really seemed like that I must. "Alright, Thalia, if that's what you want..." I withdrew Keravnos from my sheathe on my back and held it by my side, not bothering to get in a fighting stance. "I'm ready when you are." Thalia took this as the exact time to strike and tried to spear me directly in the face with her spear, a charge of electricity appearing on the spearhead.

I moved my head to the side, seeing the attack coming at me in slow motion. Thalia immediately followed up with a bash from her shield, trying to take my head of with the edge of it. I dodge that as well and back-stepped away from my half-sister. She tried to attack me once again with a quick barrage of stabs and slashes from her spear but I avoided all of them by weaving through her attacks like a ballerina. I appeared in front of her, causing her to gasp in surprise and bring her Aegis up in front of her in defense. I pushed on the shield lightly, sending her flying back nearly twenty feet at the other end of the square. She looked shaken up but she almost immediately recovered from my push.

She tried to charge at me, her spear brandished out in front of her, but I stepped to the side and grabbed her spear and yanked it out of her hand. I threw her spear to the side and immediately pressed the attack. I hit her shield with Keravnos very lightly, which still caused her to buckle underneath my strength. She somersaulted away from me, landing on the ground in a crouch and she sent a small bolt of lightning at me and she dashed for her spear. I held up my hand and created a wind barrier, which caused Thalia's pathetic lightning to immediately disperse, but the lightning did it's job in distracting me so she can get her spear back.

She charged her spear with a bit of lightning before chucking it directly at my head while yelling, "Take this!" Thalia's spear soared in an arc towards my forehead, electricity brimming off of the weapon. I brought Keravnos up and batted the spear to the side, not affected by it's power in the slightest. I threw my axe lightly at my half sister, who brought her shield up in defense. Thalia was forced back several feet as my axe smashed into her shield, denting the thing right where the gorgon image was. Thalia was unperturbed and charged me again.

When she reached me, she tried to punch me and the face, which I dodged with ease. She began to fight me like Captain America, using her shield and her limbs as one weapon to try and defeat me. I easily blocked and parried her attacks, not counterattacking at all. Thalia was significantly stronger than Percy was before we went on the quest for the Master Bolt, but she was absolutely nothing to me or me right now. She could get stronger with training, and she was already very skilled at combat, but she didn't have the level of power I had, and likely never would.

She suddenly picked her spear up off the ground and tried to impale me on it. I realized we had moved close to the spear and I stopped the spear by grabbing the shaft. Thalia tried to pull her spear front my grip, but my hand didn't budge. I put pressure down on the wooden shaft and the spear shattered into splinters, the Celestial Bronze spearhead clanging on the ground in front of me. Thalia's eyes widened and I threw up my hand, creating a blast of wind in order to throw her back. I held back on the wind, so it didn't blow the arena and everyone in it to pieces, but it did it's job and knocked Thalia a dozen feet back or so.

"W-What the hell was that!?" Thalia shouted as she landed on the ground. I didn't bother to answer my half-sister and summoned my axe, Keravnos, to me with the wind. I slammed Keravnos down on the shield, bending the thing in two. I saw a flash of me decapitating Ares with the Master Bolt one year ago, the golden blood of the god going everywhere after I did. The vision vanished and I returned to reality to see myself standing over Thalia with my axe over my head. Thalia's shield was completely destroyed and laid in pieces at her side.

As I lowered my axe, Thalia brought her broken spear handle up towards my face and she tried to slam it into my nose. I jumped back from her attack and I sheathed my axe back onto my back. Thalia shakily stood and summoned lighting in her left hand. She threw her broken spear handle on the ground and summoned even more lightning into her right hand as well.

"I will defeat you!" She shouted as the lightning in her hands grew brighter and more intense. The wind picked up around her, a use of unconscious wind manipulation, and the sky became cloudy and overcast. She threw out both of her hands and the lightning connected, shooting at me in a single charged powerful burst of lightning. The lightning approached me, crackling and bursting with energy as it approached. I sighed and created a barrier of wind.

The lightning collided against my barrier, not making any progress on getting through in the slightest. I heard Thalia roar and the lightning became more powerful, but the outcome against my barrier didn't change. I closed my hand and the wind barrier exploded outwards, dispersing Thalia's lightning instantly and knocking my half-sister to the ground. The fighting square's ground was cracked and the crowd of campers were standing almost thirty feet away from the square, watching the fight in awe.

