"JACKSON!" a dozen very loud, very angry voices yelled, their combined sounds startling anyone who was near the vicinity of the Ares cabin, as said person stood on a hill that overlooked all 12 cabins of Camp Half-Blood with an amused look on his face. Around him Charles Beakendorf, son of Hephaestus, Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Dionysus and the Stroll brother's Travis and Conner, twin sons of Hermes rolled around him with laughter at the prank which they all had, save Beakendorf played. Their laughter was soon followed by the laughter of all the campers that had come out to check on what the commotion was and watched as a dozen fully dressed clowns (complete with wigs, makeup and red noses) armed with maces and swords, or in Clarisse's case, her electric spear Lamar and charged towards Percy as said demigod and his co-conspirators fled the scene…

Life had been good for the time traveling son of Poseidon when he returned to camp. In accordance with camp traditions he and Annabeth wore laurel wreaths to a big feast that had been prepared in their honor after which they went down to the bonfire, where they got to burn the burial shrouds that their cabins had made for them in their absence. As Percy had arrived too late to create a change in this particular event, his shroud was made by the Ares cabin who had taken an old bed sheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed out eyes around the border and the words 'The Worlds Biggest Loser' painted really big in the middle. Once again Percy took great pleasure in making it burn.

Since then however he had been doing his level best to befriend 4 of what the camp considered lesser cabins, the Hephaestus cabin who while respected for their skills in their fathers craft were considered as oddballs amongst the campers. The Apollo cabin, because in the eloquent words of the Aries cabin 'Archery and healing are simply for a bunch of sissies', the Dionysus cabin because even though there were just two off them Percy saw both great potential and loyalty in the twin sons of Mr. D and last but not the least the Hermes cabin, the home of the jacks of all and masters of none as well as the unclaimed demigods, who were the ones who felt the most resentment. If he let things go as they should have gone then it would be five years before they got the recognition that they deserved, as well as their place in the camp but Percy wasn't the kind of person to let things stay like that… especially after all the things he had to go through and the people he watched die during his last life.

The other cabins such as Ares' which according to the camp, the best warriors came from, Athena's, which according to the camp the best strategists came from, Demeter's cabin, whose campers were generally chosen to help in the day to day organizing of the economical part of the camp, and last but not the least Aphrodite's cabin… enough said, because even though there were a few exceptions like Selena blue, Piper McLane, Lacy and Mitchell (though Percy wasn't sure if those last two had joined camp yet) that cabin had practically earned and constantly proved that they deserved their name.

Then there were the other cabins, like Hera's which was always empty and Artemis', though the members of that particular cabin weren't siblings, rather they were a team of maidens, handpicked and rigorously trained by the goddess herself. They were the Hunters of Artemis.

And last but not the least there were the first and the third cabin's, Zeus's and Poseidon's whose children were constantly called as the strongest and the leaders off the camp… It was something that Percy despised as they were the ones that had the most pressure put on them. He remembered Thalia, who after the Hunters fell and the goddess herself faded, was constantly being chosen for aerial mission after aerial mission after aerial mission. Few knew of her fear of heights as she disguised it well enough and those who did didn't care… why? Simply because her father was the God of the Sky. Don't get Percy wrong, he was proud of his heritage, proud to be the son of the God off the Sea, but he truly felt that the Romans had it right when they divided their people into mixed cohorts and let their actions speak for themselves, instead of their parentage.

Speaking of Romans, Percy knew that he would have to find some way to unite the members off Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter. In the original time line Giga had used Hera's foolish plan to set the two camps against each other and there was quite a bit of bloodshed on both sides before Reyna and Nico managed to unite them. And the mistrust still remained well after the alliance was created… it was something that their enemies had taken advantage off time and time again. He knew he had to unite them, before Giga pit them against each other, but there was a dilemma here, he was a Warrior, not a Politician… However he knew someone that was both, and that person was none other than the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo. And that was where his first crusher pill went to.

It was quite simple really as all he had to do was quietly slip away after the camp sing along and slip into one of the rivers of the island. Follow it down to the sea and then swim out of the camp boundaries. Then he simply summoned his chariot and got them to shadow travel him to the Lotus Hotel and Casino. It took him exactly four minutes inside the Hotel (and eight hours in the real world) to find Nico, slam the pearl onto the kid, which knocked him unconscious. Steal a suitcase, empty it and stuff said kid into it before walking out off the casino with said suitcase and a Platinum Lotus Hotel card (hey, its a spoil of war!). After dumping the kid onto a deserted street and drenching him with some freshly summoned ice cold water they spoke, or rather planned briefly before Nico took one of Chronus's CP's and shadow traveled away and Percy made his way back to camp, just in time for breakfast.

