Disclaimer: You think I can't change shape, my body colour and manipulate space? You think so, huh?

Well...you're right. Just as you are right in inferring I don't own Percy Jackson in any shape or form. It all belongs to Rick Riordan. Damn.

Chapter 8: Finding a Ghostly Friend, And Eagles

Percy jumped down from Blackjack and surveyed the area, whistling softly to himself. Now, that was impressive...good enough to distract his currently peeved off mind.

Several stuff had gone on in the previous few days, not the least of them being Thalia's burning and subsequent recovery, and Percy receiving a very annoyed visit from Hephaestus for he had supposedly wrecked a "masterpiece of craftsmanship". Percy wanted to wreck something more at that announcement. Jason had accepted his duty and was currently in Camp Half-Blood. The Roman Camp had sent it's demigods on the mission to rescue Thanatos, which most likely was progressing smoothly. However, his relation with Artemis seemed to have suddenly hit upon a switchback.

Even every one of the Hunter's could notice how Artemis had suddenly become cold and distasteful towards Percy. She was ignoring his presence and was avoiding talking to him at every turn, preferring to bark out orders instead. Percy, once jokingly had commented that since he had saved Thalia, he could probably return to his duties outside staying with them and Zeus probably won't blast him for that; Artemis had acidly replied that, what was he waiting for then?

Now that had hurt. He just couldn't blurt out that, "For you to start acting like you were previously and take notice of me", could he? Seriously, Percy preferred that she was less grumpy and should smile more often. However, that was the tip of the iceberg. She had not even glanced at him for the last two days of their travel, and Percy was starting to question for how long he could take this cold shoulder and not react. His new abilities had given him new traits, including perseverance, but it had also gifted him with a fierce sense of warrior's pride: namely, he wasn't used to being ignored. It ticked him off.

Things had definitely taken an upturn, however, when today morning Hestia had fire-called him (Percy preferred using that name, because it even annoyed the calm goddess) and told him of another rescue mission in this region close to Altour Harbour. She was a bit hesitant in her call and said that there was something off with this demigoddess. Her name was Hazel Levesque, and she had the ability to unearth rare gems and precious metals, and had been using them to travel throughout the country side. That was pretty reckless, and it was a bit against the rules to use your powers like that, and she was in the process of being found by a satyr who could have explained to her the consequences of her actions, but she was in danger now. Apparently, some groups of unscrupulous people had taken notice of her abilities and captured her, intending to use her powers to their benefit. If she gave in and revealed the true extent of her abilities, it would be a solid disaster. But not to worry: the patented disaster averting formula said, "Call Percy Jackson". And so here he was: In front of a mansion which easily rivalled the size of Rachel's house. Nobody could imagine what went on the lowest level by the appearances. Well...the darkness is heaviest just below the candle, isn't it?

Percy had taken careful notice to not raise unnecessary alarms and had arranged it so that he would have to engage only a minimum amount of the goons. Judging by the looks, he would have to deal with only two of them. Percy walked up and briefly thought about using the doorbell, but shrugged and just slammed his hand on the door, breaking the latch swiftly and entered the room. After all, what use was super-strength of if you just didn't use it? Plus, the door's design was not really to his liking. He hated teak.

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"Do it, girl", the burly man sneered. They had been trying to get her to use her talents, but she seemed very resolute.

"I...I can't" the girl wept on the floor. She couldn't understand why they were hurting her like this; she hadn't done anything wrong. "I can't do what you are asking. Please let me go."

The two men had a lecherous grin on their faces as they stepped closer to Hazel. One of them held a knife in her hands and lifted up Hazel like a puppet, "Now see here girl...you do what we say, or this is going to be the end of you. Of course, we are going to have a little fun with you before that." Saying this, he threw Hazel on the floor. Hazel was scared, but suddenly their attention was diverted by the door being banged open. As light streamed inside, a teenager stepped into Hazel's view. Surrounded by the light, he seemed like an angel.

Both the thugs looked stunned at seeing the intruder but they quickly recovered their wits, however, little they were. One of them picked up a knife and held it at Percy threateningly, "Who the fuck are you? How did you get in?"

