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]

46. Some Context (And Flashbacks, Too)

Alright, boys. Chapter forty one and the first chapter of The Last Olympian is finally here! This is the shit we've all been waiting on, and considering how epic last arc was, I've got a lot of pressure on me to knock it outta the park. Been waiting to write this for an entire year, so I'm finally glad to start. Anyway, before we begin, let's get into some reviews.

Guest: " Zane Williams: The Multiverse of Madness

"Things just got out of hand"

Response: Funny story about this actually, I saw that movie and wanted to make the crossover multiverse related because of how much I loved it. The original crossover was only going to be four chapters, like the other one. Iapetus was going to be more major, hell, Iapetus was going to be the main villain actually. So glad we decided to go with multiverse the crossover was phenomenal in my opnion.

Black ninja op: "Old man matt is back?

LET'S GO LUKE ABOUT TO GET WHOOPED"

Response: He very much did lol.

SaUvE ViPeR: "I already reviewed on SOH, but I felt I needed to say some things over here too. What a brilliant conclusion, Echoxenvy killed it with this installment, it honestly might be one of the best chapters from both stories. The fight, the interactions, the ending...it was perfect! He really knows how to write goodbye scenes! I loved this entire little series of chapters as a whole, and your input was amazing as well! You never cease to amaze me with how you write Zane, my friend. Such a great OC that I can't wait to read more of in The Last Olympian. Absolutely stoked to see how you write the final book.

Last thing, I just have to ask...WHO WON?!"

Response: Yes, Echoxenvy absolutely killed it with the last chapter crossover. One of the best chapter of fanficition I've ever personally read, and it cements Echoxenvy as the greatest fanfic author of all time in my eyes. Hopefully one day we can do another crossover, as this one was so good. And here's Last Olympian chapter one, hopefully you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And as for who won? Heheheheh, I'll never tell.

Merrik69: "Finally caught up, and I'm blown away. This and last chapter were such a rollercoaster, they were amazing. I loved Sinister Zane and Meek standing up to Luke, there were plenty of good moments in your chapter. But this, this right here, is like you said, art. Everything was perfect, exactly how I wanted it to go. Echoxenvy crushed it. I loved how it ended with them fighting again, and leaving the winner a mystery, that's cool. The fact that we're on the Last Olympian now blows my mind, hope you update soon."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. Glad you liked the last two chapter, as they're some of my favorite chapters in both of our stories. Sinister Zane was immensely fun to write, as was Meek Zane too. Echoxenvy wrote the final chapter absolutely perfect, easily 10/10 writing and fights, as well as the mystery ending. Loved it so much. Last Olympian is finally here, yes, and this one will blow your mind even more, if that's even possible. Hope you enjoy the first chapter, bro.

ReaperKurosaki: "Damn echoxenvy killed it here, guy's a top tier writer. So I enjoyed the crossover as a whole. At first I thought it was a bit unnecessary since we already got one crossover, and I really wanted to read your take on TLO, but I was pleasantly surprised, and it seems a lot of what happened here is going to be important. Luke's weapon being the main thing. Now as for TLO, i couldn't be more excited. In my opinion, it's the best book in all of the Riordanverse (a close second would be House of Hades) and I'm sure you'll put a lot of interesting spins on it. High hopes man! Hope you update soon."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. Echoxenvy did absolutely kill it in his chapter, easily the best one in both of our fics. And I can understand people finding the second crossover unnecessary, but it was actually important to what's going to happen in TLO, Luke's new weapon being the most important part. And for TLO, well, it's finally here and this is the first chapter. Already put a big spin on it, and I hope you love it. See you later bro.

MR. EXCLUSIV3: "Perfect, absolutely perfect. Echoxenvy is the man, and so are you bro, great crossover.
So now you are finally on Last olympian. Couldn't be more excited. Some things I really hope happen
1. Zane kills Luke once and for all
2. Zeus vs Luke/Kronos
3. Good development for all characters, not just fights
4. Zane and Taylor get back together
5. Percy still gets Mark of Achilles
6. Good ending that follows canon and leads into Lost Hero, because that would be so awesome and you said before you were doing Heroes of Olympus."

Response: Echoxenvy absolutely is the man, the best fanfic writer of all time. TLO is finally here, the one I've been waiting to write for over a year. So much planning, replanning and thinking has gone into what I'm going to spin, and I hope you enjoy it. And as for all the stuff you hope will happen, well, you'll see what goes on. But as for number 6, yes. I am doing HoO. I love that series and I can't wait to put a little ZW spin on the whole thing. Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter one of TLO, and I'll see you next time.

Shadowhunter2077: "The Last Olympian, the final battle against Kronos and his forces, it's finally here but damn Luke/Kronos is a slippery bastard.
Also how many pantheons felt the conflict that happened in the rift between the universes, and how are the other pantheons ok with Zeus having such a overpowered kid, or did he answered them with his lightning bolts?"

Response: Luke is definitely the slipperiest bastard in this universe, only second to Ouranos in SoH. And as for your question? Well, Zeus himself wouldn't have to actually act. Zane is definitely more than powerful enough now to bully the other pantheons by himself.

Onion-00: "kill yourself"

Response: Eat my ass. (Also, other readers, look at this dudes profile. He's the biggest incel on the planet.)

Guest 1: "Commenter below me, if you don't like the story, then don't review, and ignore. Telling the author to khs, is unecessary.
As for the author, please keep it up, your story's great. I'm so excited for Last Olympian!"

Response: Don't worry bro, I'm not going to let a loser ass incel like himself mess with my head. And don't worry again, man, here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

Guest 2: "How do you look at other OC stories? Do you look down on them because yours is so good? Lmao"

Response: Well, I do recognize my story is much better than most garbage OCs, but it's certainly not perfect. There are still issues with it and I understand that. Still, much better than that Fayden trash from Demi-Titan.

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 stupid.)

(000)

(September 2nd, 2009)

Demigod dreams were weird.

By weird I mean incredibly disorientating, and generally just wrong feeling. But this one was weird in a different way. This one was almost…foreboding.

The sky was dark, completely covered in thunder clouds and pouring down truckloads of rain. On the peak of a rocky, jagged looking mountain, stood Luke, The New Titan God of Time.

Luke stood on the tip top of the mountain, staring up into the sky. He was dressed how he normally always looked. Bronze Greek style armor, gauntlets and greaves, complete with a dark brown cloak with the hood pulled over his head, which only highlighted his golden orange eyes even more. In Luke's right hand, held in a tight grip, was his Heavenly Diamond scythe, Aposynthesi.

The weapon was a sinister, almost familiar sight. I'd nearly died to the thing more times than I can count, and uncountable people have already fallen prey to it and Luke's delusional insanity. It gleamed with power in the dark rainy night, creating a shine of energy over Luke's cloaked form. Dark particles of chaotic energy practically frothed from the scythe blade, which I could feel even in a dream.

Luke's eyes didn't leave the clouds for a second. He was almost glaring at the sky, staring at it with an intensity he'd only looked at a few things with, me being one of those. Suddenly, he crouched slightly and let out a massive roar. His patented sickly orange energy erupted all around him, completely coating the area in a several dozen meter radius with his aura.

The mountain below Luke completely crumbled to dust, only a massive crater being left under it in the wake of Luke's power. "ZEUS!" Luke shouted to the heavens, his aura seemingly growing in strength somehow. Luke raised up both of his arms, the energy around them being filled with Aposynthesi's chaotic power. "God of Thunder, Lord of the Sky, King of Olympus! My son!"

An insane look appeared over Luke's face, not looking out of the ordinary whatsoever. "I, King Kronos, Lord of the Titans and Master of Time, challenge you! Prove to me, your father, that you aren't just some pathetic upstart usurper of my throne! Prove to me that it truly belongs to you!" Luke's face turned into a sadistic grin, as if he was watching a bag full of puppies drown.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, and Luke was simply left floating in the air where the mountain had once been in complete silence. But before Luke could even get a chance to say another word, a massive bolt of lightning filled with furious energy erupted from the clouds, striking the very air in front of Luke.

Luke was sent flying back several dozen feet, but he quickly spun around mid-air and caught himself. As he looked up, he found exactly who he had been invoking. My father, Zeus. He looked just liked how he normally did, with his massive, muscular frame barely being covered by his gilded white toga. His long black hair, which mine mirrored, flowed violently in the now intense wind. His gray speckled, well-trimmed black beard seemed to stand up from his skin, as his bright blue eyes glared intensely at Luke.