Speaking of that son of Hades, while Percy made his way through the forest in order to escape his angry pursuers a hand suddenly extended out off the shadow and pulled him straight into it, shadow traveling him to where the son of Hades wanted him to go. Now don't get Percy wrong, he loved shadow traveling as for him it was an absolutely amazing and exhilarating experience, but no matter how use to it you are, when you are suddenly pulled into the shadow's unaware and traveled to another location the experience can be unnerving and somewhat frightening. Which is why when the sensation ended, Nico found himself slammed onto the ground with a sword pressed against his throat. Though the son of Hades didn't look frightened, rather he looked amused as he spoke as if there was absolutely nothing wrong saying "Hello to you too Percy, mind giving me a hand and helping me up?"

Percy, who by the way, was not amused relented and helped the son of Hades up before he turned his attention to the surrounding sight. The room, which was probably as big as his cabin had a black marble floor, pine wood walls and a white ceiling from which 2 crystal chandeliers hung off. The North, West and East walls had 3 door's each, while the south had 2. In the middle of the ceiling there was a hole wide enough to build a spiral staircase around and ended up at wooden floor (I mean the hole ended at the other side of a floor). Towards the north of the cabin there was a round table with chairs around it. Towards the south there was a giant flat screen T.V attached to a music player, a Karaoke machine and a play station (with that extension that allows more than two people to play) and about half a dozen bean bags, beside it was a small table with a C.D case that could probably had a little over a dozen C.D's in it. In between the door's of both east and west walls there were arcade machine's (one between each door) and in between the door's of the north wall were 2 full sized mirror's (one between each door) there were several beanbag and comfortable looking chairs scattered around the room as well as a 2 statue's of Hermes. The entire thing looked like a place that was an absurdly rich young teenager would invite his friends.

On the other side of each room on the East and West walls, there were 4 bunk beds, which meant that 48 campers could live here comfortably. On the north wall, the first two doors on the north wall opened up into a room that had 48 lockers, where as the third led to a blue room with the same kind of fountain he had in his own cabin. Behind the two doors of the south wall was a connected room with dozens of shelves which had sliding glass door's which could be locked.

"Probably meant to store either books or spoils of war" said Nico and Percy looked at him which made the son of Hades raise his eyebrow at his long time friend and ask "Do you honestly think that I could have created this place so fast Percy? It already existed, I just cleaned the place up and added the beanbags, the T.V and everything that was attached to it, the rest was already here, albeit it was a bit dusty."

Percy looked at his friend shocked and confused and Nico said "This place was built during the early stages of the American Civil war and apparently it was a refuge for those who couldn't fight in case the camp was overrun. The lockers which you saw earlier were meant to store food and not the camper's equipment. And just so you know I doubt that Chiron will appreciate us revealing this place as it is a reminder of extremely dark times that have gone by."

"To hell with what he wants" Percy said "Chiron, though not usually wrong is wrong this time. The conditions in the Hermes cabin are bad and will only continue to get worse. It was what fostered a lot of the resentment in the first place Nico and everyone in that cabin deserves better than what they have currently got!"

"Hey, don't take it out on me Percy" Nico replied as he raised his hands up defensively "Anyways let me show you something."

He walked to the shelf that was on the south west corner of the room and placed his hand inside the top most shelves. He seemed to be feeling around for something, before he smiled and then said in Kalming "Open"

There was a pause before the shelf moved back and opened out into what a pitch black passageway.

"It connects with the Hephaestus Cabin tunnel system; there is also a locker with does the same in the locker room that does the same" Nico added, "so what do you think?"

"Well, I have to say that this cabin is a perfectly fit place for the campers of the Hermes Cabin after decades of being stuck in an overstuffed shack that has probably started to rot, which we can probably get the Hephaestus campers to fix and then improve" Percy said "But the question now is how are we going to connect this to their cabin?"

"I'll sort that out, just make sure that no one comes to the Hermes cabin for the rest off the day…" said Nico and Percy grinned at that point as his hand went into his pocket while he said "Don't worry Nico, I've got that covered."