I sighed and walked over to my half-sister, who was on her knees looking at the ground, her shoulders slumped. I held out my hand, which caused her to look up at me. I saw small tears falling down her cheeks and her face twisted in anger as she saw my offer to help her up. "Fuck off!" She smacked my hand away and stormed out of the fighting square and then the arena in anger.

I looked off in the direction she stormed off in anger with confusion, and I turned back to both Nico and Percy. Both of the boys shrugged and I returned the gesture. Women, I guess. I turned back to the crowd of campers. "Okay everyone, back to training. This didn't happen, okay?" Every nodded at me with no question, fear in some of their eyes. I sighed quietly, tired of people being scared of me and worked with Percy and Nico in training the class.

The rest of the class passed relatively quickly and we went our separate ways to our next one. Unfortunately, my next period was the form of ancient and archaic torture known as math. Once again, Annabeth led this class and put me through the ringer when it came to learning, or forcefully shoving knowledge into my brain. As she did so, she noticed I was a little bothered than normal. She asked me what was wrong, and because I didn't want to tell her about my lack of love-life when it came to Taylor, I told the daughter of Athena what had happened in the arena with Thalia.

I described how she wanted to fight me, how I obliterated her and how she had run away in anger after she lost. "Why did she do that exactly? I offered to help her up afterwards and she threw it in my face. Why was she so mad after just one loss?" I was confused and I was hoping that Annabeth would be able to help me with this problem. Annabeth, however, just looked at me in exasperation and like I was an idiot, which just made me more confused. "What?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at my confused response and began to explain. "Zane, Thalia is mad because she's not as strong as you are." My face scrunched up in confusion and she rolled her eyes again. I heard her mutter something like 'boys' and I listened to what she had to say next. "Zane, you have to understand that Thalia was used to being the only child of Zeus. Back when we were traveling the country with Grover and...Luke," Annabeth hesitated in saying the traitor's name, as if it would provoke me to anger.

I'll admit, Luke made me really angry, but I would never bring out that anger on my friends. "Thalia was probably the strongest of our group. She was brave, powerful and had the best fighting ability. She sacrificed her life to save the rest of us and Zeus turned her into an instrument to protect everyone after her death. But now she's back, and she finds another child of Zeus whose not only far more powerful, but also has earned a lot more glory, has more fear and respect and has even met Zeus before."

Annabeth looked like she remembered something and she looked a little sheepish. "Oh, I forgot to tell you I told her about how you talked to your father during the quest for the Master Bolt." I rolled my eyes, but didn't express any anger. Thalia didn't talk to me, so if she went to everyone else to learn about me, I couldn't really be mad at everyone for telling her about me.

"She's jealous, Zane. She wanted to fight you in order to prove that she isn't useless or weak or a second rate child of Zeus. But you beating her that effortlessly just ingrained into her brain that she's all those things and more, so of course she's going to lash out when you try to help her afterwards." The more I thought about Annabeth's words, the more they made sense.

I nodded at Annabeth's words. "Thank for explaining all that to me, Annabeth. I'll talk to her sometime after the Bonfire tonight. Now, this one question right here..." The rest of the class went by rather quickly thanks to Annabeth's help, which was very appreciated as I sucked ass at math hard. In fact, the rest of the day went relatively quickly.

The rest of the classes were nothing really to speak about, although an event at Lunch really grinded my gears. I had been late to lunch as it took me a little longer to do the math in the class as I was awful at it, so the seats around Taylor had both been filled up by Grover and...Arthur. I was forced to sit down beside both Annabeth and Percy, which put me a little closer to Thalia than I was ready to be, so I felt awkward the entire time. Not only awkward, but I also felt anger, as Arthur had Taylor's attention the entire meal and I wasn't able to speak to the son of Ares even once the entire time.

I had to restrain myself from breaking the table I was gripping tightly and more than once did I accidentally create an overcast sky. Once the meal was finished, I pushed down my anger and left as quickly as possible as to not draw attention to the fact I was really mad. The rest of the day passed in a flash, as all the other classes were easy and the only chores I had to do today were to literally just keep the sky clear, which I had failed I'll admit. Dinner was about the same, as I had lost track of time while inside my own mind. I wasn't able to get a seat by Taylor and I couldn't interact with him the entire time.