"'Pathetic upstart usurper?' It seems you must be staring into a mirror, 'father.'" Zeus looked incredibly angry, as well as almost stressed looking. The Second Titan War had basically been raging on for nearly a year, and Zeus has had to command Olympus' forces. "Now, before I destroy you like an insect and end this devastating war, tell me why you have challenged me. Surely you know facing me directly is suicide. I proved that last year at Camp Half-Blood."

Luke's face twitched and turned into a nasty snarl at the reminder, but he quickly caught himself and his emotions. "That, was quite some time ago, 'son.' I faced you when I was unprepared. When I didn't have my precious new weapon, Aposynthesi." Luke looked at his Heavenly Diamond scythe almost reverently, but then turned his gaze back to Zeus. "This, Lord of Olympus, shall be your undoing."

My father didn't look intimidated or even serious. "Yes, I have heard of your new weapon, curtsy of my son, Zane. He has told me quite a bit about it, and the carnage you have left in your wake with such an item of power." After I returned from my little multiversal adventure with Matt Beckett, the son of Hercules, I made sure to let my father and all of Olympus know of what transpired.

Luke still had the insane grin on his face. "Then you should know of what I can do to you with it. Just think, Lord of the Sky, a single good hit from this weapon, and you're finished. No more immortality, no more godhood, confined to the Underworld for eternity. All I need to do is land a killing blow on you, and then you die."

Zeus scoffed at Luke's explanation of the weapon. "Yes, yes. I know what Heavenly Diamond does, Titan. I have had such a thing be used against me before. However, the man who used it was far more powerful and resourceful than you, whiny child." My father glared at Luke, who looked incredibly pissed. "Just because you now command an object of immense power, doesn't change the fact that you're nothing more than a pathetic little teenager who has too much power for his own good, Luke Castellan."

Luke, with dark veins bulging out the cracked skin on his face, looked more pissed than I've ever seen him before. Well, maybe not when he spoke to Ouranos. He was practically foaming at the mouth then. "Shut up! I'll show you what a 'pathetic little teenager' can do with power such as this!" Luke blurred from view, no doubt moving at top speed.

Luke pulled Aposynthesi back as he flew at Zeus, channeling his sickly orange energy all around the scythe head of the weapon. More energy than I'd ever seen erupt from Luke channeled all around the scythe, showing that the New Titan was stronger than ever. Zeus, however, simply scoffed at Luke's charge and his almost bored facial expression didn't change one bit.

Quicker than I could even comprehend, Zeus brought the Master Bolt in the path of Aposynthesi, completely stopping the Heavenly Diamond Scythe with no difficulty at all. When Aposynthesi smashed against the bright cylinder of energy that was the Master Bolt, an absolutely titanic shockwave was produced, completely clearing the stormy sky above and no doubt shaking the entire planet, if not the universe.

Luke's sickly orange energy completely faded, being completely cancelled out by my father's defense. However, Luke didn't just stop there. No, he continued to swing Aposynthesi against the Master Bolt of my father, creating millions more of the same shockwave countless times over. Reality itself seemed to buckle and shake at the ruthless offense, as tears and rips started to form all around Luke and my father.

My father, however, effortlessly batted all of Luke's immensely fast attacks to the side. He didn't even look like he was trying at all, and almost seemed bored. Luke, seemingly angered by this, pulled by Aposynthesi for one massive energy attack, and sickly orange and blue energy erupted around the weapon once more. However, this time, Zeus wasn't taking it lying down.

My father's brow furrowed as he saw Luke pull the Heavenly Diamond Scythe back. "Enough." A tiny, almost completely unnoticeable of aura flashed from my father's massive form. However, despite the almost unseeable flash, it caused enough force to completely blow Luke away and dispel whatever attack he had been planning.

Zeus appeared directly in front of Luke as he was still being sent back, grabbing him by the throat and stopping him in the air. Luke gurgled and choked at being held by the neck by Zeus, grasping at my father's forearm with his left hand. He tried to pull Aposynthesi back and slam it into Zeus' eye, but my father's eyes suddenly glowed completely blue, much like my Thunder Form.

Lightning jetted from my father's eyes, smashing into Aposynthesi's Heavenly Diamond scythe-head and seemingly shocking it into place, almost like some kind of lightning prison. Luke still tried knock Zeus' hand away, causing the King of Olympus to scoff. "You truly believed you could stand up to me here and now, even when I had completely embarrassed you six million years ago? I have grown far, far stronger since then, Titan King."

Zeus glared down on Luke with his glowing eyes, who still struggled and choked in his grip. "You, however, are weaker than you used to be. Not by much, but weaker still. You believed that this chaotic toothpick would allow you to even the massive odds between me and you? You truly are nothing but a foolish child-" Zeus' words were suddenly cut of, as if he had remembered he left the stove on or something.

However, something as paltry as leaving the stove on was absolutely not the case. No, the Heavenly Diamond blade ripped through his back and out the front of his lower torso is what was. Ichor exploded from the wound and from my father's mouth as it tore through his body and out the outer side, completely cutting off what the King of Olympus was about to say.

Zeus' eyes trailed down to the scythe head that was currently through his abdomen, his eyes widening. "Heheheheh." Luke, who had been let go after Zeus was impaled, immediately starting chuckling. From behind Zeus, another Luke floated into view, wielding an exact copy of Aposynthesi, which was torn through Zeus' torso. Both of the Lukes grinned insanely and started to laugh harder. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The Luke who had been choked by my father, the original one, grinned at my confused and shocked injured father. "You truly believed that I would be so stupid to face you directly without a plan!? I know how powerful you are, and recent events have left me quite humbled. No. I would not be so foolish to believe that I could face you when my fusion still hasn't been one hundred percent completed!"

The other Luke tore Aposynthesi out of Zeus' back, causing my father to cough up more ichor. "The original Kronos was quite…uncreative with his use of his time abilities. He never really saw just how much potential they had. He held the ability to cross between timelines, timestreams and bring things over. Such as copies of himself from other points in the timeline, even from a few seconds in the past, effectively making clones of himself."

A portal opened behind the second Luke, which he quickly disappeared into, never to be seen again. The original Luke, who had been floating in front of the now critically injured Zeus, who still had ichor trickling from his mouth. "It creates a new, alternate timeline every time I use the ability, but that's not really my problem. But…" Luke then suddenly swung Aposynthesi directly into Zeus' left chest muscle, completely piercing through Zeus' body and going out the other side. "…it's certainly a problem of yours."

My father yelled in pain and agony, even more ichor spraying out of his mouth. Even in the dream vision, I could feel his aura weakening, a side effect of the Heavenly Diamond blade of Aposynthesi. Luke only laughed at Zeus' pain, taking incredible joy in the King of Olympus' agony. "You wouldn't even believe how long I have longed for this moment! I've waited so long to see you below my heel, begging for mercy!"

Zeus, despite the immense pain and damage he'd suffered, only glared at the New Titan of Time. "You will continue to w-wait, Titan Lord. The K-King of Olympus never begs." In response, Luke ripped Aposynthesi from Zeus' chest, causing my father to gasp in pain. Luke swiped Aposynthesi across Zeus' abdomen before I could even blink, disemboweling the Lord of The Sky.

Ichor exploded from Zeus' now open stomach, and golden entrails hung from my father's gut like cobwebs. Luke grinned sadistically, taking in Zeus' brutalized form. "You are always so proud and mighty, O' King of The Gods. Always flaunting your superiority over others, abusing your power." Luke punched Zeus directly in the side of the head, actually damaging him due to how weak his aura was after three, brutal blows from Heavenly Diamond.

Zeus was sent flying away, with golden ichor trailing his frame. Luke appeared directly in my father's path, catching him with a grab to the throat. Zeus was now the one choking in Luke's grasp with no escape, a complete mirror of was happening earlier. "Now, all of that is over, 'son.' Now, it is time for Kronos, Lord of The Titans, to once again rule the universe."

Luke held Aposynthesi over his head, the chaotic scythe gleaming with power and chaotic energy. "Die." Luke swung Aposynthesi down on Zeus critically injured form, but before his weapon could make contact, The New Titan of Time was hit directly in the chest by a sea-green aura blast. Luke grunted in pain as he was sent flying several dozen meters. Luke looked up to whoever had just stopped him from killing Zeus and glared. "Poseidon."

