Zane Williams and The Gods of Olympus

by thesuperone342

Ever felt like Jason Grace is a complete disappointment and a failure to what a son of Zeus should be? Ever feel like Thalia was a waste and was thrown away too quickly? Well, this is the fanfiction for you. Join Zane Williams on his quest to be the strongest. Current Arc: The Last Olympian. Yaoi. (Anime Elements/AU) [Bad First Chapter, Needs Rewrite]

32. My Best Friend Sacrifices Himself

Alright boys, we did it! Chapter thirty is here. Cue the obligatory 'I didn't think I would get this far' message. Which is true, but whatever lol. Sorry if last chapter was a little bit lackluster, but I promise that this one will be a hell of a lot better. You have my word lol. Anyway, let's get into some reviews

Echoxenvy: "Sorry I didn't post this yesterday bro, but here's the review.

Good chapter. The ending wasn't wack, I thought it was rather good. Firstly, I liked the Kampe fight, it was a good demonstration of how skilled Zane is, and of course recruiting Briaries early and sending him to camp will help.

I also liked the talk with Arthur. Interesting to see he and Taylor interact, and to find out how much he really loved him. And it seems he is definitely still pissed about it, but good effort from Taylor. He's really trying to make amends and it says a lot about his character. Also I loved Percabeth cuddling lol, that was a nice moment.

The mirror scene was good in my opinion. I liked Zane facing an inner part of himself in his head, mainly because I've done stuff similar to that in my story. It was a good reminder that he's a different person and a changed man. But it also begs the question. Would he be stronger if he didn't hold back?

All in all, dope chapter. Enjoyed it, bro. Can't get enough of the Matt mentions lol. Can't wait for the next one."

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. I'm glad you liked the chapter and didn't think it was wack, because I definitely did. And yes, Arthur is still very much pissed, but I feel like he's had a bit of sense knocked in his head and he might come around pretty soon. And of course you love Percabeth lol. And I am glad you liked the mirror scene, as I liked the concept of it but I felt like the dialogue was Star Wars Prequel level at some points. And would he be stronger if he didn't hold back? Possibly, but It's more to show how much more destructive and efficient he could be. And don't worry on the Matt mentions, we'll be getting plenty of them. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

SaUvE ViPeR: "Nice chapter. I liked the inner demons stuff and evil Zane, it really shows how far he has come as a person. The fights were good, Kampe and the Briaries scene were good, a nice variation from canon where a son of Zeus saves him and he helps out the Camp. I liked the Arthur drama, yet again, and Taylor's apology. It seems Taylor is sincere about it, and it's a good thing he apologized. I don't think Arthur is being childish personally, as he's been through a lot. The gang just needs to understand that it will take time for him to come around, and that there is a good reason that he is bitter. I also will say that them making out in front of him is a little weird and awkward. Not sure if you intended it but it comes off as rude and kind of rubbing it in Arthur's face. I love the romance but it doesn't need to be shoved down our throat. The Zaylor scene before Kampe is a great scene, and things like that are good with me. But just making out in front of Arthur like it won't hurt him isn't cool to me. I'd think that Taylor would bring it up, but I guess not.

Other than that a great chapter. It wasn't wack at the end, I thought it was rather good character development. Seeing that Zane has changed and that he CAN go back to what he used to be is both scary and great. I have no doubt he'll return to his old ways at some point, even though it might not be soon, but it'll happen. Can't wait for the next chapter bro, you're doing a great job!"

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. I'm glad you liked the inner demons part, as that was the stuff I was the less confident was any decent. And Briaries coming in early is nice to write, so he'll show up earlier down the line. And the Arthur scene was the one I was most proud of. Taylor is definitely sincere, since he knows he's messed up with Arthur. And Arthur might not be childish, but remember, this is Zane's POV. He think's Arthur is being childish, despite probably being wrong. And I understand about shoving the romance down your throat. This chapter I think I was a little less forceful with it, so hopefully that is fixed. And yeah, kissing in front of Arthur was dickish, I didn't even notice that tbh. I'll make sure I'll look out for stuff like that in the future. Anyway, thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you enjoyed. Hopefully you'll enjoy this, too.

Shadowhunter2077: "So Kampe is gone, I'm not suprised about that even if she was as powerful as Zane she has no skill in battle so Zane would just run circles around her.

And about the Titanomachy the gods were outnumbered because it was 9 (the Elder Olympians and the three Hecatonchires) against 11 Titans (Kronos, Koios, Krios, Iapetus, Hyperion, Atlas, Menoetius, Perses, Astraeus, Lelantos and Pallas), (if you want I can send you their domains in a PM), so the gods defeating the Titans is very impressive considring that they were still young gods.

And man stop downgrading yourself, your story is filled with amazing original parts that you made and nobody is complanig, so stop salling yourself short you're a great writer have some pride man you deserve it."

Response: Yes, Kampe is fucking dead lol. I'm not completely sure if she's dead permanently, since me and Echoxenvy aren't one hundred percent sure what happens to monsters when killed by Heavenly Diamond. So the gods were outnumbered? I don't remember that lol but you're probably right. If you want to PM me the Titan's domains, go ahead, since I don't really know them and it could help when deciding future enemies in the story. And thanks for the compliments bro, hopefully I can have a little bit of pride in this chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

FabulousOutlaw58: "Yo sorry for the late review but I really liked this chapter. Kampe fight was great, the Briaries moment was good, and I liked the mirror scene honestly. Seeing Zane confront inner demons literally was quite good, don't sell yourself short, this story is good, and I like where it's going. Hope to see more soon!"

Response: Thanks for the review, man. Don't worry about it being late, as this chapter wasn't the most timely thing, lol. I'm glad you liked the chapter, especially the mirror scene. Was the first time I tried something completely original, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for the kind words, bro, it really means a lot to me. Anyway, here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy.

Merrik69: "Nice chapter. Liked the Arthur drama as usual, but I do hope it gets resolved soon, as it will be better for the quest. Makes sense though that he would still be mad, can't say if i were in the situation it would be any different. The Kampe fight was cool, and nice to see that Zane is a lot more skilled than he used to be. The mirror scene proves that further, and bro, what are you talking about? Bad chapter? Nah, don't say that about yourself. It was good, and this story is good. I liked Zane facing his inner demons, and nothing felt off about it. In fact I'd say this story needs more mystical and "out there" stuff. You can be humble, but also feel the pride of knowing that people think this story is good. At least I do for sure. Anyway, can't wait for the next one! I know what's coming next and I cannot wait."

Response: Thanks for the review, bro. And the Arthur drama will be revolved soon, as I honestly feel like it's dragged a little. And thanks for the words, bro. Seriously. It warms my heart to know that you think this story is actually legitimately good. I'll try more original stuff in the future then. And for more mystical and out there stuff, I have a couple of ideas in the upcoming chapters. Anyway, here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it, man.

ReaperKurosaki: "Seems that it's going to take a little longer for Arthur to get over his anger, and of course the PDA won't help. Come on now they should know that. But I like the moments so it's okay I guess. Kampe fight was cool, I like this story displaying Zane's skill and experience. It's not all about raw power, he has years of skill now, and it came to use this chapter. Honestly liked the mirror scene, not sure why you thought that was wack. It was good, and offered perspective on how Zane has changed. I liked it, and think there should be more."

Response: Yeah, the PDA was something I honestly missed and didn't really think about. A little dumb on my part, lol. And yeah, Zane has a lot of skill now, as he's trained it specifically for months. And I'm glad you liked the mirror scene, I was afraid people would think it would be ass. I'll definitely be adding more original shit now, and I hope people will enjoy it. Anyway, here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy.

Zutama: "Not much to say here, except good chapter. Can't wait to see where things go, and the scenes that follow, as they are the best parts of the book in my opinion. I have a question though. How much more powerful is Zane going to get? I don't have a problem with it, but in this one it says that he is twice as strong as he was when he fought Matt, with the others saying that he and Kampe are about the same strength, or at least him in the crossover. I find it a bit hard to believe that he acquired that much power through sheer training, so was it something else? Or just sheer training. If this progresses any further, then you'll have to change a LOT about Heroes of Olympus, as not just Zane, but Percy and Nico also will steamroll through every giant and even Gaea, by the time they get there. Even the Nico in Tartarus thing won't matter because he'll have enough durability to survive it with ease. Unless you just buff the giants and make Tartarus even worse, but that wouldn't make sense. Not a flame, I'm just wondering. Anyway, I liked the mirror scene, and any scene focusing on Zane's character really, and his past. Keep it up man, you're a great writer."

