AN-Next Chapter up! Sorry for the delay; I just finished this, and the next couple of days may be a little slower than my daily updates but they'll be back up to speed once I have two working hands again.

As for this, its a Romance based chapter, with some emotional stuff in their, but I needed to put it in before we can get to the REAL plot/action in the next -MILD REFERANCE TO ABUSE/NON-CONSENTUAL SEX. (not explicit)

Please Enjoy!

The Tranquility of Night

Over the next few days things settled into a routine. Each of the five groups managed to get along amicably, though there was still some tension between everyone. This was to be expected as the lifestyles of each group were so different that all living in the same place seemed like a long stretch.

One of the problems was Luke and Zoë. The two kept their budding relationship fairly private, but it wasn't long before people started to realise something was going on. This eventually led to The Hunters taking a personal vendetta against the son of Hermes, for "stealing one of there own". The Army of Chaos' met the animosity, but tried to keep it low level-they knew that when Omega made a 'no arguments' threat, confrontation would lead to serious pain and not from the person they were confronting.

Interestingly, the introduction of the new group had further strengthened the Greek-Roman bond that had been gradually forming over the past 5 centuries. Even the Amazons' and Hunters' were looking past their differences, with the argument that 'at least they were human'.

This worried the assassin. Tackling one of the groups in a minor argument would be do-able without massive amounts of harm to the war effort; but if a fight broke out between the people of Earth and Chaos' Army…he didn't want to think about the consequences. It would escalate, and there would be no way to win without causing enough damage to the Campers, Hunters and Amazons that any hope of success in the war would be in tatters. He was extremely thankful that he'd shown off the full roll call to everyone, because he was beginning to feel it was they only thing that stopped them from attack.

The only solution he could find to this was to split each group into 5, and send each fifth to a different training station, mixed with one fifth from the other groups. Hopefully this would help the troops bond more in small numbers. Generally most people had a few friends in each group, but when they came together in the evenings they talked and spoke badly of the 'intruders' as a whole. The assassin still felt like he was juggling 5 lit matches over a lake of fuel.

3 days after the Lambda ship had arrived, Percy was eating lunch in the pavilion. The Amazons, Romans and Hunters could easily fit in on the extra tables that had been moved there, but Chaos' Army had to rotate 8 groups. Nevertheless, The assassin and the rest of The Alpha always ate outside to keep an eye on the troops eating here.

Things in the war were slowly picking up. No army had been sighted marching on Olympus yet, but they were still sending out batches of under 200 monsters to keep The Army in a constant state of suspense. Of course, these small groups were no threat, and usually only 100 people mixed through the divisions would be sent to tackle them as a training exercise. Percy felt this may be an attempt to lull them into a sense of security, but many of heads of each organisation's were beginning to relax-which was a very bad thing.

The occupants of the pavilion began to murmur and, feeling the tension, Percy looked up from his meal and noticed small, dark shadow was cast on the grass. Under standing instantly, he rose from his seat.

Chiron watched his ex-pupil, Percy Jackson-or 'Omega' as he was now known-stand from his seat, and with all eyes on him, walk to stand about 8ft from the slowly growing shadow. He looked up at the sky briefly and a small smile flickered over his half-covered face before he returned to his expressionless mask. And then the assassin did something the centaur did not expect, and hadn't seen him do since his return to Earth. Hades, he'd hardly done it in the older days.

Percy knelt on one knee reverently, tilting his head to the ground in respect to-the shadow? The Alpha followed, and got down to both knees further behind; all the soldiers soon copied the motion. Instinctively, the immortal trainer walked away from his table, and folded his front legs under himself, settling on the ground. This prompted everyone-even the Hunters and Amazons to follow the assassins lead.

The shadow grew in size, and all around dimmed. The sun seemed to fade in its place, the shadows lengthened, stretching out from beneath the crowd of kneeling figures, leaning towards the darkness. The shadow took shape, and a figure appeared to step out of the lack of light itself. Huge wings of a 12ft span reached out behind the figure, casting a shadow of themselves on the sky itself. Where the shadow sat the stars became visible, and that evenings half-moon glowed in the darkness. But not darkness the centaur realised-night.