At the Bonfire, I didn't even try, as Arthur led the son of Ares off somewhere and I didn't see them the rest of the bonfire. I simply huddled up around the fire with Nico in a blanket, as this particular night was a little chilly. I listened to the songs of the Apollo cabin as I nuzzled my head into Nico's shoulder by the fire, trying to drown my anger in my mind and bottle up my emotions. At some point before the songs died down, I remembered I needed to talk to my half-sister and found her at the edge of the forest away from the bonfire out of the corner of my eye.

I, reluctantly, got up off of Nico. "I have something I need to do, Nico. I'll be back." Nico, tired from the day of classes and duties, yawned and nodded at my words. I stood up from the covers that me and Nico were cuddling up in and walked over to my half-sister, who's attention was on the forest.

I didn't bother announcing my arrival to Thalia and simply stood beside her on the grass. We didn't say anything as we stared out at the forest and trees. Thalia eventually broke the silence. "You know, sometimes I think I would have been better off if I never came back to life from that tree." I looked at my half-sister in shook, surprised she would say such a thing.

Thalia's shoulders slumped and she continued. "I'm supposed to be this 'Child of The Prophecy' and all," Percy had told both me and her about the prophecy that the gods were keeping secret from him, as they believed he was the one the prophecy spoke of. When Percy turned sixteen, he would have the power to either destroy or save Olympus. But apparently, now that duty passes on to Thalia, as she was now the eldest child of the Big Three.

"But as it stands I'm the one who is least qualified for the job." Thalia looked at me, he cheeks stained with tears and her eyes were puffy. "You or Percy would be better for this. I mean, the camp told me you two have killed Titans and gods. You completely destroyed me in the arena earlier today and I could tell you weren't even trying. The other campers have told me you have some sort of super form you have up your sleeve that makes you a million times stronger, too!" Thalia's voice rose but then quickly quieted down. "You and Percy are the real ones for the job and I'm here standing in your way. I'm useless." Thalia's voice became quiet as she spoke her last sentence.

I stood in silence for a few seconds before sighing at Thalia's words. "Thalia, you're a fucking idiot." Thalia's downcast expression twisted into one of confusion and I elaborated. "You're not useless. You're far from useless. That burst of lightning you summoned earlier in the arena would have easily obliterated almost any monster you could use it against. Not only are you powerful, you're also incredibly skilled at fighting as well. More skilled than me at least, as I rely mostly on my strength and speed when I fight. You're definitely one of the most powerful demigods I've ever met, and trust me, I've met my fair share of strong demigods."

I put my hand on her shoulder and a couple of fingers around the bridge of my nose. "And strength is not something to put pride into Thalia. I know that for sure. Strength should be something used to protect the people around you and make sure no harm comes to them, not for something like pride. Not saying that's why you want to be strong, but if you're not careful, it can become like that very easily." I paused, trying to find a way to get these next words out. "I-I...I'm a murderer, Thalia."

I was silent, as was my half-sister, but I saw the slight surprise that made her way up onto her face. "I've killed more innocent people than I can count simply because I believed my strength put me on a higher level of value than them. I put my friends constantly in danger because of my arrogance. I've nearly gotten them killed with my own power more than once. I've needlessly and cruelly killed more people who didn't really deserve what they got, no matter how bad they were."

I fell silent for a few seconds before continuing. "What I'm saying is that power corrupts, Thalia. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. I'm not saying it's not possible to return from that path, as that's what I'm doing, but it's better to never go down that road at all."

I turned away from my half sister and began to walk back to the bonfire to take my place back at Nico's side, only for Thalia to call out. "Wait!" Thalia's voice made me stop in my tracks and turn my to her. Thalia seemed to struggle to get the words out, her pride trying to hold her back. But she forced her pride down and continued to speak. "I understand what you're saying, Zane. That I shouldn't crave power for selfish reasons, but the reason I want to get stronger is to protect everyone here."