Said god of the seas stared directly back at Luke, a bright sea green glow in his eyes. "'Father.' Or should I say, Luke Castellan." Poseidon's form was completely different than how he normally appeared back in the Olympian Throne room. Rather than the goofy khaki shorts and Hawaiian shirt he normally wore, Poseidon was completely decked out in some kind of turquoise Greek armor, complete with a bright blue cape and sea-green plume in his helmet. Poseidon had his left arm outstretched, containing and protecting the critically brutalized form of Zeus inside.

Luke practically rolled his eyes at Poseidon's words. "Your brother said much the same when he faced me a year ago at Camp Half-Blood. Playing second best even in matters such as this, Poseidon?" Poseidon's brow furrowed at Luke's words, and in a near instant, his entire frame was covered in a giant water avatar version of himself, completely coated in the sea-green aura of his and Percy's.

Luke looked up at massive water avatar, not a care in the world visible on his face. Hell, he almost looked amused. "Cute, Poseidon. However, let's not bother with the pleasantries. We both know you're no match for me. You never were, and especially not now. Not when I have this." Luke motioned towards Aposynthesi. "Hand over the King of Olympus. If you do, I'll spare your life and forgive you for attacking me. Hell, if you swear loyalty to me, I'll let you keep the seas."

Poseidon obviously didn't even entertain the thought. "Not a chance, Castellan. Me and my brother have had our differences over the eons, but I would never be such a craven to betray him to vile trash such as yourself." Poseidon pointed his trident at Luke, his sea-green aura coating the weapon. "Surrender. Your horrendous crimes end here. Give up peaceably, and I won't destroy you."

Luke's face was completely deadpan for a couple of seconds, before he burst out in completely insane laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Luke wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling at Poseidon's words. "Heheheh, now that was funny." Luke looked at Poseidon, sadistic glee in his eye. "Destroy me? With Destroy me? With your pathetic strength? You and what army?"

Another, incredibly familiar voice I hadn't heard in over three years rung out from the shadows of the stormy sky. "An army is not required to defeat you, Crooked One." A ten-foot tall, cloaked figure melded out of the shadows themselves, taking off a bronze hoplite helmet. The obvious divine figure had long, jet black hair, complete with a boney crown made from gold on the forehead. Hades, the Lord of the Underworld and The King of The Dead.

Luke's cocky and arrogant grin completely vanished at Hades' appearance, the gravity of the situation starting to dawn on him somewhat. "Hades. My other 'son.'" Luke looked in-between the injured form of Zeus, the sea-green aura covered frame of Poseidon, and the shadowy tendril surrounded form of Hades. All three members of The Big Three together in one place.

Hades' human like form suddenly shifted, growing larger and larger to the same size of Poseidon's water avatar. His frame melded away into shadow, looking exactly like how he did when I fought him in the underworld all those years ago, except now he had bright, burning red eyes. Luke didn't even blink at Hades' transformation, but he looked completely serious.

Hades' bright, massive red eyes stared down on Luke's sickly orange aura covered frame. "Surrender, Castellan. I will give you this one and only chance, like my brother did. If not, the fires of Tartarus will burn you for eternity." Hades' voice was now deep and echoey and seemed to drown out almost any other form of sound.

Luke's signature smirk appeared back on his face. "Oh? You actually think I would go for that? Really?" Luke chuckled slightly, before staring right back up at Hades' massive, shadowy frame. "You are just as naïve as your brother, Hades. And even weaker as well. Even with the two of you together, you stand no chance at defeating me. Hell, you couldn't even defeat Zane Williams, and he's only a demigod."

Poseidon's brow furrowed at Luke's words; no doubt pissed at being called weaker than a mortal. "We, in fact, do understand that, Castellan. You are immensely powerful, and that cursed scythe only makes you more so, at a frighteningly alarming rate. However, we came prepared." As the words left Poseidon's mouth, all around him, flashes of gold filled the sky.

As the flashes of gold faded away into nothing but dust and powder, eleven familiar forms floated in the sky behind Poseidon. The rest of the Thirteen Olympians. The first familiar sight I saw was Ares, in his twenty-foot-tall form with his burning back blades already brandished. Beside him floated Athena, clad in full Greek battle armor along with a xiphos and a shield with the image of Medusa on it, completely coated in a bright orange aura, completely different to Lukes.

More Olympians had materialized behind Poseidon, including gods like Dionysus and Hephaestus, who were usually the most preoccupied of the Thirteen Olympians. Hermes, Apollo, Helios, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter. They were all here, all to face down their enemy, Kronos.

Speaking of said Titan of Time, Luke looked at all of the Olympians with a sneer on his face. He was breathing heavily, his shoulder moving up and down incredibly quickly. "The Thirteen Olympians. You all stand before me, ready to try and fail to strike me down." Luke snarled, almost like an animal. "You have absolutely no idea how long I've waited for this." When Luke said that I could feel both his and Kronos' intentions in the words.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, as the legendary standoff took place. Kronos vs Twelve of the Thirteen Olympians. The demigod who became a Titan versus his parents. Eventually, the deadly silence ended, as it was broken by a ferocious roar from Luke, as a massive sickly orange aura erupted from his form. The auras of the Olympians surged as well, with each of them being a different, unique color.

Luke charged at the Olympians; his arms drawn back in preparation to swing Aposynthesi. The Olympians decided to meet his charge head on, with Hades and Poseidon leading the attack on who could technically be called their father. Poseidon's sea-green aura erupted around the point of his trident and was thrusted right at Luke's quickly approaching form. Right before the weapons of the two collided, the vision faded away.

(000)

I woke with a start; my brow being slightly matted with sweat. I was breathing slightly heavily, as if I was in a trance. I then wiped the sweat from my brow, before sighing and pulling myself out of bed. It had been the third time this week I'd had that particular vision.

What I just dreamed about happened about one week ago. Camp Half-Blood had been sent news that The Olympians had engaged Kronos, and Zeus had been grievously wounded in the battle somehow. We didn't exactly get too many specifics in the message, and the only other piece of information we were given was that Zeus was now in a coma and Kronos had escaped.

Then, that night, I had the vision that I just woke up from. I was given the exact scene of my father nearly being slain, and Luke facing down the other Olympians after he brutally maimed my father. It had been a repeated dream I'd had this week, and the fact Luke had grown powerful enough, or at least smart enough, to face down my father and come out on top was terrifying.

I walked into the bathroom of my cabin, trying to rub the tiredness from my eyes. I looked at myself in the mirror, noting how I'd changed in the past six months from when me and Matt had chased Luke throughout the multiverse.

For starters, I was even taller. I stood at a solid six foot five, easily being the tallest person in the entire camp, even taller than Beckendorf by a good few inches. My size and muscle mass had increased a well, with me being over two hundred and forty pounds now, a side effect from the intense training I had put myself under over the past few months. My hair was longer again, with a couple of braids in the sides like how I used to style it and my beard was thicker and more well-kept and trimmed. If I squinted, I'd say I looked exactly like my father, just missing the speckles of grey in my beard that he had.

I washed my face off and hopped into the shower, getting a quick wash before starting the day. After my showed was finished, I walked back into the main room, quickly dressing into a decent outfit. I threw on an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, along with some simple jeans and black, fingerless gloves. No need to throw on my armor today.

I walked over to the corner of my room, grabbing my weapons. I threw Prometheus' sword into a sheath on my back and put Thymos into its sheath on my waist. I grabbed my last weapon, my newly acquired Keravnos. I stared at the weapon, using my aura sensing and emotional sensing on the weapon. It absolutely reeked with the blood of innocents and friends, figuratively speaking of course, far more so than my old Keravnos once did.

You see, this celestial bronze axe wasn't actually my Keravnos. My old axe had been completely destroyed by the Titan, Atlas, in my first encounter with him and I had gotten several other weapons since then. This copy of my axe belonged to Sinister Zane, an absolutely vile alternate version of myself that me and Matt killed. I saw each and every person Sinister Zane murdered with this weapon in his memories, and I promised myself I would fight in their name against future opponents with this axe.

I threw Keravnos on my second back sheath, the weapon clanging against Prometheus' sword. I pushed open the door to my cabin and walked outside, smelling the late summer breeze along with the burning sun in the sky. I walked towards the pavilion, my stomach grumbling with hunger.

I plopped down at my table, sitting almost completely alone. I had been the first to arrive, and half the people who do sit at my table are currently busy right now. I downed the drink I was given by one of the Nymphs in a single gulp, almost wishing it was alcohol at this point. Eventually, a form sat down at the table across from me. "Grover."