Response: Thanks for the review, man. So about your questions with the power scaling, with how much stronger Zane will get. Zane will be much stronger at the end of book five. Obscenely so. I won't reveal by how much, but it will be a lot. But it won't be acquired through training, no, something will happen to make him that strong. Also, he wasn't saying Nico was the same strength as Kampe, no, he was saying Nico could probably beat Kampe due to her lack of skill. And finally someone noticed how quickly Zane is growing in strength. Here's the explanation. When he nearly died against Luke in TC, he had one of his 'rage heals' that amp his strength. Basically Zenkais. Each little Zenkai he gets, he loses part of his 'limiter', I'll call it. His potential keeps vastly increasing with each one, and he gains new abilities, like telekinesis, telepathy and healing. It's very complicated but I'll eventually have a scene in the future where it's completely explained. Anyway, I have a couple of plans for HoO, so you'll see about that then. Anyway, sorry for long and convoluted explanation that probably didn't answer anything. I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter, and hopefully you enjoy this one.

Alright, enough with reviews. Let's blow this pop-stand.

(Disclaimer: I don't own anything portrayed here (Except the OCs). If the fact that this is on a FanFiction site didn't tip you off, you're fucking retarded.)

(000)

As the darkness of my vision faded, I found myself back in the bright white room staring at myself in the mirror. The dark version of me that I had seen in the mirror earlier was completely gone, now replaced simply by my normal reflection. I stood there for a few seconds, wondering if that had really just happened.

The smirking, red eyed version of myself happens nowhere to be seen, but the entire situation had felt incredibly real. A hand on my shoulder brook me out of my reverie.

"Zane?" I turned my head around quickly, only to find Nico with a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay? You've been staring at that mirror for almost a minute straight."

It took me a few seconds to respond to the son of Hades, as I was still in my thoughts a bit. "U-Uh...yeah. I'm alright. Thought I saw something a little weird in the mirror for a second. It was no big deal, though,"

Nico looked at me a little oddly, as if he knew what I had said was a lie. I sighed a little, before deciding I would tell him the truth. "Okay, I saw more than something a little weird."

At my words, the rest of the group stopped trying to break down the door to the white room, as Percy was about to punch the door in. "I saw...myself in the mirror. Well, not myself as in my normal reflection but myself as in a different version of myself."

My words caused everyone to be less tense and everyone chuckled slightly at my little joke, except Arthur, the prick. "Anyway, I saw some evil, darker version of myself in the mirror, and then I ended up in my mindscape, along with the evil version of me. He was almost exactly like how I was back during the Sea of Monsters quest."

Annabeth seemed very interested at what I had just said. "An evil version of yourself? Like how you were during the sea of monsters?" I nodded at Annabeth's question.

She put a hand to her chin and looked at the ground, thinking on what I had said. "The mirror must be some kind of trigger that sends whoever looks into it into their mindscape to face another side of themselves. Did anyone besides Zane look at the mirror for longer than a few seconds when we came in here?"

Nobody answered Annabeth's question, which was an answer in of itself. "Unless it triggers you seeing your greatest fear or something." She looked at me, an eyebrow raised on her face. "What's your greatest fear, Zane?"

I was silent for a few seconds, as I was hesitant to answer her. I didn't like to talk about things that terrified me, because it made me feel weak.

Even with Taylor and Nico it was a little difficult to speak about things I was insecure about. Eventually, I answered the daughter of Athena. "Myself."

Everyone was surprised at my answer, telling me I needed to elaborate. I sighed. "I'm terrified of myself. Of what I can do. Over a year ago, during the whole Sea of Monsters quest, I was a monster. I had no regard for the lives of people I didn't know, and my regard for the lives of people I cared for was shaky at best."

I motioned towards the mirror. "The mirror highlighted those aspects of how I was back then. It showed me my past self, only darker and even more malicious. It showed me just what I could become if I truly stopped holding back." I was silent for a few seconds. "That's my greatest fear."

A hand on my shoulder interrupted my words. I turned back, only to find that the hand belongs to Percy. He had a serious and concerned look on his face. "You're not like that anymore, man. You're completely different to how you used to be."

He shook his head at me. "You don't have to be afraid of yourself anymore. You're incredibly humble, protecting, kind and upstanding." Percy paused for a few seconds, as if he was trying to find the right words.

"You're like a brother to me, man. You're someone I can completely trust and count on even in my darkest moments. Don't sell yourself short, not even for a moment." Percy held out one of his hands.

I had no words for Percy's impassioned speech he had given me. I genuinely felt completely touched by the son of Poseidon's words. I even felt my eyes sting a lit bit.

A big smile made its way onto my face. "Thank you, Percy. Seriously, I really mean it." I grabbed Percy's forearm, something he reciprocated.

"I think I really needed to hear that. Sometimes, bottling up your fears and feelings can be really unhealthy." I looked at everyone all around me and the son of Poseidon, and all of them had smiles on their face at the moment.

Even Arthur didn't have his trademark scowl on his face, as he almost look like a mix of surprised and...conflicted? That was odd.

Percy smirked and slightly shook his head. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm here for you if you ever need it." He motioned towards our group around us. "All of us."

Everyone nodded at Percy's words, except for Arthur, although the son of Helios didn't voice any disagreement to Percy's proclamation. Percy then turned towards the door on the other side of the white room, and he cracked his knuckles.

"Alright then. Let's bust this shit down and keep going. We don't have much time left." Everyone nodded in agreement at Percy's words. But before anyone could do anything, a small hatch opened at the bottom of the frame of the mirror.

The hatch opened and nothing happened for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, a mechanical spider climbed out of the hatch and crouched on the ground. Percy raised an eyebrow. "A spider?"

Annabeth's reaction was a lot less subdued. "A spider!" She immediately backed away from the robotic creature on the ground, however it made no move to chase after her, like most children of Arachne would have.

Everyone stood in silence, awkwardness filling the room in the aftermath of Annabeth's near screaming exclamation. Her face turned red. "E-Er...I mean, a spider. Not scary at all. Nope. Definitely not." Everyone looked at her in silence, a deadpan look on our faces.

Her face burned even brighter. "...shut up." She muttered, which caused everyone to chuckle slightly and for Percy to ruffle her hair.

The only one who didn't chuckle, Arthur, walked up to the spider. The spider made no movements at all and was simply crouched down on the ground. Arthur picked up the spider and analyzed it.

The spider was bronze and covered in all kinds of inscriptions and engravings, which made it look very ornate. "This spider is a creation of Hephaestus, or at least a creation of one of his children."

Everyone looked at him in surprise, not expecting such a deduction to come from him. Arthur pointed to a crest on the main body of the spider, which was an imagine of an erupting volcano with two hammers crossed over it. "This is the Crest of Hephaestus. Beckendorf has the same crest on his hammer, as well as other inventions and creations of his. He shows me from time to time when we hang out."

Beckendorf and Arthur are friends? I had no clue about that one. "The crest is some kind of button. Now I wonder what happens if we press it."

Arthur did just that, pressing the crest with his finger. The spider immediately jutted to life, it's mechanical limbs lodging itself out of Arthur's hand, causing the son of Helios to grunt.

"What the fuck?" Arthur asked as the spider crawled away from him. Annabeth immediately freaked out and jumped away as the spider quickly crawled past her, making a loud yelping noise as she did so.

The spider, moving at the speed of a remote-control car toy, made its way towards the locked white door that was our way out. All of the deadbolts on the door immediately vanished into thin air and the door slid into the ground, kind of like a door from Star Wars or something.

The spider was about to crawl into the darkness of the Labyrinth and leave us behind, but I immediately appeared in front of it faster than anyone besides Percy, Nico and Taylor could even register, and picked the mechanical spider up.

The spider's legs flailed around as I held the automaton in my hand, but I didn't give the machine an inch. I looked at the spider with a raised eyebrow. "Seems like our little robo spider here was about to go right into the maze and leave us here."

I turned to Annabeth, who still looked at the spider warily. "What should we do? Should we let it go or follow it? Or should we just crush it and keep going?" I tightened my grip on the spider slightly, causing it's legs to seize up a bit and for the machine to let out some kind of whine.

It took a little bit for Annabeth to answer, on account of the spider I was holding and all. Eventually, the daughter of Athena got her bearings. "W-We should follow it." Annabeth looked around at everyone, a steeled look now adorned on her face.

"Think about it. Hera said we needed to find Hephaestus, as he is the only one who might have any idea where Daedalus is at. We just found a robot spider with his symbol on it, and it just started to run into the maze. It might be some kind of pseudo-Adriane's String tied to Hephaestus, and it could maybe lead us to Hephaestus or at least a workshop of his or something." Everyone started nodding in agreement, as it made sense.

"If it leads us to a trap or anything, we have Percy, Zane and Nico to help us. They can take care of anything we run into, even if it's Prometheus." I'm not too sure about Prometheus, but she was right in the fact that we could deal with just about anyone else without any trouble.

