AN: I know that this breaks the updating cycle but I had an inspiration bomb for this story and now have pretty much the entire thing planned out while before I was writing my stories chapter by chapter and sticking to that. I don't know how long I will stick to just this story though.
Son of the Moon
Chapter 19
-Percy-
Finishing his roar he began wading out of the sea of golden dust that was once Polyphemus, accidentally hitting his foot on the beast's skull which got a round of laughter from his friends. After escaping the dust he saw Reyna and Hylla let down the Satyr, who he didn't recognize, while Bianca and Will brought over the smaller Cyclops. Pulling out a Hermes form he slapped it onto the skull which quickly vanished in a flash of light as he began smirking as the others looked at him confused "Where'd you send the skull Perce?" Will asked confused.
Smirking he replied "I thought the throne room of Olympus could use a new decoration…preferably one that has its pale white face facing a certain sea god's throne.".
Giggling at the thought of his latest prank Bianca quickly walked over and hugged his side as she snuggled into him and declared "A fitting prank for the Son of Artemis.".
At her words the Satyr gaped before falling onto his furry hindquarters in shock, "S-s-son of Artemis?!" the goat-boy exclaimed in a mixture of shock and disbelief "That's impossible! Artemis is a virgin goddess, she doesn't have children!".
Everyone, even the Cyclops, turned to look at the Satyr in stunned disbelief before they burst out laughing making the Satyr look at them all offended. "W-what rock has your ass been living under for the past year?" Nico chocked out through his belly shaking laughs, Bianca for once not hitting her brother for cursing due to the fact that she was laughing just as hard as he was.
"I was stuck in the Juvi circuit." The satyr said, slumping sadly at the memory "They stuck me in juvenile detention schools for the past few years to find any demigods in there and, once I finally found one, I was given my searcher's license. After a couple months I managed to track the power of pan to this island where I got captured last night.".
"It's the golden fleece, not Pan." He said with a shake of his head "And I'm guessing that on the circuit you were stuck in you don't get all the news?".
The Satyr gave them a deadpan stare "I was lucky to get a newspaper in the places they sent me." Causing Clarisse to snort.
"Well last year I was kidnapped by a son of Hermes who turned out to be a traitor and brought to camp. After stopping him and an irritating daughter of Athena who attacked me I was quickly claimed by Mom and brought before the council. Grandpa ended up giving his approval by the end while I was named a friend to the lines of Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, and Hermes. I even went on a quest to recover Grandpa's stolen Master Bolt and fought the traitor Hercules. Now we were sent here to recover the fleece and heal Thalia's poisoned tree." He explained the past year to the Satyr who paled and gasped at the last piece of information.
"Thalia's tree was poisoned?!" the Satyr demanded in horror "When?! Who?!".
"The traitor I mentioned poisoned it a couple weeks ago." He said noting the Satyr's reaction and wondered if the goat-boy had known her.
"Oh no," the Satyr gasped out, still shaken before a look of horror crossed his features "I can't imagine how Annabeth and Luke reacted to this.".
At those two names they all, bar the Cyclops, winced drawing the Satyr's attention as he shot them a confused look before Beckendorf turned to the Satyr "Luke Castellan is the traitor who kidnapped Percy, Stole the Master Bolt, and poisoned Thalia's tree. Annabeth is one of the most arrogant and disliked demigods at camp. She used to be tolerated and actually liked to an extent but she was too vehement in her proclamations of Luke's innocence after he was revealed as a traitor and she continually tries to order around the most powerful demigods at camp.".
The Satyr gaped for a moment before glaring "You're lying, I don't believe you.".
Shrugging he turned from the Satyr and walked out of the cave, an arm wrapped around his girlfriend who was still snuggled into his side while the others quickly followed him, leaving the Satyr behind as he called over his shoulder "Believe me or not, I really don't give a damn. I intend to finish my quest and then go home.". Getting to the bridge that led to the fleece and the demon piranha sheep he paused before smirking and asked "Hey Will, Bianca, you two up for a little friendly archery competition?". When they looked at him confused he pointed at the Sheep and said "Whoever gets the most kills wins!" before drawing his bow and began firing at every one of the demon sheep he could see.
"HEY!" Will yelled out in panic before drawing his own bow and firing like a maniac to try and catch up.
Laughing at them Bianca drew her bow and began firing as well while her voice carried merrily and she declared "Let me show you how it's done boys.".
After five minute of constant firing they put away their bows and crossed the bridge, arguing all the way about who had killed the most demon sheep while Amanda, Clarisse, and Beckendorf argued as well having placed bets on the competition while Nico joked around with Tyson who was slowly opening up to the son of Hades. After they recovered the last of their arrows, and agreed that the competition was a three way tie, much to their friend's disappointment due to the bets, before they turned to the Fleece and pulled it from the tree.
