The Child Of the Moon: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Disclaimer: I do not own the "Percy Jackson: The battle of the Labyrinth", as all rights are reserved to Rick Riordan, the name Balaque came from Keele and peele. The only things I own are oc's and the dragons everything else I don't.

Alert: This story will have a ton of oc's, suggestions will be appreciated in this story, so just leave a comment below and I might put it in my story. Other than that, guys please enjoy the story, and have an awesome day.

Cover image done by: xXCrazyBunnyXx on deviantart

Chapter 9: A Promise

When we landed, we ended up in front of the marble fountain, and as soon as we touched land we were immediately swarmed by guards. The guards were not shocked by the large dragon I was on, their only object from what I could see was for them to get me off and make sure I was okay. Which I found odd, I would've thought I would be berated, and scolded, but all I found were people wanting to check if I was at all injured. Another thing that surprised me was the fact neither my mom nor the queen of dragons was present. That is until of course I heard a roar over my head.

When I looked up I noticed a large white dragon flying over my head, and those around me immediately dropped down to a kneeling position all the while I was the only one standing, even the dragon that had mist rolling off its body dipped its head down as the large white scaled dragon landed at the foot of the stairs that lead to the great castle. And when the dragon landed, I was able to take in all of its features. The dragon had a soft look to it, but I could tell right off the bat it had a very deadly vibe to it. And all I could do was stare in awe and shock at the amazing creature. Now I have seen many dragons, most were trying to kill me but this one looked like it had more grace and beauty than any other.

The dragon had golden claws, it had two spiral horns that came out at an angle like a gazelles, at the base both horns were connected by a single bone like crest that formed like band only it covered the top of the forehead, and had a row of horns going all the way across the center of the band, the smaller horns going from smallest on each end to largest in the middle, and each horn held a jewel that was constantly changed color. The dragon looked heathy, not too lean and from what I could tell very little fat. The dragon's scales while white and could easily dirty up was pristinely clean. From the back of the dragon all the way down to the tail were two separate frills, but when the frills met the tail it stretched to where the frills created a leaf like shape to the tail, at the tip of the tail where the frills ended was bone, but the bone was shaped like a three bladed arrow head.

The dragon had two arms and two legs, the wings on the dragon were four in total, with all four made of a white membrane, and had golden claws on the ends on each wing, which was most likely used for latching onto things. Interestingly though in the center of the dragon's chest creating almost like a necklace was a diamond shaped crystal with three smaller crystals on both sides of the larger one in its chest, and all of them were constantly changing colors.

However, what I found to be the most striking thing about the dragon was the eyes. The dragon's eyes were an emerald green, with black reptilian pupil, and had mini squares surrounding and moving in a circular motion around the iris, all the while changing color.

Then within seconds the dragon that once stood in front of me changed into Jewel the queen of dragons. I knew it was her just based on the eyes alone, but I had never had the privilege to actually witness dragon form before. She briskly walked down the stairs ignoring the bowing guards and dragon and went straight up to me. She placed both arms on my shoulder looking me over cryptically and carefully, as if one wrong motion and I would shatter like glass. And it seemed when she was satisfied without a word, she gently grasped my hand and lead me back into the castle, and when I was the first to enter, she immediately shut the door behind me, and I was the only individual inside while she was out front.

But then I heard sobbing, I heard my mothers weeping, from down one of the many halls. I immediately started to make my way down the hall, till I was met with a room, it seemed to be a guest room of sorts. When I opened the door slightly, I was met with the sight of my mother clutching a photo in her arms, and from what I could tell it was an image of myself, her, and dad. It was a photo of us when we went to Yosemite National park for Christmas. Some elk had made their way to us while we were eating and the photographer had order us not to move a muscle, but the elk where in no way threatening in fact one had leaned its head up to me to pet it, it was funny because even at that age such a large animal struck no fear in me, instinctually every animal to me was just nonthreatening, and at the time I had no clue I was the child of Artemis. Needless to say, we got the photo, but it was more nervous smiles then exactly happy.

With a nervous sigh, I gently knocked on the door that I had opened and gave out a small cough.

My mother's head immediately shot up and looked at where I was standing and let go of the photo in her hands and rushed to me pulling me straight into a hug. And after a couple minutes she finally released me and spoke for the first time since I entered the room.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently.

I nodded my head. I was still distracted looking at the photo that had drifted onto the bed. She then turned her body too see what I was looking at and a small fond smile appeared on her face.