I nodded in agreement at the daughter of Athena. "It's as good of a plan as any. We have just been wondering around in the Labyrinth without any idea where we've been heading for hours now, so any scraps of any plan is good right now."

I put the spider on the ground gently, careful to not break it. As soon as it hit the ground, it started moving towards the door once again. "Time to follow a spider. Let's go, people."

We headed in the Labyrinth after the spider, trailing it's movements while keeping watch for any possible traps. There was still the possibility of this being a trap of the mirror room or something, and we weren't going to let it surprise us.

We walked through the Labyrinth following the spider, moving through all sorts of hallways and corridors as we did so.

The spider was incredibly fast and was racing through the halls, but everyone in our party was fast enough to catch up to the automaton with ease. It eventually led us to a long, decrepit corridor with dark, dusty walls.

Also, did I forget to mention there was no floor? For about one hundred feet down the hall, there was a pit of darkness where the floor should have been that didn't seem to have a bottom.

On the ceiling above the long pit were old, dusty and rusty bars that hung from the ceiling. The mechanical spider jumped in the air and immediately begun jump from bar to bar across the pit.

"Monkey bars." Taylor said, crossing his arms. "I haven't been on these since I went through the obstacle courses back at Camp." I continued to walk forward as the rest of my party stopped.

I floated off the ground with my telekinetic flight, and started to follow the spider slowly while waiting for everyone else. "Show off." Taylor said as I was floating above the pit, a grin on his face.

I returned the grin, continuing to float after the spider. Everyone else quickly scaled the monkey bars, climbing across the dark pit in record time. However, we ran into a hiccup close to the end.

Everyone made it to the other side with no trouble, except for Tyson. When the cyclops reached the last bar, it broke off the roof underneath his no doubt impressive weight and he began to fall into the void below.

I quickly appeared below Tyson in an instant and caught the cyclops, making sure he didn't fall. "I got you, big guy. Don't worry." I flew back to the end of the row of monkey bars, placing the cyclops on the ground as I reached it.

Percy looked relieved when I put Tyson down. "Well, that definitely could have been very, very bad. Good job on catching him before he could fall too far, Zane."

I nodded at Percy's words, glad I could save our resident cyclops as well. Percy turned back to the direction where the spider was quickly moving towards, which was down the dusty dark corridor, which was starting to narrow and become kind of cylinder like.

"Alright, let's see where the little spider is taking us." Percy took the lead down the narrowing hall, the rest of us following behind the son of Poseidon.

The narrow corridor eventually broke open into a large room that almost looked like it belonged in a school. Actually, it definitely looked like it belonged in a school, only the school looked completely abandoned and decrepit.

There were nearly thirty desks strewn across the classroom, all of them in different states of disrepair. As all of us filled the room, I noticed the entire room was filled with bodies.

Dozens of them, in fact. Some were only skeletons, and incredibly old ones at that. Others were nearly fresh, with their forms looking like they had been picked dry of all flesh and muscle, leaving only bloody bones and weird layers of bloody fat on them. The smell was pretty bad, but I was used to the smell of dead things by now.

In the front of the room was a monster, a Sphinx to be specific. It was a Lion with the head of a woman, with the woman's face looking like there was a lot of makeup on it.

It was about half the size of the Nemean Lion, and its fur was brown instead of golden. It's fanged teeth and lips were covered in old bloodstains, giving me a clear picture on what it had done to the skeletons in the room before us.

Behind the monster was a doorway blocked off by bars that seemed to come from the ground. The Sphinx stood by some kind of machine that looked kind of like a complicated printer and in front of the Sphinx was some kind of podium.

The Sphinx stepped forwards in front of the podium, baring its bloody, sharp fangs. As it got closer, I noticed it had a blue ribbon on its chest that said 'THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!'

Odd. Bats from the tunnel behind us and behind the Sphinx rushed out and filled the room for a few seconds, before reentering the doorways once more.

The Sphinx's snarl turned into a brilliant smile, one that wasn't at all complimented by the hideous amount of makeup on the monster's face. "Welcome, lucky contestants! Get ready to play..."

The Sphinx trailed off. "...ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!" The Sphinx loudly yelled, as if it was a game show host or something.

I rolled my eyes at the silliness. "Yeah, no." I raised my right hand and unleashed a blast of lightning faster than the Sphinx could even process, turning it into ash and then golden dust in an instant.

Everyone looked at me in surprise, no doubt wondering why I just immediately killed the monster before it could speak. I looked back at everyone.

"What? It was probably going to do some stupid gameshow shit and record us live to Hephaestus T.V. or something. I would rather just avoid all of that." I said, dropping my outstretched arm. Everyone had a deadpan look on their face at my casual explanation.

Nico was the first to say anything. "Yeah, you are probably right. Would have been really boring anyway if that was the case. Let's keep going." Nico sauntered forwards to the doorway covered by bars, knocking the podium over as he walked past it.

The spider had crawled through the bars, not caring that it was leaving us behind. Nico grabbed the bars and effortlessly ripped them out of the ground one by one, tossing them to the side after he was done.

It was almost a comical show of superhuman strength by the son of Hades, but one I doubt literally all of us in the group couldn't replicate. We were all really damn strong.

We continued to follow the automaton spider, moving through the hallways and corridors of the Labyrinth quickly to keep pace with the machine.

Annabeth's theory on the older the architecture, the closer to the center of the Labyrinth was definitely falling apart, as the time periods of each room were all smushed together.

Eventually, we found a door that the mechanical spider stopped right in front of and started ramming it's head into over and over again.

The door looked like that of an old military submarine, complete with pipes and a valve. In the middle of the door, the Crest of Hephaestus was clearly visible.

Grover, our resident satyr, sighed as he looked at the door. "I guess the spider did lead us to Hephaestus, or at least somewhere close to him. Well, is everybody ready to meet him?"

I looked at the door, weighing the possible outcomes of entering Hephaestus' workshop would entail. For one, Hephaestus is not all that strong.

As per the memories of Matt, Hephaestus was nothing compared to the son of Hercules even when enhanced by the sky primordial, Ouranos.

I was stronger than Matt when I met him, and I'm nearly double the strength now, so I wasn't worried about Hephaestus' power. No, I was worried about the forge god's mind. His intelligence was terrifying.

He was probably smarter than Prometheus and Koios combined, and I knew very well what both of those Titans were capable of. However, Hera had said Hephaestus was one of the only people who could have any idea where Daedalus was, so we had to go into the workshop.

I took a deep breath before nodding. "I think we're all ready." I said, motioning to the rest of the group. None of them contradicted me, so I took that as confirmation.

"Let's go." I turned the valve as easily as I would a doorknob and led my party into the workshop.

Walking into the workshop, I took in the immense size of the place. The actual décor of the room was like that of a submarine, similar to the door we had just entered in through.

Just nowhere near as cramped, which meant the whole place was pretty big and open. The whole place was filled to the brim with different projects and inventions of the forge god.

Several displays of finished projects were on display, ranging from mechanical animals like lions and rhinos, to literal chariots of fire. Now that was fucking cool to look at.

There was, however, countless amounts of smaller, unfinished objects and projects strewn all over the place. There were things like weapons, motor engines, unfinished automatons, and a lot of other different types of shit I didn't care to actually do more than glance at.

As we entered, the mechanical spider that we were following took off into the workshop, moving towards a car that was jacked up close to one of the corners of the workshop.

Dozens of tools lined the ground underneath the car, which was some kind of futuristic car that some kind of god would likely drive. Underneath the car was two pairs of massive, muscular legs wearing some kind of grubby, grey pants.

The legs were wearing black work boots that were even bigger than the ones Tyson wore, and the right leg had a bronze leg brace.

The mechanical spider darted under the car where the person was clearly working under, and the sounds of banging and fiddling with stuff ceased. "Well, well. What do we have here?" A deep voice boomed from underneath the car, sounding like Popeye the Sailorman's bigger, meaner brother.

The legs pushed themselves out from underneath the car, allowing whoever was on it to slide out on a back trolley. Standing up from the ground, we all got a full view of Hephaestus.

Hephaestus looked clearly different than he normally does during the meetings with the Olympian council, as there he looked a lot more tidy and less grungy.

But now, we saw the forge god in his normal, raw appearance. He wore a grey jumpsuit covered in oil and grime, and the words HEPHAESTUS was printed on the chest of it in bright orange.

He wore a dark blue long sleeve shirt under the jumpsuit, which did little to hide his muscular frame. Unlike most Olympians, Hephaestus' muscle was not aesthetic in the slightest, and he was very disproportionate.

His left shoulder was lower than his right, and his right arm was bigger than his left. He looked as if he was hunching over even when standing straight up.