Thalia paused, trying to find the right words to say next. "I already died sacrificing myself for my friends and in turn, everyone here. I'm ready to do so again but without the proper power to do so my next sacrifice will be worthless. Can you teach me?" My eyebrows rose at Thalia's words. What? Teach her in what exactly? "Can you teach me how to use my powers better?" Oh, teach her how to do that.

"You showed me that you could control the wind back in the arena when I tried to fight you, which is something I can't do. The campers also told me stories how your lightning was able to vaporize a storm of Stymphalian Birds like it was nothing. My lightning comes nowhere close to that. They also say you can fly, too. C-Can you teach me how to do all that?" I honestly didn't even have to think about my answer. My half-sister, who didn't really speak to me because of our awkward relationship, is now basically begging me to train her in the arts of being really, really fucking strong so she can be better prepared to sacrifice herself for the good of all Olympus in the future.

By the reasoning alone, I couldn't refuse her in the slightest. Not only would it be helpful for us in the war that was no doubt coming for Thalia to be incredibly powerful, but it would also be good for me to curb any arrogance that might arise with growing power so she didn't end up like me.

I nodded my head nonchalantly, a small smile on my face from her impassioned plea. "Sure." Thalia looked surprised at my answer, causing me to smile even wider. "I'll teach you how to use your powers better." A very similar situation where Luke had a similar response to a very similar plea I made to him flashed through my mind. I tried to not let the slight flash of anger come on my face as I remembered how Luke nearly killed me a month and a half ago.

Thalia still looked confused, and she asked me if I would do so that easily. "Of course. I don't have any real reason not to, and after that speech, I definitely can't say no. I'll train you." Thalia still looked a little perplexed before she nodded at my answer. I wasn't done, however. "Do you want to start right now?" Thalia looked confused again, and I continued. "I know it's late, but it's probably best to get started right away. Want to get the basics down right now?"

Thalia nodded at my question and I led here away from the bonfire and into the forest a bit more. "It's best to do this out of site from the other campers, as things will probably get a little destructive." I led Thalia to a small clearing in the forest, as to not destroy any trees. That would piss the satyrs and the nymphs off. "Alright, to begin, I want you to hit me with everything you can put into a lightning bolt." Thalia was a bit hesitant, but I told her to do so anyway.

Thalia put up a hand, charged a bolt of lightning a bit into it, and shot me in the chest. I didn't blink when the lightning hit me and didn't move an inch. Thalia was a little bummed when the lightning didn't do anything, but I waved her disappointment off. "Don't worry, Thalia. As children of Zeus, we're both immune to lightning, no matter the strength."

With my words, I held my hand up and shot a bolt of lightning at her significantly more powerful than the one she shot. She brought her hands up to block it in reflex, but looked down in wonder when she realized the lightning sparking across her body did nothing to harm her. "I think I see the problem when you use your lightning, Thalia. Why it's not strong enough. Come here." Thalia walked up to me by my side and I held my hand out. "Let me see your arm."

Thalia lifted up her arm and I held it in my hand and walked behind her. "I've noticed whenever you use your lightning, your aura is almost...conflicted. As if you don't want to use your powers in the first place. Is it because you hate our father?" Thalia's silence was all I needed for an answer. "Well, if you want your lightning to be worth something when you use it, you need to put your feelings for our father aside and be in tune with your aura. Now try it. Summon the power deep from within yourself, command it to your will and be in peace with it. If your will is weak, the lightning itself will be weak as well."

Thalia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The lightning charged in her hand, becoming nearly as powerful as when she used it in a rage against me in the arena earlier. I felt the conflict within her aura subside and she released the lightning into the sky. The lightning shot out in one powerful beam and cracked the ground as it exited her hand. The lightning exploded like a firework in the sky, the lightning sparking in every direction.

Thalia's face lit up as she saw her handiwork and I gave he ran approving nod. "Good job. Over the next few months or so we'll practice with your lightning to make it easier to control and more powerful. Now, I'll teach you a couple of more things before we head back to the bonfire before curfew starts, okay?" Thalia nodded at my words and I walked out in front of her.

