Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto nor Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I am just a lowly writer with too much time in my hands.

Warning: This is a sequel story. Read the following first before you read this story.

Child of the Moon: The Lightning Thief
Child of the Moon: The Sea of Monsters
Child of the Moon: The Titan's Curse

Chapter 6

The place was dark and dank, but when this godly woman appeared, the room came to life. Jets sprayed from the fountain even though you would think that the pipes had not held water in a long time. A marble table appeared from thin air, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade, along with an out-of-place bowl of ramen.

"Who are you?" Percy asked the woman, not really trusting anyone who just appeared out of nowhere at this point.

"I am Hera, Queen of the Heavens," She introduced herself like only the Queen of Olympus could. "We met at the Winter Solstice last year, but it is nice to finally meet you all without the formalities."

There was a long pause. There was a lag in their brains as they tried to comprehend what was happening.

"What are you waiting for?" She raised her hands out and gestured at the food around them. "Dig in, dear children."

When everyone started to notice their surroundings, they were sitting around the table, with Naruto specifically sitting in front of the steaming bowl of ramen that smelled exactly like his favorite ramen stand in the Elemental Nations.

They studied their food warily. It was only natural. After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch. But their needs got the better of them, and they slowly started to dig into the food.

"I assume you have some questions for me?" She asked with a smile as she watched the children start to consume her offered food.

"Uhm, don't you want to kill us?" Percy crudely asked, learning an elbow from Annabeth.

"What Percy meant, milady, was don't you hate demigods?" Annabeth corrected with much more respect in her tone.

The goddess scoffed. "What gave you that idea? My little spat with Heracles? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement?"

"A disagreement?" Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Didn't you try to kill him, not just once?"

Hera waved her hands dismissively like they were talking about something minor, not multiple attempts at murder. "That's water under the bridge. I admit I may have lost my patience back then. Besides, we had sorted out our issues in marriage counseling. We came to an agreement, most especially after that last incident…"

The demigods understood who she was referring to, but Percy just had to open his mouth to verify what he knew. "It was Thalia, right. Or was there someone else…"

Hera shot him a frosty look, that left Percy to shiver under her gaze. She studied the Son of Poseidon, "Percy Jackson, one of my brother's children. If I recall correctly, I voted to let you and your friend here live. I hope you don't disappoint me."

"So, if you're not here to kill us, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

Her expression returned to the motherly smile, "Even though my dear husband refuses to see his daughter's reasoning for the impending war, it is inevitable at this point. Janus and the other minor gods had already started to cause trouble around."

"Don't the minor gods support Olympus?" Naruto knitted his eyebrows.

"Some do, but there are still those who are frustrated at the small parts they play in the universe," The Queen of the Heavens said. "I fear some might have already defected to my father's side."

"That's where Mr. D went, right? To make sure they are still loyal to Olympus?" Naruto asked. He remembered hearing about Mr. D leaving for a bit. Hera just confirmed the true purpose of Mr. D's temporary departure.

"Indeed. Janus, Hecate, and Morpheus; they still sing Olympus's praises, but who knows where their loyalties lie now," Hera stared at the faded mosaic. "Believe it or not, even gods can lose faith. They start putting trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. As the goddess of marriage, I am used to all the quarreling and squabbling; look at my own relationship. You have to rise above it and keep your goals in mind."

Annabeth was confused. Hera was sounding like those motivational speakers or something. It was just surprising to hear this coming from a god.

"What are your goals?" She asked, getting curious.

She smiled, "To keep my family whole, of course. At the moment, the best way I can do that is to help you. Zeus doesn't let any of us interfere that much, but once in a century or so, he allows me to grant a wish for a quest I care deeply about.

Naruto was suspicious of this. He knew, that there was no such thing as a free lunch, especially if it was from the gods. "So…what's the catch? Or will you have us do something in between the quest?" Naruto asked expecting something to be asked of them or some kind of consequence.

"Oh, there's no catch," Hera shook her head. "All I ask is you succeed in the quest, so my family can stay together. Now, Daughter of Athena, I know you are the leader of this quest, what do you wish?"

