Chapter Eight

Perseus stalked through the camp. He was not a happy camper. He had just been delightfully informed that his presence was demanded at the camper's council club. Perseus was furious at their audacity. 'How dare they summon me like a well trained puppy!' He thought furiously to himself. Campers, both Roman and Greek alike moved out of his way when they saw the large, fully armored, enraged demigod.

"Which one of you dares demand my presence!" he boomed as soon as he had broken the door down. He glared balefully at them all, looking for the guilty one.

"That would be me" Annabeth replied bossily, "I'm lead councilor for Camp Half-Blood therefore you answer to me" the other campers looked at her both in fury and amazement.

"I answer to you?" Perseus repeated softly. Annabeth nodded her head self righteously. Perseus stormed right where she sat and lifted her one handedly out of her chair and brought her close,

"Listen to me very carefully Brainless Head, I am not a camper. I do not answer to ANYONE. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND?" he snarled. Annabeth went ghostly white as she nodded her head violently in agreement. He glared at her for another moment before shoving her back into her seat and moving over to the other end of the room.

Everyone watched the confrontation silently. The man called Perseus in front of them was most definitely not the same person that they had known all those years ago.

"Well?" Perseus snapped after several minutes of silence, "Why am I here?"

"Oh! Um a group of monsters have been spotted ten miles out on the north side of camp" Travis spoke up. Perseus nodded,

"Any estimate of the number?"

"Our scouts put them at around 50" Clarisse replied.

"Right" He stood up, "The monsters will be eradicated within the hour" he informed them before water transporting away. The remaining council looked at each other in shook,

"Is he about to take them all by himself?" Connor spoke up,

"Indeed he is" Chiron replied solemnly.

"Remind me never to get on his bad side" Katie Gardner. Many campers shared that sentiment.

Perseus appeared silently in a tree fifty meters in front of the group of monsters. He still couldn't believe the audacity of the girl he once loved; Annabeth was so arrogant now that it disgusted him to the core. Taking a deep breath, he turned his attention back onto the job at hand and studied the monsters that would be soon returning to Tartarus. Summoning up a huge fire ball in both hands, he threw them into the middle of the group, instantly killing six monsters. Perseus immediately leapt into the fray as soon as the fire had left his hands. Swords in both hands, he became a weapon of death to all that opposed him. Monsters shrieked and screamed in pain and anger as one by one they were dismembered by the wrathful demi-god before them.

Ten minutes into the fight there was silence. Perseus slowly surveyed the clearing filled with golden dust as he lowered his swords and turned them back into hunting knives before sheathing them. Summoning water from the ground underneath him, he flooded the clearing before flushing both water and dust away throughout the forest, making it even harder for the monsters to ever return. Smirking under his helmet, he flamed away back to the camp.

"Monsters neutralized." He informed them as soon as he appeared in the room. The meeting was still going on. The campers jumped at his sudden appearance, some even pulled their weapons out on instinct.

"WHAT THE!? WHERE IN HADES NAME DID YOU COME FROM?" Clarisse snapped angrily. Perseus smirked again.

"Out of the flames. Or did you not see them?" he retorted.

"I gathered that Perseus, my question is how?" she replied more calmly,

"There are perks of being Lady Hestia's champion" he answered. They all looked at him with wide eyes. He sighed,

"Now, if you excuse me I will be back at my tent until an actual emergency emerges." He informed them emotionlessly. He gave them a curt nod before flaming away again.

Perseus sighed as he took off his helmet before sinking down on the log outside his tent. Even though he had only been back for two days max, he already wanted to leave. He truly could not care less if most of the campers died. Call him a cold, heartless bastard but that's how he felt now. He was tired of being betrayed by everyone he cared about. Hell the only good thing in his life, Sally, had died fifteen years ago.

"You shouldn't think such thoughts my champion" a voice spoke behind him gently. Perseus huffed slightly before turning his neck to look at Hestia.

"I know my Lady, but that doesn't mean I don't" he responded quietly. She smiled at him sadly before sitting down next to him and wrapping an arm around his broad shoulders.

"I know you hate this. I know how unfair your life has been Perseus, but you must try to forgive. You can continue hating them for the rest of your life, but the only way Erebus will be defeated is if you work with them. Trust them" she explained. He laughed scornfully,

"Trust?" he asked bitterly, "Where was trust when they turned their backs on me? You ask much of me my lady, perhaps too much" Hestia sighed and tightened her hold,

"Your life will never get better if you continue to hold such anger. You have to learn how to trust again." She argued.

Perseus stood up violently and stalked off a few meters away,

"My life will get better as soon as I can leave this God forsaken world of Gods and Demi-Gods!" he snarled. He spun round to look at her,

"Don't you get it yet! I was HAPPY in Alaska. I had a life, a life where I was in control. Then I get dragged back into this bloody war because for some reason no one but me can defeat him! Hell I've even thought of just joining him, just to be left alone!" he screamed at her. Hestia was shocked. She could easily see how much pain and anguish being back, against his will no less, had caused him. It hurt her to see her champion so, and if she could she would relieve him of it but she knew she couldn't.

"I'm sorry Perseus" she told him sincerely as she walked over to him and took one of his large hands in hers.

"I would hide you away if it didn't mean condemning the entire world to death. I'm so sorry my champion that this has fallen on you. I know this is hard for you Perseus."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to do this Hestia. At least not without killing several people along the way" he admitted quietly.

"You can do this Perseus" she told him adamantly. They stood in silence for a few minutes, just looking at each other,

"I need you to do something for me Perseus, can you do that?" she told him, she felt horrible asking him to do more than what was being asked of him already.

"What?" he croaked, knowing that despite his anger and pain, he would do anything she asked of him. She smiled sadly at him and placed a hand on his cheek.

"Be a hero again Perseus. Just one more time"

A/N hey all, I'm back. After this chapter the war is really gonna heat up.

Stayed tuned.