His head was also misshapen and bulging, as if it was too small to contain his large brain. He had a large mountain man style beard that literally had small fire periodically burst into existence at the tips, as if his beard was a literal grill.

The forge god was scowling as he held the spider in his massive, grubby hands, which he used to disassemble and reassemble the spider back and forth in a matter of seconds. "There. Much better."

He put the spider on the floor, in which afterwards the spider did a happy flip and scurried away out of sight. Hephaestus turned his bright, almost orange eyes towards us.

Damn, Hephaestus was really ugly. He stared directly at me. "Brother." He nodded at me, having no trouble recognizing me at all. He nudged his head in the direction of Thymos. "The little chaos stick been treating you well?"

I nodded at his words as I pulled Thymos from its sheathe, moving my hands on the side of the Heavenly Diamond weapon. "Yes, I would say it's quite the weapon. Father got you to make it, didn't he?"

Hephaestus gruffly nodded, almost a little distastefully as if he didn't like the weapon. "Figures. You are the best smith in the universe, so no wonder he would task you to forge something out of something as dangerous as Heavenly Diamond."

Hephaestus huffed at my words. "No one else he could trust with the job." Hephaestus barely paid me anymore mind as his orange eyes surveyed the rest of my group.

His eyes landed on Percy. "Poseidon's kid. The one who apparently controls the fate of Olympus. Hmpf." Hephaestus passed his gaze on Percy, then landed on Annabeth. "An Athena kid. And a smart one at that."

Hephaestus then turned his gaze to Taylor, who looked at the god in apprehension. "A son of Ares. Pfft. That lunk could fill a school bus with you and all your siblings." I scowled at his insult to Taylor but did nothing else otherwise. We were here to talk to Hephaestus, not kill him.

He then turned his gaze to Nico as well. "Son of Hades. Heh, I guess oaths really mean nothing nowadays if even the Lord of the Dead break them." Hephaestus turned his burning gaze to Arthur, who shrunk a little bit under the forge god's eyes. "Hm. A son of Helios. Peculiar."

He looked to our final members of our party, Grover and Tyson. "A satyr and a…cyclops?" Hephaestus actually seemed interested at Tyson's presence. He looked back to me, a bored look back on his face. "Now, what do I owe the…pleasure of your visit, brother?"

I felt annoyance brim in me at Hephaestus' tone and reaction to everyone, but I held it in. "We're currently on a quest to save the camp from Luke and his army. Luke apparently has been using the Labyrinth and we fear he could use it to get into camp and destroy us."

Hephaestus didn't look rather alarmed or interested at my explanation, which made my annoyance only grow. "But that's not all. He not only commands immense power in the form of himself and his army, but he also has Prometheus at his side."

Hephaestus' interest was actually peaked at the mention of the Creator of Mankind. The forge god raised an eyebrow. "Prometheus? He's actually working with Kronos and the Titans? Now that is rather peculiar."

Hephaestus put a hand to his beard, a small burst of fire he paid no mind to covering his hand. "Prometheus has been inactive ever since Heracles freed him over three thousand years ago. No one, not even me could find a single shred of his existence. And now you say he's back and working for this Luke, who is the one who is becoming the Titan Lord?" I nodded at Hephaestus' question.

"Hm. That is rather concerning. Prometheus is intelligent enough to rival both me and Koios. He's very dangerous." He looked back to me, his hand now off his burning beard. "Now what exactly did you need my help for?"

Hephaestus' interest was clearly peaked and he might even be ready to help us now. "Well, to put shortly, we're looking for Daedalus." Hephaestus' eyes narrowed at the mention of the creator of the Labyrinth, but that didn't deter me. "Your mother said you were the only person who could know where he is, so she said we needed to find you."

Hephaestus chuckled bitterly at my mention of the Queen of Olympus. "Of course she would send you to me. Hera, my loving mother."

He chuckled more and continued. "You know brother, that Hera, not our father, was the one to throw me off of Mount Olympus?" I looked at Hephaestus in surprise, prompting the forge god to smirk at me.

"She likes say that it was our father so it puts her in a more positive light, but the truth is that it was her. You see, my mother may love families, but she only loves a certain kind of family. A perfect family. She looked at me once and…well, you can guess what she did next. I don't exactly fit the image, do I?"

He looked back at me, a serious look on his face. "So take whatever shit she spouts about family with a grain of salt. She's the biggest hypocrite in the universe."

I can see why Hephaestus was not exactly a people person if that truly what happened to him. I meant, if my mother tried to kill me because she didn't like the way I looked, I probably wouldn't be too much different to the forge god.

"Doesn't exactly surprise me, Hera did give off some major bitch energy when we met her not too long ago." I sighed. "But back to why we're here. As I said, we're looking for Daedalus. Luke is doing the same, so he can obtain Adraine's String and fully navigate the Labyrinth with complete accuracy. We need to get to Daedalus first and get the String before Luke does."

Hephaestus shook his head and turned to one of the numerous workbenches in the workshop. He grabbed some spart parts, moved his hands in a blur and created some kind of mechanical falcon out of nowhere.

He held up his arm and the bird took flight across the workshop. "Daedalus won't help you, brother. It's a complete waste of time to even try to find that old scoundrel."

I raised an eyebrow at what the forge god had just called the creator of the Labyrinth. What beef did Hephaestus have with Daedalus?

"And why exactly is that, brother? And what exactly do you have against him? What did Daedalus do?" I looked at the god of the forge in anticipation of his answer, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

Hephaestus, despite his apparent permanent grumpiness, sighed at my questioning. "Because boy, Daedalus isn't exactly the most friendly of people around." Hephaestus shrugged.

"Some us get thrown off of mountains, and others….the way they learn to not trust people is even more painful than that." Hephaestus huffed. "Just ask me for gold instead. Or a flaming blade. Or a magical steed. Those I can easily do. But a way to Daedalus? That is an expensive favor."

Annabeth saw an opportunity with Hephaestus' words. "So you know where he is then?" Hephaestus' scowl seemed to deepen at Annabeth's words.

"You're probably about to say something like 'It's not wise to go looking.' But my mother said looking is the nature of wisdom." I smirked at Annabeth's words. Way to go, Wise Girl. Standing up to gods and all that.

Hephaestus shook his head at Annabeth's words, but I could see a ghost of a smile making it's way onto his face. "Figures that she would say something like that. A fine goddess, that Athena. A shame she pledged to marry."

Hephaestus nodded and crossed his arms, staring at the daughter of Athena. "Alright, demigod. I'll tell you what you want to know, for a price. I need a favour done."

Percy stepped up to the bat, a serious look on his face. "Whatever it is, name it. We'll get it done and get it done quick." Percy looked Hephaestus dead in the eye as he said his words.

Hephaestus stared back at Percy unflinchingly, before he suddenly broke out into a laugh. Percy scowled slightly at Hephaestus' laughing. "What is so funny?"

Hephaestus laughs ceased and he looked at the son of Poseidon, a smirk on his face. "You heroes and your making of rash promises. Always refreshing to hear when you have to deal with selfish gods and other treacherous monsters on the daily bases." The forge god pulled out a small remote.

"Alright, on to what I need done." Hephaestus pressed a button on the remote, and the metal wall high in the air opened up to show a large tv screen. The screen showed a large grey mountain with a forest of trees surrounding it. Smoke rose from the crest of the mountain, symbolizing that it was active.

Hephaestus motioned towards the screen. "That's Mount St. Helens. One of my old forges, and what used to be my favorite one. Unfortunately, it's currently where the father of monsters, Typhon is currently trapped. Just like Olympus and Othrys, Typhon is one of the things that moves over with Western Civilization as well. It's actually quite a hassle when he does, because he gets the opportunity to escape when it happens. Father himself usually has to oversee the process every time."

Now that was a little unsettling to hear. "What exactly do you want us to do, brother? Fight him?" For my sake and everyone else's, I sincerely hope that wasn't the case. Typhon was without a doubt the most powerful monster in the entire universe.

From the memories I saw in the mind of Matt, the son of Hercules, Typhon clashed with my father on the Curse Island. Zeus defeated the monster and destroyed the island, but not without difficulty. If Hephaestus wanted us to destroy a monster even my father had difficulty with, I was sure we were screwed.

Hephaestus smirked and shook his head. "That would just be suicide, brother. No one outside the Big Three and the strongest Titans like Kronos, Atlas and Hyperion would be able to even stand in the same breath as Typhon. You're definitely immensely powerful, but you're not quite on that level."

Hephaestus shook his head. "No, pray that you never even see him, much less fight him. But lately I've sensed intruders in the mountain. Powerful ones. Someone or something is using my forge. Whenever I go there, it is empty. But I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send automatons to investigate and they do not return. Something ancient is there…something powerful. I want to find out who dares invade my territory and if they mean to loose Typhon."