Percy wasn't listening however, and peered intently at the girl on the floor, who evidently, was Hazel. Percy saw that she had bruises in her face and thigh and numerous cuts along her upper lips and jaws. She was clutching herself fearfully, as if she would faint any moment. Then she looked up for a moment, and Percy's stomach lurched painfully. The girl bore an uncanny similarity to his dead friend, Bianca Di Angelo. This settled it for Percy. Over the time he had spend rescuing demigods, he had realised that he couldn't bear to see them in pain; it reminded him of what exactly could have happened to him, too, but had not taken place. Percy caught the last part of the man's question, "...How did you get in?"

"By breaking the door." Percy deadpanned. Then, suddenly his body seemed to tense up as he looked up at the thugs in a dark sea-green gaze that chilled them, "As for who I am...you can call me your death." Percy sprinted towards the first one and kicked him in the shins, sending him sprawling to the ground. Percy slammed his head on the concrete floor, causing his skull to crack and a trickle of blood t flow. Without even turning around, he leaped into the air and twisting around, caught the other man's fist with his own, while simultaneously kicking his stomach. What followed was a flurry of motions: kicks, punches, uppercuts...as Percy moved away, the other man fell t the floor noisily, now more resembling a bloody heap than anything. Percy stared distastefully at them; he could have killed them, but let them go for this time. Then he looked towards Hazel, who was wide-eyed and gaping at this scene. Then, she finally succumbed to her nerves and started to sob loudly.

Percy wrapped up the sobbing girl in a hug and whispered to her "Shh...don't worry. Nothing will happen to you anymore. I am here now. I will protect you." A little water flew out of a container and flowed over Hazel's cheeks and forehead, healing her wounds. Suddenly, Hazel seemed to stiffen and then an urgent panic seemed to have overtaken her. She screamed, "The gigantes. Alcyoneus. I have to go." She instantly sprung up, as if expecting a powerful combat.

Percy stared at Hazel. Okay...if the kid didn't know about demigods, how the Hades did she know about Alcyoneus? Percy asked the question to Hazel. She screamed, "I don't have any time to explain. I must go. You," she snapped her hands, "will forget this encounter."

Instantly, Percy's mind seemed to glaze over as the mist tried to rearrange his memories. Percy was initially stunned at how greatly this demigoddess could control the mist. If he was anything like the old Percy, it would have easily worked on him. However, Percy was not so easy to deceive anymore. During the fight the Indian demigods had waged, they had to work extremely hard to overcome the Mist's effects...they had developed a natural resistance to it, which Percy now inherited. He jumped up and uncapped Anaklusmos. "Uh-oh", Percy said in a warning tone, "Don't try that on me anymore. And don't think for a second that you'll be getting away from me so easily. I am the son of Poseidon, and you aren't going anywhere till I understand this whole business."

Hazel was wide-eyed during this speech, but she caught one word. "By Poseidon, do you mean Neptune?"

Percy guessed that was a fair question, and answered, "You can say so."

Instantly, a change in demeanour was visible in Hazel. She clung to Percy' chest and sobbed, "Please, help me." Percy listened in silence to Hazel's life story: how she had been initially born during the 1940's, how her mother had asked for her to have the ability to unearth the riches of the world from her father, Pluto. She revealed how they had retreated to Alaska where she had been forced to raise the giant Alcyoneus by continuously summoning the precious metals. She told how she had prevented her rise, had gone to underworld and sentenced to the Fields of Asphodel. She revealed how she had been helped out by a cousin of her, Nico, to escape into the real world. She had met Hecate very early on, who had told her she had a very great potential to manipulate the mist, even enough to escape the radar of most gods. She had done something to her to take away her memories of her past life so that she can be normal, and had even regressed her age. However, she had also stated that she had a curse and she couldn't escape her destiny; one day, her past will catch up with her and she will have to finish what she had started. That had become true in the past week. She had been leading a happy life, but she was assaulted by her memories returning. She had been driven by her desire to end this throughout the country and she intended to finish it all. Apparently, she had only been getting flashes previously, but her memory was finally complete.