The figure solidified, becoming a woman's body. She was beautiful; wavy ebony locks cascading down to her shoulders, flawless pale skin, rosy lips and dark eyes framed by natural thick long lashes. She smiled at them all, before she spoke in a smooth voice full of timbre, that had a calming effect, like all of the shadows she was bathed in.

"Touching as it is that you kneel before me, you misunderstand The Army's ways. Kneeling is a sign of honouring those that you respect, and as many of you do not know me, and only kneel from fear you might offend me, I ask you to remain seated where you were. We Primordial's are not like Olympians, we try earn your respect over time and actions, and until you know me, I would rather you show your honesty."

She looked at the centaur and he saw that she was truthfully touched, but was silently asking him to return to his seat. When he did so, the Campers, Hunters and Amazons followed, looking nervous. He watched as she stepped forwards and reached her hand out to the assassin, resting her hand on the side of his chin. When she lifted her arm, he yielded until her stood before her, openly smiling.

"Omega" she said softly, but her voice filled the quiet. She pushed his hood to his shoulders, revealing his face, before drawing her arm back to her side. The centaur may have imagined it, but his ex-pupil looked visibly disappointed.

"Lady Nyx" he replied. "Do you bring news from Chronus?"

"Chronus doesn't know I'm here. This is a personal visit" Percy tilted his head slightly at her reply, silently questioning her further. "Fly with me?" she asked, her dark eyes alive with excitement.

"Of course" he replied, "One moment?" The assassin tuned away and walked through the 'night' to Luke. As the commander rose, and the assassin drew his black sword from the sheath at his belt and put Riptide in its place. He carefully put it in Luke's sheath and passed Luke Raptor to hold. Looking him straight in the eye, he said, "You're in charge. Umbra is your second. Aruval leads Beta and Plebra takes The Psi. Only use the sword if you have to and don't kill a Primordial-it'll likely rip you apart. You know how to get hold of me."

The assassin turned back to the Primordial of Night, who looked him up and down before smirking, and clicking her fingers. Instantly, Percy was dressed in a smart green button down shirt-with the top 2 buttons undone-black jeans and green converse. He wore a black leather jacket in the place of his cloak and his hair was styled to look windswept. At his hip hung his sword sheath and an old style revolver. He didn't look pleased with the change of outfit.

"Really Nyx? Where in the universe are you taking me this time?" he asked, but his eyes were sparkled with amusement.

"Well you had to match." she answered. The Primordial of Night was dressed in a strapless black dress that was ruffled and fell to her knees, entirely covered in cloth roses. She wore no shoes. "And don't complain, its tradition"

The assassin sighed, before bending down and attaching a 6inch knife to his calf by leather straps and pulling his jeans back over it. His closed his eyes and filled his lungs with air as large black wings like that of a shade burst from his back, the shadows simply passing through his clothes. The Primordial looked amused, but said only, "Shades wings?"

"I'm not an Angelus"

"Nor are you a shade" she smiled.

"Sentimental value" was all he said before kicking hard off the ground and soaring into the sky. The Primordial was but a second later, and with every beat of her powerful wings the area lightened, and day returned. Within another 6 beats she was gone, the sun glowed bright and the moon and stars hidden once more in its light.

As one The Army rose, and took its seats once more. Confused, he walked over to The Alpha table. The centaur coughed slightly, and drawing the groups attention before asking, "Is that a normal occurrence? Does the Primordial of Night always speak like that?"

Luke smirked at him, "Fairly normal, and the flirting? I think that's just for Omega"

The centaur coughed again. He usually remained estranged from the private affairs of those around him, but his curiosity got the better of him and her awkwardly added, "Are they…together?", looking questioningly at the son of Hermes.