Percy was the next one to answer. "So you want us to go there, scout the place out, find out who's there and then get rid of them?" Hephaestus nodded at Percy's little rundown. "Alright then. Shouldn't be too difficult."

Hephaestus nodded in agreement with the son of Poseidon. "It shouldn't. The lot of you can likely hide your auras, yes?" We nodded in confirmation at the god of the forge, who nodded in return. "Good. You should be able to sneak in unseen by whatever is there and get rid of them."

Hephaestus pointed at me, Percy and even Nico. "You three, although it pains me to admit, are more powerful than I am. There really shouldn't be much that can scare you off. Go there and find out what you can, not to mention get rid of whatever is there. Report back to me when you're done, and I'll tell you what I know about Daedalus."

Annabeth spoke this time. "Alright. Seems simple enough. How are we going to get there?" At Annabeth's question, Hephaestus looked out into the chaos of his workshop before clapping his massive hands together.

The mechanical spider that we had followed through the Labyrinth initially came running back to the forge god, and hopped right in front of Annabeth, who jumped slightly. "Dammit…" Annabeth whispered as she looked at the spider.

Hephaestus smirked at her woe, knowing of the reason she hated spiders. "My creation here will show you the way. It's not too far through the Labyrinth, so you should reach the forge within a timely manner."

Hephaestus' face became serious. "Be careful, brother. Whatever is in that forge is dangerous. Try your best to make it out alive." I nodded at my divine brother's words, knowing he was probably not wrong.

After our talk with Hephaestus, we made our way out of his workshop, careful to not touch any of his inventions on accident on the account it could possibly kill us.

"We really can't have one quest without a side quest added on to it, huh?" Taylor pouted as we walked out of the workshop and back into the Labyrinth, following the mechanical spider as we did so. I smirked at my boyfriend's annoyance, as he really did have a point.

(000)

Our journey through the Labyrinth was pretty much the same as it has been over the whole quest, with us going through dozens of different rooms from different periods and different types of architecture.

We continued to followed the spider through the maze for who knows how long. Hephaestus must have underestimated how far his forge was, or he forgot that the Labyrinth likes to shift around.

Eventually, while following the spider, we came across a diverging path with tree roots coming from it. Looking down the path, the tunnel looked like it was dug out of dirt and mud and the roots got much thicker down the hallway.

We were about to walk right past it, but Grover stopped right in front of the entrance and stared down the dirt hallway, a faraway look on his face. Percy looked at the satyr in confusion. "Uh, Grover? What is it?"

Grover didn't answer the son of Poseidon and he continued to stare down the path. He definitely felt something as he looked down it, which prompted me to reach out with my aura sense.

Predictably, I felt nothing due to the Labyrinth's shroud, but I knew Grover's sensing was different than mine. He could sense nature, while I could sense energy and power.

I mean, I could also probably sense nature on some level if it was tied to aura, but Grover's nature sense was definitely much deeper than that. "Grover." Annabeth said, trying to get the satyr's attention. "Come on. We need to keep moving."

Grover, like he did with Percy earlier, didn't answer her. He did speak, however. "This is it. I can feel it. This is the way." Grover turned back to all of us, a look of awe on his face.

"This is the way to Pan. Tyson, don't you smell it?" Tyson sniffed, but didn't say anything. Grover looked at me. "Zane, don't you sense anything here?" I shook my head, knowing the Labyrinth made it impossible to sense anything.

Grover was disturbed by our lack of answers and he turned back around to the entrance of the hallway. "This is definitely the way. I'm sure of it!"

The spider was starting to get a little far away now, and if we lingered too much longer it would be gone. "Grover, we don't have time right now. We can come back to this on our way back from Hephaestus' forge, alright?" I said, trying to get Grover's head into the game. Maybe Grover was right about this being the way to Pan, but right now we had more pressing matters.

Grover turned back to me, a look of desperation on his face. "But the path will be gone by then! I have to follow it, a door like this won't stay open!"

Grover put a hand on my muscular shoulder, trying to plead with me. "Zane, please. I have to do this. Don't you understand? This is my entire life. I've been waiting for this since I was born."

I hesitated at Grover's impassioned plea. Yes, we were pressed for time and needed to get on the way before we lost the spider. But Grover wasn't exactly wrong. This was his entire life.

His literal lifelong dream was possibly in his grasp. If I was in Grover's position, I would want to do what he wanted. Luckily, I was saved from having to answer the satyr as Percy spoke. "We'll split up, then."

Everyone became apprehensive of Percy's suggestion and now my hesitation went both ways. "Percy, that's not really a good idea. It's way too dangerous. We could maybe run into Prometheus again, and that doesn't need to happen at all if we're split up.

I shook my head. "And how would we ever find each other again? I can't sense auras down here, and neither can Percy or Nico. Not to mention that Grover can't go alone. It's simply too dangerous."

However, someone else spoke up. "I-I will go with him." The one who spoke was Tyson, which was surprising. I knew they were getting along better since the quest started, but they definitely did not like each other at the start.

"Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends." Tyson looked at Grover with a smile, one which the satyr returned.

Grover looked back at me and sighed. "Zane, don't worry. We'll find each other again, I promise. Me and Percy still have that empathy link. I just have to do this."

I honestly couldn't blame Grover, since this was literally his goal in life. Still, the quest was more important in my opinion, but I would let Grover go off to do this.

"I'll go with them, too." I heard Arthur, the son of Helios, proclaim. I turned around, looking at him in surprise, as did everyone. "They need someone to light their way, especially since they don't have a spider to follow. The Labyrinth can get pretty dark, as well all know."

Arthur put on a confident front along with an easygoing smile, but one little brush against his mind with my telepathy told me he was doing this to get away from me. I couldn't blame the son of Helios, as I constantly felt the same way when he was with Taylor.

Grover nodded at Arthur's voluntary offer. "Thank you, Arthur. Finding Pan will be much easier with you at our side." Arthur returned Grover's nod with one of his own.

I was about to say 'Let's go, team' to the rest of our group still on the forge mission, but another voice spoke before I could.

"I'll go as well." To mine and everyone's immense surprise, Taylor was the one who spoke. He smiled nervously as everyone looked at him in surprise, prompting him to reveal his reasoning.

"Well, those three are going to need help fighting anything they come across down that little dirt path, so I feel like I'm a good choice for that. Not to mention I doubt I'll be any help against whatever can scare Hephaestus." I brushed against Taylor mind with my telepathy, which made me feel a little guilty.

I didn't like reading my boyfriends' minds without their consent, but I needed to know the real reason. Taylor's mind told me he was really going on this side mission to a side mission to patch things up with Arthur alone, because he felt my presence would anger the son of Helios if we tried again together. Taylor was probably right in that regard.

Still, I didn't like it one bit. Having Taylor go off without me to protect him made me paranoid and protective. On the other hand, keeping him away from whatever dangerous shit could be in Hephaestus' forge was a plus, so I was a little torn. Annabeth, after a few seconds of deliberation, spoke.

"Alright, then. I don't agree with us splitting up, but I guess it should be fine. Tyson, Arthur and Taylor will go with Grover to find Pan, while me, Percy, Zane and Nico will go to Mount St. Helens." Annabeth sighed and put her hand to her head. "I hope this doesn't go too awfully."

I smirked at Annabeth words. "Don't jinx us, Annabeth. It'll be fine." Hopefully. I walked over to Taylor and gave him a tight hug, careful to not crush his lithe torso as I did so. "Come back to me, okay?" I felt Taylor's arms tighten around me as I whispered in his ear.

"Alright then, boys. Let's get on the way." I said as me and Taylor's hug separated. I turned back to Grover's group as they begun walking down the dirt hallway. "Try not to die!" I called out as they moved down the root covered corridor, disappearing from sight.

"Well, this can only go horribly wrong, but what else is new?" Nico said with a smirk on his face as we raced to catch after the spider. I chuckled and ruffled his hair, hiding my honest worry that it might, as the four of us chased after the spider, which was luckily still in sight.

He pouted as I moved my fingers through his long, dark and smooth hair, but eventually smiled. Hopefully this didn't go too terribly.

(000)

After a few minutes of moving through the numerous different types of rooms of the Labyrinth following the mechanical spider, our smaller group of me, Percy, Nico and Annabeth started to get closer to our destination.

The wall became cave-like and made completely of dark, blackened stone, and a loud roaring sound could be heard periodically.

Eventually, the dark cave tunnel we were traversing ended and broke into a massive open room. Seriously, it was huge. At least the size of a Super Bowl stadium.

At the entrance where the corridor ended, our mechanical spider escort curled up into a little ball, which Annabeth hesitating put in her pocket. As we walked into the forge, we suppressed our auras, making sure no one sense us coming.