The now nature god nodded back at me, biting into a soda can. "Zane." Grover had massively changed since the events of the whole Labyrinth last year. For one, apparently, he was a god now. He and Pan had done the whole fusion thing that Kronos and Luke had undertaken, and since Grover initially didn't have a soul, the process was instant.

Grover now had Pan's soul, and Pan existed in Grover's inner mindscape in some regard. Pan apparently could have taken control of Grover with no trouble, but he had willing given up his own existence in a way, so Grover could not only take his place as god of nature, but also to help us during the Battle of The Labyrinth.

Grover now looked completely different, standing even taller than me at six foot six and having a very similar frame in terms of muscle mass. Grover's horns were now fully grown on the top of his head, and his face was more mature and masculine. His voice was even older and deeper too. He wasn't very powerful, being a little stronger than base Nico, but that was pretty insanely powerful when compared to most beings. Nico was stronger than most minor gods, even in his base form.

"Heard anything from Arthur and Percy lately? Any word on their mission?" Percy and Arthur were the two selected to destroy the Princess Andromeda, you know, the ship me and the gang snuck on back during the whole Sea of Monsters quest. The ship served as a base of operations for Luke and a large chunk of his army, and apparently, they were sailing to Manhattan from Mt. Othrys to begin the final battle in Manhattan against Olympus.

Grover shook his head. "No. Nothing yet, even after four days." I inwardly cursed. Percy and Arthur were two of my best friends, which Arthur just very recently entering my close circle of people. The story about why Percy was there was obvious, but Arthur was a different story. Let me recount what happened.

(000)

(Flashback, Two weeks after BoTL)

It was about two weeks when the Battle of The Labyrinth came to a close. I had defeated Prometheus, my father stopped Luke, Percy came back to life, and I broke up with Taylor and Nico. Well, Nico had definitively broken up with me, Taylor just said he needed some time. I was willing to give him all the time he needed. I hadn't heard from him since.

I didn't really have too much time for him anyway, even if we were still talking. I had taken a leadership position in camp, especially after I definitively became the Child of The Prophecy in light of me now technically being older than Percy due to his temporary death. I was now in charge of addressing the campers along with Chiron, training them to be fighters, and leading them in battle when the time came for it.

I was currently swamped right now in my cabin, as I always lead the strategical side of the war along with Chiron. I had to sift through letters, notes, Titan war plans from spies, spy accusation notes, troop upkeep costs and a shitload of other tedious and annoying things. I had to bite back a groan as I read a letter from an Olympian scout, which was shared to me by Olympian forces. I needed a break.

A break came in the form of a knock on my door. I nearly jumped from the seat of my new desk, which was flooded with important papers and notes. I got up from the chair, wondering who besides maybe Chiron could be needing my attention for something. My heart leaped a bit in my chest, hoping that it would be Taylor, finally ready to talk to me.

My hopes were dashed in the form of it not being Taylor at all. It was Arthur Wayne, son of Helios. My eyebrow raised. Arthur? What did he want, and what was he doing here? "Arthur?" I asked, both of my eyebrows raised in surprise. "What can I help you with?"

Arthur, who hadn't changed at all from the events of The Labyrinth, shook his head. "Nothing, or at least, not anything you'd usually handle. No campers arguing or fighting today." Arthur referenced my leadership duties, which consisted of dealing with insubordination and in-fighting at times. Arthur sighed a bit. "I just want to talk about a few things."

I looked at the son of Helios in surprise, wondering what could have spurred this on. "Uh, alright then. Come on in, then." I motioned Arthur inside the cabin, closing the door behind him. I saw Arthur analyze my cabin, especially focusing on the messy desk placed in the middle of the room. "Sorry everything is so messy, didn't expect anyone to visit me today. Well, besides Chiron, but he doesn't care nowadays."

Arthur shook his head again. "No, it's fine. I shouldn't have come on such short notice. We have anywhere we can sit down?" I pointed at Thalia's old, dusty bed that hadn't been used in over six months. Arthur didn't bat an eye at the old bed and plopped down on the dusty comforter. Arthur then took a deep breath as I sat down on my respective bed. "Okay, let's go ahead and get to the point. I'm sorry."

I raised an eyebrow at Arthur's words. "You're sorry? For what?" What exactly was Arthur talking about here? I know we'd already had several talks and discussions in the past, most of them heated and about Taylor, but we were both in the wrong about that.

Arthur began to speak. "I'm sorry about everything I said back before the quest. What I called both you and Taylor, how I acted and just generally everything. I've been a child and let my jealously and anger get the best of me, as well as possibly endangering the quest. I apologize."

I shook my head and waved off Arthur's apology. "Man, you don't have to come in here and say all that." I sighed. "Look, dude. All of that was partially my fault. I shouldn't have been so aggressive and mean to you about everything that happened, especially after you got your heart broken." I looked down at the ground. "If anything, you should still be mad. I stole your boyfriend from you, and I broke his heart, making the entire thing useless. It's all my fault."

It was Arthur's turn to shake his head now. "No, Zane. It's not all your bad. Like I said, I acted childishly and should have been much more mature about the situation. Taylor explained that to me and more when we were looking for Pan back in the Labyrinth." Arthur looked at me. "We got off on the completely wrong foot. I was terrified of you after you destroyed the Clashing Rocks back in the Sea of Monsters, and I might have ostracized you in my mind after that."

I shook my head. "Dude, I don't blame you for that. I'm powerful and being powerful can terrify most people. Also, I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind during that quest. I definitely probably terrified you way more with all the brutal murders." I sighed again. "Look, we have a lot of history between us, a lot of bad blood, but that can all be water under the bridge from now on. Can we just start over?"

Arthur didn't even have to think about it. "Yes. We can." Arthur held out a hand. "Let bygones be bygones?"

I took the son of Helios' hand. "Let bygones be bygones." Me and Arthur shook hands, and everything that had happened between us in the past was all completely buried, never to be spoken of again.

(End Flashback)

(000)

Ever since then, Arthur had actually become my friend. Not just an acquaintance or someone I knew, no, an actual friend of mine. Actually, one of my best friends, along with Percy. Now you can see why I was so worried that we hadn't heard anything about their mission. "Damn." I let out with a sigh, putting a hand to my forehead.

To my left, I felt the air pressure shift slightly and someone sit down beside me. I turned to my left, finding Annabeth. "Annabeth." I nodded to her, taking in her appearance. She had seen better days, that was for sure, but she wasn't too unkempt. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was unbrushed, but that wasn't too uncommon for the daughter of Athena. I could tell she was definitely worried about Percy, though.

"Zane." Annabeth nodded back at me, taking a sip from a goblet on the table. She looked back to me, a tired look on her face. "Still haven't heard from them yet?" I shook my head, and Annabeth sighed and looked down on the table. "Why are they taking so long? They left camp days ago. They should have destroyed the ship by now. You don't think they failed, do you?"

I shook my head. "If they did, we would have heard about it by now. Something is wrong, and I can't tell if it's in a good way." I looked at the final empty seat at the table, devoid of its usual camper. "You all know where he is? He isn't normally this late to breakfast."

Annabeth rolled her eyes slightly, a bit of life returning to her expression. "Your pupil is probably in the arena right now. You know he wakes up early for training. Maybe he just got really caught up in it and forgot what time breakfast was at." Annabeth said the word 'pupil' very haughtily, mocking me on what I called my student sometimes.

I rolled my eyes in return. "I don't say 'pupil' like that, Annabeth. You know you're exaggerating." Annabeth waved off my accusations with a hand gesture, causing me to roll my eyes harder. "But you're probably right. He does tend to forget some things whenever he gets too deeply focused on getting stronger, especially when I showed him how strong his older counterpart was." I sighed. "I'll go get him after my address, which by the way, excuse me."

I got up and walked over to the middle of the pavilion to stand beside Chiron as he addressed the campers for morning chores and other activities, although he left all the military and war stuff to me, as I was the commander of Camp Half-Blood's forces and an official general in the 'Great Army of Olympus', which is what the weirdos on Olympus called it.

My address was short, as I just told which people to do border control and which people to train in the arena with me later. The hard military stuff wasn't in the pavilion, no, it was at my desk back in my cabin. That shit sucked.

I said goodbye to Annabeth and Grover, who had both left to do their own duties for the day as I was leaving for the arena to go collect my pupil. I sauntered quickly through the camp, making sure everything I walked past was in working order and that no campers were wasting time lollygagging. I walked into the arena, noting nobody had arrived just yet for training.