Luke laughed in response, "Everyone has a different theory…" he shrugged, "I don't think they are, but Perce has a soft spot for her, and that behaviour there is pretty exclusive to Nyx. He doesn't do relationships, but that's as close as he is to one"

Chiron understood why. It was no small amount of pain the son of Poseidon had been through in his last relationship, and he undoubtedly wanted to protect himself from it again. The Lupet, Sol-leks, smirked at him, leaning forwards but speaking in a loud voice so that all The Alpha could hear, "Personally, I think he's sleeping with her"

The Alpha broke down to various levels of amusement; Umbra smiled, Viper let out a hissing chuckle, Aruval snorted, Zoë laughed, Gina burst into hysterics, but Luke only looked over at Sol-leks and replied, "Trust me, whenever we went to bars he never left with a single girl even though every one in the place was looking at him. I'm almost certain he's been celibate for half a millennia and even a Primordial wont change how he looks at relationships."

The Lupet was speechless. Many seemed to agree with the sentiment-an immortal red-blooded 18 year old was hardly expected to turn down offers in bars.

"Seriously? Why? I would pay good money to get the female attention he does!" said Aruval, who looked outraged at the thought.

"I hear you brother, he had girls looking at him when he was 12 and I'm pretty sure that beautifying trick Nyx just pulled nearly caused many women, and several men lose their heads" replied the commander, "But you've got to remember that he was together with her when she died, so in his eyes he still is in a relationship. He's opened up a little in the last decade but it'll probably be a slow process for him.

Chiron nodded, asking the last question on his mind; "Is that why he knelt? I've never seen him so respectful of someone before." he said chuckling.

Luke joined in the laughter, "Yeah, he never was particularly good at the whole kneeling thing. Still isn't really. He doesn't kneel for anyone but Nyx because he's got the upmost respect for her. She'd the one who gave him the Travellors Blessing, and recruited him so he's loyal to her above anyone else.

"Anyway, moving onwards," he stood up and whistled to get everyone's attention. "While Omega's away I want all of the Riders and Cavalry in this group to scope a 20 mile radius around camp. The rest of you will continue your activities as normal, but any sign of threat come straight to me, is that clear?"

Steven, the head councillor of Ares apparently wasn't pleased with this. Chiron sighed as the boy rose from his seat and turned to the commander. The centaur would have to remove his authority if he continued to undermine people. "Why should we follow you? Just because he's a naïve prick doesn't mean we all trust you. What's to say you aren't dividing our forces so your side can make an attack, traitor?"

In almost a single movement that rippled through Chaos' Army with no defined start, the soldiers stood and raised their weapons until a sea of knives, axes, maces, swords, bows, rifles and heavy artillery were pointing at one-very scared-Camper.

Luke stepped forwards, "STAND DOWN!" he barked to his defenders who moved further back and lowered their weapons but did not sheath them or sit. "Your loyalty to Omega and myself is touching, but I will not force his trust." he turned to Steven, "However, when Omega says I am in control, he is by his own choice handing me his own place in the army. This gives me the power to order every single soldier onto that ship and leave you to fight this war yourself. Do you want me to do this?"

Steven looked shocked with the question, but quietly answered "No."

"Good. Then I shall remain. Do not presume to insult the leader of this army again and have me step in. I am as loyal to him as every person who drew a weapon is. This is a warning, because next time I wont stand between you, I will be dealing the blow" And with that the son of Hermes stalked off up the hill towards the ship, with the assembled soldiers in his wake.

Chiron sighed, and banged his hoof to gain the attention of the now nervously muttering crowd. "I do not wish to do this, but your insolence has nearly cost us our allies twice now, and we cannot risk the fate of our planet on you not making another boneheaded and uncalled for remark. I demote you from your place as cabin leader. Ares cabin are free to choose a new leader amongst themselves. Rest assured, if you make this mistake again I and many other leaders of the Earth will not defend you."

They landed together on Trove not 5 minutes later. Nyx's wings settled into her back with a whisper of wind and the night surrounding them turned through dawn to daylight. Felt strapped black wedge heels appeared on her feet, and she stood at the height of the assassin beside her. She smiled at him and it eclipsed all around her. Grasping his hand, she set off down the street.