"Right now, I'm going to teach you how to control the wind. I'll demonstrate." I held up my head and warped the air around me, creating a small bubble around my hand. "See? You have to commanded the wind and air that is around you to your will. You have to command it and make it bend." I turned around and send the bubble of wind into a nearby boulder, shattering it to pieces with the force of my power. "Now you try. You likely won't get it right the first try, as it took me a little bit to get the hang of using the wind consciously."

Thalia held up her own hand and tried to do the same thing I did. Her hand swirled in a circular motion and tried to copy my actions, but to no avail. She stood there for a few moments, before her brow furrowed in frustration. I decided to help her before she got too angry with herself. "Thalia, the ability to control the wind doesn't come from within yourself. It comes from the outside. You control the wind, not create it." My words were the catalyst that Thalia needed, as I saw the wind to warp around her hand.

The process was slow, but the wind eventually formed around her hand in a bubble like it did with me a few minutes ago. "Good! Now, take hold of the wind and send it into those rocks over there." Thalia's brow dripped with a little bit of sweat, but she turned over towards the rocks and released the wind in an almost Force-push like movement. The wind burst from her hand and smashed into the rocks, sending them flying into the air.

Thalia breathed a sigh of relief and I congratulated her. "Good job. Now lets keep working on it. Your control over the wind isn't good enough for what we're about to do next, so we need to grind." Over the next few minutes, I had Thalia repeat the exact same action she had before several times until she could do so with ease. Eventually, after a few minutes, Thalia could control the wind on command and shoot a wind blast out.

"Alright, now that you've gotten the hang of wind manipulation a little, we're going to do something a little more advanced. Watch." I commanded the wind to lift me from the ground and I floated a few feet above Thalia. "Flying. It's not very hard to summon the wind but the difficult part is keeping your concentration whenever you do use it. Try it. Summon the wind underneath your feet and try to let it lift you off the ground." Thalia went silent at my words, not obeying my instructions.

My brow furrowed as I noticed she was looking at the ground. "Something wrong, Thalia?" Thalia took a little persuading to tell me what was wrong, but she eventually told me she was afraid of heights. Huh? Afraid of heights as a daughter of Zeus? That was a little weird if I was not going to lie. The version of me from a couple of months ago would have laughed and possibly ridiculed Thalia, but I was going to make an attempt to be understanding.

Thalia told me it probably had to do something with the fact that she spent six years underneath the ground as a tree, but she wasn't exactly sure why she was afraid. "Well, Thalia, part of this training is overcoming your fears, so let's get to it. Try to summon the wind underneath your feet." Thalia nodded, obviously hesitant.

The wind warped a little underneath her feet and she lifted of the ground a little. I could already see the panic in her face start to arise as she got a few feet of the ground, so I quickly flew up behind her. "Don't worry, I'm here if something happens. I won't let you fall or anything." Thalia calmed down visibly after that and she started to float a little higher. She was a little shaky in the air, like a kid learning how to ride a bike for the first time, but she was getting the hang of it. I noticed we were now above the trees. "Okay, I'm going to let you fly by yourself without me here. Are you going to be alright?"

Thalia nodded a bit after my question and I floated away from her, still in range to catch her if anything went wrong. "Alright, follow me." I flew off a bit up towards the sky, making sure I kept my eyes on Thalia as I did so. Thalia did really well all things considered, as she followed me up into the sky, doing a little dumb Superman pose while she flew. I thought it was kind of funny, as I used to do the same thing when I flew. We broke through the clouds, being lit up by the moon light in the sky.

We floated over the clouds a little bit, taking in the beauty of the sky. "We often are so caught up in our own personal things, we forget to noticed how beautiful the world actually is." I saw the wonder light up in Thalia's eyes as she saw the shining light of New York City off in the distance. I smiled at that, it's almost like Thalia is a little kid in some ways. "Come on, let's go back down." I started to float down when I noticed Thalia wasn't moving. "Thalia?" Thalia was looking directly down at the ground, a ghastly expression on her face. Her form was shaking in the sky and I saw the wind underneath her start to buckle.

"Z-Zane...help..." Before I could go back up and reach Thalia, the wind underneath her vanished and she plummeted to the ground below, screaming in terror the entire way. Oh shit. I raced after her towards the ground, the wind behind me creating a sonic boom. She was falling fast, really fast. It was almost as if she was pushing herself to the ground faster with the wind on accident or something.