Except of course a single frame in the middle fighting square. The person looked incredibly familiar, having brown hair that spiked up in the front. He had brown, piercing eyes and a somewhat defined jaw. He wore a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, along with dark red gym shorts. He looked to be about twelve years old, and he was quite built for someone that age, weighing maybe one hundred and forty pounds.

I walked up behind the kid, who was currently training with his shark-bone spear. I coughed a bit, causing the kid to freeze mid-swing and quickly turn back around. I smirked at him. "I know you're normally late for classes and other camp duties due to your training, but missing breakfast? That's not like you, Matt."

Young Matt, who I had found in New York City six months ago when me and Matt returned from our multiversal journey to try and kill Luke, looked down sheepishly. "Sorry, Zane. Just got a little carried away in the heat of the moment." I looked at several cracked and destroyed fighting squares with a knowing look, causing Young Matt to blush a bit. "Okay, maybe a little more than a bit carried away."

I chuckled at Young Matt's quick words, before stepping into the fighting square with him. "There's nothing wrong with pushing yourself during training, especially in times like these." I looked at the young Son of Hercules seriously. "But you don't need to hurt yourself unnecessarily, like forgetting to eat or pushing yourself to the brink of death."

Young Matt looked down, shame clear on his face. "I just want to be as strong as the older version of me. You know, the one you showed me with your telepathy?" Young Matt sighed, before putting his shark-bone spear back into its necklace form. "I can't do that and get stronger without pushing myself."

I smiled at the similarities between Young Matt and Matt. The two were the same person, so it only makes since they would act very similar. "You will, Matt. Hell, at your age you're already a hell of a lot stronger than he was. He'd be proud to see how far you've come." So would Young Matt's father, but I wasn't going to say that aloud. Young Matt still had issues with him and his abandonment. "Just make sure to take care of yourself, alright? Can't get stronger if you're dead."

Young Matt nodded, and was about to leave the fighting square, no doubt to finally go get some food. I quickly held up a hand. "Wait." Young Matt looked at me, confusion etched on his face. "Since you're already here, show me how strong you are now. You've made leaps and bounds in the past six months, so I want a good idea how powerful you are, so I can adjust your training in the future."

Young Matt nodded, before clenching both of his arms and calling upon the Red Aura with a growl. Bright red energy erupted from Young Matt's form, looking very much like his older counterparts, just less intense and weaker. In terms of power, Young Matt was pretty comparable to his older self when he fought Ouranos on the Cursed Island. Six months of intense training definitely helped him grow to that level very quickly.

Although Young Matt still definitely had some issues. For one, the durability issue for unmastered Red Aura users. I, was not a master of the Red Aura, as I'd only used to one time and that was in a last ditch effort to survive against Prometheus. I didn't know the power in and out like Matt and Hercules did, even after looking through Matt's memories twice. While I picked up the aura steal from Matt by seeing it in person enough and through Matt's experiences, Red Aura was not so simple.

You see, it wasn't just some transformation like my Thunder Form or Malachi's full power state where we release our divine power and potential. No, it was its own thing. It was naturally filled with rage and anger, fueled by negative emotions. It wasn't a simple power up, and it showed that by the drawbacks an unmastered user has.

After a few seconds, Young Matt dropped the aura and wiped his brow clean of sweat. "How was that? How strong am I exactly?" I looked at the young Son of Hercules critically, thinking on how I can alter Young Matt's training program to fit his current level of power.

"You're about as strong as your older counterpart was when he finished his first quest. Which is pretty ridiculous, considering he beat someone he fought both Apollo and Artemis at once." Young Matt smirked at the evaluation, which made me frown a bit. I couldn't let him get a big head with all the power, not after knowing what I went through when that happened, not to mention the existence of King Matt. "I'll change your training plan and tell you what to do later. You go get some food and don't miss any of your camp duties, you hear?"

Young Matt nodded, before hopping over the fighting square guard rails and practically disappearing out of the arena in a burst of speed. I looked at the rapidly leaving form of Young Matt, a smirk on my face. I remembered how I met the young son of Hercules.

(000)

(Flashback to a few minutes after Zane left Matt to go 'do something')

"Thanks. I won't be long!" I did a corkscrew in the air and blasted off, leaving Matt floating above New York City. I flew off into the sky throughout the buildings of Manhattan, feeling like a superhero as I blasted through the air. I did feel a little bit guilty leaving the son of Hercules in the dark about what I was going to do, but it would be a bit better if he wasn't there for the entire thing.

I had a single destination in mind for the whole ordeal. A lone apartment in the middle of Manhattan. I reached into the memories Matt had shared with me during the two times our minds had been connected via my telepathy, trying to find the exact location where his old apartment was. After a few seconds, I found the exact apartment number in Matt's memories, and I bolted off in the sky towards the complex.

I raced through the apartment complex, moving so fast that absolutely no mortal could perceive my movements. I practically appeared in front of Matt's apartment, my speed creating tiny shockwaves. I looked at the apartment number on the door, which read 'three hundred and forty-two.' I could feel two distinct auras on the inside. A younger, much weaker version of my son of Hercules friend, and one that was the strength of an above average mortal. Three guesses who these two were.

I knocked on the door loudly but not with enough force to shatter to door to splinters. "Matt! Can you get the door, please?" I heard Young Matt's mother, Tracy Beckett call out on the other side of the door. I took a deep breath, slightly nervous as to how I was going to explain everything to both Young Matt and his mom.

"Okay, mom!" I heard a much higher and younger version of Matt's voice ring out from the other side of the door, much closer than his mother's had been. The door swung open after a couple of seconds, revealing Young Matt. He was very similar looking to his older counterpart, just no armor, no Viribus or Master Bolt, much weaker and younger, and no chin scar. He wore a dark red shirt, along with grey shorts. He even had the shark-tooth necklace, the one he got from killing that shark monster.

Young Matt looked at me very oddly, his eyes tracing my Universal Titanium armor, my massive sword, the gleaming Heavenly Diamond Morningstar of Thymos, Keravnos hanging on my back and my massive frame. He backed up a little bit at the sight of me, his hand going for his shark-tooth necklace. "W-Who are you? What do you want?"

I looked at Young Matt, all traces of my early nervousness gone, with a slight smirk. I crossed my armored arms and looked down at the young Son of Hercules, nearly towering over him by a foot and a half. "We have a lot to talk about, Matt."

(End Flashback)

(000)

That talk had been long, filled with exposition, mental linking and a lot of convincing.

Basically, after I said that, Young Matt had gotten really defensive, but I quickly talked him down. I explained to him who I was, where I was from, and what had transpired in the past few days. He was incredibly skeptical, as he really apparently disliked other demigods and the divine world in general, plus the general unbelievability of the multiverse stuff.

That quickly changed once I linked my mind with his via my telepathy, if a little unwillingly. I showed him everything that had gone down at Camp, the alternate universe with his older counterpart, the multiverse stuff with Luke, his father dying in Matt's universe, everything important.

Young Matt had been pretty shell shocked after that, and this was about the time his mom came by. Explaining to her was way easier, and she backed up my claims to Young Matt about his father not being a bad guy. After all the exposition had been explained, I told them I was here to bring Young Matt to camp.

Both of them were pretty much in opposition to that idea, but I quickly shut them up by telling them everything that would happen if Young Matt stayed. The Chimera would attack Young Matt and traumatize Tracy, Matt would spend the next two years alone, and then the Nemean Lion would show up, spurring Matt's journey for his six labors and to save Hera from Ouranos.

Their opposition had pretty much nearly died out after hearing that, and me proving it with my telepathy only made it die out even more. I then told them the next reason I sought out Young Matt, besides to save his mother from an awful fate, but to also make sure Luke never came for him either.

After all my explanation on who Luke was and how powerful he is, Tracy was completely willing for me to take Young Matt to camp. Young Matt was still in slight opposition, as he would have to leave his mother, but some convincing words from both me and Tracy made him drop it. I wisely didn't mention my third reason I came to get Young Matt, which was for his power. He had almost as much potential as me, and we would need that for the upcoming battle. Tracy wouldn't have like that reason, as it made Young Matt out to be some kind of child soldier. In a way, he would be.

When I left, I told Young Matt I'd be back to pick him up in a few days, as I had some stuff to take care of back at Camp. After Matt left for his universe after our legendary final fight, and a bit of paperwork I had missed in my absence, I came back to bring Young Matt to camp.