Percy sighed. His tried to repress any sort of relationship with Nyx, but his feelings were definitely far from platonic. She had been the one to give him the traveller blessing, advise him, give him quests, recruit him, and his loyalty to her was unmatched. The assassin didn't want a relationship. Not yet, but Nyx had made it clear for the past 10 years that she ought to be the first to know if or when he did.

She'd started recently to take him on these dates. Actively seeking him out just to see him; although there was nearly always some information she gave him anyway. At first it had just been taking him somewhere to see him, giving him quests and tasks anywhere from quiet cafes to romantic seaside cliffs on far away planets. Then came the whole 'dressing up' thing. That was when the dinner dates started.

He'd never admit it, but he actually looked forward to her visits now. Even so, he couldn't help but feel emasculated. These were sort-of dates and he was the man. He was supposed to be chivalrous and organise them. He was supposed to ask her. But that would be admitting that this wasn't strictly the passing of information. That this wasn't strictly business. The thought of that scared the assassin. I swear Aphrodite's still messing with my love life even now. Or maybe its Eros of Desire. Who knows?

Nyx turned left down a side street and led him into a very dimly lit Italian-style restaurant (the Trovian version of pizza and pasta). Percy instantly noticed candles, quiet music and a lack of other occupants-step up number 7; this was much more romantic than the last places he'd been taken to. Snap out of it Jackson he told himself all this over thinking is making you sound like a woman.

He decided, instantaneously, to call her bluff. Still holding her hand, he pulled up a chair for her and she sat, watching him carefully as he stepped round the table and took his own seat. He forced himself not to drop her hand. There's nothing wrong with this…I'm just making a point…this is not a date. He repeated in his head like a mantra, though deep down he knew he was probably lying.

"Its been a while since we've done this isn't it?" she asked, picking up his game. "Had a real meal together. I've hardly seen you in the past 6 months…maybe I've missed you" she smiled sweetly, blinking slowly to draw his gaze to her eyes. He brushed a thumb along the back of her knuckles, but she squeezed his hand back. Round 1: Nyx 1, Percy 0.

"I have been busy, but I'll make sure to see much more of you in the future" he replied, and smiling, added; "you look good, you should wear dresses more often"

"Good?" she asked, almost uncertainly. He could see her wondering whether there was truth in his words or if he was just playing the game. Seeing doubt in her eyes cracked his mask of emotions, and he put truth into his words.

"Perfect"

Nyx smiled sweetly. They ordered pasta, marvelling at the simplicity of it, making small talk through the meal. When their plates had been taken and Percy had insisted on paying the bill (even he wasn't sure of the validity of that) they strolled down the darkening street outside.

On western Trove it was after midnight, but most of the civilisations of The Union of the New Universe were alive for all hours of the day and night. Finally, they reached the conversation they had been meandering towards.

"I know you found the scroll" said Nyx, in an amused voice. "Looking through Chronus' study will only make him more paranoid, and he's bad enough already"

"Well you know me, I've always been a bad boy." he replied, "First its searching studies, now its leather jackets, I'll be some kind of mass murderer before long" he smirked.

She laughed openly, and he realised how beautiful it sounded. Free and full and flowing. They headed towards the beach, walking slowly hand in hand. Percy had relaxed over the meal, but he was trying not to think about how genuine his actions were tonight. She smiled at him, and he would have sworn she knew exactly what was going through his head.

"The sea should flow how it wants to Percy" he was shocked-she rarely called him by his original name, "It doesn't like to be restrained, not even by itself. Let things happen as they will. I'm night. I'm a constant. My actions won't stop coming, any less that Night stops coming."

He smiled shyly, the only agreement he could muster to such an obvious statement. She thankfully changed the subject. "I understand your curiosity for that particular artefact, and technically it is yours as much as mine, as you recovered it. So I made a copy. You may read it, but be warned, the idea's it references are not only dangerous, but require time we don't have yet.

