Chapter 8 out now!

To: Jeramy-Toombs: Yes there is. I'm not uncomfortable with it, it's just another type of writing, and it's harder to write than a guy/girl pairing.

To: ScarredNephilim: Yes you can be an untrained badass, but it's a person that's born a badass :P But yeah, I might skip to the end of the second quest, but I have an idea of a variation of the second quest and whether I put it in might determine that fact.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand on with the story!

Percy P.O.V.

All I could think of was how screwed we were. The Chimera or Echidna, we could take, but both at the same time? Doubtful.

I turned to Luke and yelled, "That's a doggy!? That thing is huge!"

Luke grimaced. "Even he has time for jokes. If Annabeth and I take Echidna, can you take the Chimera?"

Annabeth gave an offended gasp. "Don't I get any say in this? I think your strategy is fine, but why didn't you ask me?"

"No reason at all," Luke called back. "Now let's roll."

He engaged with Echidna, and shouted, "Let's dance!"

Annabeth turned invisible, and cut marks started appearing on Echidna's skin.

Turning to my opponent, I experimentally jabbed at it with my sword. The Chimera hissed, and pounced. I leaped aside, and sunk my sword to the hilt in the armor. Wrenching it out, I turn to the other fight.

It didn't look good. Luke's right arm was smoking, and Annabeth was trying to distract Echidna, but I knew that she wouldn't last much longer. Luke poured nectar down his throat, and I'm guessing he underestimated the limit, because he collapsed in agony. Then, I was thrown aside by the Chimera.

Shocked, I whipped around and saw a deep gash in the Chimera's armor, thrown to the side, while a tiny cut had appeared on its' fur. "You had that thick of armor on!?"

In response, the Chimera tried to rake my face open, but I ducked. Unfortunately, the tail lashed around the Chimera and sunk its' teeth into my leg.

Echidna had both Luke and Annabeth by their necks and was preparing to kill them. In desperation, I threw my sword.

The sword curved and sliced off Echidna's legs. She screamed in agony and dropped Luke and Annabeth. Despite being immobile and in agony, she forced a sneer.

"Don't you feel it, Son of Poseidon? The poison is entering your heart. You'll die within the half-hour. Jump, and spare yourself the agony."

I turned, and there it was, the Mississippi River, in all of its glory. I knew that my dad was Poseidon, the god of the ocean, but this was the middle of the U.S.A. Poseidon probably couldn't protect me here. But it was still worth a shot.

I took a deep breath, and jumped off of the Arch, and plummeted down to the Mississippi. And before you ask, I did a backflip.

Freefalling down to the river, I was pretty sure I was going to die. But then, as I braced for impact, it never came. I opened my eyes, and I was dry, breathing normally, and thigh deep in the mud at the bottom of the Mississippi River. I could feel the poison starting to exit my system. When the shock wore off, I tried to make the water give me a lift back up to the Arch. In response, the water hardened around my feet, and I sprang out of the water like a cannonball. A giant water hand was lifting me up. When I was at the battlegrounds level, I saw a losing battle.

Echidna was gone, but the Chimera had knocked Annabeth unconscious. Luke was practically dead on his feet. He was unarmed, just dodging and going hand to paw. The security guard was nowhere to be seen, until I saw his broken body close to the opposite edge. Utilizing the distraction, I jumped on the deck and whipped out my knives. When the Chimera turned to me, I leaped onto its' back and drove both of the knives past the hilt.

The Chimera roared in agony. It dissipated into golden dust, effectively making me covered in dust.

Rummaging in the pack, I fished out our medical supplies. I tossed a square of ambrosia, and gave a bottle of nectar to Annabeth.

"You're half dead, Percy. You should treat yourself."

"I'm fi-ine," I croaked out. "Now, bottoms up."

She gave me a suspicious glance, then drank the bottle. The last thing I remember before blacking out was being carried over the edge, and falling towards the Mississippi again.

When I regained my sight, I was in a dark cave. My head filled with information, and I knew I was in a dream. And also, I didn't have any control over myself.

My dream self was frantically running around, desperate for an exit, when a section of the wall opened up. My dream self immediately sprinted for the opening, as if it was going to close at any moment. The opening narrowed into a long passageway, and a name popped into my head. The Labyrinth. For some reason, I was stuck in this twisted hellhole. The longer my dream self ran, the more I was sure I was going to die. Right as I regained control, a knife sprouted from my stomach. I looked up at my assailant, and saw...myself?