Just before we entered the tree line of the forest, I managed to get under my half-sister to catch her. Thalia was breathing heavy as I held her in my arms bridal style. "Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit." Thalia repeated breathlessly. I landed on the ground and set her on the ground. Her legs were still shaking as she stood. As she recovered, she pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

A confused expression made it's way onto my face. What was with that reaction? Thalia eventually calmed down and looked at me. "Holy shit, that was intense. Thanks for catching me there, Zane. I don't know what would have happened if I had tried that alone or something." If you were anything as tough as me last year, Thalia, you probably would have created a massive crater on impact, both otherwise would have been fine.

I asked my half-sister what had happened up there, which caused her to go silent for a few seconds. "I...just saw the ground and realized how high I was and I guess fear just took over. I-I wanna try again." Thalia was trying to be confident when it came to flying, although I knew she was still afraid.

I shook my head at her request. "No, you're not ready for any more flying at the moment. Tomorrow, we'll go over some low flying to help you get used to the whole experience, okay?" Thalia obviously did not like being told what to do, but she held her tongue and listened to me. "Alright, well, it's late and I'm going to head off to sleep. If you want to continue training out here by yourself, only train with the lightning and wind blasts, you hear me? No flying."

Thalia nodded at my command and she turned around back towards the clearing and summoned a handful of lightning in her left palm. "I'll leave the cabin unlocked for you. See ya." I walked through the forest, leaving Thalia to train in the night alone. I was sure she could easily handle any harpies that tried to eat her once curfew was enforced, so I wasn't worried about her in the slightest. I walked through the forest, feeling better than when I left the bonfire earlier, my mind a peace. This peace was not to last, however, as I heard mutterings and whispers from a few dozen feet away brush against my ears.

Perplexed, I walked over to the source of the whispering and saw something I really wish I didn't see. It was Arthur Wayne, the smug prick, close to the front of a tree, pressing up against someone. I stepped a little closer, trying to see who the person was. I wanted to get a little bit of blackmail on this asshole by seeing who he was obviously making out with. When I saw who it was, my blood ran cold. It was the son of Ares and the person I liked, Taylor. He and Arthur were both kissing, with Taylor pressed up against the tree.

I felt my heart break into a million pieces at the sight and the desire to turn Arthur into a pile of ash increase a millionfold. I held back my anger, as my heartache was much more painful. I slowly walked away from the scene, careful to not make any noise whatsoever. If Arthur or Taylor saw me, I would slice my own head off with Keravnos. I slowly walked away from the tree, the scene imprinted in my mind and replaying over and over and over again.

Once I was about a couple of hundred feet away, I gently floated off the ground and raised myself to where the tree line begins. Once I brushed the top lines of the trees, I took off at immense speed at the sky, creating a shockwave that shook the forest below me. I didn't care who my massive take off would alert as I tried to not let the heavy feeling in my eyes burst out. I quickly approached the Thermosphere in only a couple of seconds, seeing the earth get smaller and smaller below me by the second.

I felt the heat of the sun slam into my body as I exited the atmosphere of the planet, the heat and radiation doing nothing to me as I slammed through the energy as if it was shower water. I transformed into my Thunder Form once I left the atmosphere of the Earth, safely letting out a massive surge of energy that probably would have leveled all of Long Island had I transformed on the planet.

I took off towards space, now going far faster as I was in my Thunder Form. I saw celestial bodies such as comets, asteroids and meteoroids pass me as I flew further and further out into the solar system, looking for something to take my anger out on. The images of both Arthur and Taylor kissing filled my mind, further causing a burst of rage in the form of lightning to surge outwards. I roared, the lightning all around my form intensifying a million fold.

I released a massive burst of power in every direction, anger and hatred filling my mind as I did so. I wasn't even sure how long I had unleashed my strength for, but I knew it had to have been for several minutes. Eventually, my anger subsided slightly, as did the lightning. Once the flashes of blue stopped obscuring my vision. I wasn't sure how much I had destroyed, as there had been several meteors and asteroids around me, but I could feel some kind of...emptiness all around me.

I didn't exactly feel any better, but I knew destroying more would piss off the gods or something maybe, so I turned back around and flew in the direction I came, passing through the rest of the asteroid belt and returning back to the planet I came from. I noticed that space was a lot more empty than people probably realized, but at the moment I could not care any less.

