Chapter 1: Thunderbolts (4/4)
Darkness, it all dark again. Sitting down, completely numb on the nothingness hugging his knees. There was nothing there, just a completely empty space, completely depraved of light. Zachariah was feeling an almost unbearable cold, accompanied by an unbearable silence. Where is this place? Zach thought as he looked around but no matter where he looked, there was nothing there.
"ZZZAAACCCHHhhh..." Here it comes that unbearable voice once again. It was a nearly incomprehensible voice calling out his name. "It Hurts!" All he could do, was cover his ears in a futile attempt to ignore that voice. "ZachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachzachZACH." Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! "Why...?" SOMEBODY MAKE IT SHUT UP! "YOU... LEFT.. MEEEEEEE!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The boy screamed as loud as his lungs allowed.
In the blink of an eye, his agony ended. Ironically, by the simple act of opening his eyes. Which presented him the sight of the ceiling of his cabin. His first act was to look around and notice that it was still dark and everyone else was still sleeping. Zachariah then sat up on his bed, he was shirtless only wearing his vintage jeans and red socks, very frustrated. I haven't had that damn dream since we came to the camp. Why did it started again? Deep in thought, Zachariah decided to stand up from his bed, put his shoes on and make his way out through the window to go somewhere.
It only took a small walk for him to arrive at his destination. Once he was standing in front of it, he looked up the sky and said something. "Hit me with a thunderbolt if you object." He spoke out loud to the sky, obviously telling this to someone. After a few seconds have passed. "I'll take this as an okay." He gave a thumbs up to the sky before he made his way inside Zeus's cabin. It wasn't the first time that he went there, but he honestly expected some type of objection or something. It is allowed, although not encouraged to go to other cabins, but still not forbidden.
Zeus's Cabin looks like a white marble box, with heavy, white columns in the front. This cabin is the biggest and bulkiest of all the cabins. It has polished bronze doors that shimmer like a hologram, and have lightning bolts streaked down them. The dome-shaped ceiling is decorated with moving mosaics of a cloudy sky and thunderbolts. It also thunders all the time.
The cabin has no furniture on the inside at all, described as looking like a bank. It only has alcoves with golden eagle statues and one intimidating statue of Zeus in the middle. To Zachariah though, it looks like a glaring hippie that was ten feet tall and has sight of every place in the room except a corner where Thalia had put her sleeping bag, and a few photos of herself, Luke, Annabeth and Zachariah.
Once inside, Zachariah made his way to the corner where Thalia was sleeping peacefully on her sleeping bag. The boy with unnatural blue eyes felt bad about waking her up, but... He knelled down besides her poked her softly on the arm. Thalia quickly opened her eyes and stared at Zach with her blue eyes. "Zach?" She rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?" Looking around, she apparently noticed that it was still dark. "What is going on?" She asked him.
Zach didn't answer. He just looked down and bit his lip.
It didn't took long for her to understand what was happening. "That nightmare again?" She asked him, and he nodded slowly in response. "Dammit, I thought they were finally over." She sounded really frustrated. But then she opened her sleeping bag. "Come on." She invited him warmly.
Zach took off his shoes and crawled inside Thalia's sleeping bag before he was hugged tightly by her. He has had that nightmare a lot of times before. When they happened, his response to them was always the same. "Thanks." He returned her hug.
"No problem." She tenderly kissed his forehead before closing the relatively big sleeping bag.
Thalia's embrace was always comfortable and warm, something that Zachariah always desired when he has that horrible nightmare. They used to happen very often before, which caused Thalia to get a sleeping bag that fit the two of them as a result. The exact same sleeping bag that she still uses to sleep. "Did you kept the sleeping bag because it was comfortable, or because of me?" Zach asked in curiosity while he had his eyes closed.
"Both." Thalia answered his question.
"Okay..." Zach was actually happy for hearing that. And hugged Thalia tighter as a result.
Luckily, Zachariah was able to go to sleep again and actually sleep peacefully. The lazy boy with light brown hair was having difficulty to wake up. It's not time to wake up yet, Thalia is still asleep. Still enjoying her embrace, Zach was about to fall back to sleep again.