Percy thought to himself: Damn, that Nico can be pretty badass. He shrugged his shoulders and asked Hazel, "So, what are we to do now?"

"We?"

"Yes. Now that I have learnt about your life, I can't let you go out there alone and kill yourself. Do you know where the giant is?"

Hazel nodded, "He has made his home on a glacier. I know the location, but it will be tough to get there. We will need some form of transport if we don't want to walk till there."

Percy smirked at Hazel, "As long as it is on the waterway, you can guarantee that we will reach safely there. Your cousin might be powerful, but I am not too shabby either."

Sometime later, one could see Percy and Hazel speeding away on a cruise toward the home of Alcyoneus. Although there were no keys in the boat and the engine wasn't running, what need did a son of Poseidon have for them? As they drifted away, Hazel said softly, "I think Hecate was right in her last words."

"Oh? What did she say?"

"She said that a son of Neptune will finally free me of my curse." Hazel smiled at him, and Percy couldn't help but grin back in return. However, in his mind he groaned: Just how many prophecies were made to this day that were related to him in one way or the other?

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"This isn't a good idea." The asian-looking demigod scowled at Percy and Hazel.

"On the contrary, this is a very good idea." Percy grinned, they had met up with the two-man quest team that was sent to Alaska to rescue Thanatos just before they reached the base of Alcyoneus. They consisted of Reyna and a demigod named Frank Zhang. They normally would have brought more members, but the security around Camp Jupiter took a greater priority. "You are two, we're two. We can easily rescue Thanatos in this way. You have to admit, there is strength in numbers."

Reyna cut off the discussion by firmly stating, "Okay, this will get us nowhere. Frank, since I am superior to you, I order that they be allowed to join our quest." This shut Frank up, while Reyna muttered under her breath, "...Cause I know that the stupid son of Neptune would join us anyway."

"Ta-da. We're here." Percy exclaimed happily.

"What, already?" Frank scrambled up to his feet and looked into the distance. Percy was right; far away they could see a few shades moving around and they seemed to be guarding a person: Thanatos. The god of death was chained using some kind of icy shackles which was inhibiting him from moving. They descended on the glacier and moved towards him, each clutching his/her weapon tightly: even Hazel had found a spatha, in the boat that the Romans were occupying. They had stated that it was present there from the beginning. This made Percy suspicious that this Quest was obviously rigged; either Hecate had been helping them, or somebody else was also aware of her present whereabouts...

The shades didn't obstruct them as they approached Thanatos. The death god quietly looked at them in an almost disinterested stare. For a moment, they weren't sure of what they should do, before Thanatos spoke up lazily, "Well? Aren't you lot going to free me of my chains?"

Both Reyna and Percy jammed their weapons into the chains, only to yelp a bit and draw back when the ice started encroaching their weapons as well. Percy spoke up, "Well..this isn't normal."

"Not indeed. Did you expect that anything normal can hold me captive?" He asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, then how do we save you?" Frank asked, impatiently.

Thanatos smirked, and looking at Frank, he intoned, "Only the fire of life can destroy the shackles of death."

Frank's face paled at this announcement, but before he could speak, a booming voice came from afar, "Ah, look. We finally have company." There stood Alcyoneus, over 40 feet tall, looking like a stately statue, with precious metals adorning his entire body. The shades were all around him, ready to obey their master. He incanted, "Destroy them".

"What are we to do?" shrieked Hazel, as enemies closed in."We can't fight them all at once and also free Thanatos."

Frank spoke up, his voice nervous yet determined at the same time, "I can free Thanatos, but the shades..." Percy cut him off as he held up Riptide, "Leave them to me."

"Dude, there are like 50 of them." Frank looked worriedly at Percy. He hadn't seen Percy in direct action ever, and thus his worry was genuine.

"Trust me, Frank, he handle them and a lot more with ease." Reyna stated, her eyes focussed on the giant. "Okay, that leaves me and Hazel to fend off Alcyoneus." Looking at Hazel, she confirmed, "You know how to fight, don't you?"