I followed the auras of the gods, which I could feel even all the way out here back and the Earth came back into view. I dropped my Thunder Form as I entered the Thermosphere once more, the heat and radiation of space starting to leave my body and I looked down on the planet to try and find Long Island. I spotted the small jut of land out the coast of the Eastern United States and followed the auras of my fellow campers. I landed back into the forest, conveniently beside Thalia as she was training.

Thalia saw the downtrodden look on my face, and she probably definitely felt the shockwave my takeoff has created. "Zane, I saw you take off up into the sky. You created a massive shockwave when you left. What happened? Are you alright?" It warmed my heart a little when the expression of concern came up upon Thalia's face.

I nodded trying to hide the heartbreak that I still clearing felt inside my chest. "I'm good, Thalia. Thanks for asking. If anyone asks what that was, tell them it was an accident in training or something, okay?" Thalia looked a little weirded out by my answer and the concern didn't leave her face, but she nodded and continued training, the lightning bolts she shot much weaker than the one I just used to destroy Saturn.

I walked back down the same path back to camp, dreading seeing both Taylor and Arthur in the same spot. Luckily for me, the two of them were gone, no longer kissing up against the tree. I spotted small drawling on the tree, something that prompted me to go over and take a long at it. When I arrived at the tree, I was able to see the drawling was some kind of heart, with the letters 'A T' written in the heart. I felt my anger start to return seeing the cliche, stupid drawling and I slammed my hand into the tree where the heart was imprinted into. The tree split in two and fell to the ground unceremoniously.

Shit. Not only are Taylor and Arthur going to know I've been here, but now the nymphs are going to get pissed at me. I could try and pretend I wasn't here, but without a doubt the entire camp heard that I created some massive blast in the forest. The only ones who could do that in the entire camp are me and Percy and Percy was at the bonfire right now.

I felt water sting my eyes and start to threaten to roll down my cheeks, but I shook them away, feeling even worse than before I unleashed my power. Not as angry, but the heartbreak was a hell of a lot more prominent without the rage. I walked away from the tree, intent on returning to my cabin and locking myself in there for the next few days and talking to nobody. I felt tears roll down my cheek and I gripped my fist tightly, creating a shockwave via sheer strength. I walked back in the direction of camp, my shoulders slumped and my heart heavy.

(000)

There we go, chapter fifteen. Sorry this one was a little late compared to the rest of them. I've had a real shitty week and I wasn't feeling it throughout half the week. Also, sorry it's a little shorter than normal, since there was a lot less we had to get through this time. Anyway, onwards the answering the rest of Shadowhunter2077's questions.

To Shadowhunter2077: So about Bianca, she won't die. She won't go on the quest for free Artemis as she isn't strong enough to go in the first place. She'll still be joining the Hunt thought and this will be a pivotal point in the emo Nico phase, plus puberty. As of right now, I won't bring in other pantheons just yet, as that would kind of complicate the story too much and I really just want to write Titan's Curse as it mostly is, just with some Zane sprinkle. The other pantheon stuff will have to be after, where I'll be able to explore it with less restrictions. Do people really think Hestia could overpower Zeus anytime she wanted to? Are those people on crack or are they VFSNAKE level of writing bad? The Roman Gods are different from the Greeks, despite being very similar. They are basically two sides of the same coin, very similar yet very different in ways, such as Mars being much stronger and having a different personality. I don't know too much about those Arthur suggestions, as his role in the story is basically competition for Zane when it comes to Taylor, but we'll see where the story goes. Reality Warping would be a cool power, but it will have to be much later down the line, as Zane is already very ridiculously broken. I'll just PM you the Zeus VsBattles profile I'll make, as it will just unnecessarily bloat this chapter.

Anyway, to everyone else, I'll see you guys for the next chapter, which will be the start of Titan's Curse. I promise I won't be late next time. I'll have the next chapter done by next Friday, or I'll shoot my own foot. Later guys.

EDIT (1/31/22): Okay, Zane no longer destroys Saturn. Looking back, dumbass fucking idea. He just blows a chunk into the Asteroid belt instead.