Until, he heard the sound of steps coming from the entrance. Zachariah decided to ignore it as he already knew who it was as only a selected few, would dare to enter that Cabin.
"Oh no," The person was one of the selected few besides Zach. "That nightmare again?" It wasn't really a question, and he felt someone touch his arm gently.
"Hey Annabeth." Thalia greeted her in response while Zachariah still had his eyes closed. "He came here in the middle of night."
Zachariah decided to finally open his eyes and roll to face Annabeth. "I thought it was over." He told her sadly. "But yesterday, it was just louder than last time."
"I told you, we should try to figure it out what the dream is about." Annabeth was quick to input. "It could be something intention-"
"I don't want to talk about it, Annabeth." Zach interrupted her as he sat up. "And I don't think there's any meaning behind it."
"But Zach-" Annabeth tried to argue further but Thalia shaked her head, signaling her to not press it further. Which caused her to look annoyed.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Thalia asked, as although Annabeth is free to go there whenever she wants, she usually doesn't.
Annabeth took a deep breath before speaking. "You two better follow me."
Both Zachariah and Thalia looked at one another in deep confusion.
After making a quick stop at Hermes's Cabin to put on his long sleeved T-shirt alongside the Camp's shirt over it. Zachariah and Thalia decided to follow Annabeth to check what exactly is going on. But Zach was instantly worried as Annabeth seemed uneasy.
"Alright, what is going on Annabeth?" Thalia asked her as she saw that they were approaching the Big House, a large, sky-blue house which served as the main administrative building at Camp Half-Blood.
"Are you taking us to Chiron's Office?" Zach added another question.
"Well..." Annabeth seemed to be trying to find the right words. "Luke's father is here."
"Oh boy..." It was Zachariah's instant reply as Luke and Hermes being on the same place is a recipe for disaster.
"How long has he been here?" Thalia asked as she rushed towards the Big House with Zach and Annabeth following behind her.
"An hour or two, Grover is the one that told me that he was here." Annabeth explained to them. "He told me to call the two of you."
All three decided to hurry it up in order to try to mitigate the damage caused by whatever Hermes does or says to Luke. Struggling to keep up with Thalia, both Zachariah and Annabeth followed the daughter of Zeus as she entered the Big House. The plain looking boy never liked the place for some reason, he never really understood why though.
Arriving at the entrance of Chiron's Office, they could hear voices coming from inside and the one that stood out the most, was Luke's. Who was apparently yelling at someone. It's amazing how Hermes can make Luke yell like that, he never yelled at me, even when I deserved... Which is pretty often.
Thalia wasted no time in bashing in. Once they were inside however, they saw Luke pointing a finger at Hermes looking enraged about something. Chiron was standing there looking very uncomfortable with the current situation. Luke didn't seem to notice their presence and kept on yelling at Hermes. "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT IS OR WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THIS, YOU GONNA GO BACK TO THE OLYMPUS AND TELL-" The son of Hermes kept on yelling at the God of Speed loudly before the daughter of Zeus decided to intervene.
"Hey!" Thalia interrupted him and touched his arm.
Luke noticed her presence as soon as she touched him and saw Zach and Annabeth standing there. He looked away embarrassed, probably ashamed that they saw his outburst at his father. "Sorry..." He apologized to them.
"Don't sweat it man." Zach instantly spoke to him.
"What is going on?" Thalia asked in worry.
Luke gave his father a hostile look before looking at Zach and Annabeth, then he looked at Thalia. He took a deep breath, approched her ear and whispered something to her.
Whatever it was, it got a reaction out of Thalia. Because as soon as he finished whispering at her ear, Thalia's face changed in a blink of an eye from a neutral expression to a enraged one that precisely matched the one that Luke had just a while ago. "YOU BETTER FLY BACK TO THE OLYMPUS AND TELL WHOEVER TOLD YOU TO DELIVER THIS MESSAGE TO SHOVE IT DOWN THE PLACE WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE!" Suddenly and out of nowhere, Thalia started to yell at Hermes much louder and angrily than Luke was just a minute ago.