Hazel's eyes sparkled with determination as she nodded, "For this, I have actually waited a lifetime." With a cry, the girls ran to meet the giant head on, as Percy tracked his path towards the shades, who now surrounded him, leaving Frank alone with the god of death.

"Well, do what you are supposed to do." Thanatos nudged impatiently, as Frank held up a piece of stick on his hands; the very stick his life depended on. With a grimace, Frank set it on fire and let it move around the icy shackles that were binding the deity. By the time he was done, only a small portion of his stick was left.

Frank sat down on the icy mattress, panting, while Thanatos looked on with a disinterested stare at the battle. "Well? Aren't you going to do something to help us?" Frank asked.

"Do something? Of course I will. I will make sure that those of you who die in this battle remain dead." Thanatos smirked, and looked in the distance with a grin. "You demigods sure know how to put up a good show." Following his line of sight, Frank saw Percy...in the middle of...his own cyclone? However, he had no time to dawdle as he also noticed Reyna and Hazel were in a bit of tight spot with the giant. He concentrated and changed into a bald eagle, soaring towards them.

Percy hadn't stayed around doing nothing during this time, of course. He had charged at the shades, and soon found himself in the middle of them. With his hand gripping Riptide, Percy asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

In response, one of the shades leaped forward to grab Percy, but he easily leaned back, caught his arm and slammed him down on the ground, causing it to disintegrate. Percy grinned, "...Cause I sure want to do this." The battle started instantly, as Percy ducked, dodged and feinted throughout the onslaught. He had to always keep his strength contained, not letting it go in the fear that it might hurt someone, but he had no such reservations now. He grabbed one of the shade's head and jumped up, putting Riptide through his back; using that as a pole, Percy swung around in a full circle, kicking and decimating the nearby shades. He rolled away, blocking one more strike and in a deft one-two, put an end to two more shades. A sway to the left, a pressure of his hand holding the ghostly sword down and an aerial kick knocked another one away. Percy crouched, and using his foot like springs, jumped up and beheaded two more. The ice around them was cracking due to the adrenalin surge experienced by Percy. As spears flew towards him, a solid ice shield sprung up in Percy left wrist, blocking them, and a great watery rope shackled their wrists together and forced them right to the ground. Seeing the perimeter was clear, Percy led out a bellow of raw power and brought his fist down on the glacier, creating an ice quake that his father would have been proud of. The crevice created by it swallowed some of the shades and before the rest could scramble away, Percy once more had his bow in hand; invoking the Indrastra, Percy let it fly and multiply, confident that this would be the end. Both he and the shades were shocked when they flew right through them and embedded in the snow.

"Okay..."Percy muttered, "So it doesn't work that well on ghosts." He was bit out of wind after using so much power, but it would take a lot more to stop him. As Percy concentrated, the ice cracked and a dual-ended spear broke out of it to fit into Percy's hands. He smirked; he wanted to use one of these since he had fought Atlas. With his now wider range, he made mincemeat of the shades, decapitating and destroying them. Seeing that only twelve to thirteen were left, Percy charged at them like a man possessed; the spear was discarded as Riptide reappeared in his hand, becoming an arc of pure destruction. As his sea-green eyes darkened again, the air seemed to still and then let go in an instant, forming a tornado of icy wind around him. He rose up in the air, the shades flung up in the vortex alongside him; at that moment, he seemed more like a son of Zeus than Poseidon. The snow pelted the shades like hellstones, leading them to try and scramble away, but they were weighted down by the wind. Another charge, and it was over; as the wind died down, and Percy descended to the earth, capping Riptide not unlike sheathing a sword, the shades fell with a dead thud, disappearing almost before they reached the ground.

It was at the same time that Frank reached the girls. Reyna was down, trying to gain her footing, while Hazel was backed into a corner by Alcyoneus. Just before he could finish her off, Frank flew above his eyes and raked his talons across them. Alcyoneus bellowed in agony, stepping away from Hazel as Frank descended and changed into a gorilla. With a thump of his chest, Frank took hold of the giant's legs and threw him away. Before Alcyoneus could recover, Frank changed into his largest form...a BIG, Tyrannosaurus Rex. He couldn't hold this form for more than a few seconds, but that was enough as Alcyoneus' eyes widened at the sight comically before the giant foot stomped his chest, crushing some bones. A transformation into a kangaroo, followed by a shark kick to his head knocked the giant out. Before the astonished stares of the girls, Frank changed back to his Homo sapiens form.