Quickly the Septem boarded the ship, along with a curious Cyclops, two Roman demigods, and a grumbling Satyr who avoided Tyson at all costs. Pouring his power into the vessel the legendary ship pulled away from the Island and was directed at Miami where he intended to figure out what to do with Hylla and Reyna. It took a full day of sailing to escape the demonic waters of the Bermuda triangle as they pulled the mist covered ship into port at Miami and they had to say goodbye to their two new friends.
"Where are you going to go?" he asked the two daughters of Bellona as they stood together on the show, only Tyson and Grover remaining on the ship as they weren't allowed to know the secret of Rome.
"West," Reyna said with a shrug as she adjusted the straps on a pack that he had built for her, an action copied by her sister "our mother came to us in a dream last night and told us of two groups we could join. One is the Roman demigod camp known as Camp Jupiter and the other is the Amazons. You mother agreed to give us backing along with your patrons.".
"I'm planning on joining the Amazons and Reyna is going to head to Camp Jupiter when we part in Seattle." Hylla picked up "We plan to take our groups by storm and climb to the top…Olympus knows you're going to need all the help you can get with all the trouble you tend to get into.".
At the teasing words he pouted "That's not my fault!" he whined, pouting further when the Roman demigoddesses began giggling and were quickly joined by Bianca, Amanda, and Clarisse making him pout further while Nico, Beckendorf, and Will were making a visible effort to not laugh. "Fine," he groused, crossing his arms and sulking, "I see how it is. Everyone pick on Percy day is it?".
Cooing at him Bianca ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek making him blush bright red while she said "Oh don't worry Percy…it's actually pick on Nico day but we felt Reyna and Hylla should get at least one chance to mess with you.".
Shaking off his embarrassed blush, and ignoring Nico's indignant squawk, he pulled Reyna into a tight hug before doing the same to Hylla and gazing at them seriously "Stay safe, both of you. If I hear that either of you got hurt then I won't hesitate to come over and bust some heads.".
"And he won't be alone." Beckendorf added, as the massive son of Hephaestus towered over the rest of them, pounding a fist against his chest while the rest of the Septem nodded in agreement.
The two gazed at them all thankfully and, despite the wetness in their eyes, Reyna said teasingly "At least we know a good way to get you lot to visit us.".
Shaking his head they all shared one last hug with the group before the two walked over to the road and called a cab to the airport, having been given enough money from their mother for their plane tickets. Turning he growled when he saw Luke Castellan prowling over to them along with a few guards, the traitor's ship having been hidden between two others.
Smirking he shot the others a look out of the corner of his eye and whispered "Follow my lead.", getting nods from them as Luke arrived and 'captured' them. They were lead onto the deck of the ship and, when it looked like Luke was about to go into the shockingly stereotypical villainous monologue, he threw a bunch of random pieces of junk he had in his pocket at Luke…or more importantly what was behind Luke. He had been using his pocket to hold some trash that he intended to throw away before heading back to camp including some empty candy wrappers, a couple of old nails from the ship, and mixed in with the trash were a few golden drachma.
Sending a silent prayer to Iris, a little trick he had picked up from Zoe, he saw three different Iris message images appear behind Luke's forces, one showing Olympus, one Camp Half-Blood, and the third revealed what was happening Grover and Tyson. Mentally he sent an extra prayer of thanks and a promise of a good sacrifice later when he saw that the rainbow goddess had muted the messages, at least for now, as he could see a ranting Annabeth in the Camp-Half blood mist form.
After a good ten minutes of Luke ranting, gloating, and looking the fool he finally decided to end the son of Hermes' torment and ask "Why is it that you people always feel the need to monologue?" causing the traitor, as well as the monsters behind him, to gape openly at the Septem before a smirking Nico jabbed a finger at the Iris messages a few times causing one of the monsters to turn in confusion only to yelp in shock at the sight of the glowing mist forms. The loud yelp from the bear like monster caused the others to turn and more exclamations of shock and horror to ensue as Iris removed her silence from the messages just as Luke slashed the strange steel and bronze sword through them.
Before the traitorous son of Hermes could start an entirely new rant he pulled out a new bow that his mother had made for him and fired an exploding arrow at the deck in front of Luke causing it to burst open as the blast blew Luke back into the pool while a pure black Pegasus regally flew from the opened hole followed by several other creatures, some of which fled away and others of which began attacking the forces on the ship.
Taking the opportunity to escape he yelled out "RUN!" and turned with the others as they ran over to their ship, not wanting to risk a full scale battle where mortals could be caught in the middle as well as how they needed to get the fleece back to camp. Arriving back aboard the ship they were met with a confused Cyclops and a distraught Satyr as the Queen Anne's Revenge sailed back into open waters and up towards New York and Camp Half-Blood. Along the way Nico and Bianca explained to Tyson what had happened while the Satyr, Grover, simply sat by himself to try and comprehend what had happened.