Zach looked at Annabeth with a; What the hell is going on here? face.
Annabeth responded with a; I have no idea. face.
Zachariah decided to try to get some answers from Chiron. He approached him stealthily without being noticed. "What is going on?" He whispered to him in order to ask.
"Hermes came here to deliver a quest." Chiron replied to the son of... Someone.
"But, why is Luke angry, wasn't he expecting this quest from his father?" Annabeth, who was behind Zach, questioned.
"The thing is, the quest is not for Luke." The centaur clarified.
"What?" Zachariah was very confused. "Then, for who?"
"And why is Thalia angry?" The blond girl didn't understood that part. "If the quest is for someone else, then wh-" Annabeth was asking a question but stopped in the middle for some reason, when Zach turned his head to see why she stopped. He could tell by her face that she figured out already. But to his shock, instead of telling him, she moved towards Hermes as well. "Thank you, but the answer is no, he's not doing it." The daughter of Athena politely declined something, clearly agreeing with Luke and Thalia on the subject.
The boy with unnatural blue eyes was more confused than ever.
"Listen, I know you three have good intentions but, you can't just refuse a quest for someone else." Chiron tried to calmly argue with the trio. The three looked at him with different expression. Luke had a neutral expression, Thalia was frowning angrily and Annabeth had a worried one.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" Zachariah had enough of being clueless about the situation. "Why are you three refusing a quest for someone else." He questioned his surrogate family.
The three looked at one another, apparently unsure of how to respond.
Luckily, Hermes stepped forward to answer his question. "As I just explained to Luke." He approached Zachariah. "He misunderstood what I meant, I told him I had a quest but I never specified that it wasn't really for him." The last part was for Luke, who just folded his arms in response and looked down. "The Quest I bring is actually for you, Zachariah Roosevelt."
The light brown haired boy widened his eyes in response, then he frowned. "Seriously?" That wasn't for Hermes. "You guys were seriously refusing a quest for me?!"
"Zach," Luke calmy spoke. "Don't think that any of us deny your capability, it's just..."
"You're immature, childish, arrogant, considerably dumb, reckless and a lot of other things that would take too long to list." Annabeth bluntly stated. "If you weren't unbelievably strong, you would have died on one of your escapades a long time ago."
"And quests aren't like your monster hunting escapades, you can't just swing your scythe around and hope for the best." Thalia calmly told him, which was kind of strange.
"It worked so far." Zach folded his arms in annoyance. "And the fact that I killed several monsters like that, should speak for itself."
"Yes, which is the main reason you being given this quest." Hermes told him. "The Gods have been observing you for quite sometime."
"So, you guys were watching." Zach was relieved to have the confirmation. "Does that mean you know which god is mother or father?"
That question appeared to have caused some commotion, as everyone in the room seemed to want to know the answer to that question. Luke, Thalia and Annabeth wanted to know in hopes that it would finally put an end to Zach's monster hunting escapades, while Chiron probably wants to know out of curiosity.
Hermes paused a bit, before he answered the boy that was the most eager to hear his answer. "I'm afraid, I don't know Zachariah." That, of course, caused the plain looking boy to look visible disappointed. "And... No one really knows to be honest." The disappointed boy then looked at the God confused.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked Hermes, with a somewhat hostile tone towards his father.
"The others took notice of Zachariah as soon as he killed his third monster and we tried to discover which of us actually sired him but, no one seems to know or at least not remember." Hermes explained to the people on the room.
Although they all had neutral expressions, Zachariah's disappointed face seemed to get worse over it. "W-what do you mean with not remember?" He noticed that detail.
Luke seeing his disappointed face, decided to step forward. "One of the main reasons to why our Cabin is always full, is because some of the gods, the minor ones to be more precise, don't really keep count of how many children they have."
"So..." Zach's disappointment reached an all time high.