"I am almost certain that Tartarus' Army is being led by Erebus. I believe he has his own sons (and mine) Moros of Doom and Momus of Blame with him. They must be dealt with-either subdued, captured or killed before we could consider the use of this information. Do not let your desire for them take your mind off the task of a very hard war. There is time for searching later."

She pulled the scroll from the darkness around them and tucked it into the inside of his jacket. He reached for her hand once more, and led her towards the sea. Her shoes had already disappeared as they stepped into the surf. Nyx stepped as close as she could without touching him-they were connected only by their joined hands.

"There's a job you might want to have a look at, while your on Earth. Two young girls in Las Vegas." she said, "I fear they would only be fit for the Hunters" she added softly. The anger began to rise in Percy-he hated when it was girls. He felt hopeless. There was only so much he could do, there were still people in horrific conditions, spending their lives in fear. Nyx must have felt this, because she softly placed her other hand on his forearm and squeezed lightly. You can't save everyone, and you do more that anyone. she spoke in his mind.

His thoughts went back to the situation he was in. The Sea and Night, they weren't opposites, and they weren't the same. But there was a connection there. Tranquillity. Serenity. Peace.

He sighed, and looked down at the Primordial, giving her a light smile to show her he had calmed. That she had calmed him. He looked deep into her eyes, and they came to a silent agreement; time to return.

As they landed softly outside the Lambda ship at around mid-morning, the few people around quietly continued their work-ignoring the interesting gossip this scene could offer out of respect. Nyx stepped forward and kissed him lightly, briefly, on the cheek. He smiled and squeezed her hand, before stepping back and watching as she beat her wings and daylight returned as she disappeared completely from the sky.

Luke was sitting in the front room of their shared room when Percy came in. He watched as the assassin laid a scroll and the jacket on his desk and ran off to get changed. There was definitely something different about his friends behaviour. He almost almost, (and Luke discarded this crazy idea immediately) seemed happy. Omega didn't do happy; he did amused, affectionate of friends, even sociable to some extent but he didn't do happy. Not really.

He came back wearing the usual assassins garb; hood up, cape on. He switched his belt over, but didn't ask for his sword back. He answered Luke's unspoken question. "Got a job-I'll be back around lunchtime." With that, the assassin left in a white light, leaving the commander to continue checking his armour.

When Percy returned at lunchtime, he was definitely not happy. He appeared 15 yards away from The Alpha table clutching a broken jaw and a brown haired girl who couldn't have been older than 8. The girl was quivering, hiding her head in the assassins shoulder who at second glance was covered in his own blood from a shattered nose.

The child was in a bad way. She had bruises over her chin and where they could see on her shoulders, and her hands were covered in scratches. Her wrists had rope burns as though she had been bound at some point, and the look of fear in her eyes broke the commanders heart. After a second of staring about 20 people stood up to help but froze when Omega spoke forcibly into everyone's minds.

Stay where you are. Sol-leks, do cuddly puppy.

"No way man" the Lupet snorted in reply.

That wasn't a question. That was an order. I haven't got time for an argument, so shift now.

The vehemence of his words caused a few people to flinch, but they soon snorted in amusement as Sol-leks changed into wolf form; his ears drooping in submission, mouth closed, crouching low to the ground with begging eyes. He looked cute-but ultimately pathetic.

Lay

Sol-leks didn't argue, getting down on his side on the grass and letting out an adorable puppy whine. The child looked up curiously and smiled slightly.

Do you want to sit with my friend for a minute? Percy asked the young girl, though he made sure everyone could hear.

"Yes please, mister… what's your name?" she replied. Percy sat her on the wolfs back and she buried her small hands in his thick hair.

My name's Omega

"That's a stupid name. What's your real name?" she asked suspiciously, a frown creasing her brow.

My real name is Percy. But only you can call me that because you're special, okay? The child nodded in response. Right Emily, I'm going to go and get your sister and your things. I'll be back in 2 minutes I promise. D'you think you'll be okay here with wolfie until then?

"I think so…" the girl, Emily, replied softly.

