Zane Williams and The Gods of Olympus

by thesuperone342

Ever felt like Jason Grace is a complete disappointment and a failure to what a son of Zeus should be? Ever feel like Thalia was a waste and was thrown away too quickly? Well, this is the fanfiction for you. Join Zane Williams on his quest to be the strongest. Current Arc: The Last Olympian. Yaoi. (Anime Elements/AU) [Bad First Chapter, Needs Rewrite]

31. I Face My Inner Demons

Alright boys, chapter twenty nine is here! We're approach chapter thirty of this story, which is fucking insane to me. Honestly never though I would get this far in writing this but here we are and still going strong. I hope to write around one hundred chapters for this story, so that means we'll probably be sitting at over 1.5 million words by the time we are done. If I can have a story with over a million words under my belt, I'll be satisfied with life lol. Anyway, let's get into some reviews

Echoxenvy: "Great chapter. I loved the beginning with Arthur and Zane, and giving some insight on Arthur's backstory really adds new depth to his character and it's great, now that we know...man, see he's had it rough. Honestly really sad, and It kind of annoyed me that Zane and Nico were dismissive about it and didn't really care. Nico more so than Zane, but I guess him being young makes sense. And Zane did try to help, so I can't be too hard on him.

Taylor taking responsibility for it was amazing though, honestly him feeling guilty and saying he deserves to be hated for that is very reasonable and true. It was a horrible thing to do and I'm glad he recognizes that even if Zane and the others don't. I feel like Annabeth and maybe Percy are the closest things to a friend that Arthur has right now, but soon hopefully the rest will come around. I liked the moment where Zane almost laughed at what Arthur said, because it proves they can get along. All in all, the Arthur thing was well done, and I can't wait to see how it further develops.

As for the Labyrinth, it was great. You really put it from book to fic, and I love that. The way it was described was perfect, and it gives a eerie and myserious vibe that Zane hasn't felt before, and the fact that he can't feel auras there literally makes it more creepy. Meeting Janus was great, and the whole choice thing was interesting to say the least. I'm actually surprised that you kept that in, since Annabeth's choice involves Luke. Whether or not to keep believing he can be saved, or to fully fight against him and give up on saving him. It seems she's done that already, or maybe not? Not sure, but it will be cool to find out. And as for Zane's choice...what the hell is that all about? Lol I honestly have no clue what that means. But I suppose I'll find out sooner or later.

Meeting Hera was dope bro, loved her mask falling and her true colors showing (And the mention of my boy Matt made me smile big time.) Hera is a bitch in canon, plain and simple, so it's nice to see that some things never change. Zane not being afraid of her in the slightest and putting her in her place was absolutely satisfying. I love when that happens, whether it be the old satyrs or anybody unlikeable. Anyway, interested to see what's chasing them, since I doubt it would be Prometheus again this quickly, and I can't remember what it actually was in canon. Pretty sure they just make a run for it. Oh well, seriously hyped for the next chapter bro, because I know what's coming. Kampe's prison and the ranch, two of my favorite parts of the book. Do it justice my friend, do it justice."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. So yes, Arthur backstory revealed and will be explored later do in the line more detail. And yeah, Nico and Zane were a little dismissive of what he went through, that's on me for writing them to be a little less sensitive than they should tbh. And you'll see a good bit of Taylor taking responsibility down the line in this chapter, I hope I did it well. So yeah, Arthur's whole side was fun to write, can't wait to write more down the line. And I'm glad you liked the Labyrinth, I mostly have just taken stuff from the book and added a flair of Zane's POV to it. And what Annabeth's choice is, as well as Zane's, you'll see down the line, maybe sooner than you think. And I'm glad you liked Hera, as I was hyped to write her with a son of Zeus in the mix. Zane definitely wouldn't take Hera's shit here. Anyway bro, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope it's not ass like I think it is.

FabulousOutlaw58: "Nice chapter, really nice. Very cool to hear Arthur's backstory, and the fact that it's tragic isn't surprising. Hearing what he went through makes me really want Taylor to apologize and everyone try to be friends with him. He deserves to have a friend group and I hope that eventually happens at the end of the arc, as it seems that is where it's going. I love it. As for the labyrinth, it was awesome. I liked the way you described it, just like the book, and of course the Janus scene has me thinking. I think I remember Annabeth's but I have no clue what Zane's could be. Maybe something to do with Kronos? I guess we'll find out. Also Zane threatening Hera was awesome, hope we see more of that in this story. Can't wait for the next chapters, as things are really picking up and some of the best parts of PJO are in this book. Lastly, I like how you focused more on Annabeth in the second half of the chapter. It was really cool to put some attention on her, and I hope there's more of that. She's like the second MC after Percy, so she's important. Including the Sphinx scene would be a great demonstration of her intelligence.

Also sorry about whatever you went through a couple of weeks ago. Hope you are okay. This chapter came out a lot sooner, so that's great, and I hope that means you are in a better place emotionally."

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. Yes, Arthur backstory and it being tragic isn't surprising, as we can't have main characters with good situations now can we? And you'll see more of the Arthur development down the line, and trust me, it won't be a simple quick fix. As for Zane's choice, you'll see later down the line and like I told Echoxenvy, it'll be a bit sooner than you think it will be. Honestly hyperdrive to write that part. Zane will also threaten Hera a lot, as she is quite the bitch and deserves it. And yes, Annabeth gets her due development, as she does in the books. And don't worry about me, I'm a lot better now man. Thanks for asking, though. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.

SaUvE ViPeR: "Nice chapter. More of a development chapter, but that's okay. It was great actually, and needed. I love the focus on the Arthur drama, and of course his backstory was dope. I also really liked Annabeth in this chapter as well, just like in the book you gave some focus on her. Meeting Janus and Hera was cool, I like that you kept in the whole choice thing, but it seems that Annabeth is over Luke here, so will her choice change? And what is Zane's? Very interested to see where that leads. Of course Zane telling Hera off was awesome, hope to see more of that when she does her usual annoying things like in canon. All in all, cool chapter, can't wait for the next."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. Yes, this was more development, as we needed to get things along the way. I feel like this chapter is a bit more run of the mill, so we can keep trucking along, but I tried my best with it. Arthur's focus was really fun to write, and I'm glad he'll be used more down the line. I'm not sure if Annabeth's choice will be whether to save Luke or not, as she doesn't have a crush on him anymore, I'll have to keep reading and get back to you on that. And Zane's choice will be interesting, something you probably won't be expecting. And Zane will be on Hera's ass whenever she shows up, since she's a massive bitch. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, bro.

Merrik69: "Great chapter. Loved the focus on Arthur's backstory and finding out how much he loved Taylor. He has reason to dislike Zane and Taylor, so it makes perfect sense and I'm glad it was cleared up and developed. The labyrinth part was cool too, the descriptions were great, it felt like I was reading the actual book again. Meeting Janus and Hera was a dope scene, and I loved when Zane told Hera off, it was badass and she deserved it. Can't wait for the next chapter, as things really start to pick up here."

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. Yes, Arthur loved Taylor a lot, more than you think he does even now. His reasonings are given a bit more depth in this chapter, so I hope you like it. And I'm glad I was able to portray the Labyrinth so well, as describing the weird architecture and layout is cool for me. Hera getting told off was awesome to write, as that's what I wanted Percy to do in canon. Fuck Hera, she a bitch lol. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, and sorry if it's a bit wack.

Shadowhunter2077: "Well I can understand as to why Arthur is pissed about the whole Taylor situition, but he is being very childish about it.

Also I think Hera should be a very powerful goddess, in the myths she easily defeated Artemis and was stated to have fought in the Titanomachy, so I think she should be as powerful as Sea of Monsters Zane.

And for last I have a suggestion of power to Annabeth, Taylor and Arthur, for Annabeth and Taylor the Armiger Unleashed ability of Final Fantasy XV as their "super" form but instand of summoning the weapons from the game they could summon weapon from Ancient Greece just a lot more powerful if you're curious search the Armiger from Final Fantasy XV I think you wil find interesting, and for individual abilities you could give Annabeth a battle precognition similar to the one Grayson had and the ability to summon weapons it would make her very versatile in a fight, and for Taylor you could give a red flame related to destruction like it don't have warm and it's only capable of destroying things.

For Arthur you could give him the ability to use solar fire since while both Apollo and Helios were seen as the sun's gods Helios was seen as the Sun, so this should be a power that Apollo could not messed with since it is Arthur very DNA that allow him to use it, and you could give him a super form that he could store enough solar "energy" to enter or he could wait to Mid-Day when Helios is using the Solar Chariot, kind of like Escanor."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. Yes, Arthur has good reasoning, but I'll admit he's being a bit of a kid about it. You'll see more development on that part. And Hera is a very powerful goddess, definitely at least close to Sea of Monsters Zane, but current Zane is absolutely way above her at the moment. By at least thirty times. He could absolutely destroy her with his picky finger. Anyway, for Taylor and Annabeth's suggestions, I'm not too sure about them tbh. Taylor might get some kind of red aura like Ares thing that he did in chapter seven, just not as strong. And I have an idea for Annabeth, this kind of power that Athena gives her to help her in a fight. It would be kind of like Grayson's but quite a bit different. I hope you like it whenever it pops up. And for Arthur, are you talking about Solar Flare from Dragon Ball, or Superman's Solar Bomb power? If it's for Dragon Ball, then sure, that sounds awesome, but not Superman's power. And having an Escanor like form seems king of cool, maybe I can do something with that in the Last Olympian. Thanks for the suggestions, bro. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter.