My murderer self's eyes were glowing pitch black, and his mouth was twisted into a grin style that I thought I'd never see again. When I was ten, my mom took me to a mental hospital to visit my ancestor. One of the other patients was driven insane by anger, and he was always grinning in a sickly sweet way. And I was looking at the same grin. My murderer self took the knife out, twisted it so it caused more agony, and slit my throat. And I felt everything. Right before my vision blurred out, my murderer's face changed to Luke's.

I woke with a start. It was the middle of the night. On either side of me, Luke and Annabeth were sleeping soundly. No one else in our car was awake except for me.

A man shimmered into existence. His suit was pitch black, swirling with something I couldn't identify, no, something I could identify: souls. He waved his hand, and said, "Sleep."

My eyes started drooping. I fought for consciousness. The man frowned, and said more commandingly, "Sleep!"

My eyes closed, and I dropped like a stone.

When I woke again, it was morning. The train was stopping, and Luke and Annabeth were grinning at me. "What?"

"Nothing," Annabeth answered. "You're just the latest to wake up. We're in Denver. Now let's go find something to eat."

With that, she got up, and left the car. Luke followed pursuit. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

When I finally tracked them down, they were walking towards a diner. I jogged up to them and said, "Nice place to take a bite."

Annabeth whirled around, grabbing a dagger before holding it against my throat. When she saw it was me, she paled. "Oh, sorry Percy! I just thought it was someone that's trying to kill us."

I shook my head. "If they were gonna kill you, they would've just slid the blades into your necks and be done with it."

Annabeth scowled and muttered something about honorless bastards, but before she could continue, we arrived at the diner.

Sliding into our booth, a waitress hurriedly made her way over to our table. When she saw us, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You kids have money to pay for food?"

Luke opened his mouth, most likely to tell a long sob story to the waitress, when the pavement shook, a motorcycle pulled up, and off came a guy that would've made a pro wrestler run for Mama. For some reason, looking at him made me feel angry.

Then I realized who the person was, and with it, the reason of my anger.

"Guys," Annabeth murmured, "Lord Ares is here."

Ares stopped outside our booth and snapped his fingers. Annabeth's eyes drooped, and she tried to yell in alarm, but it came out more like a yawn. She face planted on the table.

I drew my knives. "What are you doing here, Lord Ares?"

The waitress cleared her throat. "Do you kids have money to pay for it?" She sounded annoyed.

Ares chuckled. "It's on me." The waitress nodded, and left.

Luke grabbed my knives. "Dude, this is the spy in Denver guy. Don't gut him, if you even could."

I turned to him and arched an eyebrow, silently saying, Really? An Olympian is helping the Titans destroy the Olympians? But nevertheless, I sheathe my knives.

Ares leaned forward. "So, Percy, you know the general outline of the plan, right?"

I thought about it. "Not much. I'm going to the Underworld, drop the bolt in Tartarus, capture her," here I gesture to Annabeth, "grab the helm and escape. That's it."

Ares nodded. "I'll be waiting in Santa Monica. You find Procrustes, kill him. I'm gonna meet you in his shop."

Annabeth groaned. Without so much as a sideways glance, Ares took out a dagger. He whacked Annabeth with the handle, and she stayed silent.

Ares gave Luke a backpack. "That's the sheathe for the master bolt. It's laced with a little magic, so it'll summon the bolt when you get to the Underworld. You got it?"

Luke nodded uncertainly, as if he was thinking if he was going to regret it, like this was the point of no return.

Ares grinned cruelly. "Good luck on your journey west. You'll need it."

He snapped his fingers, and the back of a truck opened up. Ares pushed us towards the truck, and we got the idea. Lugging Annabeth inside, Luke shut the door, and soon we were spiraling into darkness.

Dream:

I was standing in the strawberry fields. The campers stood on top of Half-Blood Hill, all ready for battle. Catapults were armed and targeting the bottom of the hill, where other kids, in purple SPQR T-shirts were also ready for battle. At an unseen signal, the armies charged each other. Bodies fell, and right when the battle ended, my consciousness floated from my body, like I was seeing myself. I turned and shouted an order, to charge apparently, because then a mass of an army surged out and collided with the two battered armies.

I fought like I was seeing red. My mind went blank, only using 100% of my energy on wreaking chaos on enemies. I decapitated an SPQR guy, then spun and made a fatal slash across a camper's torso. I was doing so well until-

"OW!"

I screamed in pain as 6 more arrows pierced my face. I fell to my knees as my vision blurred. The last I saw was a girl in SPQR, screaming with hatred, anger, and grief as she brought down a blade, and all went dark.

5 years, voices whispered around the darkness. The Son of Poseidon falls!

I'm sorry for not updating this sooner, but school is taking more and more of my time, so my updates may slow down going on further into the story.

So yeah, remember to R&R!