At around the same time in the Hermes cabin, the sound of an alarm could be heard waking up those who were still there, before there was a minor explosion and the entire cabin was covered with stink…

"I see, I guess I'll leave it to you then" Nico replied before grabbing him and shadow traveling him back into the wood, and right in the middle of the Areis clowns who spotted him almost immediately. Percy cursed Nico as he started running for his life, again.

Though that was then, now however Percy had managed to barely escape his pursuers and made his way to the sword-fighters' arena and found Luke there alone whacking away at the dummies, hiss gym bag, which appeared to be stuffed was casually lying near one of the many benches. During the first time line Percy was amazed at Luke's skill, this time around that feeling was still there as he watched the sun of Hermes with a critical eye.

Every stroke was perfect, every move was synchronized, his blade Backbiter was a blurr as he slashed the straw dummies heads straight off with perfectly executed textbook maneuvers and stabbed them straight through their straw stuffed guts. Percy at this point had to wonder if the fates had made Luke stronger this time around or of the son of Hermes was fighting with Kronos before even their final fight started and managed to gain the upper hand just I time to fulfill his path of the prophesy because if Kronos had even used half the skill that Luke was currently displaying, then the son of Poseidon had no doubt that the Titan King would have easily whipped the floor with him during their fight in the God's throne room.

Finally Luke stopped in mid-swing when he saw him and said "Percy!"

"Its easy to see why they call you the best swordsmen of the century" said Percy with perfect honesty "Though I have to request you to kindly leave some for the rest off us!"

"We build new ones after every summer." Luke replied as he placed his sword back in its sheath

"You do realize that there is a week left for the end off camp" Percy pointed out

"Um… I kind off forgot about" said Luke as he scratched the back of his head with his hand looking slightly embarrassed before saying "Listen, I was going to come looking for you. What do you say to going down to the woods one last time, looking for something to fight?"

Percy looked up at the son of Luke, wondering if he was planning to join the Titan King ahead of schedule and said "Luke, you do realize that we have a week of camp left don't you? I mean it certainly won't be the last time we go to the woods before terms up…"

"Maybe, maybe not, come with me and I'll explain…. I'll even throw the some drinks" the son of Hermes replied as he walked over to his gym bag and pulled out a six pack of coke.

'Yup, he definitely moved up his schedule' thought Percy as he smiled at Luke, shrugged and said "Why not?"

They walked down to the wood and roamed around, looking for some monsters to fight but just like the first time there weren't any to find, though this time Percy realized why. After the war with the Giants, he got Hazel to train him with his manipulation of the mist and it was there that he discovered one off the weaknesses of being the son off the sea, for you see just as it was difficult for him to burn thanks to being Posideon's son, so was it difficult for him to use the arts of the Arcane. It was difficult, not impossible but why take the time to learn a skill he would barely use, he was a front-line fighter after all, and front-line magic was probably the most complex, even Hazel hadn't reached that far yet. So, he instead turned his focus into sensing, identifying and dispelling various types of magic, as well as Runes, though that was a story for another time.

He could literally see it now as he walked, there was a wide of magic that kept the monsters away, a lane that they were walking in the center off, and with this revelation he focused began to notice how Luke was subtly steering their path, making it so that they didn't was too far from their per-determined path, and he was doing a really good job at it, because if Percy didn't know what e was looking for he doubted that he would have noticed it. Eventually they came upon a shady spot by the creek and sat on a big rock and drank their cokes an watched the sunlight in the woods. Though Percy was preparing for the oncoming threat to his life as well, because he subtly formed 3 spears of ice inside the creek, a small one to deal with Luke's little scorpion, and two more regular sized ones to deal with anything else. Finally though, Luke broke the silence and asked "Do you miss being on a quest?"

"You know, considering that there were monsters attacking me every meter most would say that I wouldn't miss being on a quest, but the strange thing is I do." Percy admitted "You?"

A shadow passed over his face as the son of Hermes looked both weary and angry as he said "I've lived on Half-Blood Hill all year round since I was fourteen, ever since Thalia… well you know. I've trained and trained and trained and I never got to be a normal teenager out there in the real world. Then one day out off the blue they threw me on one quest and when I came back it was like 'Ok, rides over, have a nice life!'"

He crumpled his Coke can and threw it into the creek, and Percy used his water manipulation to collect it before it could float too far, after all why give the Naiads more work to do when he could easily do it himself.