"Hey," Luke kneeled down to match Zachariah's height. "Listen to me, I said this a thousand of times and I will say it again." He put his hands on Zachariah's shoulders. "We will always be here for you, even if we never discover who is your Olympian parent."
"While discovering who is the god that sired you proved to be a difficult task, we were at least able to uncover who was the mortal that birthed you." Hermes added before Zachariah could reply to what Luke said, which took everyone by surprised.
"What?!" It was Zachariah instant response.
"You found out who his mortal parent is?" Luke asked his father, who just nodded in response.
"Yes, we got a name and a location." Hermes informed them.
"Where?!" Thalia asked the god.
Hermes paused for a bit before he could answer. "I can't reveal it yet."
That caused everyone in the room, except for Chiron, to look at the Olympian angrily , but surprisingly, the one who's rage seemed to overflow, was Luke. Who angrily stood up and approached his father. "YOU DROP THIS BOMB ON US AND NOW YOU'RE GIVING US THAT!" He yelled hatefully at his father while pointing at him. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG ZACH IS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHO HIS PARENTS ARE?!" The rage in Luke was unmeasurable. "YOU AND THOSE DAMN GODS, ALWAYS TREATING YOU CHILDREN LIKE DIRT, OR WORSE, FORGETTING ABOUT THEM! YOU KNOW WHAT?! WHOEVER OF YOU WAS SIRED ZACH, IT'S A GOOD THING THAT HE OR SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER." Everyone widened their eyes after hearing what Luke just said. "BECAUSE NONE OF YOU BASTARDS DESERVE TO HAVE ZACH AS A SON!"
An very uncomfortable pause ensured once Luke finished. They were all unsure on how to go on. Especially Zachariah, who was the one who's this entire conversation was about. So... My mother or father don't even remember having me... You know what? Luke is probably right. The fact that his Olympian parent probably doesn't even remember having him, really made him sad. But... If I can at least know who my mortal parent is... Zachariah took a deep breath before approaching Hermes. "Can you at least tell me if my mortal parent is my father or my mother?"
Hermes looked at him with a look of pity, which Zachariah disliked. "It's your mother." The Massager of the Gods told the unclaimed boy.
So my father was a god and my mother was a mortal! The amount of happiness that Zachariah was feeling at the moment was pretty high, because just the information made him happy.
"Is there a particular reason to why you can't give us her location?" Annabeth asked Luke's father. "If yes, it's regarding this quest isn't it?"
"Precisely." Hermes clarified. "There is a quest that requires completion, and Zachariah through the impressive number of monsters that he slayed, was the one selected for it." Zachariah never really counted how many monsters he has defeated. "The reason why I called you was because, as usual, two people must join him on this quest." The God told his son.
The completion of this quest for my mother's location?
Luke looked at his father for a bit, before he took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay, but I want your word that you will tell us where to find Zachariah's mother once we get this done with." The son of Hermes was very serious. "I'm gonna swallow the fact that the Olympians are using such a delicate and personal information to blackmail my fri-" Luke was about to say friend but stopped. "My brother into doing your bidding." He corrected himself.
Strangely, hearing that made Zach smile as the feeling was mutual. He noticed that Annabeth and Thalia smiled at that too.
"You have my word, Luke." The Messenger of the Gods sounded sincere but Luke just looked at him unconvinced.
"Okay, but..." Zachariah called their attention. "What is the quest?"
Thanks everyone for reading this my story and sorry for the delay, reading on a shitty phone really affects both the writing and updates. If there's any criticism that doesn't fucking involve Annabeth being paired with someone that isn't Percy. Please leave on the reviews as it has been a long time since I read the books and I might mistake a detail here and there.