ReaperKurosaki: "Hey great chapter. Loved the Arthur development and backstory, I think it would be best if everyone puts it behind them, Taylor apologizes, and they clean the slate. This drama isn't going to be good for the group at all, so it needs to be resolved. It's fun to read though. Zane putting Hera in her place was really cool, and I liked the Annabeth thing too, but what is her choice? And what is Zane's? I forgot her choice in canon and I think Zane's is completely new, unless it has something to do with the titans. Can't wait to find out!"

Response: Thanks for the review, my man. I'm glad you liked Arthur's development, it was very fun to write. And while it would be cool for everyone to apologize and put it behind them, real life isn't that simple unfortunately. It's going to be a little slower than that. And for Zane and Annabeth's choice, you'll definitely see what happens there. I have a couple of things planned. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry if it's wack.

MR.EXCLUSIV3:"Hope by the end Arthur becomes friends with everyone. Dude deserves better than he's got that's for sure. Cool backstory with him it's nice to have more information on the characters. The drama was good, and the labyrinth was good as well. It gave canon vibes how the eeriness was described and how it felt. Janus and Hera scene was cool, and you kept a lot of the stuff from the book. Interested to see what Zane's choice will be, and if we'll even know it when it happens. Also Zane and Nico making out in public is definitely a sign they are maturing and entering lemon territory. Does that mean there will be one soon?"

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. Arthur being friends with everyone is really cool, and honestly my endgame for his character arc in this one, but we have a little ways to go there. I'm glad you liked the drama and the Labyrinth, was glad I could portray it well enough. So for Zane's choice, you'll see what it is and it will be relatively soon. Hopefully you like it. As for Nico and Zane maturing, yeah, they definitely are if they are so brazen as to make out in public. As for a lemon between them specifically, not yet. While Zane is fifteen and definitely looks like an adult now, Nico is only thirteen or fourteen technically right now, and definitely doesn't look old enough yet. So not between them, but maybe some other people in the future. You'll see.

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

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

(000)

After we hit the dead end at the end of the left corridor, which was in the form of a massive boulder, we did our best not to panic. Well, as best as we could while someone that could be Prometheus was currently chasing after us or at least was closing in on our direction with immense speed.

Everyone looked around at each other, wondering what the hell we were supposed to do. Arthur looked rather panicked, more so than everyone else. "It's definitely getting closer! I can feel the light particles being moved around even more! Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it right now!"

Arthur drew one of his celestial bronze javelins off of his back and held his buckler shield in in other hand, slipping into a fighting stance as he did so. Everyone else also drew their weapons and dropped into a stance, ready for whatever was about to reach us.

I thought about drawing Thymos and joining my friends in their fighting stances, however, whatever was chasing us could be Prometheus.

While I was ready for a rematch after nearly being killed by him yesterday, I knew that fighting alongside my allies with only two of them, Percy and Nico, being able to help in the fight at all in a small, cramped corridor was not smart.

Everyone else, even Taylor despite his incredible growth, would basically be cannon fodder and a burden in the fight. I knew we had to get out of here and do it right now. I turned around back to the boulder that blocked our way.

I grabbed the boulder and effortlessly moved it aside enough just for a regular sized person to fit through, and motioned for everyone to go through wherever it lead. "Through here!" Nobody, not even Arthur bothered to argue with me and ran through the opening I had created, although Tyson had to crawl due to his size.

I slammed the boulder down back in its original spot, blocking off whatever had been chasing us. After a couple of seconds, I heard wailing on the other side of the boulder, which proved it hadn't been Prometheus.

If Prometheus was the one chasing us, he would be able to obliterate this boulder without any effort whatsoever. Even if he couldn't, Prometheus is not the kind of person to react to failure via screaming.

It must have been just some kind of large monster chasing us. I felt the urge to blast apart the boulder and kill what had been chasing us, but I crushed it.

No need to put anyone in danger by confronting some random monster, no matter if it wasn't strong enough to threaten me in the slightest. "Uh, guys?" I heard Grover ask our group. "Where the hell are we?"

I turned around from boulder only to see my group had walked through a small entrance to some room, which I also walked through. I came out of the Labyrinth, which I could tell I did due to the shroud no longer affecting my aura sense, into a small jail cell which held my entire group.

I found that we were in one cell of many, with dozens of other empty old looking cells lining a three floored hall ring that overlooked a large dark courtyard of some sorts. Said courtyard looked like it might have been some kind of lunch room, as it was filled with dusty tables and chairs that were knocked over.

"...This is Alcatraz." Annabeth said in response to Grover's question, getting the attention of everyone in the cell. "My school came here on a field trip once. To think that there was an entrance to the Labyrinth here all this time..." Annabeth trailed off, looking at the surrounding cells in wonder.

My brow furrowed hearing Annabeth's words. Alcatraz was off the coast of San Francisco, which had basically been an absolute hot zone for Titan activity for the past few months.

Mount Tamalpais, or what had become Atlas' mountain when the west moved over here to America, had also recently become Mount Othrys as well. While six months ago Atlas had been killed and his burden erased, Othrys was still there and reforming.

Apparently, from Dionysus' ramblings whenever he would briefly be back at camp after his long excursions, some sort of supernatural storm had surrounded the top of the mountain and an aura shroud similar to the Labyrinth had come over it.

I didn't even want to think of whatever Luke was doing up there on the peak. "Well, I guess that's cool and all, but we really shouldn't stay here for too long. Othrys is way to close by for comfort and either Luke or Prometheus could potentially find us at any moment. Let's give the Labyrinth a few minutes for this entrance to take us somewhere else and then let's head back in."

Annabeth was about to nod at my words in agreement, but suddenly, Tyson's head twitched in the right redirection of the cell hall ring. "Hearing something."

The cyclops stated. Grover's ears twitched as well, and the two of them both leaned their heads in the right direction to listen. Everyone in my group did the same exact thing, trying to hear whatever the two of our non demigod companions were hearing.

I listened for something, anything, and then I heard it. Some sort of...talking. Talking in some kind of language I didn't understand. It was being spoken in a gravely voice, probably by some horrific monster. Hearing the words, Tyson's eyes widened. "Can't be."

The cyclops suddenly torn apart the cell bars like they were made out of paper and ran out of the cell at a speed that would make most bullets jealous. "Tyson!" Percy yelled, looking down the hallway after his cyclops half-brother.

"Wait!" Percy moved out of the cell faster than anyone except for me could even process, no doubt in an attempt to chase down the cyclops. I was about to follow, about then I caught something with my aura sense.

It was a monster no doubt, especially from the lack of life energy in its aura. Monsters didn't have souls, so they were mostly just a collection of energy. The surprisingly fact was that it was immensely strong, like 'stronger than most gods' strong.

I would put it on the same level of strength that both me and Matt had been six months ago when we both crossed into each other's universe, so around half my total full power at the moment. So not a super dangerous threat, but definitely something to take note of.

We quickly followed Percy to wherever he and Tyson had run off to, find the two of them several hundred feet away on a balcony on the third floor.

Percy was restraining Tyson like one would restrain a toddler, which looked kind of funny considering that Tyson was about seven feet tall and Percy was only about six. The two of them were arguing about something, with Tyson constantly mentioning 'tongue of the old times.'

I instantly arrived at their location using my immense speed, and was about to tell them to knock it off, as I had sensed that strong monster nearby, but something on the adjacent balcony on the second floor caught my eye.

It was definitely the monster I had sensed early, the one that was around mine and Matt's level of strength six months ago in January. It's appearance was incredibly weird, even weirder than the Chimera I had fought on my first quest.

I would describe it as some kind of messed up centaur, with a topless attractive woman as the top half of the body, and some massive, weird dragon body as it's lower half. The dragon body was huge, well over twenty feet long, and black as night with monstrous scales covering the entire thing.

It had four legs, with each leg having enormous claws complete with a barbed tail at the end of the body. Snakes seemed to sprout from all over its massive, muscular scaly legs.

Hundreds of them, and they looked all tangled together. The weirdest part about the monster was at the area where the human torso and the dragon body connected, there was this kind of belt made of monsters faces that constantly changed form, from lions to tigers and all kinds of different animals. Okay, this thing made the Chimera look normal.

"It's her..." Tyson whispered as he looked in utter awe and fear at the monster.

Arthur ran over and pulled the cyclops down below where the railing wall of the third floor was with surprising strength. I guess all those new muscles of his weren't just for show.

"Get down!" The son of Helios hissed at the poor cyclops, who just continued to look at the monster with the same face as before, just hidden by the wall this time. The monster continued to speak as we quickly made our way to where Tyson, Percy and Arthur were, joining them at the wall.