"To heck with the Laurel Wreaths" Luke said "I'm not going to end up like those dusty trophies in the Big House Attic."

"You make it sound as if you are leaving."

"Oh I'm leaving alright Percy, I brought you down here to say goodbye." said Luke as he gave Percy a twisted smile before he snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at Percy's feat and out off it crawled out a glistening black scorpion. Percy then venomously looked at Luke and said "You!"

"I saw a lot out there in the world Percy" Luke said as he stood up "Don't you feel it? The darkness gathering, the monsters growing stronger? Don't you realize just how useless it all is? All the heroics – being pawns off the gods. They should have been overthrown thousands off years ago but they hung on thanks to us Demigods!"

"Luke your talking about starting a war… setting Demigod against Demigod because there is no doubt that our friend's WILL stick by our parents, which will mean that regardless of who wins we WILL lose!" Percy replied calmly and clearly "And do you think that our parents just abandoned us? Do you really think that you could steal from the God of Thieves without him noticing? Or commit a theft in his presence without his knowledge? He KNEW Luke! The first time he let you take what you wanted and the second time he didn't expose you in order to save you from my uncles wrath. Why? Because you are his Son!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" shouted Luke and the pit scorpion, agitated by the son of Hermes's words jumped up into the air, though whether to target Percy or Luke we will never know because at that very moment the spear off ice which Percy had created especially for the scorpion pierced it target and took it along its path of trajectory straight into the bark of a nearby tree. Luke then tried to go for his sword but the two normal sized ice spears shot at him causing the son of Hermes to jump back before drawing it and finding his opponent standing in the creek, his sword in one hand and a floating orb of water in the other.

"It seems that we are at a stalemate here Luke. If I try to pursue you then there is a good chance that you might kill me, and you try and fight me in the creek then you will there is not a single chance that you will come out untouched, not to mention that this little 'notice-me-not' barrier that you have put up that prevented us from finding any monsters or being overheard will not be able to contain a battle like that!"

Luke realized that he was right and knew that he would suffer later for this. It was his own hubris that made him want to take out the son of Poseidon before he left, despite the others advising him not to and Percy's words rang true. Though many of his cabin mates would follow him, almost every other cabin would fight against him… could he fight them, would he be able to? Luke knew every single camper here and thanks to Percy's words he was starting to realize that he would be sentencing them to death if he went along with his plan… Could he actually do that?

"Luke there is another thing that you must know" Percy stated "The cabin which you are staying in now is but the entrance hall to the real cabin. Before you came to camp magic was layered over and over at that cabin, which both hid your real cabin and fostered resentment amongst its inhabitants. It took your father a long time find out about it and even longer to understand the nature behind it. It was magic powerful enough to effect Olympians like him and our current Camp Director, and he could do nothing about it thanks to the Ancient rules. Annabeth and Grover don't know this but he sought me out during our quest. He led me to Hecate who was able to make me understand the intricate of the magic used. It was Titan Magic Luke, Titan Magic! He isn't called the deceiver for nothing Luke. He has been setting this up even before you came to camp and you have been following along like a good little puppet on strings. And you want to know something else Luke, I know how to heal Thalia and I know how to speak with her and we have been becoming good friends Luke, and I must say that she is disappointed in you!"

Luke could only stare in shock wondering if what Percy said was true.

"So here we stand Luke and what happens now is entirely up to you. You could either attack me now and one of us will end up dead and the other grievously wounded, you could escape and I could return to camp and inform them of your treachery, or you could swear your Loyalty to me Luke!" Percy said "Swear your Loyalty to me Luke and you could avoid a war that will eradicate our kind. Swear your loyalty to me Luke and prevent a war that will kill all our friends and family Swear your loyalty to me Luke and watch as I restore your cabin to what it should have been, which is what I will do anyway… Swear your loyalty to me Luke and you can stand by my side as I restore Thalia to her body and allow her to live her life amongst us once again , All you have to do is swear your Loyalty to me Luke

Well what do you think ?

I know that I made Percy look eerily similar to Kronos in the last part of that chapter, but the man is a War Veteran an a Praetor to boot, who has been betrayed by people who he has called his friends and allies on more than one occasion, he needs to be sure of his commanders loyalty and as one of the Cabin Heads Luke will by default one of his commanders in the coming war with Kronos…

Anyway there is a poll up to decide if Luke should join up with Percy of with the Titan King, it is entirely up to you.

Don't forget to review…

Rafaelout out...