"Frank? That was you?" Hazel goggled with surprise, while Reyna sputtered with indignance. She rounded up on him, "What in the name of Pluto was that? You can turn into animals?"

Frank looked a bit sheepish (in his human form!) and nodded, "Yep, kind of a family trait. My mom told me that that somewhere along my family line there was a son of Neptune mixed up, and this a legacy power."

"Really? I must ask Dad about this." Percy exclaimed, now approaching them.

Frank looked at him weirdly, "Dude, you can create your own typhoon, and you still think you need more abilities?"

Percy chuckled to himself, "Right you are Frank. I guess I don't need more abilities right now. It would only mean...more monsters." Then he turned serious, and looking at Frank, he said, "Fancy turning into something big and strong and dragging Alcyoneus west for a while? He can be killed once we cross Alaska." And so the crew set out, with Frank turning into a elephant and dragging the giant away.

After sometime, Alcyoneus shook his head and looked up, and was outraged to see him bound in a kind of magical rope, with four grinning demigods looking at him. He tried to rip through them, buut they weren't that easy. Looking murderously at them, he growled, "Untie me at once!"

Pretending to think, Percy shook his head, "No...I don't think that's wise."

"You fools. You will never kill me. I am the bane of Pluto, the new master of death and immortal in my homeland." Alcyoneus screamed.

"You really think you can replace my dad?" Hazel smirked, "You aren't even clever enough to build your homeland a few miles from the border." As a look of blind panic settled over his face, Hazel's revenge was complete; it was the same look of despair she had worn, and wanted to inflict upon him. As her spatha embedded itself into the giant's body, causing gems to be flung about, she finally felt at peace.

"Well, you lot look jubilant." Came the condescending tone of Thanatos, as he glided towards them. His black orbs stared at Hazel. "Hazel Levesque..."he whispered, "an escapee from underworld."

Percy stepped up in front of Hazel, his sword raised, "No gonna happen Thanatos. You went to get to her, you'll have to go past me."

Thanatos looked at him with a quirked eyebrow and smirked, "I mean her no harm. It seems that Lord Pluto is pleased with her deeds and has allowed her to stay on the surface, maybe due to her involvement in the Prophecy of Seven." His smirk broadened, "I would suggest that you lot hurry. Your friends at Camp Jupiter are in serious trouble, if I am right. A lot of souls to reap there." He stretched his wings, ready to depart.

"Wait," Percy called after him, "How do we close the doors of Death?"

"I can't tell you about that. It is purely a physical place, and out of my knowledge. However, I suggest you go to Rome. Clues and friends await you there, and the Fates will always help you if you know how to understand it." Thanatos disappeared in the horizon, as they looked at each other with worry: how can they reach Camp fast enough to help their friends?

"Can't you teleport us there?" Reyna suggested.

Percy looked grim, "It's a lot of distance. Using it tires me up, and with you...I need something as a power source." Suddenly his eyes were drawn towards an object on the ground. He grinned and held it up for all to see.

"The eagle of the Twelfth Legion," Reyna whispered in awe, "It contains the power of Jupiter."

"Let's see how helpful can it be." As they all stood in a circle touching Percy, he slammed it on the ground, causing a wild surge of lightning to arc upwards into his body, flooding him with enough raw power to easily cover the distance. As Percy vanished with his friends in tow, he thought, "I got to get me one of these."

A/N: That was the longest chapter as of yet. I changed a lot of Hazel's back-story, as you can realize by reading. Battle of Camp Jupiter is coming next...Stuff from "The Son of Neptune" were also butchered, but it won't be fan fiction otherwise, would it be? I almost turned Frank into Beast Boy there...And, a kangaroo kicks really hard. I am serious.

Please review and tell me what you think. As always, suggestions to improve my writing are welcome.