The corridor led out onto a dark, rock ridge that stood above a pit of lava hundreds of feet below. A network of dozens of metal bridges spanned across the pit at different levels, as there were dozens of other ridges above and below the one we were currently standing on.

At the center a couple of floors above was a massive metal platform complete with dozens of different machines, caldrons, forges and a massive anvil nearly the size of a house.

Four creatures were working on something on the anvil, and now that I was outside the shroud of the Labyrinth, I could clearly feel a powerful aura exude off of whatever they were working on.

"Those monsters over there are working on something in the middle. I'll sneak up on them and find out what it is." Annabeth said, putting on her baseball cap and disappearing from view. I felt her aura move away from us and closer to the platform

"Nico, meld into the shadows and follow after her. Make sure she'll be okay." Nico nodded at my command and sunk into the shadow that was cast by the ridge as if he jumped into a pool.

I felt Nico's aura, as suppressed as it was, follow after Annabeth's. I turned back to Percy. "Guess it's just us two." Percy smirked, one which I returned.

Percy moved down the ridge and motioned me to follow him. "Let's see if we can get a view of our own. Come on." I followed after Percy, careful to continue suppressing my aura.

The heat of the forge wasn't really affecting either me or Percy due to our durability, but I could at least tell it was easily over a hundred and fifty degrees in here. We continued to walk around the ridge, finding a railroad on the ground.

We followed the tracks, eventually finding a minecart made from Celestial Bronze with a tarp over it. I felt the auras of a couple of monsters get close as we looked at the cart. I charged a bit of lightning in my hand and both me and Percy hid behind the bronze minecart.

As the monsters arrived at our location, both me and the son of Poseidon jumped out from behind the cart, ready to destroy the monsters.

The two monsters we saw were two dog like things, with the head of a dog and the black slippery skin of some kind of sea mammals. They had human like hands, flipper like feet, complete with claws on both.

Telkhines. Odd. I unleashed a quick bolt of lightning directly in the telkhines face, incinerating it in an instant. Percy turned his arm into water and wrapped it around the other telkhine in the form of watery tendrils, before crushing it into golden dust in less than a second with no effort.

Both me and Percy looked at the golden dust of the dead monster as Percy turned his arm back into his normal state. "Telkhines? Didn't even know they were out of Tartarus."

Percy looked at me in confusion. "Telkhines? What the hell are those?" I went into a detailed explanation of what the monsters were. How they forged weapons for both the gods and the Titans during the early war.

The more notable weapons they created were Poseidon's trident and Kronos' scythe. Apparently they used some kind of dark magic, then my father threw them into Tartarus along with Kronos and the other Titans at the end of the war. "Hm. They made my father's trident but also betrayed the gods at some point? Guess they're working for the Titans again this time around."

I nodded in confirmation of Percy words. "I guess so. The aura of whatever they're making in the center over there seems oddly familiar."

Percy looked over at the center, no doubt reaching out his aura sense as well and frowning. "Let's go find Annabeth and Nico. If they don't already know about this, we need to go tell them." Percy nodded at my suggestion and followed behind me.

I followed both Annabeth and Nico's aura, finding both of them close by the bridge that led to the massive center platform. Both of them were standing by the bridge, both of them escaping normal view.

I called out both of their names, which got Nico to leave his shadow that he was hiding in with a concerned look on his face. "What is it, Zane?"

Both me and Percy reached their location, which by the Annabeth also had taken her invisible cap off. Both me and Percy began to explain the two monsters we had both found and killed while walking around the ridge, telling both of them that they were Telkhines and also telling them about the weird aura of whatever the Telkhines in the center were working on.

Annabeth sighed at our explanation. "I had a feeling that these things were Telkhines. And Nico told me he sensed the aura of whatever those big ones in the center were working on."

Percy looked at the center of the pit, prompting me to do the same. The Telkhines in the center working on the forge and machines were significantly larger than the ones we killed earlier, as well as having stronger auras.

"Me and Zane will deal with those guys in the center and see what they are working on. Hephaestus will probably want to know what it is. You two stay here and keep a look out." Everyone nodded at the logic of Percy's words and I got ready to back him up on whatever he was about to do.

Percy suddenly disappeared in a burst of speed, appearing right in front of the four larger telkhines as they were working on whatever was on the massive anvil.

Percy slammed his fist on the ground, unleashing a burst of vibrational energy, knocking the Telkhines into the air before they could even process what was happening.

I blasted into the air with a burst of speed, creating a small shockwave where I had taken off from. I unleashed a wave of lightning that connected with all four Telkhines before they even knew what was happening, turning them into golden dust that fell to the lava below.

I floated down to the center platform where Percy was standing, dusting off his hand where he punched the ground. I smirked at him. "Nice one."

He returned the smile. "Don't mention it, bro." Both of us looked at the anvil, sensing the strange power from whatever the Telkhines were working on at the top. He nodded towards the top of the anvil. "If you could kindly get that, please."

I outstretched my hand, levitating whatever was on top. It flew to my hand, giving both me and Percy a clear view at what it was. "A hilt?" Percy asked in confusion. The hilt in my hands was over six feet long, so nearly as tall as I was.

It was black, but also covered in golden Ancient Greek inscriptions all over it. Now that I was so close to it, I could feel the power of the weapon. It was immense, yet I could tell it wasn't at full strength. As if it was missing something.

The aura was immensely familiar. "This aura…." A flashback in my mind played. It was Luke on Polyphemus' Island, covered in an orange aura.

Another memory went through my head, one with Luke on Mount Othrys with Atlas, and then one where I had fought him right after.

The orange aura of his was the one constant. My eyes widened. "This hilt….it belongs to-!" Before I could say another word, I felt Nico's aura flare up to full power. I turned back around as quickly as possible, only to be forced to dodge a slash of flame.

Both me and Percy narrowly avoided the slash of fire, looking back to the source of it. My eyes narrowed in anger. "Prometheus."

At the ridge where the bridge began where we left both Nico and Annabeth stood the Creator of Mankind. He was already in his armor, standing over twelve feet tall inside of it.

The innumerable amount of inscriptions, runes and other designs all over the armor still stuck out, even in the darker environment of the volcanic forge. Prometheus already has his massive sword in his right hand, the one covered in more runes and designs that even his armor.

He held Nico, who was already in his Shadow Form, in his left hand by the neck. Nico tried to pry Prometheus' fingers from his throat but the Titan's armor made him too strong. Prometheus had his left foot on top of Annabeth's torso, pinning her to the ground.

Prometheus' bright blue eyes created by his armor stared at me. "Ah, Zane Willaims and Percy Jackson. I was wondering when I would meet you two again."

Prometheus looked at Nico, who was trying to impale Prometheus with literal shadows to force him to let go, to no avail. "I see you've brought some extra company this time."

I literally growled in anger, transforming into my Thunder Form in an instant. "Let. Him. Go. Now." I felt myself literally shake with rage. How dare this motherfucker lay a hand on Nico?

It was one thing to try and kill me and Percy, but to harm people we cared about? That was unforgivable. I drew Thymos from my waist, filling it with electrical power. "If I have to say it one more fucking time…"

Prometheus chuckled at my threats, completely unbothered. "If you insist." He immediately threw Nico in my direction faster than a bolt of lightning, prompting me to catch the son of Hades.

"I assume you want this one as well?" He picked Annabeth up like a sack of potatoes with his now free hand and dangled her over the pit of lava.

This pissed Percy off immensely. He immediately transformed into his Earthshaker Form, cracking the ground of the center platform as he did so. He raced forwards, his sword Riptide already primed for Prometheus' neck.

The Titan deflected Percy's attack, knocking him to the side onto the ridge. I set Nico down, who had already recovered. He drew his Stygian Iron Sword and shrouded it with shadowy power, entering a fighting stance as he did so.

Percy fully recovered from Prometheus' defense as well. The son of Poseidon righted himself and stared at Prometheus with a hateful glare. "What do you want, Prometheus?!"

Prometheus turned his gaze to Percy, although I could tell his attention hadn't left either me or Nico. "What I want from you is simple. A rematch." At both mine and Percy's confused expressions, Prometheus elaborated.

"I nearly wiped out two of the biggest threats to the Titan Army in one fell swoop. And I nearly had the chance to destroy your little camp with no battle at all. However, thanks to you, Zane, I failed to do so." He pointed his massive blade at me. "So to put it simply, I want another chance to kill you. Simple as that."

I was silent for a bit, mulling over Prometheus' words. Finally, after a few seconds, I came to a decision. "Fine. I'll give you your little rematch. I won't even try to escape like last time. But…"

I looked at Annabeth, who was struggling in Prometheus' arms. I looked back to Nico, who was in his fighting stance. "…you will let both Annabeth and Nico leave. Your fight is with both me and Percy, not with either of them."