Percy spoke again, but Luke could tell he was blocking his thoughts from Emily. Nobody goes near her while I'm gone. Someone call Artemis and Apollo. And Athena if you can.

Still gripping his horrifically broken jaw, he left in a white flash. While he was gone, Chiron sent a message to Olympus, and out of curiosity, Hermes, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus arrived with them. At the sight of the girl Artemis looked livid and all 3 women started forward, but were stopped by the look of fear in her eyes as they did. "Wait 'til he gets back" Luke said tersely. Even Zeus and Poseidon looked horrified at her condition.

Not 60 seconds later, the assassin returned. Clearly he had finished the job-he held a knife in the hand that was still supporting his jaw and there was blood all the way up both his forearms. He was giving a piggy-back to another girl who was older. She looked about 10 but could have been older from her condition. Scruffy blonde hair and startling grey eyes that looked hostile. She had badly healed slashes up her arms that looked like knife cuts and belt whips. One of her eyes was swollen and black, but even through this she looked quizzically around, analysing everything-including the non-humans.

Percy, after dumping the rucksack he was holding in his remaining hand and dropping the knife next to it, sat the girl next to her sister who she instantly cuddled up to.

Umbra, could you get this? You know I'm shit at healing.

Before the shade could rise from his seat Apollo had stepped up to the assassin with newfound respect, placed a hand on his jaw. "This is going to hurt like Hades, it's a bad break." was all he said and with a pulse of light, 4 distinct snap's and a grunt of pain he stepped back to look at his handiwork. Nodding slightly he healed the shattered nose and cheekbone with a similar reaction and stepped back smiling. The son of Poseidon flexed his jaw experimentally before replying "Thanks".

To most peoples shock he pulled off his cloak-revealing his face, wiping his hands on it and dropped it next to the blooded blade. He walked up to the young girls and knelt in front of them, at their height as they were still seated on 'cuddly puppy'. He smiled, "Are you guys okay?" he asked with concern.

The blonde girl answered, "Yes, sir. We'll do anything you want" with a lacing of fear still evident in her voice.

"You don't have to do anything I want. I not going to make you do anything" he said slowly, " but I would like it if you let my friend heal you up a little"

The blonde girl looked suspiciously at Apollo, frowning slightly. "But Sir…"

"Don't call me sir, I told your sister you can call me Percy. Because apparently Omega's a stupid name." he smirked.

"Well…Percy, how do I know he's not going to do what all the other men did, because your not going near my sister. I don't care what you do to me but you stay away from Emily, even if she'd only my half sister, I'm supposed to look after her" the older girl replied indignantly. Luke paled, what all the other men did. Nausea swirled around him.

"You like poetry don't you? And myths?" Percy asked. The girl nodded. "Well all those myths about the Greeks and Romans? They're real." The girl didn't look surprised, in fact she look entirely unsurprised. "This is Apollo, the god of healing and poetry"

"He's also the god of the sun, truth, prophecy and music" the girl answered excitedly.

Percy laughed, "Well you're cleverer than me. It's not difficult to be," he smirked, "You'd think after 512 years of knowing this is real I may have learnt some of that. Do you trust him?" Percy asked seriously.

The girl frowned, "If these are the gods, why didn't they help me out before?"

Percy smiled sadly, "There are laws that stop the gods from interfering with mortal lives. And also there are a lot of people in the world and sometimes its hard for them to keep an eye on everybody. That's what I do. I look out for the people who haven't got anyone to help them. Sometimes I get suggestions of where to look, and the person that suggested I find you was Nyx. She's a Primordial, so that proves you really are special. I promise that if Apollo does anything that you're not happy with me, Nyx and probably one if not two of his sisters will beat him up." he explained.

The girl nodded, "He can heal me first, so I can make sure he's not going to hurt Emily." The younger girl was still cuddling Sol-leks' neck, he face hidden in the long scruffy hair on his shoulders.

Carefully, Apollo healed all of the wounds covering the girls skin, removing the old rough scars. With her consent he moved onto the lesser injuries of the younger girl, who was laughing at the haiku's he made up as he went along.