The monster continued to talk in its ancient language, speaking to some sobbing voice that we could now hear outside the cell. "What the hell is that ugly bitch saying?"

Arthur turned his head towards Tyson. "Hey, you seem to recognize whatever the hell this thing is. I know you cyclopes can mimic voices, so can you translate whatever it's saying, if you can understand it?"

Arthur was a lot more cordial with Tyson than he was with me or anyone else in the group he's spoken with so far.

Tyson nodded. "She is using the tongue of the ancient times. The language that Mother Earth spoke to the Titans and...her other children. The ones before the gods." Tyson nodded again, seemingly being filled with determination.

"I am unsure of my ability to repeat her words as well as her, but I will do my best." Everyone nodded at Tyson words and waited for whatever he was about to say in anticipation.

Tyson closed his eyes, and began to speak. "You will work for the master, or you shall suffer." Tyson's voice twisted into some deep, scratchy voice that sounded like the owner smoked fifteen packs of cigarettes every day.

Annabeth shuddered at Tyson's use of his mimic ability, as did Grover. "I will not serve." Tyson spoke in a deep, almost wounded voice. It likely belonged to the sobbing person that the monster was talking to.

Tyson's voice shifted back to the original deep and scratchy one. "Then suffer you shall. I will enjoy your pain, Briares." Tyson flinched when he said the name, and he almost looked anxious.

I raised an eyebrow at the cyclops son of Poseidon. What did the cyclops have to be afraid about? He let out a strangled gulp and continued to speak. "If you believed your first imprisonment to be unbearable, then you have yet to feel true torment. Think upon this until I return."

The monster then sprouted large, bat-like scaly wings and took flight. She flew into the air, moving up the several floored ring of cells until she left the prion through the massive roofless ceiling.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds after what had just transpired, until Nico spoke up. "Uh, yeah. Quick question here." Nico asked everyone, anxiety filling his voice. "What the fuck was that?" I snickered at Nico's question and the bluntness of it all.

Nico motioned towards the air where the monster had flown away. "I've never felt a monster so powerful. It was as strong as that son of Hercules dude who came over into our universe six months ago. Why is such a strong monster just wondering around in an abandoned prison like Alcatraz?"

Tyson was the one who answered to son of Hades. "That was Kampe." Tyson spoke with some kind of fear and awe in his voice, like he was saying the name of one of the gods or something.

"The cyclops' worst nightmare. I am glad she is gone." Tyson looked up at the open ceiling of the prison where Kampe had left through, looking anxious on whether the monster would return or not.

Annabeth looked like something inside her head had clicked, as she did a little 'o' face at Tyson's explanation. "Ah, I remember now!" She looked like a child when they remembered how to spell a word correctly.

"Back when Ouranos was the ruler of the universe, he had two other types of kids with Gaia. The cyclops and the Hekatonkheires." Percy looked confused at the second word Annabeth had said, which prompted Annabeth to roll her eyes with a smile at her boyfriend's lack of knowledge. "The Hundred Handed Ones. They were giants with one hundred arms and fifty faces. They were the elder brothers of the original Cyclopes."

Tyson looked like a giddy little kid who liked John Cena just saw John Cena in public. "Very powerful and wonderful! As tall as the sky! They were so strong they could break mountains!" Despite his massive size and his honesty ugly appearance, Tyson was kind of adorable with his adoration of the Hekatonkhieres.

I hope he was downplaying the strength of these guys, since breaking apart a mountain was really easy. Hell, I could probably flick a mountain to pieces in just my base form.

Tyson continued. "Kampe was the jailer. She worked for Ouranos and then for Kronos next. She keep our brothers locked up, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampe and freed the Cyclopes and the Hekantonkhieres to help fight Kronos in the big war." I smirked slightly in pride at the mention of my father and his deeds.

"And now it seems that Kampe has returned. And recaptured Braires. Is he one of the Cyclopes or Hekantonkhieres that you mentioned earlier?" Tyson and Annabeth both nodded, telling me Braires was a Hekantonkhieres.

"Alright then. You guys go free him and maybe convince him to join our squad. We could use all the help we can get at the moment." I looked up at the sky, where Kampe had flown earlier.

"I'll finish what my father started with Kampe." I was about to rise up into the air and take off at Kampe's monster aura, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks.

I turned around, only to find Taylor's hand on my shoulder. He had an expression that could only be described as a mix of anxiety, resignation and acceptance. "You're going to go fight her right now, aren't you?"

I nodded at my boyfriends question, finding no need to try and dissuade him that I was trying to do so. Taylor rolled his eyes and a small smile made its way onto his face. "Always getting involved in crazy dangerous battles, huh?"

He then suddenly brought me close and hugged me, burying his face into my chest. "Be careful." I heard him whisper. He tightened the hug around me. "And come back to me."

I smiled at Taylor's display of affection. It warmed my heart to know he cared about me so much. "Don't worry. I will." I kissed the top of his head and then floated in the air, using my telekinesis to lift myself off the ground.

Before I blasted off into the sky, I got a look at Arthur's face, who looked pretty angry at what he had just seen, but did not say anything about it. I really needed to try talking to him again, otherwise that could be a problem later.

I flew into the sky, creating a sonic boom as I did so. I reached out with my aura sense, finding Kampe's massive aura a couple of miles away. I took off in its direction as quick as I could, closing the distance in an instant.

I appeared right in front of Kampe, who reared back slightly in the air in surprise of my sudden appearance. I smirked at its reaction. "Well, you're definitely one ugly motherfucker."

Kampe glared at me after I said my words, showing to me I could understand it. Her clawed dragon legs started to twitch and the snakes around said legs began to sliver around even quicker than they were before.

Earlier, I couldn't tell due to how far away we were, but Kampe's hair was made entirely out of snakes, exactly like Medusa's. Even their bodies looked similar as well, despite Kampe only having a human looking torso.

The animal faces around what could be called her waist flickered and rotated between forms as she bared her fanged teeth at me. "Who are you?" She asked me in English, her deep and scratchy smoker voice still being maintained.

I held out both my arms, as if I was about to give someone a hug. "Name's Zane Williams. I'm the son of Zeus." Kampe's face twisted in rage as she heard my proclamation and she looked like she was ready to pounce at any point.

I smirked at her reaction and I wanted to rile her up a bit more, make her off balanced during our upcoming fight. "What? Are you pissed my father killed you and freed your prisoners all those millions of years ago?"

I took Thymos off my waist, which surprisingly, Kampe didn't seem to recognize. Huh. I guess she's never seen Heavenly Diamond before. "Well, I wouldn't get too worked up if I were you. You're about to be dead soon again anyways."

Kampe smirked at my threat. "A god of your paltry power is threatening me, the great Kampe, with destruction?" Kampe asked in here awful voice. A god? She thinks I'm a god? I mean, my base form is immensely strong, probably stronger than most minor gods like Morpheus and Janus, so her assumption isn't that outlandish.

She then threw her snaky hair back and laughed, which sounded awful with her deep and scratchy voice. "The idea is laughable." She said as she calmed down.

She did this combination of a sneer and smirk at me, which looked weird on her admitting good looking face. "I will give you one chance to flee from me, puny god. Otherwise you will feel torment far more horrible than you could even comprehend."

I smirked right back at her own, which caused her face to scrunch up in confusion at my reaction. "Puny? Heh. You might be changing your mind about that observation in a little bit."

I threw out both of my arms, unleashing my aura all around me. A bright blue aura erupted from my skin, covering me completely like a Dragon Ball character.

I yelled as I transformed into my Thunder Form, lightning erupted all around me and my eyes completely glowing a bright blue.

Kampe's face went slack jawed as she saw me unleash my full power, which was more than double hers at the moment. "Change your mind yet?"

Before Kampe could even say a single word, I appeared right in front of her and booted her in the face which a kick. My powerful blow created a massive shockwave that completely split the clouds all around us and send Kampe flying dozens of feet away.

The monster righted herself in the air with her wings, although she looked a little worse for wear just from the kick. I raised an eyebrow. I was nearly twice her power, but she was that disoriented from a single kick? That was disappointing.

I floated down to her level, giving her an expectant look. "Giving up already? I can't even bring into words how disappointed I am."

Kampe then threw both her arms out to the side, and a powerful orange and yellowish aura erupted from her. Her aura created a shockwave just from its awakening, and was so strong it was creating wind pressure all around her.

I wasn't phased by any of this, since I literally has seen stronger yesterday in Prometheus. This was kind of weird, since Kampe's aura didn't change but she had seemingly released her full strength. I guess she can't suppress her aura but she can suppress her power?

Kampe materialized two bronze scimitars that permeated some kind of green mist around the blades. I narrowed my gaze. Poison.

Kampe glared at me, blades in hand and her full power and rage on display. "I will make your pain so unbearable that even Braires will shudder in horror just to think about it!"

Despite the cliche threat from Kampe, a type of threat I had heard a million times before from other monsters, I grinned slightly. "Now that's more like it!"