"Those sure were simpler times, weren't they? I remember that trip, as if it just happened yesterday. It was the first time we ever went to Yosemite. You were so excited, you were of course only six at the time, but when your father and I would see your little face just brighten up seeing the animals, it made us so happy. Haha." She said as smaller tears made their way down her face. "I remember how much of a fuss you put up when we told you Luna couldn't come. Luckily candy was a great enticement especially at that age. That and the promise she would get to go on the next trip with us. Its sad to know we won't be getting anymore of those trips…."

I looked up at my mother and noticed how her thoughts trailed off and had closed her eyes, with tears still streamed down her face. I gently wrapped one arm around her back and gave her a one-armed hug. From there we began talking about some of the trips we went on as a family, we talked about the sad, the happy, and the just plain funny moments we all had. I had at one point pulled out the photo album that Artemis had rescued from my old home and given to me when I first met her. Her face had brightened the moment she saw the album, and happily grabbed the album and we searched through it, looking at each photo and just began reminiscing. And no one interrupted us not at all. Everyone gave us the privacy we yearned for. And even though we were having a great time reminiscing, there was still an air of dread, the two of us still remembered the elephant in the room. But the two of us seemed to just nonverbally agree to just try to focus on fond memories rather then the thing that was bound to happen.

But as all good things do, they eventually come to an end. Time had passed as we were talking and having fond memories, we eventually looked at the time and found, that time was running short for my mother. It would soon be sunset, it was currently three-forty in the afternoon, and sunset was reaching at three-fifty-seven. She also looked at the time and a sad smile emerged on her face, she then held out a hand for me to take, which I did in an instant, and she then led me out of the room. We walked down the great halls of the dragon castle, and it seemed the queen was somewhere else along with her guards because the whole palace was empty, I guess the queen went all out for giving us some privacy, too leave the whole castle empty.

We walked until we finally reached a door that lead out the back side of the castle, when we were out back, it immediately took my breath away. Nothing but pure nature filled my senses. Amazing vegetation was growing, fruits, vegetables, herds of deer, with amazing patters that was just not natural for normal deer, their antlers seemed to actually be made of tree branches, but you could tell those horns are much more deadly then what they looked. But there were much more then just deer, there were creatures I thought extinct, creatures I didn't even know existed. And my mother seemed to not be affected at all, as if all of this was just normal for her, and she just continued to lead me through all of it, till we reached a bridge that went over water that seemed to emit a sea greenish glow.

"This is the tree of life." My mother whispered to me gently.

I lifted my head from looking down at the water, and looked up to find in the center of the circular river was a small island that was connected by the bridge we were standing on, and on the island were blooming grey flowers, with glowing blue centers, and in the center of the flowers were a large tree, carved in the center of the tree was the exact symbol that was on the armor the guards had, and that was portrayed on the castle. The tree also seemed to give of a healthy strong vibe, and it seemed to sway back and forth, its branches were really odd, if I narrowed my eyes enough, I could see a sort of blue glow constantly glowing out of the branches of the tree. And a beam of light was coming from the center and seemed to flow up into the sky disappearing into the clouds above.

"Its incredible, and gigantic." I muttered

And then she took a step forward, moving till she finally reached the base of the tree, and she went to her knees and placed both her hands together as if to pray. I slowly made my way forward stopping only inches away from my mother as a branch reached down and gently stopped me from reaching my mother.

"What the…" I muttered looking at the tree.

_Play on YouTube: Road to ninja: Ost extended _

"The tree is an entity of its own." My mother said gently not at all moving an inch, her eyes still closed. "My son, you have yet to realize just how connect you really are to this tree. I am sure Jewel will give you a more in-depth history, as to why this tree is so important to so many people."

"Mom?" I questioned.

"Its almost my time sweet heart." May said gently.

I looked up at the tree in a pleading way silently asking to let me go to my mother, and as if to answer the tree wrapped its branch gently around my waist and whisked me to my mother, where she seemed to finish her praying and she stood up whipping any tears that were flowing. She reached up to me with her hand that was starting to emit a multitude of colors and placed her hand on my cheek. She gave off a small sad smile. Her legs were beginning to form into different colored particles.

"I'm sorry sweetheart to be leaving like this. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you from the life of a demigod. I'm sorry I couldn't be here longer to watch you grow, to be a great man I know you will be. I'm sorry I won't be there for you for the future strife I know you will be going through." She said as tears were slowly coming down her face. "I'm sorry-"

I didn't give her a chance to finish, as I pulled her slowly disappearing form into a hug. "You have nothing to apologize for. I know this was out of your control. I promise to work hard, to have a family, I promise to do well in school. I promise to make every moment count. I swear I will try to be the best person I can be. I will make you proud mom, I promise." I said crying into her shoulder.