Zeus stepped forwards a pace and looked at Percy. Luke realised this is the first time any of the gods had seen him without his hood since his return; the king appeared to be deciding how to address the assassin.

Percy looked stern, "Unless you're going to call my name stupid Zeus (which I suggest you don't) you still call me by it" he smirked.

"Right," Zeus said, "Omega, would you mind telling the story of how you came across these girls?"

"Lady Nyx gave me the hint, as she does from time to time, and I set out to find them. I knew they were somewhere in LA so I did the natural thing and went to the worst place I could find there. Unfortunately that's where they were. In talking to them and gaining their trust I rather foolishly got my face smashed in, and after knocking the man unconscious, brought Emily" he gestured to the younger girl, "back here, while Bethany," his voice seemed to falter as he nodded to the older girl, "insisted on packing a bag. I returned, finished the job and brought Bethany back."

Artemis stepped forwards, "When you say 'the worst place you could find there' what exactly do you mean?"

Percy glanced at the girls who were talking quietly to each other, and spoke in everyone's minds once more as he blocked the children from the conversation.

It was…some sort of prostitution service that had got out of hand at some point. The owner-their uncle-was selling girls of about 14 and upwards to…really sick people. Men who like to force themselves on women, he looked disgusted as he continued. Images and phrases flooded their minds as he thought about the place, from both his own view and others-the thoughts and visions of the girls he'd asked-it was definitely not PC. Flashes of knives being drawn across skin, belts being used to hit girls, screams, cries, rape, brutal images of abuse. He continued;

The older girl, Bethany, she's definitely been raped a number of times. I'm not sure about Emily; though I definitely heard her thinking about being trained by her uncle. It's sick. Anyway I've ended his business, sent all his records into the local cops, and he definitely isn't going to be doing anything again. Speak to Hades about a good punishment for him. I've got a few ideas.

"That enough to satisfy you curiosity Zeus?" he finished coldly.

Athena interrupted, "I understand why you called Artemis here, but why did you can me?"

Percy looked surprised. In fact he looked hurt. For a minute, the immaculate mask of hidden emotion he kept up almost all the time slipped, and as he gazed at Athena, a single tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it off and shook his head violently, his neck letting off loud cracks as he did so. He looked back at the wisdom goddess and said rather scathingly, "You don't know? Who does she look like, Athena?"

The Olympians looked more closely and all instantly recognised who the girl looked like. The Immortal Five of the Seven, Nico and Thalia, Chiron, Luke and Zoë, and many of the demigods of the army that were gathered noticed to. Even some of the younger campers noticed; they'd all seen pictures of her. The one person who could make Percy Jackson's hidden mask slip; Annabeth Chase.

Athena looked distraught and embarrassed. She stepped forward but faltered as Percy stepped in her way.

"No." he growled, "You don't get to ignore her her whole life while she went through Hades and act all sympathetic now to make yourself feel like a good mother. You all swore an oath to me that you would recognise your demigod children, be better parents-you've clearly broken that. Tell me how old she is and you can go and speak to her. Remember her, and you can go and apologise!" he snapped.

Athena looked torn between anger and shame. Finally she looked at Percy and said, "she's 12 isn't she? I do remember her, but I didn't know, I thought she was living with her stepmother"

Percy softened an infinitesimal amount, but still looked extremely intimidating. "Her stepmother, Emily's mother, died 2 years ago. It's not me you should be apologising to anyway." he stepped away and walked over to his things. Athena started trying to explain her actions quietly to her daughter (neither girl would get off Sol-leks' back, though after hearing the story he didn't appear to be as offended) and the audience; which had grown in size to almost everyone when they'd noticed the gathering crowd.

Percy cleaned his knife, and pulled his handheld computer from his cloak pocket, along with about 7 knives of various lengths and his revolver. He pulled up the wardrobe option from the handheld, threw his cloak in, and after much deliberation pulled the leather jacket from it before he shut it off.