I pointed Thymos at her and charged a small amount of lightning into it. "Now COME ON!!!" Both of us roared as we charged each other in the air at speeds far exceeding the speed of light.

The two of us clashed mid air, creating a massive shockwave that completely dispersed all the clouds in the sky, except for the weird supernatural thunderstorm over Mount Othrys, which I could see from here.

Thymos pushed against Kampe's poison blades, easily keeping her strength in check. Lightning sparked off Thymos as Kampe tried to push against my defense, seeing no ground being given.

Eventually, I forced Kampe off of me with a telekinetic burst of energy, sending the ancient monster flying away. Kampe righted herself in the air with her wings, and she glared at me.

Her yellow and orange aura flared all around her and she charged at me once more. When she got within twenty feet of me, she begun spinning in the air, swinging her blades in a circular manner.

A disc of yellow and orange energy was created as she got within range, like some kind of destructo disk from Dragon Ball Z or something. I channeled lightning into Thymos, creating a circular barrier around the weapon like I had done when I fought Matt when I first met him.

Kampe's disc slammed into Thymos, bouncing off like a balloon weapon and the energy being dissipated almost immediately. Kampe growled at her failure, and she swung her scimitars at me in fast and deadly strikes.

I blocked and parried each and every one of Kampe's attack, being extra careful to not let the blades hit me, as they were still coated in poison. As we battled in the air for nearly thirty seconds, clashing with each other's weapons, I noted one major thing.

Kampe was not a good fighter. Yes, she was fast and incredibly strong, but her attacks were not precise and she mostly swung wildly. I saw dozens of holes in her fighting style, or I should say lack of fighting style.

With every attack she overcommitted and left herself almost completely open. Kampe tried to impale me in the face with a quick stab, only for me to deflect the blow to the side.

Kampe was left completely open and I landed a devastating punch to her weird monster belt, sending her flying back as she roared in pain.

Kampe righted herself once more in the air, only now she visibly winced from the effort it took. I had only hit her directly a few times and she was already starting to falter.

Kampe bared her vampire like fangs at me and she glared, her orange red eyes staring right into my eyes. "You will pay for that, son of Zeus." She said in her awful voice, before she opened her mouth and a blast of orange flames erupted from it.

I held up a telekinetic barrier, completely defending from the flames, although I wasn't even sure I needed it. Once the flames had stopped, Kampe had disappeared from my sight, as the fire had completely coated my vision.

She tried to appear behind me and bisect me in two, however, I had been tracking her aura with my aura sensing. I dodged under the attack like a nimble acrobat, causing Kampe to hiss In frustration. "Damn it!" She yelled, and she continued to try and cut me into pieces.

Kampe unleashed a barrage of slashes and stabs with her scimitars, attacks I perfectly defended against with extreme skill. Kampe began to grow more and more frustrated as she failed to even scratch me. "Why can't I hit you!?"

I dodged her final attack without even looking, and kicked her in the stomach of her dragon body. Kampe grunted in pain as she flew back a few dozen feet before catching herself with her wings once more. "Because you have no skill."

I crossed my arms at the weird looking monster, who only glared at me for my statement. "You fight like an angry toddler who had their favorite toy taken. There's no precision or care in any of your strikes. You leave yourself completely open with every attack." I sneered at her, honestly bored with this whole fight.

I put up Thymos back at my side, causing Kampe to looked confused. I smirked at her confusion. "Confused? I'm going to be honest here and say I don't even need my weapon to easily defeated you. I'll fight you bare handed so I can at least make this somewhat interesting." Kampe shook in anger at my taunt and her eyes started to glow a bit.

Kampe glared at me and if looks could kill, I would probably be dead right now. "You will regret underestimating me, son of Zeus!" Kampe blurred from her position, appearing in front of me in an instant.

I surrounded my fists in more lighting than normal, blocking every one of Kampe's enraged slashes. Kampe spun and twisted as she tried to slice me in pieces, however, none of her attacks had any real effect.

Her moves still had no skill or precision, she was slower than me and she was completely blinded by rage. I ducked, dodged and blocked every attack she threw at me, honestly starting to get even more bored. Her performance hadn't changed at all despite my lack of weapon usage.

I dashed backwards, creating distance between me and Kampe faster than she could react. I channeled the wind in my hand, creating a pressurized wind ball. I unleashed it in a blast of wind slashes, each one of them slicing Kampe's flesh and ripping apart the snakes around her dragon legs. Kampe roared in pain, and she held both her swords close to her mouth.

I raised an eyebrow. What found she be doing? I quickly had my question answered, as Kampe unleashed another blast of fire out of her mouth, only this time the fire was filled with the poison coat of the scimitars.

Poison fire? I'll admit, that was pretty creative, but not anything that would help her. I closed my eyes, focusing with my telekinesis. As soon as Kampe's poison flames reached me, I held up one of my arms, warping the fire with my telekinesis.

I took direct control of the fires movements with my mind, warping the fire into spirals around me. Kampe's jaw dropped as I basically stole her poison fire right in front of her and completely controlled it. I smirked in her direction and pointed my outstretched hand at her.

The fire melded back into a gust of flames and jutted straight towards Kampe faster than she could even react to. Kampe was coated in the poison flames, screaming in pain with her awful voice the entire time.

As the flames faded, I saw Kampe's weird body covered in horrific burns with some sort of green mist being permeated from them.

Kampe somehow managed to keep herself in the air with her wings, which were also horribly burned by the poison fire. I floated over to Kampe, who didn't make any movements in the air.

The familiar smell of burning flesh filled my nose, making my face scrunch up slightly. Seeing how burned Kampe was and how pathetic of a state she was in after having her own fire be redirected by into her, I didn't even want to make any sarcastic comment or ask anything like 'ready to give up yet?'

Instead, I was more somber and serious. "I'll put you out of your misery now." I said, drawing Thymos from my side and filling it with lightning.

At my words, Kampe's energy seemed to be reignited. She still held one of her scimitars after being burned, having dropped one of them due to the flames. The scimitar became coated in Kampe's yellow and orange energy and she lashed out at me. "Die, son of Zeus!"

She tried to cleave my head right off my body, however, I slammed Thymos into her blade at full force. Her scimitar shattered into hundreds of pieces and she was left staring at the handle of the broken blade.

Before Kampe could even do anything else, I slammed Thymos right into the underbelly of her dragon torso, hearing the scales and bones crack and shatter at my powerful blow. Kampe's aura weakened significantly from my attack and she went completely limp.

Her wings stopped flapping and she started to fall out of the sky. As she as about to pass me on the way down, I swung Thymos directly at her head full force.

Kampe's head popped like a watermelon. Blood, gore and brains splattered everywhere as the rest of Kampe's form fell to the ground below, turning into golden dust before it even escaped my vision.

I channeled lightning throughout Thymos, atomizing any of Kampe's blood still left of my Heavenly Diamond Morningstar. I out Thymos back at my side.

"Well, that takes care of that." I said simply, and I began to make my way back towards Alcatraz, following Percy's powerful aura as my guide. That was rather disappointing. Kampe had been a complete joke.

Like I said, she was incredibly strong, but she had no skill, no refinement. She fought like a wild animal. I guess doing nothing but guarding and tormenting Cyclopes and Hekantonkhieres for millennia, then being dead for millions of years probably didn't do anything for her fighting ability.

She had probably just been used to easily overpowering her opponents when she fought them, never having to actually attempt to fight with skill.

After flying for a couple of seconds, Alcatraz came back into flew and I floated down to the roofless ceiling I had initially left through, and I floated down back to the ringed cell balconies.

Following my friends auras, I found my group back in the original cell we had entered the prison through the Labyrinth, finding a new member part of it. While everyone else had looked rather calm and relaxed despite me fighting Kampe, this new guy looked pretty anxious and scared.

In fact, this new guy look really fucking weird. He was about five foot eight, which if he was Briares and one of the Hekantonkhieres, he was pretty short. His head and legs normal relatively normal, and his face was neared and he looked a little on the older side.

However, his torso was the weird part. He actually made Janus look completely normal. This guy had arms on literally every part of his torso, all of them having different shapes and sizes. Some were normal sized and well muscled, other were as short as a pencil and about as thin.

Each one of the arms was doing something, either snapping its fingers, playing Rock Paper Scissors with another arm, or simply rubbing its fingers together. I leaned against the doorway of the cell as I powered down out of my Thunder Form. "Guess who's back."

Before I could say anything else, I was suddenly hugged by both Nico and Taylor faster than the speed of lightning. I chuckled in amusement as I returned the hugs. Guess some things never change.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Arthur glaring at me as both of my boyfriends hugged me. I really needed to address that again, maybe get Taylor to apologize so Arthur can move on and get some closure.

Percy walked up to me, a smirk on his face as he saw me hugging both Taylor and Nico. "Well, you dealt with Kampe, right? I can't sense her aura anymore."

I nodded at the son of Poseidon's question. "Yep, she's gone. Completely dead via Heavenly Diamond, so gone for good." Percy looked surprised at my words, and I continued.

