Chapter 2

Seven years later

A boy charged forward. The monsters came at him. The emposi tried to seduce him. They forgot three things. Firstly he was seven and had no interest in women yet. Secondly he had the blessing of Hera which prevented his mind from being interviewed. Thirdly he had been trained since he could hold a sword. He drew two swords in a swift motion. He proceeded to hack his way through them before they knew that their plan to seduce him had failed. The telkines directly behind them started to dissolve into dust with surprised looks on their faces. They failed to spot the little girl with the bow who was picking them off with ease. She got bored, so she drew her hunting knives and ran down to help her friend. Minutes later and the hundreds of monsters were dissolved to ashes by two seven year olds. When they had killed them all they the girl walked over to the boy.

"Do you need a lift Annabeth." He said sniggering.

She just glared. He relented and grabbed her shoulder. He then shadow travelled to where Annabeth's Mother, Athena was waiting for them.

Percy's POV

"Well done you two. You are becoming formidable fighters. You took those monsters down with ease." We smiled at her praise. Athena was like, most of the female Olympians like a mother to us. She was of course Annabeth's birth mother so that made them extra close. "I believe that you two are due in the underworld soon. You Uncle wants to do some training with you Percy. Demeter and Persephone will be training with you Annabeth." We both nodded in acknowledge the information.

We gave her a hug and then I shadow travelled down to my Uncle's Palace.

"See you later Wise girl." I said

"You to Seaweed brain." With that we separated, much to the amusement of the watching lord of the dead. When I arrived to train I had to withstand about a minute of mockery about the nicknames that were just exchanged. It ended when I said.

"She has been my only demigod friend. I have known her since I have known her since before I can remember. I therefore would have the right to use a nickname. Anyway I believe that we are to start training."

It was about eight hours later that me and Annabeth met up again. We did everything but train with our powers together. I looked at her enviously as she told me of her evening of learning about plants and how best to turn weapons in to dandelions or bluebells. I had been fighting constantly with my powers against waves and waves of instructors and skeletons. After that I had two hours of combat training with the best heroes ever. The least of whom was Achilles.

When we got back up to Olympus we ended the day with an hour of lessons with Athena. After that we collapsed into bed. We were trained from eight in the morning to eight in the evening only having an half an hour break to eat. Our schedules were tight. We did not think that we were special. We had never known anything different.

Seven more years later

At fourteen years old we were both strong young people. Having been trained all of our lives we were in peak physical condition. We were currently fighting Ares. For once he was not holding back. This was because as much as he liked us, Yes you heard right, he liked us, his father was watching so he wanted to show that he was still the strongest one on one fighter.

This was to be no powers, and no ranged weapons. He was armed with a spear and shield. I went straight in to engage him while Annabeth started to circle round. She was the most intelligent fighter, (apart from her mother) that I had ever met. She had the intelligence of Athena and the cunning of Artemis. She was waiting for the perfect time to strike. I knew this and so I was waiting for her to make her move by keeping Ares as occupied as I could. I knew that he was better than me when I could not use my powers. I could only stall him until Annabeth could strike. I launched an attack as me and Annabeth had an almost subconscious conversation. I came at him in a whirlwind of steel. He frantically tried to block all of my strikes. As he managed to disarm me of one of my swords, Annabeth managed to disarm him of his spear. He was only left with his shield. He pulled back out of range. He reached down and pulled out a sword from his hip. We both attacked in synchronisation. I reached out and pushed his sword to one side. I left a gap deliberately. He lunged forward. I left myself exposed knowing Annabeth had me covered. I knew that I do not need to stop the sword. I hit the shield as hard as I could. It fell from his grasp as Annabeth managed to catch the sword on one knife and point the other at Ares' throat.

"Yield." She said. He smiled. I think that we are the only people that he would do that to after they beat him.

"You two fought very well. You know each other so well. That last sacrificial gap you left caught me off guard."

"Yes, that was a very good fight." Zeus interjected. "As their main fitness and weaponry instructor in commend you on their progress."

"Thank you father. They have been very good students. I am sure that their other weapons trainers will be most pleased with their progress."

Zeus smiled in pride at the two demigods. He himself had taught Percy how to use his air and lighting powers.

"I need to speak to you two." He said gesturing to me and Annabeth. We nodded.

"Thank you Ares, that was fun." I said.

We followed my uncle and Annabeth's granddad to the throne room. We saw Hades. This mainly due to us was now a far more common occurrence.

"I have sent Artemis to get some of my children before a quest from the camp can get them. I would however most appreciated it if you two could get them. As much as I trust Artemis, I am apprehensive of how she will treat the boy, Nico."

"Fair enough Uncle." I said. "Anything else that we should know?"

"Artemis will have to act as if she does not know you if she does see you."

"That should not be too difficult. She does not like me very much anyway." I said.

No matter how I had tried to get her to like me, she had always tried to stay away from me. She did love Annabeth like the daughter that she never had. The Hunters did not know her so they would treat us both like strangers.