He had been in a shell of his own for a few weeks, not interacting too much with the other campers due to the ingrained mental state from his backstory, but I broke him out of that pretty quickly. As soon as we arrived at camp, however, I told him I would train him. Young Matt had been confused why I would give him my attention, but I showed him how powerful his alternate, older self was. He didn't ask any more questions after that.

Back in the present day, I stood in the fighting square, staring up at the sky for a few minutes, thinking about the intense training I had put both myself and young Matt through over the past seven months. While Young Matt had made leaps and bounds of progress, I was the one that really shined in terms of pure power now.

I was now easily well over ten times more powerful than when I was during the whole multiverse thing with Matt seven months ago, my biggest jump in power through natural training yet. My divine potential was really showing through, especially as I had put my body through hell. I had taken to some…alternate means of training, to get stronger.

That basically meant I went to other universes, fighting powerful opponents and training in harsh conditions and environments to gain strength. Hell, I even fought a version of that spiky haired short guy I killed when fighting Sinister Zane. I think he called himself Prince Vegeta or something like that. He was really powerful and had a lot of different forms that revolved around hair color changes. The royal blue and purple haired form of his were particularly very strong.

My base form was easily ten times the previous strength, which meant both my Thunder Form and Heavenly Thunder Form were that much stronger as well. I had to push myself to prepare for the upcoming fight against Luke, as I knew he was just going to get stronger and stronger welding Aposynthesi.

"Hey, Zane." A voice broke me straight from my thoughts, causing me to turn to the right. My eyes nearly widened when I saw who it was trying to get my attention. It was Taylor, my ex-boyfriend.

He looked…spectacular. His long red hair hung down to his waist, slightly curled and pretty fluffy, like he had put some kind of product into it. He still wore his normal outfit, oversized Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt, tight black shorts, red and white stockings, everything was generally the same. He had grown to around five foot seven, just a tad shorter than Annabeth was now.

Me and Taylor's situation was a little…kinda complicated. After the multiverse thing, we reconnected, somewhat. We were still awkward with each other, definitely. But we at least talked now. There was this energy between us, like some kind of longing for each other, but neither of us would act on it. We never said anything about it, mostly ignoring the fact that it was even there. There was so much history between us, not all of it good. We just…kinda pretended nothing was ever between us, but not really. See? Complicated.

I avoided his eye contact for a few seconds, before meeting them. "T-Taylor." I inwardly cursed at myself for stuttering but didn't acknowledge it outwardly. "What is it?" I tried speaking casually and just being myself, since you know, maybe that would start something up again.

Taylor didn't seem to notice the stutter, but his face was completely serious. "Zane, Percy and Arthur are back." My posture went from casual to completely tense and in 'leader' mode in an instant. Taylor grimaced slightly before turning and waving his hand to follow him. "They're at the pavilion now."

I followed Taylor out of the arena, my mind now no longer thinking about me and Taylor's relationship. No, I was in Commander mode now. Why had Percy and Arthur taken so long to return to camp? Why didn't they send word of their mission's success or failure? What the hell had happened? These questions went through my mind as I followed Taylor to the pavilion.

The pavilion was completely packed when me and Taylor arrived, with dozens of demigods standing around in a circle. In the middle, were Percy, Arthur, Annabeth and Chiron talking. The crowd of demigods turned their head at my approaching form, and they parted for me, some of them even bowing their heads slightly.

I didn't pay them any mind as I approached the group. They were silent, looking like they were waiting for someone. Likely me. Chiron's eyes found me first, although Percy definitely felt me coming before him, thanks to aura sensing. "Ah, Zane. Young Taylor finally found you. Good." He turned his head back to Percy and Arthur. "Now that everyone is here, tell us, what happened on the Princess Andromeda? Why did it take you two so long to return?"

Percy nodded at Chiron's command. "Well, the ship is gone. Blown to kingdom come, along with all the monsters on it." The campers nearby did a small cheer at the information, as that was likely several thousand monsters we wouldn't have to kill. "Bad news is that Luke is still alive." Everyone went silent at the news, although I could tell absolutely no one was surprised.

I took in Percy's appearance, noting how he'd changed in the past year. As was common with teenagers, Percy had grown even more, now standing at a respectable six foot two. His mass had increased as well, as he looked to be around two hundred and five pounds, all of it packed muscle. His patented man bun was still there, if not longer and thicker. His outfit had mostly remained the same, orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt complete with blue jeans and a blue open jacket sweater.

Arthur picked up for the son of Poseidon. "There's more, but this isn't the best place to discuss it." Arthur looked at me, and subtly tapped his head. I gave him a knowing look and reached into his mind with telepathy. 'There's a spy in the camp. Luke knew of our attack weeks in advance. We can't talk about everything here in front of everyone.'

Arthur had also changed in appearance from last year, too. He was taller as well, standing at a solid five foot eleven, just a few inches shorter than Percy but a head shorter than me. He had also packed on some muscle from the intense training we had done together, being around one hundred and eighty pounds. His hair brushed the tips of his shoulders, looking much like his father. He also wore the orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, along with a spear of dark blue athletic shorts.

I nodded. 'Agreed.' I sent back to Arthur, before turning to Chiron and everyone else. "Call a war council. We need to discuss what happened in a more…private area." Chiron immediately understood, before turning around and proceeding to do what I said, summoning all of the councilors to the Big House. I turned to Percy, before wrapping him in a bear hug before he could say anything. "Thank Olympus you're not dead."

Percy chuckled a little bit as he patted me on the back. "You know it'll take more than Luke and his monster army to kill me." Percy's face turned serious as our hug broke. "But for real, me and Arthur barely got out alive. I'm not kidding, they nearly fucking killed us."

My eyebrow rose. "They?" Who was they? None of Luke's monsters were strong enough to even come close to even tickling Percy, much less killing him. Who besides Luke could nearly do that?

Arthur once again answered for Percy. "Luke and Hyperion." My blood immediately ran cold as the second name came out of Arthur's mouth. Hyperion was an enemy I knew nearly as well as ones like Luke and Prometheus. Hyperion had been the first Titan I'd fought and killed, and he also reformed and fought both me and Matt over a year ago.

I tsked, before looking at Percy once more. "So, Hyperion is back once again, eh?" Either he'd reformed once more after Matt incinerated him with the Red Beam Cannon, or he somehow escaped to grow even stronger. My money was on the second outcome. "Is he back to his full power or coming close to it?"

Percy shook his head. "No. He's even stronger." My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He's…stronger than his previous full power? That was not good. Percy elaborated more for me. "Apparently, Luke trained with him or something over the past six months after everything that happened." Percy looked at me seriously. "I'd say he's about the same strength as you in your Heavenly Thunder Form.

I was silent for a second, obviously somewhat stunned from the information. Another being on the Titan's side I wasn't stronger than, even with Heavenly Thunder Form. That little tidbit was very concerning. I had put myself through hell, training myself to try and once again surpass Luke, only for him to still be stronger than me, and then another Titan is on my level. That was…discouraging.

I sighed, before shaking my head. "Well, nothing to be done about it. We'll simply have to deal with him, just like Luke." I motioned towards the Big House. "Let's get going to the war council. Maybe we can think of another plan or something there, maybe to have some sort of equalizer to them." Percy and Arthur nodded and began to follow me towards the Big House. I looked back where the crowd was a few minutes ago, hoping to see Taylor still there. I didn't.

We didn't walk in silence for longer than ten seconds, before one of us started talking again. "So, Percy. Your mom worried about you not being able to come home for the school year yet?" If you didn't know by now somehow, Percy spent the school year in Manhattan back with his mom and the summers here at Camp Half-Blood. So far, Percy hadn't been able to go back this time, as the war was in full swing now.

Percy smiled slightly, before shaking his head. "Of course she is. She's my mom, it's her job to worry. But she's being understanding. She knows what's going on, and she knows I have to be here to help. Comes with the territory of being second strongest in the camp." Percy chuckled a bit. "Hopefully we can beat Luke in time for me to be able to pass this year. Having to go to tenth grade twice would be embarrassing."

I chuckled at Percy's response. "Yeah, hopefully we'll be able to. If we can't, well, having 'I couldn't come to school because psychotic Titan Lord was trying to take over the universe' isn't a good excuse." My joke got a couple of chuckles from both Arthur and Percy. "So, you two been keeping up with your training?"