She smiled gently as her form was about to completely disappear and whispered. "I couldn't have wished for a better child; you have already made both your father and I proud."

When the last of the particles dissipated the tree put me back next to the bridge gently and returned to its original position. I leaned up against the bridge and looked up into the sky as the sky began to darken, with a sad smile on my face.

'I'll miss you mom.' I thought to myself.

_End song_

'She is not all gone kid you know that.' A said.

'You know it's not the same A.' I mentally responded.

'You need to give her a chance kid. She may not look like your mother, but she was technically the one who raised you, just in a different form.' A said.

'My mother had her own thoughts, her own feelings, and while part of her was created by Jewel, that does not make her Jewel. She is going to get her memories and feelings, that doesn't replace my mother.' I thought back bitterly.

'I'm not asking you to replace her. I am saying to give her a chance, as she has for you.' A said.

I didn't respond. I knew part of what Asura was saying was right. But I was in no way ready to even accept Jewel in any familial sense. But I knew Asura wasn't asking me to accept her right away, he was asking me to give her a chance to prove herself. Nobody could ever replace my mother, but that didn't mean I couldn't let others into my life.

I looked down and reached into my pant pocket and pulled out my phone. I had several texts from Ember. I felt a pang of guilt hit me, as I looked at the multiple messages. I looked down at the image I had set for her contact and clicked on it, and instantly I was taken to her phone number, which I then clicked iris face time.

"Blake! What in the hades is wrong with you! I have been trying to get ahold of you forever." Ember said heatedly, then her tone and face changed seeing my face full of pain and sadness. Her hair was in a mess, she seemed pale, and her one purple and her one black eye seemed to be duller then when I last saw her. "What's wrong?"

I took in a deep breath. "My mother is no longer with us."

"What! How?" Ember asked looking shocked.

And so, I told her, I told her everything that happened, about how my mother disappeared from the airport, about how she was connected to Jewel. I told her how my mother ended up going and the last few words that were spoken between us. I could tell Ember was between wanting to comfort and show how much sympathy she had for me, and at the same time give me a tongue lashing for not calling sooner.

Ember took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry for your loss, babe. I'm sorry nothing could've been done; I couldn't imagine how powerless you felt in that situation. Not to mention after just getting her back. From the few words we spoke between us, I know she was a fantastic person, and I am sure mother."

I nodded now looking away from Ember and into the now night sky, filled with stars twinkling so brightly.

"You know the stars here are amazing. We don't quite get any like this in New York. I am sure my mom would've liked them too." I spoke softly.

"I'm sure she would." Ember said back.

"You know when she was first gone, I built two graves for the both of them. My father and my mother's side by side. When I found out that it wasn't my mother, I buried but something else I was so relieved, but losing her again like this just makes it all so much worse. I'm just glad, she didn't pass from fire. That type of death would be painful and horrifying." I said softly.

"Yeah, its good her passing was one with no pain. But you now have to move on. Your mother wouldn't want you to be dwelling in bad times, I'm sure she would be wanting you to look back and see the happy moments you all had together. She would want you to live life, and enjoy it too its fullest, and perhaps from what you told me she wants you to give Jewel a chance. From how she spoke to you it seems, she thought of anyone to take care of you Jewel would be the best choice. She wasn't expecting you to replace her, but for someone to fill in the role while she is gone. And while it saddens me to say, I think giving her a chance like Asura has told you would be the best thing to do." Ember said gently.

I then felt a nudge from something large, it was a wolf, the size of a bear, its nose pressed to my shoulder, I patted its head with my free hand, its golden eyes lighting up with happiness. It had gold markings on its body, it had almost like flame markings going up from its snout and around its eyes, it had golden lines going in swirls on its body and down to its paws. Its fur white as snow. It then sat on its hind legs looking up into the night sky.

I continued to sit in front of it in silence, Ember also quite looking at the wolf in amazement. The wolf then let loose a howl into the night sky. Its noise like music, and to say the least many other howls began an amazing tune, one of both sadness and hope.

Well that's a wrap on this chapter. I hope you all liked it. I swear for now this is the last emotional rollercoaster. I hope you all enjoyed it. I really like how it turned out. And I'm curious on your own opinions, so make sure to leave a review on your thoughts/opinions, tell me whether you thought it was good, bad, whatever comes to mind.

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