"She was honestly pretty disappointing. No combat skill or ability. She just relied on sheer power and I outclassed her in that as well. One of the most underwhelming fights I've ever had to be honest, despite Kampe's strength."

In one of my arms, Nico had a question. "Do you think even I could have beaten her, Zane?" The son of Hades asked with a cute look of curiosity on his face. I pondered his question, wondering if Nico could have really beaten Kampe.

Nico was around the same strength I was during the Sea of Monsters quest in his Shadow Form, so he definitely was not a slouch in terms of strength.

A few months ago, he even put up a good fight against Talon, the son of Nikandreos, and that dude was probably stronger than both me and Matt at that time. Given Nico's combat skill and ability at this point, I'm fairly certain he would wash an opponent like Kampe.

I nodded at Nico's question with a smirk. "Hell yeah. Despite her being stronger than you, she fought like a first grader. You'd completely kick her ass." I ruffled his long, black hair, getting a cute giggle out of him.

I saw Arthur's face darken out of the corner of my eye, making me raise an eyebrow. Why would Arthur get mad about me and Nico? I understand why he would get pissed about me and Taylor doing cute shit in front of him, but why me and Nico?

Did Arthur have another crush or something I didn't know about. I motioned towards the guy I assumed to be Briares, who was still being incredibly anxious with his hundred arms. "I assume that this is Briares?"

Taylor was the one who nodded at my question. "Yep." Taylor confirmed for me, popping the p as he did so. "It took forever to convince him to even come with us, since he was whining and moaning about Kampe the entire time. We only got him to get out the cell after we told him that you were dealing with her at the moment. He didn't really believe us at first, but after we told him you were the son of Zeus, he caved."

As Taylor said his words, Briares nervously walked up to me, not looking me in the eye. I sensed his aura, feeling that he was around the same strength as Nico's Shadow Form.

Considering Briares helped fight in the first Titanotomacy, he should have enough skill to have been able to defeat Kampe on her own, so why didn't he try and fight her? "They told me that you had gone to destroy Kampe."

Briares' voice was tired and sad. He finally looked me in the eyes and I could see the madness of the torment he had gone through in his millions of years of existence.

It was very similar to the flashes of insanity I had seen in Prometheus' eyes very briefly. "Is it true? Is my tormentor no more?" I heard the hope in his voice, and I was going to be proud to not dash it.

I smiled, nodding at Briares' question. "Yes. It's true. Kampe is dead." I motioned towards Thymos, which hung from my waist. "This bad boy right here can kill immortals permanently, so since Kampe doesn't have a soul, she is just completely gone."

Briares' eyes widened at my explanation, and his jaw dropped. Briares simply stood there in shock for a few seconds, before he wrapped all his one hundred arms around me in the weirdest hug I had ever gotten in my entire life. "Woah! You alright there, man?" I patted the Hekantonkhieres on the back as he hugged me tightly.

"T-Thank you!" Briares shouted, tears streaming from his eyes. He realized what he was doing, and got off of me.

"A-Ah, my apologies. Thank you for what you have done for me, young man. Kampe had imprisoned me for thousands of years when I was born. She put me through immense torment in my early years. I was afraid she would do the same to me again once I was reimprisoned." He bowed to me, putting all one hundred of his hands together. "I am in your debt, son of Zeus."

I waved him off with a smile. "Don't worry about it, man. It was nothing. I'm surprised you didn't kill her yourself."

Briares looked up at me in surprise, confusion and anxiety written all over his face. "From what I can sense, you're pretty damn strong yourself. With everything you and your brothers did in the Titan War, you could have beaten Kampe all by yourself, no matter her strength."

Briares looked very anxious and fearful. He shook his head, denying my claims. "No. I could not have faced her. She was too powerful, too terrible. She would have tormented me in ways I could not imagine and locked me back up. I could not have escaped her no matter what I did."

Ah, so that's why he didn't even try to get out. He was terrified of Kampe. It made sense, especially if Kampe had tormented him for so long and so horribly.

I shook my head at the Hekantonkhieres. "You have to have more faith in yourself, man. You're strong. Even if she was powerful as well, you could have beaten her. The only reason it was impossible to defeat her, was because you yourself made it impossible to win."

Briares looked confused at my words, so I elaborated. "Because of your fear of her, you could not even imagine attempting to fight her at all, making your victory impossible. If you simply believed you could win, you would have a lot more of a chance."

I shook my head and waved my hand. "It doesn't matter now, though. She is dead and gone forever. However, in the future, you need to have more faith in yourself and your capabilities." Briares didn't say anything as he looked down on the ground.

Arthur looked annoyed with this entire situation and he finally spoke up. "Are we going to keep up with this sappy bullshit or are we going to go back into the Labyrinth yet? We don't have much time and we're burning it by doing nothing."

Everyone looked at Arthur with a deadpan, as he was being a massive prick. He held up both his hands in defense. "What? I'm just speaking the truth. We need to pick up the pace here or eventually everyone else will suffer for it." Despite his dickass way of putting it, Arthur had a point.

Annabeth seemed to have the exact same thought process. "Well, despite your way of putting it, you're right, Arthur. We do need to get a move on."

Annabeth turned her head to our resident Hekantonkhieres. "Briares, if you are up to it, we have something that you could help with."

The Hekantonkhieres perked your at Annabeth addressing of him, wondering what she was about to ask. "Could you go to Camp Half-Blood for us? Our defenses are weak at the moment, so someone of your powerful would be incredibly helpful for the camp. I hate to ask this of you but-"

Braires interrupted the daughter of Athena. "It would be my honor." Briares stated quickly, surprising everyone. Some sort of confidence returned to his voice. "Your and your friends rescued me from my second imprisonment. You also destroyed Kampe and made sure I would never be taken captive again. Going to your camp to help defend it would be the least I could do as repayment."

He looked towards me. "You are right, son of Zeus. I have been a coward. While the thought of fighting Kampe still terrifies me, I should have at least done something instead of rolling over for her. I will help defend your help." Braires looked somewhat awkward.

"However, I am not sure of its location." I reached out with my telepathy, sending the exact location of Camp Half-Blood to his mind. He didn't exactly have the greatest mental defense. "Ah, thank you, son of Zeus. I will be off immediately."

Briares the left the cell and swan dove off of the ringer balcony, growing in size as he did so. I saw his massive figure grow large enough to climb out of the roofless ceiling in just a few strides, and quickly his aura started moving in the direction of Camp Half-Blood.

Annabeth looked at Briares retreating from climbing on the wall with a deadpan expression. "Alright then. I guess I've seen weirder in my life." She looked back to us. "Alright, team! Let's head back into the Labyrinth then."

She looked around on the wall for any Greek symbols she could find, eventually finding a small Theta symbol from the Greek alphabet. She pressed the symbol and the wall opened up, revealing the Labyrinth once more.

The corridor was completely different than the one we had originally passed through, which was just typical of the Labyrinth, huh? We lined up one by one and walked back into the darkness of the maze, the odd shroud of the Labyrinth once more obscuring my sensing abilities.

I don't even know how long we walked for. We moved through dozens of rooms and types of hallways and corridors. Designs from just about every single culture and era popped up at some point on our journey through the Labyrinth, even some Asian ones like Japan and China had a few rooms.

We even found a massive room filled to the brim with waterfalls, complete with one giant waterfall that seemed to be a bottomless pit. I even shot a lightning bolt down it to light it up, but I literally couldn't even see the lightning bolt after a few seconds. It had been that deep.

Eventually, Annabeth decided we needed to rest after what was probably several hours of walking, but it could have been maybe minutes or even days. Time was weird in the Labyrinth. We made it to some kind of room filled with pillars that had intricate designs of Greek myths on them, which looked similar to Dwarrowdelf from Lord of The Rings.

Everyone leaned up against a pillar, with me, Taylor and Nico all cuddling on the side of one of them. I noticed Percy and Annabeth were sitting side by side, pretty much cuddling like me, Taylor and Nico were.

Grover and Tyson even shared a pillar, despite their dislike for each other, which seemed to be fading over the quest. The only one who was sitting by their lonesome was Arthur, who had a dark shadow over his face, and I wasn't talking about the darkness of the room.

His bad mood seemed to get worse and worse over the course of the quest. After a good thirty minutes of sitting down, I tapped Taylor on the shoulder, who looked up cutely in confusion. "Hey, I think the two of us need to talk to Arthur. He definitely doesn't seem to be in a better mood than before and I think we need to patch things up with him as soon as possible."

Taylor looked hesitant, but also looked like he was about to agree, but Nico spoke up. "Why exactly do you two need to make up with Arthur in the first place? I mean, yeah he has a right to be mad, but the way he's going about it is childish. If I were you two I would just let him brood by himself."

Nico looked over at Arthur, whose scowl had not disappeared practically all quest. "Plus, he looks like he is gonna explode at any moment."