Percy nodded. "I have been. I've actually been pushing myself more than ever now, if only to keep up with you." Percy shook his head. "The rate you've been growing stronger is insane, Zane. No matter how hard I train, I can't seem to keep up with you in strength." Percy was right. Percy was maybe half my strength now, even after pushing himself to keep up with my insane regimen.

I clapped Percy on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, man. You're far stronger than you were six months ago. Hell, you could probably beat Prometheus by yourself, now. Just don't let my growth discourage you. I'm just a freak of nature, and apparently, I have infinite potential. I'm playing on easy while you're on medium."

I turned my head to the son of Helios to my left. "What about you Arthur? You mastering your new Cosmic Overload technique?" Okay, so a bit of backstory on that. Arthur found out a way to increase his strength level exponentially by charging his body with his light energy. He quickly found out his light energy wasn't actually light, but plasma, which was how it could damage things. He was wrong about the energy being light, apparently.

Arthur had three modes in his Cosmic Overload. Cosmic Overload: Solar Flare, where he channeled his body with only a small amount of plasma. It made him significantly stronger, faster and tougher. It also had very little downsides, although if he used it for several hours, it could internally burn him.

Arthur's second Cosmic Overload was Cosmic Overload: Gamma Burst. His Gamma Burst mode had him absorb significantly more plasma, enough that it takes him several seconds to charge it. The difference in power was staggering, likely increasing Arthur's strength by several thousandfold. The main problem with Gamma Burst was that Arthur could only hold it for about twenty minutes, before the plasma really started to damage him.

And Arthur final mode was Cosmic Overload: Supernova. In this third and last mode, Arthur channeled his body with an immense amount of plasma, enough to where it was large enough to completely dwarf his frame. The power increase was absolutely massive, giving Arthur easily enough strength to level the entire planet. The terrible downside was that Arthur could probably only stay in the form for a minute, before he would explode with enough force to destroy the Earth. We had never pushed the form to it's limits in training, for obvious reasons.

Arthur nodded at my question. "Yeah, I've been doing a whole lot better with the forms. I haven't tried Supernova since that first time we did it when you were with me, but everything else is stronger, and I can stay in the forms longer as well. I'm doing much better overall."

I nodded in affirmation of Arthur's explanation. "Good. We're definitely going to need it for whatever is coming next." My shoes hit the first step of the stairs of the Big House, finally arriving here after our brisk walk. "Alright guys, war council time. Be ready to tell us in depth of everything that happened." Arthur and Percy nodded, and the three of us stepped inside.

The three of us walked into the living room of the Big House, where all of the camp councilors were assembled in metal folding chairs around the pool table. Annabeth was the first person who caught my eye, looking much the same as she usually did. Close by here was Chiron, who was the only participant not sitting, as he was a centaur.

Everyone else was here too. Taylor was the next person who had caught my eye, sitting down to Annabeth left, holding his spear at his side. The other camp counselors were here as well. Charles Beckendorf, The Stoll twins, Katie Gardener, Pollux, and even Michael Yew, who had been appointed counselor of the Apollo cabin after Lee Fletcher died in the Battle of The Labyrinth last year.

The final person who caught my eye was my other ex-boyfriend, Nico di Angelo. Nico looked quite different than he had when I had last spoken with him, which had technically been when me, him and Percy had followed Iapetus into the Sea of Monsters. His hair was a little longer than it's previous medium length style, being a perfect fusion between his former long haircut and his medium one. He wore his normal outfit, black shirt with a skull, dark cargo jeans and his aviator jacket. He had a dark look on his face, something that had become common after we had broken up.

Percy and Arthur took two empty chairs along the side of the pool table, while I took a seat at the end, overlooking everyone here. I sighed, before putting both of my arms on the table up against my forehead. "Alright, everyone. I'm sure you're all aware of everything that's transpired in the past few days. It hasn't exactly been good news, so hopefully Percy and Arthur can change that. You two, go ahead and tell us what happened on the Princess Andromeda. In full detail."

Before Percy or Arthur could open their mouths, Chiron interjected. "Not so fast, Zane. We have something else we all need to discuss first." I looked at Chiron in confusion, wondering what could be so important to be spoken about first over the Princess Andromeda. Chiron snapped his fingers towards Annabeth. "Annabeth, give it here."

Annabeth nodded, before pulling a folded piece of paper out her pocket and handing it to Chiron. Chiron trotted over to me and handed me the slip of folded paper. I took the paper, looking at it with a confused expression. "What is this exactly?" My brow furrowed as I asked the centaur.

Chiron's response was dead serious. "The prophecy. The one about the fate of Olympus." My blood ran cold as the words left Chiron's mouth. Despite the fact I could effortlessly move planets with sheer strength alone, the piece of paper began to feel heavy in my arms. "Read it. Here, in front of everyone."

In this tiny piece of paper, the prophecy I had been waiting for nearly five years to know was written down. I looked at everyone, a look of anticipation and hesitation on my face. Everyone else mirrored my expression, and I gingerly opened up the folded piece of paper and began to recite the words written down on it. "A half blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, the hero's soul cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze."

Everyone was silent after my reading of the prophecy, as was I. I knew the part about reaching sixteen, as Luke mentioned it on the Princess Andromeda back in the Sea of Monsters, but other parts were new. What did the prophecy mean when it mentioned endless sleep? And cursed blade? Did it mean Aposynthesi? Or did it mean my newly acquired Keravnos? Or even Prometheus' Sword?

The second to last line of the Prophecy irked me. I was going to die, apparently? That didn't make any sense. In Matt's universe, Alternate Percy was the child of the prophecy, and he was still alive over there. Hell, he hadn't even died once like my Percy. Something else was going on here.

The silence finally broke. "Well, that's just cheerful, isn't it?" Pollux, Dionysus' now only surviving son let out with a sarcastic tone. Pollux looked just like his father, only younger. He stood about five foot seven, and he had the exact same haircut and brown eyes as his father did. The only difference was his age, and the fact that he wore modern clothing.

Travis Stoll, one of the Stoll twins, answered the son of Dionysus. "You think?" The son of Hermes was trying to cheer everyone up after the reading, but completely failed. He quickly got serious after his failed attempt of a joke. "Well, what exactly does all the lines mean?"

It was Annabeth's turn to chime in. "Well, the reaching sixteen part is obvious. It's been stated constantly that if a Big Three demigod reaches sixteen, they become the one the prophecy speaks about. It was going to be Percy, but because he was…not alive for a couple of months, he isn't actually physically sixteen yet, exempting him from the prophecy."

Arthur chose to speak now. "And Zane's sixteenth birthday is in nine days. Unless something happens within that time, he's going to be the one the prophecy speaks about." Arthur waved his hand. "But we all know this. Let's talk about the other lines of the prophecy, the ones that are less obvious. Let the next one."

Taylor took the floor. "'See the world in endless sleep.' There are two gods whose domains focus on sleep and dreams. Hypnos and Morpheus. Two gods whose loyalties to Olympus are shaky at best, according to Mr. D. Maybe they've finally moved over to Luke's side and will assist him in the final battle?"

I nodded at Taylor's speculations. "You're right, Taylor. Or at least what you're saying makes sense. Hypnos and Morpheus are likely to betray us, if they haven't already." I put a hand to my bearded chin. "But what about the next line? 'Hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap.' What does that exactly mean?" I had a few ideas, but I wanted everyone's opinion.

Chiron had an explanation. "Well, when Percy seemed to be the candidate for the position of Child of The Prophecy, I believed the prophecy had been talking about Anaklusmos. That weapon had done a lot of people hard and wronged many parties in the ancient times, particularly in the hands of Heracles. But now that you are the one the prophecy speaks of Zane, I am unsure."

I sighed. "I'd have a feeling you'd say that…" I took a deep breath, ready to go on an explanation. "I think it could be three possible things. One, Luke's Heavenly Diamond Scythe, Aposynthesi. It was forged on the former handle of Harpe, which could shred and damage your soul, according to myth and the word of some monsters. Maybe not the most credible thing, though."

I tapped one of my fingers on the table. "The only other thing I could think of is Prometheus' sword and my new Keravnos. I don't know what Prometheus did with this giant blade, but it couldn't have been exactly happy and noble, considering he was working with Luke." I took Keravnos off my back. "And I've already explained to everyone the horrible things done with this version of my old axe."