Luke walked over to him, smirking and asked in a purposefully loud voice; "Is that the jacket Nyx got you?" The son of Hermes already knew the answer of course.

"And what if it is?" the assassin countered as he organised the truckload of weapons he carried in his cloak into the jackets inner pockets.

Luke smiled wider, before replying; "I just think its nice that your so reminiscent of a date you went on not 4 hours ago."

At the word date almost everyone looked over, with expressions running from shock to interest to confusion. Percy looked blankly back at Luke. "Your point?"

Luke frowned-this mocking session was not going to plan. "So you are dating her?"

"Not really."

"Your not really dating her, but your going on dates with her? That clears it up mate."

"Its…hard to explain…"

The son of Hermes roared with laughter, "When is anything in your life not hard to explain."

It was testament to the truth of this statement that Percy just nodded, "You got that right"

(Percys POV)

After they finished sorting their swords into the right sheaths, Percy walked over to where Sol-leks was still being used as a lupine-sofa hybrid, and knelt down by the two girls. Athena stepped back a little, as Percy addressed them.

He talked about the Camp and Hunt, explaining that if they both joined the hunt they could stay together that seemed to sell it to both girls. Artemis came over and the girls seemed overjoyed with taking the vows-it made them feel safer.

Zeus called attention, and turned to the son of Poseidon.

"Since the first day I met you, I have distrusted you. And on that day you had finished an extremely dangerous quest to return my lightning bolt and Hades' helm, with both of us making things harder for you. You did me a service. The next time we met you had saved both this camp, two of my daughters and saved Olympus by finding the Ophiotaurus. That day, I took a vote on whether to kill you. You saved your camp once more, and then the world before I saw you again. I finally respected you, didn't kill you for turning down godhood," the king of the gods smirked slightly.

"After that, I shut Olympus, risked the world on being offended. My wife took you and your memories and made you fight another war for us. I understand now, that I should have respected you that first day I met you. Even when you returned to fight a 3rd war for us, I was suspicious, I feared you would try to usurp my leadership. For this, I apologise. You are a genuinely good person for saving these girls. Your far to loyal for your own good, and that is why I admit I have respect for you." he paused, looking embarrassed.

"What I am about to do is a one time thing Omega. Do not expect this." And with that, the King of the gods knelt on one knee before a man who was once a mere demigod, to a shocked silence. Poseidon followed his lead, and the Olympians knelt. 30 seconds was already a world record, so Percy was almost relieved when Zeus rose awkwardly.

"I thank you. I would never try to usurp you authority Zeus; I do not want power. I am happy with what I do now. Nevertheless, if we survive this war, expect to see more of me on this planet. As much as your annoying manor frustrates me I have missed laughing at your dramatics. I intend to introduce you to Lord Aether properly at some point-I believe you'd get on brilliantly." Percy smirked.

After the Olympians left and he'd ensured Emily and Bethany had settled in with the Hunters, Percy went for a long swim, and joined everyone for dinner. He wore a hoodie with his red 'Omega' cape, but pulled the hood down. He felt better than he had in a long time. It had genuinely been an emotional day for Percy, and his knew that it would be a brief reprieve from the battle. 5 days had passed since the last large army had attacked camp, which meant in the next two days they would probably be fighting for their lives.

But until the dawn came it was Night, and much as he tried to quell his feelings, much as he tried to make it a game, much as he tried to hide behind hurt and anxiety; Percy Jackson was falling in love with the Night.

AN-Another one down! Hoping this was alright. Admittedly the bit with Zeus was VERY OOC but hey, this is an AU story, so the characters are going to be OOC. I haven't added much on the alpha in recently, and very little on the 5/7 immortal campers, but the next chapter will focus on this along with the start of the bigger battles.

Work will still be slow for a little longer; but bare with and I'll be back to speedy writing as soon as I can.
I hope you liked Nyx-I worked really hard on her appearance and character, but I'm still going to develop it further. (From now on this will be Percy/Nyx)

Please Review my amazing peanut butter sandwiches!

(HERMES IS DARTH VADER),
ChrysosArgentum xxx