I looked down at Nico, and nuzzled my head up against his, getting a slight giggle out of him. I love it when he does that. "Well, we need to make sure Arthur doesn't stab us in the back if we ever run into Luke or Prometheus. They are probably going to do the cliche villain thing where they gloat to us and ask us to join them least once if we meet them. If we let Arthur's bitterness and dislike fester, who's to say he won't actually accept their offer?"

I joined Nico's gaze at Arthur, who really did look completely pissed. "Besides, I would rather have him blow up now rather than blow up later."

Nico nodded at my reasoning. "Alright, I guess that makes sense, but just leave me out of it. I have a feeling he really doesn't like me at all, like less than he likes either of you." Both me and Taylor nodded, standing up from the pillar to go talk to Arthur.

"Hey." Nico got our attention as we were about to walk away. "Don't take too long please. Seriously, after walking through this fucking maze all day, I just want to go to sleep and cuddle with you two."

Both me and Taylor chuckled at Nico's brutal honestly, and begun walking over to Arthur.

We walk past Annabeth and Percy's pillar, finding that both of the two lovebirds were asleep, with Annabeth leaning on Percy's shoulder and Percy leaning into Annabeth's head.

Seeing the two of them made me fill with pride, as I knew Percy had gotten the girl after all his efforts. Both me and Taylor reached Arthur's pillar, and the son of Helios didn't even notice us.

He was staring at the wall of the room, a dark look on his face. I snapped my fingers, creating a small spark. Arthur jumped at my sudden movement, mirroring what he had done earlier when I tried to talk to him.

As soon as the son of Helios saw the two of us, his scowl somehow got even deeper. "What the fuck do you two want?"

At Arthur's words, I took a deep breath. This was definitely going to be something, wasn't it? "Look, before anything else dangerous on this quest happens, we're just going to get this out of the way."

I motioned over to Taylor, who looked a little nervous and anxious under Arthur's angry stare. "Taylor here has something he needs to tell you."

Taylor gulped a bit underneath Arthur's glaring eyes, and took a deep breath. "Okay, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I know what I did to you was completely shitty and wrong and I can't change the fact that I did it. I'm sorry I just used you to get to Zane and I'm sorry I played with your feelings. I should have simply told you what was going on easy and not just dropped you out of nowhere."

Taylor looked at the ground of the room, not able to look the son of Helios in the eyes. "Can we just leave all of this in the past and start over? Forgive and forget?" Taylor held out one of his hands to Arthur, who simply stared at it.

Arthur stood up from the pillar and stared at Taylor's hand. His face was blank and the shroud of the Labyrinth was making it difficult for me to tell his emotions.

He suddenly scowled and glared at Taylor. He smacked Taylor's hand away and turned his back to the son of Ares. "You can take your shitty apology and go fuck yourself." I felt like punching the son of Helios' head off, but held the impulse back.

Taylor opened his mouth to say something, but Arthur turned back and glared at him. "Don't you fucking say anything! His fucking dare you apologize to me!?" Arthur closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, shaking his head as he did so.

"I fucking loved you! I loved you so much! You were the first person who meant the world to me and you dropped me like fucking trash!" Arthur opened his eyes and stared at Taylor, rage clear in his eyes.

He got closer to Taylor, which put me on edge. "You played with my feelings for a piece of shit like him!" Arthur pointed at me, and I glared right back at him. "You dare fucking apologize after doing something like that? And then you enter some sort of poly relationship with him and the son of Hades! He already has someone else! Why the fuck did you have to abandon me!?"

Arthur was about to place his finger on Taylor's chest, but before the son of Helios could even move a nanometer, I was in between the two of them. I grabbed Arthur's arm, putting a tight grip around his wrist, causing the son of Helios to flinch.

"You need to calm down, right now," I said to Arthur, completely dead serious. I tossed his arm back, which made him stumble slightly. "You listen and listen well. You might have a right to be angry, but you are acting like a fucking child right now."

Arthur's angry glare faltered slightly at my words. "Taylor knows what he did was wrong. He understands that and came to make things right. He wants to mend things with you and leave the past in the past." My glare intensified.

"You are making that difficult. You're clinging on to reasons to be bitter, clinging on to hatred. You're actively making yourself unable to move on and that only hurts yourself. You need to grow the fuck up and start acting like a man. Quit whining about how hurt you are like a bitch." I turned away from him, leading Taylor away from the son of Helios as well. "Just something to think about for you."

I led Taylor away from Arthur and his pillar, which he slumped back down against. As we passed Percy and Annabeth's pillar, who still hadn't woken up from Arthur's yelling and screaming.

I looked at Taylor, who was wiping away tears from his cheeks. Concern exploded from my heart like a nuclear warhead. "Are you okay?" I asked my boyfriend and began wiping his tears for him.

Taylor nodded at my question, sniffing as he wiped the last of his tear streaks away. I felt my anger towards the son of Helios increase exponentially. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I just...didn't know how much I hurt Arthur when I did that to him."

Taylor looked down at the ground, shame clear on his face. "I'm such an awful person. I completely manipulated Arthur's heart and I didn't even regret it for a long time." Tears threatened to spill from his eyes again, something that broke my heart.

I grabbed Taylor by both of his shoulder, gently so I didn't hurt him. "Don't say that." I said, seriousness filling my voice. Taylor looked at me in surprise, his eyes wide.

"Taylor, you are probably the best person I've ever met in my entire life. You're kind, nice and just generally amazing. Yeah, you made a big mistake, but everyone does from time to time. I mean, take it from the guy who knows what he's talking about here." I chuckled as I said that last part, which drew a small smile out of Taylor.

My serious expression returned. "Taylor, you've done your part in this. You sincerely apologized to Arthur for what you did, and that's all you can do. If he's going to be too much of a child to let it go and not move on, that's on him. Don't let whatever he chooses get you done."

Taylor was silent for a few moments, before tears started to fall down his face again. I wondered what was wrong about what I had said that could have made Taylor cry, but suddenly the son of Ares brought me into a hug.

"I love you, you fucking idiot." Taylor whispered in my ear, which made me both confused and happy all at once. Taylor didn't bother elaborating, and he simply brought me into a deep kiss. I held the side of his head and put my other hand to his hip as we made out, Taylor's arms moving to my muscular back.

Coughing from our left interrupted us, causing the two of us to look in the direction of the noise. It was Nico, a smirk on his face as he laid back against the pillar. "Now I know you two aren't leaving me out of this, right?"

Both me and Taylor looked a little embarrassed, which cause Nico to laugh. "Come here, you two." As I walked over to Nico along with Taylor, Nico practically jumped into my arms, which forced me to catch him.

He pushed his lips up against mine without any warning, something I very much took no offense to whatsoever. It didn't take very long for Taylor to join in our...er, activity, and the three of us spent quite a bit of time partaking in...uh, activities.

Needless to say, I didn't get too much sleep that night.

(000)

Annabeth eventually woke everyone up in the morning, or what I assumed to be the morning, since I couldn't tell time at all within the Labyrinth.

Everyone was tired and a little bent out of shape thanks to sleeping against hard stone pillars, but we were ready to press on further into the Labyrinth.

Arthur was still in a pissy mood, but he seemed a little subdued and miffed. I guess my talk might have had a big effect on him, as he glanced at me when he thought I wasn't looking.

We pressed on into the Labyrinth, walking for hours on end. We moved through hundreds of different rooms, some of them having traps in them to try and slow our progress.

The traps were nothing to our groups strength, as we could effortlessly disable and destroy whatever the Labyrinth could throw at us. Hell, if we wanted to we could destroy the entire Labyrinth.

Despite our easy progress, we were getting nowhere. We had absolutely no idea where the fuck we were going. We could be going around in circles for all we knew, as a lot of these rooms looked the exact same. They honestly could have been the same rooms and we would not have even had any idea.

Eventually, we came into another room after toiling through the endless hallways of the Labyrinth, although this room was peculiar. It wasn't very large, only being the size of an average New York City apartment.

However, it was completely white. The floors, the ceiling, the walls, all of it. White and clean, not a speak of dust. It kind of felt like a room you'd lock an insane person in a straight jacket in.

I could clearly see a door on the other side of the room, but it was shut and locked with almost twenty deadbolts. In the middle of the room, there was a mirror.

It was a simple, full body mirror with a brown wooden outline where the glass sat. "Well, that's not weird at all. Definitely not." Percy said, a deadpan look on his face.

Annabeth snorted at Percy's obvious comment. "Totally. A completely white room with a single mirror in the middle. Come on, guys. Let's just keep going. Percy, come break the door down for us."

My group passed the mirror without another glance, except for me. Something about the mirror was drawing me to it. It was almost as if it was...calling...to me. I stepped closer to the mirror, not following my friends movements.

My group was at the door before they had even noticed I wasn't with them. "Zane? What are you doing?" I payed Annabeth no mind as I inched closer to the mirror in the middle of the room. I had to look into it.

I walked closer to the mirror, my steps slow and calculated. I felt a touch on my shoulder, but I didn't even look in the direction of the sensation. "Zane?" I heard Nico's voice call out to me, but I payed him no mind.