Everyone was silent for a second, no doubt thinking back on the horrible travesties I had described Sinister Zane doing with this weapon. Percy was the first person to speak up. "What about the final line? I think I know about that one." Everyone looked at Percy in confusion. "Back during the whole Atlas quest, when we still had Thalia with us, Thorn was very keen on trying to get Thalia to sacrifice Bessie, or the Ophiotaurus. Maybe that has something to do with it?"

Chiron put his hand to his own bearded chin. "Hm. You may be on to something right there, Percy. Hold onto that thought." Chiron shook his head. "But enough about the Prophecy for right now. We could sit here and speculate until Luke destroys Olympus and still find no answers. For now, Percy and Arthur, explain what happened on the Princess Andromeda in full detail, please."

Percy took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Alright. It first started with the two of us riding Blackjack there and sneaking aboard the ship. As everyone knows, the plan was to stealthily make our way to the boiler room and destroy it, causing the ship to be destroyed as well and getting rid of the army of monsters on the way to Manhattan. But everything did not go as planned, not even close."

Arthur picked up for Percy. "We made out way through the ship, avoiding the attention of all monsters and traitor demigods. However, when we made it to the boiler room, Hyperion was waiting for us." Everyone except for me hitched breath. They all remembered when Hyperion showed up in camp over a year and a half ago to fight me and Matt, and the time over three years ago when he nearly killed me in front of everyone.

Percy nodded. "He easily knocked us out and brought us up above deck to Luke and all the monsters. I stood no chance against him, as he's regained all his old power and even more. He's actually stronger than Atlas now." Everyone was silent at Percy's proclamation, especially the people in the room who had experiences with the now dead Titan of Endurance.

Arthur continued for Percy once again. "After Hyperion brought us to the top deck to Luke, he spoke to us. Or, more like monologued for ten minutes about how pathetic we were and how we were so foolish to every believe we could get away with destroying his ship. After that, he had Hyperion try to kill us."

Percy scoffed. "Hyperion is just as maniacally stupid as Luke. He gave us a chance to fight him, to show him if we were even worth killing with his spear. The two of us stood absolutely no chance against, but Arthur managed to slip away while I gave it everything I had against the Titan."

Arthur nodded. "That I did. Surprisingly, neither him or Luke noticed. They were likely too focused on Percy to even care I was there. I made it back to the boiler room and blew the thing to Kingdom Come with my Light Blasts. The whole ship blew up, taking out Luke's monsters and allowing me and Percy to escape." Arthur winced. "Taking the explosion point blank stung like a bitch, though."

Percy picked up for Arthur. "After the ship blew up, I managed to grab Arthur and escape underneath the water. I'm not sure if Luke or Hyperion knew where we went, but they likely wouldn't have gone directly into Poseidon's domain. But…if they did follow us, we'd be dead. I have to explain something, something not good at all."

Percy then went into a deep explanation of how he and Arthur somehow ended up in Atlantis after the ship explosion, likely being quantum tunneled there by Poseidon or something. Apparently, Atlantis was under siege by Titan forces, specifically ones from Oceanus. That had surprised me. How had Oceanus gained enough strength to directly challenge Poseidon and his army, especially after being defeated by younger Percy on Barnum Island?

Percy explained that as well. Poseidon had been heavily weakened in the past year. Mostly, due to Typhon. You see, Typhon escaped last year from his imprisonment in the Labyrinth quest, when me, Percy and Prometheus clashed inside the mountain he was imprisoned in. He had vanished from his prison and taken to the stars. The Olmypians had been tasked with dealing with him, as my father had to be on Olympus to run the war effort, otherwise Typhon would likely be dead already.

Poseidon, likely due to this, was much weaker than he should have been. And coupled with the fact that his domain was under attack from Oceanus and at chaos due to the war, he was a shell of his normal self. Hell, Percy said that he himself was actually stronger than his father at the moment. That was not good.

Percy sighed after his explanation. "So that's basically it. My father is down in Atlantis, heavily weakened and facing off against Oceanus' forces. He's not going to be able to help us until he wins, and that could be in months. We're basically on our own in that regard."

I scoffed. "We're basically on our own period, right now." Percy and Arthur looked at me in confusion, prompting me to elaborate. "You two have been gone for a little bit. I'll make the explanation short. Typhon's back on the planet now." Percy and Arthur immediately went rigid. As I had said before, Typhon escaped and left the planet, although the Olympians had still been hounding him.

I sighed a bit, rubbing my hand through my hair. "He returned about a day after you guys left, a couple of days after Luke nearly killed my father. He likely sensed Zeus was nearly dead and heavily weakened and decided to come back. He's been causing chaos throughout the states, destroying cities and leveling mountain ranges. The gods have been trying to contain him, but without my father or the other Big Three, they're basically flies to him." I scoffed. "He could easily destroy the universe several times over, but he's indulging himself with small scale destruction. Lives up to the name of 'Father of All Monsters.'"

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, the reality of the situation really laying into us. My father was nearly dead, crippled by a Heavenly Diamond weapon and in a coma. Poseidon was heavily weakened, forced to fight a war on his own doorstep and unable to bring his attention anywhere else. Hades was pretty much absent; Olympus knows what he had been up to after confront Luke with the others. And the other gods were being thrown around by the most powerful monster to ever exist.

On the other side of the spectrum, Luke was the most powerful he'd ever been, complete with even more mastery with his powers and his Heavenly Diamond weapon. Hyperion was back, stronger than he's ever been and ready to serve Luke. Typhon was back as well, causing chaos and using the gods as playthings while he practically tears the planet apart. And behind these three was no doubt another army of monsters and dark demigods.

The situation looked pretty bleak. Our side basically only had me, Percy, Nico and Young Matt as the heavy hitters. We only had around two hundred demigods at camp, with a good portion of our previous number either dying in the past year or defecting to the Titans. The Grand Army of Olympus was no doubt in shambles, as Zeus was comatose, Poseidon and Hades were absent, and the other gods were Typhon's punching bag. It was pretty much one hundred to one on the scoreboard, and we were definitely not the winning team.

Finally, someone spoke, and it was the last person I expected to do so. "So, we're pretty much fucked. Any idea on how to fix that?" The one who spoke was Nico, who had remained completely silent throughout the entire council, no doubt absorbing the information. He looked at me with a expectant look on his face, no doubt expecting me to have no answer.

And he was right. I didn't really have anything concrete. "No. I'm not going to lie to anyone here. The situation is pretty bad. We're basically on our own against Luke and his army. Not to mention Typhon, who will likely be at Olympus in five days given his current trajectory, is on our doorstep. If anyone had any idea about what to do, now would be the time to speak up."

Predictably, no one said anything. I sighed, expecting the lack of answer. Nico looked at me like he was also expecting what I just said, a deadpan look on his face. "Well, we can't just give up. If it means fighting the Titan to our last breath, so be it. I'm not expecting anyone here to fight alongside me, as I'll do it alone if I must. But I would definitely appreciate the help." I looked around at everyone, who still didn't say anything.

I sighed again. "Well, I guess that's all we had to discuss. Council adjourned." Everyone started to stand up and leave, with Nico being the first gone, thanks to his shadow traveling. I stood up and paced a little bit. That went about as well as I expected. I knew the situation going in, and the prophecy did not help that whatsoever.

My eyes trailed a bit to the left, spotting Taylor sitting outside on the deck at one of the pinochle tables. I had the strong urge to go out there and sit with him, but I started to crush it. What had happened between us was probably over, especially after what I did. But then, I remembered what had happened upon my return from Young Matt's apartment. How the son of Ares had hugged me then.

I then took a deep breath, gathering all the courage and willpower within myself, before opening the front door of the Big House, intent on rekindling the fire me and Taylor once had.

(000)

Alright, y'all. First chapter of the Legendary Last Olympian is done. Sorry this one took nearly a month, I was busy with my bf and got a new job, once again lol. This one was a hell of a lot of fun to write, especially the opening scene. I've decided to try my hand at a few flashbacks, not sure how well I handled it.

Anyway, I'll discuss one final part of the chapter. Young Matt. I've already told Echoxenvy this, but Young Matt won't be super important, at least not yet. If you want to read about Matt's journey, go read Son of Hercules. Young Matt is someone I'll focus on a lot later, particularly in HoO. I introduced him for two reasons, one, to give Zane a student like character, and two, to further connect SoH and ZW. Echoxenvy thinks this is awesome, and I do as well. If you don't like it, well, don't worry. He won't be mentioned too much throughout the book.

Anyway, that's it from me this time. Can't wait to write some more, and I promise, it won't take as long this time. Later, y'all!