"I-I…" Annabeth thought deeply. Whatever she was going to ask, it must be extremely helpful to this quest.

"Before you ask, child, a bit of advice, this I assure you is also for free," Hera said giving Naruto a look of assurance. "You delve into the Labyrinth to look for its creator. His creation and his invention are of great mystery to me as it is to you. But if you need information on him, seek out my son. There's no one else who favored the Great Inventor more than my son, Hephaestus. It was like Daedalus was after his heart, and in turn, he was admired by the god of forges. If there is anyone who has kept up with his fate, it would be my son."

"Then I know what to ask," Annabeth looked decided. "I need a way to navigate the Labyrinth."

The goddess of marriage looked disappointed. "You ask for it, but you do not realize that the means is already within your grasp. My brother's son knows the answer."

Everyone turned to Percy, "You do?"

"Don't look at me," the said demigod protested. "I don't know what she is talking about."

"That's not fair!" Annabeth complained. "I don't know what it is yet."

"Child, getting something and having the wits to use it are two different things,"

Despite being underground, the room shook from distant thunder. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows as impatient as usual. Think about what I said. Seek out Hephaestus. I imagine you will have to pass through the ranch. Use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem. You are already in good hands.

She pointed towards the twin doors and they were replaced by twin corridors. The goddess shimmered. "I have not taken away your day of choice, Child of Athena. I have merely postponed it. Soon, you will inevitably have to make it. Farewell."

As soon as she said that, she disappeared into smoke, along with the food and last sandwich that Tyson threw into his mouth. The fountain ceased to function once again and returned to the way it was when they first came into the room. The ambiance disappeared. It wasn't a place you would want to have your picnic.

Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. "What kind of help was that? 'Here have a sandwich make a wish. Oops sorry I can't help you, Poof!'" she said in a poor copy of the Goddess of Marriage.

"Poof," Tyson dittoed as he stared at the empty plates in sadness,

"We aren't completely empty-handed," Grover said looking at the bright side, which was weird considering how he was acting earlier. "According to her, Percy knows something."

"I swear I don't know what she was talking about!" The Son of Poseidon tried to convince his friends.

"Well, there's only one thing left to do, right Annie?" Naruto told their quest leader.

The said girl puffed her cheeks in annoyance at the nickname. "I told you not to call me that. But Naruto is right. We have to keep going."

"But which way?" Grover asked.

Naruto studied the doorways in hopes that he may differentiate the two like the times earlier. But he wasn't able to inspect them carefully. The satyr and the cyclops tensed and stood up at the same time.

"LEFT!" They both said in a panic.

Naruto's eyes widened. "They're right! We have to go!"

Together, they plunged into the left corridor, not wanting to find out what was coming.

Good News: There were no twists, turns or side exits.

Bad News: The exit of the almost a hundred-meter corridor was blocked by an enormous boulder.

"Tyson–" Naruto called out as he reared his fist back ready to strike.

Together, they slammed into the boulder, and it crumbled down revealing a doorway. Without further thinking, they entered the room.

They never could catch a breath though. Before they could sigh in relief, the dragging footsteps grew louder. Whatever was coming from the right corridor earlier followed them through the left one.

"Hurry, Seal it!" Annabeth said in a panic.

Naruto blurred into a series of hand signs and the tunnel shook again. A slab of dirt rose from the ground and filled in the gap of the doorway sealing it. And just as anyone would expect from a sentient maze like this one, the walls blended with slab of earth making it like it was part of the walls in the first place.

BLAG

A force slammed into the newly formed wall. Whatever was chasing them tried to take the wall down to get to them. Seeing nothing happen, the creature wailed in frustration.

"We're good," Naruto fell down on his butt relieved that they were able to escape.

"It's trapped," Percy did the same, sighing in relief.

"Maybe, or maybe we are the ones trapped," Grover said pessimistically.

Everyone turned to look at the room behind them. It was a twenty-foot cement room and the opposite wall was covered in metal bars. They were inside a cell.