It took three days of sailing to reach Camp Half-Blood again and it was a relieved Chiron that greeted them at the water's edge before leading them to Thalia's tree, the rest of the camp seeing and following to celebrate the saving of the camp. As soon as the Fleece touched the first branch of the tree the effects could be seen and even felt as a wave of magic rippled through the camp, the barriers not only restored but strengthened by the ancient power of the fleece.
The camp celebrated long into the night and well into the morning, only Annabeth and Grover refused to join in, one still jealous of not being on a quest and the other still trying to absorb what all had happened. It was the third day though when something even he had not expected had happened. He and Bianca were guarding the Fleece, Chiron was being very picky about what monster would be selected to guard the magical item and the tree which protected the camp, when he felt a pulse of magic that was a mixture of the Fleece's and his grandfathers. The pulse was powerful enough to send him to his knees from the unexpected shock of it while he saw the lights to Chiron's room in the big house flare to life. Facing the tree he saw that the trunk began slowly splitting open but instead of looking damaging to the tree it seemed completely natural as the tree opened, much like a cocoon, and out fell a girl in tattered clothing with long black hair who looked to be around his age, or perhaps year or so older.
Catching the girl as she fell forward from the tree he saw Bianca kneel down and pour a drop of Nectar into the girl's mouth. Pounding hooves drew his attention as he saw Chiron galloping over while lights in the distance showed that the camp was awake. When the ancient Centaur reached them he froze in shock and gazed at the unconscious girl in disbelief. "Thalia." The trainer of heroes breathed in awe causing Bianca to gasp in surprise and him to nod in understanding, having had a suspicion about who it was.
Thalia was quickly put into Camp Life, once she had awoken anyway, and tried to catch up on what all she had missed in the years she was forced to spend as a tree. She spent most of her time with him and his friends which, while he enjoyed getting to know his Aunt, he was confused to see Bianca becoming more and more reserved as time went on but whenever he would ask her about it she would simply force him to drop the issue.
Finally it was the night before he would return to travel with the Hunt along with Nico and Bianca. Wanting to try and figure out why Bianca had become so secluded he had taken her on a walk through a monster free portion of the forest as they gazed at the moon and stars before laying down in a small clearing. He could feel that she was trying to work up the courage to tell him something so he stayed silent, knowing that anything he could say would only make matters worse and eventually she began speaking. "Percy," she said softly, and he was confused to hear her voice shaking as he turned to see her trying, and failing, to restrain a flow of tears "I…I don't think we should be together anymore.".
Those words stopped him cold as he gazed at Bianca, the girl he loved and would die for, tell him that she was leaving him. "Why?" he pleaded desperately "What did I do wrong?!".
His question only made her tears flow harder as she latched onto him and cried into his shoulder "Y-you're this amazing Hero," she choked out "you've done so many things. You're a living legend to everyone who has heard of you. You deserve to be with someone worthy, someone better than me. I know I can never be good enough for you no matter how hard I ever try. And I can see how Thalia looks at you, she is falling in love with you and she's far more…" he cut her off before she could finish, crashing his lips onto hers as their tears mingled, trying to pour all his love for her into that one kiss, trying to convey how much she meant to him. She seemed about to melt into the kiss, he could feel that she wanted to return it in earnest, before she pushed away and crawled back from him with a sob, "I'm sorry Percy," she cried "I'm sorry." Before she ran off towards camp.
He simply sat there, watching her run away from him as his tears fell. The moment she was out of his sight he threw back his head and yelled, his scream dwarfing his victory cry over the death of Polyphemus. His voice ripping apart the ground around him from the strength of his agony while he let loose his powers, trying to lessen the agony which he felt. The winds howled around him, flashing with lighting and roaring with the thunders and a hurricane of pain that swirled around him, ripping up the grass and dirt around him while the ground shook from an Earthquake that could be felt throughout the state of New York and beyond. As he screamed to the heavens his aura bubbled around him and began seeping into the ground, no longer simply luminous silver but had traces of sea green, sky blue, pitch black, blood red, metallic grey, bright gold, and pure white rise from his skin and swirl around him, a symbol of his parentage and his patrons.
Every monster who heard his yell knew fear from the power it conveyed and cowered in the darkest corners of their caves. While at Camp Half-Blood Chiron felt his own heart break at the pain the shout conveyed, Dionysus felt fear for what it could mean, Bianca felt her own already broken heart crack further, and the other demigods felt terror at what could cause such a yell. By the time anyone had reached the clearing though, all that was left was a leveled patch of forest…for Percy Jackson, the son of Artemis, was gone.
AN: Before anyone flames me I did this for a reason and it will be a big part of the next cycle of the story which covers the events of 'The Titan's Curse' so bear with me. I'll try to not leave this story alone for too long as I know that many of you will likely hate me for leaving this kind of ending.