I was almost in front of the mirror right now, so I inched ever so close to it. "Zane. We need to leave. Come on." I didn't even look at my boyfriend as he spoke, too transfixed on the mirror to even pay attention to his words in the slightest.

I was finally in front of the mirror, able to clearly look into it. All I saw was...myself. Just my reflection. The same me I was used to seeing for my entire life. My hair was the same, black and straight, not to mention parted down the middle.

My face was angular and handsome, with a perfect mix of a strong jawline and pointed chin. My bright, electric blue eyes stared back at me, perfect copies of my real ones. My form was muscular, with defined and well rippled muscles bulging out of my outfit. Everything looked normal.

Except that it didn't. I looked at my reflection for longer than I really should have, and it caused things to change. Well, only two things in particular, but what did change was almost frightening.

My eyes in the mirror suddenly turned bright red, like that of Nico's shadow form. My eyes widened, and became bloodshot, completely different from my real eyes. My mirror self's face also change, with an expression of an insane grin coming over his face.

I felt my own eyes widen in shock at the rather terrifying image, but my mirror self placed a finger of his mouth, as if shushing me.

The corner's of my vision turned dim, and the bright whiteness of the room didn't seem so bright anymore. My vision continued to darken as I stared at my grinning mirror self, until my vision completely darkened all together.

(000)

I found myself on some sort of plane in complete darkness, all by myself. My friends were nowhere to be seen, and neither was the mirror or my mirror self.

I was all alone and in complete darkness, although I could clearly see myself as if I was in a room with light. I looked around, trying to find something or someone anywhere, but to no avail.

"Uh, hello?" I said, seeing if I could get some kind of response from anything. "Is anybody there?"

To my immense surprise, I got a response to my question. "Oh, someone is here, Zane. Just not anyone you would expect." I heard an incredibly familiar voice from behind me, so I spun around as quick as possible to see who it was.

What I saw was a mixture of surprising, shocking and terrifying. It was...me. It was me but completely different. For one, I looked the exact same as I had seen my other self in the mirror, with red eyes and an insane grin.

However, the other me was clearly a lot younger that I was, looking around the age of fifteen rather than nearly looking like an adult like I did. I looked closer at my other self's appearance, and I found that it was the exact same appearance of me back during the Sea of Monsters quest.

This observation was further solidified when I saw my other self wielding Keravnos, which I hadn't seen in over six months, as Atlas had destroyed it. My other self's grin deepened as he saw my surprise written all over my face. "What's wrong, Zane? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I recovered from my shock relatively quickly, reasoning that none of this was real. That mirror must have put me under some kind of illusion or something.

Illusions and the mist didn't tend to work on me due to my strength, but there seemed to be some exceptions. This must have been one of them.

I glared at my other self, crossing my arms as I did so. "The only ghost I see is one from my past. One I need to forget about." I turned away from my other self, and started to look around the dark plane to see if there was any crack in whatever this illusion was.

Suddenly I was punched in the face rather hard, which made me stumble a bit. I quickly recovered and turned back to my other self, who had their hand outstretched and their ever present grin. That had actually hurt a bit. "You can hurt me? You're real?"

My other self grinned at me, and a bit of blood seemed to appear out of nowhere and materialize on his knuckles. "I'm more real than you realize."

My other self motioned to the darkness all around us. "This is all in your mindscape. We're about as real as each other here."

The evil Zane looked back at me, his grin seeming to widen even more. "You can't forget about your past, Zane. It is what defines you, it's what made you who you are today. Without me, you wouldn't exist."

I straightened myself from my other self's punch, surprised that it hurt slightly. He had caught me off guard somewhat. "Without you, I wouldn't even need to exist the way I do now. I wouldn't have had to change if you weren't a problem in the first place."

I looked around again. "How the hell do I get out of here? What the hell is even going on in the first place? And who the hell are you exactly?" I turned back just in time to see my other self's fist right in front of my face.

My hand quickly shot up and caught my other self's wrist before he could punch me, creating a small shockwave.

My other self scoffed slightly, before pulling his arm away from me. "Were you even listening before? I told you that this is your mindscape. We're inside your head, dumbass. And if you couldn't tell, I'm you. I'm all your bad thoughts, all your insanity, all your violent tendencies and everything else just as nasty all wrapped up into one little ball."

My other self was as much as an asshole as I used to be, which didn't surprise me, if that is really my dark past personified. "As for what's exactly going on, I'm not really sure myself. I was heavily suppressed by all of your so called 'personality growth' and I haven't been let out or channeled in a long, long time."

My other self looked like he was remembering something. "Well, I sort of came out when you were beating the son of Hercules to death with your Morningstar, but whatever."

He looked back at me, his grin returning. "The point is that mirror did something to bring me out again, and personify me or something."

I scoffed at his explanation, sensing what was about to come. "Let me guess, you are some kind of alternate personality that got created and you want to take over my mind and body and wreck havoc on everything on the outside? Is that the gist here or is it something a little less predictable and cliche?" I tightened my fist and got ready to fight just in case I was correct.

My other self smirked at my words, as if he was amused. "No, nothing that cringeworthy. I'm not some alternate personality created by that mirror or anything. Like I said, I'm you. I'm just everything you've been bottling up, everything you've been holding back for the past year. I'm all the violence, all the sadism, and all the insanity deep within your mind. I'm more or less the old you from back then, just none of the so called 'redeemable' qualities I would say."

His smirk deepened into a grin once more. "As for what I want, well, let's just say...I want to help you remember..." Suddenly, flashes of things in the past filled my mind. Mostly things that I did. Murder, destruction and mayhem all caused by me flashed through my mind, everything horrible and detestable I've ever done flashed to me all at once.

I fell to my knees, clutching my head and yelling as the memories flooded my brain. "N-No!" Memories of when I caused the death of all those mortals on the bus when I was fighting Alecto filled my brain.

Memories of me causing the deaths of people in the Lotus Hotel, the memory of me murdering that bellhop came to mind.

I saw myself brutally maim those teenagers who tried to rob us, I saw myself murder Charon and Ares via decapitation, secretly enjoying the violence at the time. "G-Get...Get out of my head..."

My other self laughed sadistically as he saw me on the ground clutching my head. "Yes! You remember! Of course, you always remembered, but now you get to relive. Dwell on the suffering you've caused."

Flashes of me beating Hyperion's skull in came into my head, his golden ichor staining my entire body at the time.

I remembered the deaths I caused in Barnum Island, which I had later found out it had been home to over two thousand people at the time of the battle.

I remembered the deaths of the tourists I caused on the Princess Andromeda, the way they exploded and were incinerated by my power.

I remembered causing the death of that Monster Donut worker, and the apathy I had felt at his demise.

I remembered slaughtering all of Circe's sorceresses and then Circe herself, enjoying all of the bloodshed of the battle at the time.

And lastly, I remembered how I had tormented Chris Rodriguez, horribly electrocuting him and tearing his head off, spine and all.

I heard my other self's voice speak. "Ah, good times. And that's just them all grouped together. How about we focus on each and every life you have destroyed?"

I was breathing heavily, my mind weighing on all of the deaths I had caused. "N-No..." For the last year, I had basically been blocking out what I had done in my mind.

Yes, I knew and faced the fact that I had done horrible things, but I didn't like to dwell on it. I mean, who the hell would want to constantly think about how they were a ruthless killer who enjoyed murder and destruction?

"No!" I looked at my other self with an intense glare, who looked at my resistance in surprise. "Get. Out. Of. My. Head." I slowly got the words out, being filled with anger at my other self. He was everything I despised about who I was, someone I thought I had done well to change from.

But now he was back and making me remember everything horrible I did. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I yelled at my other self, unleashing a telekinetic blast in all directions that blasted my other self back several feet.

The memories completely stopped and everything returned to normal, or at least before my head had been assaulted with memories.

My other self grunted a bit from the telekinesis, but easily recovered. "Well, I feel like we went through everything here. All of the destruction and mayhem fully revisited. How was your trip down memory lane?" I glared at my other self, growling a bit as I did so.

My other self reared back dramatically as if someone had snapped their teeth at him, and he chuckled. "Heh, not so well I take it? But let me ask you a thought provoking question. Are you going to pretend you still don't enjoy it?" I looked at him in surprise, and he just laughed.

He leveled an insane grin at me. "You still love it all. The bloodshed, the death, the destruction, all of it. You love it when you pop an enemy's head open like a watermelon and see all their brains and blood scatter everywhere. You love it when you see all the blood drain from your enemy's corpse. Don't pretend that you don't. Now imagine, what if you indulged in all the violence again? What if you stopped holding back and really let yourself go again? You could truly enjoy yourself in battle once more, be right at home while you glide through oceans of blood. Doesn't that just sound so nice?"

While I wanted to say that there was no way in hell that it did, there was that small little voice in my head that agreed with my other self.

A small part that was tempted to let loose and really unleash hell upon anyone who opposed me, and enjoy every second of it. I'm ashamed that there was even a small temptation, but there was.

However, I didn't even entertain the idea out loud. "You're fucking sick. No wonder everyone thought I was a psychotic monster. If I really used to think anything like you did, I wonder how the fuck I didn't let off any red flags even earlier to everyone I knew."