As always, Questions and Answers:
Enjoyed getting one of the two daughters of Aphrodite I hope are in the harem introduced this chapter one Silena also like the we got introduced to his personal Pegasus fantasy and you know after that scene in the future maybe as some quite rewards for a quest that they don't even mention Poseidon could bless Zachariah with the gift of speaking to Horses and Aphrodite gives him a permanent white smile
Also pretty cool to learn one of the monsters he's already beaten is the Chimera also pretty sure you should have said the Chimera not a chimera there's only one after all haha
Actually speaking of monsters hope he's slain the Minotaur once or twice already so when he sees it again he can jokingly greet the bull man as a old friend
Hope Annabeth wasn't being serious in her threat to destroy his Revolver also neat learning about his life before he meet Luke and Thalia
Even if they don't officially consider them quests I do hope because of his outing the campers even if it's just internally see Zachariah as the one who's done the most quests
I kinda hope he joins Luke on his quest to get the apple and that the quest in this succeeds and that instead of Luke being scarred also kinda hope if Z does go on the quest we skip to the Ladon encounter
Also like how he dealt with learning about the great prophecy
Thanks for confirmation he and Clarrise will be frenemies do hope it leans more to friend in the future and that he's the strongest demigod at camp makes sense given his heritage and the fact he's the most experienced fighting monsters
Looking forward to what Gods will be like his friends but of course I still hope some goddesses are more than friends like Aphrodite
Actually shocked Percy is going to be in this
From the preview I'm guessing Nico is going to look at Z as his big brother and I do hope Bianca lives also seems like Z won't like Jason
You know I've mentioned it but here's who I hope is in a harem with Z
Thalia, Annabeth, Silena, Bianca, Reyna, Hazel, Piper, Calypso, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter, Eris, Gaea, Nyx, Rachel
Also with all the feats Z has performed enough where if his godly parent was a regular god surely the Gods have taken note of Zachariah and so since none of their fellow gods have claimed him are some of them wondering who the hell is parent is since I'm sure they can tell at the very least he is a Greek Demigod
The blessing that he wants the most is the ability to understand Fantasy, so.
That was an accidental mistake, sorry.
He did, and it was Zachariah most humiliating beatdown of a monster and the Minatour kind of has a habit of avoiding Zach because of it.
Don't worry, Zach intends to keep his promise to her.
Zachariah is kind of unpopular in the camp because of it and he would be bullied a lot if he didn't wiped the floor with anyone who tried.
They are going on a entire different quest together. Don't worry, the major triggers that caused Luke's betrayal are absent here. {Thalia being alive already removes a major trigger.}
The Prophecy is completely different and now it puts equal important at children of the big three. {No age for it, which why Thalia and Bianca won't join the huntress.}
He's not a Demi-God, remember...
You will be surprised, he detests some gods but really likes some of them.
Honestly, I'm seriously considering the possibility of putting a Fem Percy in this story. Their dynamic will be important whatever I decide though, M/Percy {Best friends with him.} F/Percy {Completely in love with her. (But not mutual...*couch* for *couch* a while.)}
Nico's feelings for Zach actually goes beyond that... But Zach is only interested in the brother relationship. Bianca and him are as close as he is to Nico {going a little beyond}. He detests Jason.
hahaha I knew people would be bitching when you revelead that Percy would be in this
Percy has to be in this... One way or another.
Yay bianca lives! Harem her!
I'm curious to see how he interacts with Percy.
You'll be surprised.
The story is nice, but I must agree with weirdhead. With Percy around, it's odd seeing Annabeth paired to Zack. On the other hand, it would be interesting Zack to date a daughter of Poseidon and Poseidon liking the lad. Adding this in subscriptions.
It's still a possibility... So...
And with that, I'm out. Would have been around if Fem! Percy joined in their shared pairing. Now that you have mentioned Percy is going to be beasties with Zack, so Poseidon would be OK with him. Still a great fic, high praise to your writing.
It still a possibility, there's a bunch people arguing in favor and against the idea, it will only be decided when M or F Percy appears.
I love this story specially u have 3 love interests Thalia, Annabeth, and Sliena and right now I know Annabeth definitely has feelings for MC and Thalia is also starting to have feelings for MC , I think before they arrive at Camp Half Blood she saw him as little brother but after the MC save her is when she started developing feelings for him and as for Sliena she stills see MC as friend for now
No... It will only happen when Thalia reunites with her brother and stops seeing Zach as a substitute.