"What?" I heard Nico nearly shout beside me. He grabbed on to my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. "Zane, you can't be serious! This bastard nearly killed both you and Percy together last time you fought him!

"Hell, he almost was able to kill the entire camp! Let me fight him with you two. With all three of us, we can take him down." Throughout Nico's rant, Prometheus was silent, as if considering my earlier words.

I shook my head at Nico's plea. "No, Nico. It's far too dangerous. Prometheus isn't like a foe like Kampe. He's skilled, experienced and even more powerful. Not to mention all the dangerous shit that in his armor."

I shook my head again. "You're incredibly strong, but you're not ready for a fight like Prometheus. And plus…" I trailed off, almost whispering. "I'm too afraid you'll die fighting him. I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

I placed my forehead to his. "Please. Take Annabeth and get back to Hephaestus. After we beat this guy, we'll catch up you. I promise."

Nico was silent for a little bit, tears streaming from his eyes at my words. He eventually nodded at my begging. "A-Alright. I'll go." He brought my head closer to his and put his lips on mine.

Our kiss only held for a few seconds, but I could feel more in this one than I've ever felt before. "Please be okay." I could nearly feel my heart break at Nico's words, as I knew there was a chance I wouldn't be.

I smiled and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, I will be." I turned back to Prometheus, who was still holding Annabeth silently. "What's it going to be, Prometheus? Are you going to let them go?"

Prometheus was silent, not answering my question. I couldn't feel his emotions or thoughts, due to his weird armor blocking my telepathy. I raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Prometheus finally answering, his amplified voice booming in the cave. "Hm. Fine. They can go." Prometheus set Annabeth down on the ridge close to Percy, and the two of them embraced.

This seemed to try Prometheus' patience. "They need to leave now, lest I change my mind." Annabeth quickly said something to Percy, before kissing him directly on the lips. I motioned to Nico, and Nico melded into shadow, disappearing from view.

After Percy and Annabeth's kiss, Annabeth put her cap on and vanished. I felt both her and Nico's aura leave the forge and go back into the Labyrinth.

Prometheus looked at me after they left. "Very Honourable. Sacrificing yourself so that others could live. Makes me almost regret having to kill you two."

I smirked and shook my head. "I wouldn't exactly call it a sacrifice." I blurred out of sight, appearing right in front of the Creator of Mankind. "Especially when I'm about to kill you!"

I slammed my Morningstar down on his form, which Prometheus barely got his sword up in time to deflect my attack. Percy saw an opportunity and attacked Prometheus while he defended against my blow, punching him in the side and releasing a blast of vibrational energy.

Prometheus grunted and was sent back nearly twenty feet, crashing into the stone and shattering a good portion of the volcano wall. I grinned at Percy. "Let's get this motherfucker!"

Percy returned my grin and the both of us charged the Titan. Prometheus ripped himself out of the wall and grunted. "And so it begins…" Prometheus muttered as we charged him, before roaring and trying to bisect us in two with his huge sword.

Both me and Percy ducked under the attack and attacked him with a series of skilled attacks. Prometheus was a blur deflecting both of our attacks at once as we forced him back, the Creator of Mankind starting to get a little overwhelmed.

He threw up his left arm, and the slit on his gauntlet opened up. A blast of fire erupted from the slit and tried to cover us, but I created a telekinetic barrier around both me and Percy, shielding us from the flames.

Prometheus tried to back up some more, but thanks to my telekinesis both me and Percy passed through the fire with no effort, continuing our attack on the Titan.

"Don't let up!" Percy yelled, punching the ground and destroying the entire ridge with one punch of vibrational energy. The force actually managed to destroy every ridge in range of Percy's strike, sending the three of us falling towards the lava below.

As we fell, Prometheus pressed a button on the hilt of his blade, covering his massive sword in yellow lightning. The same magical yellow lightning that had damaged me before. He shot it towards me in a singular blast, trying to completely cover me with it.

I channeled lightning into Thymos, creating a barrier of pure blue chaotic energy in front of me, shielding me from Prometheus' attack. "Zane, I have an idea!" Percy punched the air with vibrational energy, ripping apart the falling rocks into much smaller ones.

Brushing my mind up against Percy's, I felt what he wanted me to do. I charge Thymos with lightning, unleashing a small blast of chaotic energy filled lightning all across the rocks.

I controlled the lightning to bounce from one rock to another over hundreds of smaller rocks, making the trajectory unpredictable. The chaos filled lightning eventually made it's way behind Prometheus, and slammed into him.

The Chaotic energy of the lightning bypassed all of Prometheus' enchantments and runes, allowing it to actually damage and constrict the Titan.

Prometheus grunted in pain as he slammed into the lava below, along with Percy. Neither of them were affected in the slightest by the lava, however the two of them were submerged.

I caught myself with my telekinesis, before pulling Percy out of the lava. Prometheus had trouble staying above the lava, due to the chaotic energy still being conducted by his armor.

I could feel Prometheus' aura decreasing slightly, and I knew my weapon was doing it's work. Eventually, the lightning faded and Prometheus pulled himself above the lava. The Titan pressed a button on his wrist, causing a light blue, almost snowy substance to fill his hand.

He pressed it on top of the lava. The lava instantly cooled and I felt almost cold at the action. Prometheus pulled himself on top of the now cooling obsidian lake. "Ice from the Casket of Ancient Winters. A one time blast of ice I obtained from Jotunhiem. Not very useful against a powerful opponent, but good enough to cool some magma."

I looked at the cooled over lake that used to be filled with lava. "All you did was created a more open field to fight us on. Not smart." Both me and Percy touched down on the obsidian and charged at him.

Percy pulled water from the cooling obsidian, as there was no water in the burning air of a volcano, and created dozens of ice spikes. He flung them at Prometheus, and I changed their direction and trajectory with my telekinesis.

It was only something to distract the Titan with, as it couldn't pierce his armor. I charged Prometheus and engaged him in melee, clashing blows and exchanging attacks. Eventually, Percy joined the fray, charging all of his attacks with vibrational energy to stun Prometheus.

Prometheus, while doing his best, was starting to get overwhelmed. He immensely skilled and was great at holding off both me and Percy at the same time, but his movements were starting to falter.

Me and Percy attacked him at different intervals rather than in unison like our last fight, making more difficult to defend against us. Prometheus tried to coat his weapon in fire, but I simply would just unleash a blast of wind and put it out.

Even his magical lightning didn't do much, as all I did was charge Thymos with power and counterattack and overpower whatever Prometheus would do. Even blast of fires from his gauntlets didn't do anything, as my telekinetic barriers simply defended both me and Percy.

Eventually, Percy clocked Prometheus in the face with a punch of vibrational energy, which allowed me to hit him in the chest with a hit from Thymos while charged with lightning, which damaged and stunned Prometheus through his armor and enchantments.

Prometheus groaned in pain as he was electrocuted from the chaotic lightning, which let Percy kick him in the face, sending him flying against the wall, cracking it.

The entire volcano was starting to crumble and become unstable with our fight, even though the three of us were controlling our strength to where we wouldn't destroy too much. None of us wanted Typhon to escape.

Prometheus grunted as he stood up from the cooled obsidian, the lightning finally dispersing after a few seconds of pain. He propped himself up on his sword, breathing a little heavily.

I charged lightning into Thymos, prepared to unleash a blast of power to hopefully kill Prometheus via electrocution. "Having a little trouble, Prometheus?" I asked, a slight smile on my face.

Prometheus didn't answer, so I decided to keep talking. "I see that this time you're the one on their knees." I walked forwards a few feet and pointed Thymos at the Titan. "This time we were prepared for all of your little tricks."

Instead of staying silent, or shouting in defiance like I thought Prometheus would, all he did was chuckle. "'Tricks?' You think that you were prepared for all of my 'tricks?'" Prometheus laughed out loud, before looking directly at me with the bright blue, glowing eyes of his helmet.

"Boy, you haven't even begun to see all of what I can do." Prometheus then jumped several feet into the air, opening up both slits in his gauntlets.

He unleashed a massive cloud of poison which nearly covered the entire area of cooled obsidian, forcing both me and Percy to jump in the air to avoid it. I was forced to cancel my charge with Thymos and blow away the cloud of poison with a blast of wind.

With the poison now gone, me and Percy touched back down on the ground, with Prometheus nowhere in sight. It was almost as if he vanished.

I reached out with my aura sense, trying to find the Creator of Mankind. However, as soon as I reached out, I was forced to dodge and attack right from behind. I spun around as I did so, getting cut on my shoulder as I barely avoided being sliced in two.

Percy dodged the attack alongside me, although he was not cut. A green shroud of mist covered Prometheus' blade, the same shroud of poison he had used earlier. My stomach dropped at the sight.