I glared at my other self, who's smirk started to dim at my words. "You already know my answer. Fuck off."

My other self's grin faded entirely, and he started to look angry. "Well, if you don't want to return to how we were originally..."

My other self was suddenly covered in blood out of nowhere, as if he had just killed hundreds of children and bathed in their blood. He pulled Keravnos back and charged at me.

"Then I will make you by force!" Lightning and a coat of wind surrounded the celestial bronze axe and he tried to slam it in the middle of my head. However, I simply froze my other self in place with a telekinetic field.

I scoffed at my other self's predictable attack. "Please." Before my other self could even react, I reared my fist back and slammed it into his cheek.

My other self went flying hundreds of feet away, my punch having created a massive shockwave as well. I appeared right in front of my other self's trajectory and smashed both my fists into his stomach, sending him flying towards the ground.

My other self smashed into the ground with a grunt and tried to stand up as quickly as possible. I suddenly appeared right in front of my other self, kicking him in the face as he did so.

Blood escaped my other self's mouth as he sprawled to the ground and grunted in pain. My other self stood up shakily, injured by my assault. He suddenly blurred towards me, trying to slice me in two vertically. I easily dodged the attack, almost seeing it in slow motion.

My other self unleashed a barrage of swipes and slashes, trying to cut me into thousands of tiny pieces. He fought like I used to, unrefined and not a lot of skill. I mean, he wasn't completely unskilled like Kampe, but he was definitely nowhere near as experienced as I was currently.

I dodged a downward swing from Keravnos, and unleashed a powerful elbow into my other self's side, sending him flying back with a grunt. "Is that all you got?"

My other self growled in anger. "Don't fucking underestimate me!" Lightning surrounded his axe and he twirled the weapon into a circular manner. Behind him, a massive tornado filled to the brim with burst of lightning was created from the energy surging through Keravnos.

My other self held out his hand in front of him and closed it suddenly, and the massive tornado split into nearly a dozen smaller, just a dangerous tornadoes.

The evil Zane flung the twisters at me, rage clear on his face. "Die!" All of the tornadoes flew at me with incredible speed, and my other self started to unleash blasts of pressurized wind to tear me to shreds.

I looked at the tornadoes that started to surround me impassively, and I didn't even bother to dodge the wind blasts. They did nothing to hurt me in the first place.

I calmly threw out both of my arms, unleashing a massive blast of telekinetic power in every direction, completely dispersing the tornadoes all at once and blasting the evil Zane back.

My other self recovered after a few seconds, only for me to appear right in front of him before he could even blink. I slammed my knee into his stomach, causing blood to spurt from his mouth. My other self curled on the ground and held his stomach in pain.

I looked down at him, a glare on my face. "Give up. You're nowhere even close to my level of power and you fight like a novice." My other self's strength was only the same strength as I had been at the time of the Sea of Monsters, meaning I was a good thirty times more powerful than him at the very least.

My other self trembled on the ground, gripping his fists together. "Do..." He growled, looking up at me with rage and hate in his eyes. "DO NOT MAKE A MOCKERY OUT OF ME!"

Lightning surrounded his form in an instant, blasting me back. I quickly recovered, and saw that the evil Zane was powering up, lightning surrounding his form and exploding outwards as he yelled.

Eventually, he reentered a combat stance and glared at me. Thunder Form. Lightning was channeled into the head of his axe, almost making the weapon white with power.

"Time for you to die!" He appeared right in front of me in an instant, and he pulled his weapon back to cleave me in two. However, I didn't give him the chance.

Lightning exploded from my form, completely surrounding me. A small, blue aura coated my skin, very similar to Matt's red aura but significantly smaller.

My transformation into my own Thunder Form blasted my other self back. He looked at me in shock, but his face twisted into a hateful glare and he charged me again, intent on cutting me in half.

However, before he could even take a step, I was right in front of him. "Enough!" I head butted him right in the nose, completely disorientating him. I forcibly ripped Keravnos out of his hand, and ripped it in half.

Lightning and wind exploded from the broken weapon, however it didn't affect me whatsoever. I smashed a fist into his nose, spilling blood all over my hand and knocking my other self to the ground.

I put a foot on his chest, making him unable to move. My other self tried to beat my foot away with punches, but I didn't budge an inch. I pulled my foot up a couple of inches and slammed it right back down on my other self's chest, crushing and smashing his sternum to pieces.

I got on top of my other self and began going to town on his face with a powerful flurry of punches. Incredibly satisfying noises such as blood spurts and bone crunches ringed to my ears as I smashed my fist down on my other self's face.

Blood started to obscure my vision as I continued to beat my other self's face in. I felt a grin make it's way on my face as I noticed my hands were completely covered in blood and my other self wasn't moving. I was done with this weakling.

I raised my hand into the air to crush my other self's head with one punch, but I stopped myself. What the fuck was I doing? I looked at my bloodied hands and then down to my other self's pummeled face, which was covered in blood and looked misshapened. I heard a chuckled from beneath me, which came from my other self. "D-Do it...kill me..."

I felt the temptation to pop his head like a watermelon go through my mind, but with difficulty I crushed it. I was doing exactly what my other self wanted me to do.

He wanted me to give into my violent tendencies, to return to the monster I was before. He wanted me to kill him, because then he would win. I shook my head at my other self. "No."

I felt my other self stiffen at my words. "N-No...?" His face suddenly reformed completely and all of his wounds completely healed. He sat up off the ground and looked at me in disbelief.

"What the fuck do you mean 'no!?' I'm everything you hate! I am everything bad about you wrapped into one! You should want to absolutely destroy my existence with a vengeance! Why do you not want to kill me!?" He looked at me, utter rage and bewilderment all over his face.

I smirked at him and powered down out of my Thunder Form. "Because I know if I kill you, you win." Evil Zane's face twisted in anger, knowing his plan had been found out.

"I do hate you. You are everything I hate and I despise you with every fiber of my being. But I can't destroy you. If I even tried to do so out of hate and anger, I know all I would do is just regress and show that I haven't truly changed like I thought. I would be one step closer to becoming you again." I grinned cheekily at him. "However, I have another way to deal with you."

My other self sneered at me and scoffed. "What, is it trying to forget me? We both know that you can't."

He pointed a thumb at himself, snarling as he did so. "No matter what you do, I am part of you. I always exist within your mind, within your personality. Always. You can't get rid of me, it's impossible."

I nodded at his words, agreeing with everything he said. "I know. Like you said before, all of my experiences make who I am, including my bad ones, which you're just a collection of."

Evil Zane growled at being called that, but I didn't care. "While you are my past, I can use you as a learning tool so you don't become my future. I can learn from my experiences, make sure I don't become you ever again. That's my way of getting rid of you. Using you to better myself."

The implications dawned on my other self, who's eyes widened and his face twisted in rage. "No. No! You were supposed to unleash your bloodlust!

"You were supposed to fall victim to your sadism! You weren't supposed to find any betterment out of it! This is impossible! You should have started to become like me again!"

I smirked at him again. "Not happening. Already went through the whole path of murder and bloodlust once and I found it wasn't exactly the best past I could take. You should know, since your the embodiment of all the experiences of it."

I turned my back to my other self. "Besides, I have two people I'm very much in love with that would suffer if I was to return to my old ways. And there's no way in hell I could do that to them." I looked back at him, a glare on my face. "You can go now. Don't even try coming back."

My other self seethed in rage, visibly breathing heavier. "This is not the end, Zane. One day, you will feel the same bloodlust and enjoyment of death rise in yourself again."

He smirked at me. "Maybe those two beautiful boys you love so much won't be around to convince you to say no this time."

I glared at him and I felt the same bloodlust rise in my slightly just from his words. "Go away. Now." My other self's face twisted in anger, before he faded away into the darkness, not a single trace of him left.

My other self's words alarmed me somewhat. What if he was right? What if one day something did happen to either Taylor or Nico. I felt determination fill my spirit. I wouldn't let anything like that happen either of them at all.

I felt the darkness of my mindscape fade, and the dark plane of existence I was on started to be replaced. The original white room with the mirror started to come back into existence.

(000)

Chapter twenty nine in the books! Honestly, this was probably the hardest chapter I've ever had to write in my life. This shit took forever and I had to make up the last section of the chapter. As you can tell, no ranch in this one. Mainly since the main reason they went to the ranch in canon was to get Nico, but Nico's already been part of the group for like two years, so we get to skip that. So for content, I made stuff up for the chapter. First piece of original stuff I had in the main books, and dear god it's fucking bad. Holy shit I felt like the last third of the chapter was some of the worst shit I've written in a good while. I felt that evil Zane would say something, and then say something else completely different that had no relation the next sentence. So if that was pretty bad and unexplainable, I wrote this at 3 A:M, so that's why. Sorry it was that trash, we're just going to move past it and go forwards into the story. I have some actual good shit planned this time, and I'll make sure this one is good, promise. Anyway, see y'all in the next chapter, sorry if this one was a big disappointment.