"Oh no…" I could feel the poison in my shoulder doing it's work, like a burning sensation flaring up. It was similar to when the Chimera's snake tail bit me over two years ago.

I could just feel Prometheus smirk at my words. "Oh yes…" The Creator of Mankind said, his booming voice amplified by his helmet. Prometheus then swung down with his sword, creating an energy slash of poison. If you are having trouble imagining it, just imagine the fire slashes but poison instead.

Both me and Percy jumped to the side to avoid the attack, however I could already feel myself slowing down. Prometheus' poison was very strong. Prometheus swung his sword in our direction several times, creating dozens of poison slashes in our direction.

Each one I dodged felt faster, as I could tell I was slowing down. I barely avoided the last attack and nearly fell to one knee, my legs buckling a little bit. Prometheus laughed at my declining state. "Is the great and powerful Zane Williams not feeling very well?"

Prometheus opened the slit on his gauntlet and coated the poison shroud in fire on his blade, making some kind of poison fire amalgamation. "Well, let's see how this feels for you." He swung his massive sword in a downward stroke, sending a poison fire slash directly at me.

The poison flame slash was much faster than the regular poison or fire slashes, and with my decreased speed, I knew I couldn't dodge the attack. I felt my entire life flash before my eyes as I saw the poison fire approach, knowing it was about to end.

Before the poison flame slash could cook me alive, Percy jumped in front of the attack, forming a shield made out of water to protect me. The poison flame slash smashed into Percy's shield, exploding into a massive cloud of fiery poison.

The explosion knocked Percy back with a grunt, sending the son of Poseidon smashing into the wall behind me. "Percy!" I yelled as the son of Poseidon smacked down against the obsidian, not moving. I felt anger fill my very being and I charged at Prometheus. "You son of a bitch!"

I blurred in front of the Creator of Mankind, trying to smash Thymos into his face. However, due to my slower speed, Prometheus easily dodged the attack. "Too slow."

He kicked me in the ribs, shattering several of them and knocking me back several feet. I felt myself gasp in pain as I collapsed on one knee. I forced myself back to my feet, trying to fight through the pain. I unleashed a barrage of attacks with Thymos, trying to overpower Prometheus' defense.

The poison must have weakened me as well, since Prometheus easily blocked and deflected every one of my attacks. "Weak." Prometheus punched me in the face, knocking me back several foot.

I spit out some blood on the ground, growling in both pain and anger. If my own strength wasn't going to work, Thymos' strength will. I charged power and lightning into the weapon, intent on shooting a powerful blast of energy right into his face. "Foolish." Prometheus simply scoffed, before coating his blade in magical lightning before slamming the blade into the ground.

The magical lightning exploded in all directions around the Titan, hitting me and electrocuting me. I jerked around in pain, frothing at the mouth from the lightning, dropping Thymos as I did so.

Before I could even think to do anything else, Prometheus appeared directly in front of me, impaling his massive blade into my torso. "You are all of these things, Zane Williams." Prometheus grinned as he lifted me into the air on his blade, blood spurting from my mouth as he did so.

Before Prometheus could do anything else, Percy appeared in front of him and smashed his fist into Prometheus' face. Prometheus staggered back nearly a dozen feet from the blows, not exactly hurt as his armor absorbed the attack, but a little rattled from the Vibrational Energy.

I fell off of Prometheus' sword as Percy punched him, more blood escaping from my mouth. Percy held up both his hands and clapped them together, causing the obsidian to open up and swallow Prometheus whole.

Percy then punched the ground, sending Prometheus further underneath the Earth. Percy looked back at me, his eyes wide. "Holy shit! Zane, are you okay!?"

I waved him off as I stood up, summoning Thymos to me with telekinesis. "I'm fine. Just took a bit of a beating. And a stabbing." I touched my open stab wound, which was big enough to nearly cover my entire torso.

Blood gushed from it and I started to feel a little cold and my skin started to look a little pale. "I've been through worse, and that was when I didn't have a healing factor." I didn't comment on how my healing was seemingly not working, which would have just concerned Percy more.

Before the son of Poseidon could say another word, Prometheus ripped out of the ground, his armor covered in molten magma. "Big mistake, Perseus Jackson."

Prometheus blurred in front of the son of Poseidon, trying to cut him in half. Percy deflected the blow, although I could see it was with difficulty. The two of the exchanged hundreds of attacks in seconds, with me barely even able to see them due to my weakened state.

I felt useless. I had to help Percy, as I knew he couldn't last against Prometheus for too long by himself. I charged forwards at the two, but I was backhanded by Prometheus' massive fist before I could even react.

I was sent tumbling to the ground, sliding across the obsidian floor as I did so. Prometheus and Percy continued to smash their weapons together, before they slammed one final attack that sent Percy skidding back to where I was.

I shakily stood up from the obsidian ground, blood leaking from my mouth. "Well, we're in quite the pickle, eh Percy?" Percy was covered in numerous cuts and was breathing heavily, obviously exhausted from the battle.

Percy had been using his powers extensively throughout the entire fight, and there was no water to rejuvenate himself nor his energy as we were in a hot volcano. I channeled what little strength I had left into my form, trying to regain some power.

"You hit him from the left, I'll hit him from the right." Before I could take a step, my Thunder Form faded away, along with all of my energy. I fell to one knee, blood spurting from my mouth.

"..S-Shit.." I tried to transform again, but I had no stamina to do so. "D-Dammit!" I punched the ground, cracking it slightly. The poison was getting to me, and I could feel all of my energy starting to sap away.

Percy looked tired. "I can't beat him." He said, sounding completely certain. I looked over at him, surprised. "He's stronger than either of us individually and he's skilled enough to fight both of us at the same time. Not to mention he can poison me as well like he did with you, which will be even easier fighting him by myself."

Percy chuckled bitterly. "It also doesn't help that we're in a volcano we can't even destroy, lest Typhon escape and destroy us all."

I looked at the son of Poseidon, completely bewildered he would even be saying this. "Percy…what are you saying? Are you just going to give up? We could both die here."

I spurted up more blood, and felt even more strength leave my already heavily weakened body. "S-Some of us earlier than others." Damn Prometheus' poison and it disrupting my healing factor.

Percy looked almost somber and had a sad smile on his face. "I didn't say anything about giving up. But I don't think we're both going to make it out of this one, Zane."

A green aura erupted from Percy's form and seemed to super focus on his hand, with the sea green aura seeming almost too bright to look at. "I'll make sure that the only one who makes it out of here is you, man." The brighter green part of Percy aura started to spread to the rest of his body.

I widened my eyes in surprise at Percy's words. "P-Percy, what the fuck are you talking about? What do you mean by that?"

Percy didn't answer me and faced down Prometheus, who was slowly approaching, as if apprehensive of Percy's form. "Percy! Tell me what you mean, right now!"

Prometheus looked at the son of Poseidon, a slight awe to his voice. "You're using your lifeforce to power your aura…." Prometheus paused for a second then continued speaking.

"That's incredibly dangerous…you could even blow yourself to kingdom come if you do-" Prometheus paused again before I could literally feel his eyes widen. "T-That's your plan! You are a fool! You can't possibly bring yourself to do that."

I felt Percy's aura and Prometheus was telling the truth. Percy wasn't just using his normal aura, no, he was forcing his pure life energy into it.

My eyes widened and I felt an intense feeling of dread overcome me. "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Percy! You are not blowing yourself up! You aren't killing yourself for me, you hear me!?"

Percy didn't respond and simply walked over to me, grabbing me by my torn bloody shirt and picking me up like a sack of potatoes. "Put me down, now! Don't you dare!"

Percy just sadly smiled, his normally blow watery face now completely a bright sea green color. "The past couple of years since I arrived at camp has been a wild ride, Zane. I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't trade it for the world."

He lifted me up into the air and angled me towards the ceiling, like he was about to throw me into the sky. "See you on the other side, man. Tell Annabeth I love her for me, okay?" Percy didn't wait for a response as he threw me into the heavens, causing me to rip throw the top of the mountains in nearly an instant.

"PERCY! NO!" The last thing I saw was a brilliant, bright sea green light completely covered the mountain, leveling it in an instant. The bright sphere was condensed, not expanding past the entire mountain, but even in the sky I could feel it's immense power, blasting me away further.

Before I passed out from Prometheus' poison, the last thing I felt was Percy's aura completely disappearing. "No…" As I flew away from the obliterated mountain, darkness overtook my vision.

(000)

Chapter thirty is in the books! Sorry this one took a little longer than it should have, the holiday season was a little rough. I was away from my computer for a good bit, and speaking of computers, I got a new one for Christmas, so the speed of my writing is definitely better. I'll try to get the rest of the chapters out quicker, but with college and getting my own place in a couple of months, I can't exactly promise anything. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Later, y'all.