"What in the Hades?!" Annabeth tried tugging at the bars. They were sealed shut. Beyond the cell doors that blocked them off from leaving, there were other rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard. There were at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks. It was clear. They were in some kind of abandoned prison complex.

"Tyson, could you—" Percy was about to ask the big guy to break them out of their cell, but Grover shushed him.

"Listen!" Grover ordered.

"He's right," Naruto agreed. "I hear something too."

The place was supposedly abandoned, but they heard a deep sobbing echoing through the complex. There was another sound too that came with it. None of them could make out what was being said. All they could hear was rasping like whoever was talking smoked a ton of cigarettes in his/her lifetime.

"Can anyone understand this?" Percy asked, hoping that any of his friends could understand. He admittedly wasn't particularly good at Ancient Greek, only picking up a few phrases when heard aloud, so he figured it was just that and he didn't get anything.

Naruto and Annabeth shook their heads. Even they did not understand. They concluded it was another. Maybe Latin? No, it was something older.

"It can't be!" Tyson's eyes widened. It would appear that he recognized this language.

"WAIT!" Grover called out as the cyclops started to walk to the bars.

But Tyson wasn't about to wait for them. He pried the bars open like it was made of silly string. They ran after him through the dark prison. There was almost no light except for a few dim fluorescent lights flickering in the ceiling high above.

As they chased after him, Annabeth gained a look of realization. "Wait, I know this place!"

"How do you know a prison?" Percy asked.

"Our class went for a field trip here once," Annabeth remembered. "This is Alcatraz."

"The island off the coast of San Francisco," Naruto added. "They made it a museum, right?"

Annabeth nodded.

They kept chasing Tyson through the catwalks of the prison when Grover suddenly yelled, "Freeze!"

It was so sudden that everyone almost toppled over. Tyson didn't stop, though. He kept going, but Naruto yanked Tyson's hand, pulling him to where the others had chosen to hide.

"Why did you stop me?" Tyson asked in a pleading tone. Whatever he wanted to go to, he was pretty keen on going to it.

Naruto got in place at their hiding spot. He peaked and Naruto felt uneasy. Across the courtyard, on the second-floor balcony, was probably the most horrible Naruto had faced in his entire demigod career.

The monster was almost like a centaur, but instead of the lower half of a horse, this thing had the lower half of a dragon. It was at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her feet reminded them of the Gorgons. There were hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. The most striking thing was the woman's waist, the part where the dragon part met the human, bubbled, and morphed into various animals. It went from the head of a bear to a lion, to a wolf.

As big of a guy he is, Tyson was scared. "It's her…" He whimpered.

They listened in on the conversation. It was clearer now than they were closer, but that didn't mean they understood what was being said. It sounded like a weird rumbling language.

"What language is that?" It was Percy who voiced everyone's question.

"The tongue of the old times," Tyson said nervously. "It was what Mother Earth spoke to her children, the titans, and elder cyclopes. Even before the gods were born."

"Can you translate?" Naruto asked.

Tyson didn't say anything. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but when he did, it wasn't his voice anymore. It was the raspy voice of the giant creature, except it was speaking their language.

"You will work for the Master or suffer!" Tyson said, mimicking the voice.

"I hate it when he does that," Annabeth shuddered, trying to forget a distant traumatic memory.

"I will not serve!" His voice changed to a deep, pained one.

"Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares!" His voice reverted back to the raspy one. His voice hitched at the mention of the name.

Percy had never heard Tyson break character while he was mimicking voices, but this time he let out a strangled gulp and continued in the monster's voice. "If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think about that until I return."

Whoever that was tromped towards the stairwell, her vipers hissing around her legs like a grass skirt. She spread her wings, something that surprised our heroes. They were massive bat-like wings that she kept folded against her back. She leaped over the catwalk and soared across the courtyard, hot sulfurous air blasting the demigods in the face as they crouched lower into the shadows.

"H-h-horrible," Grover stuttered. "I've never smelled any monster that strong."

"That was Kampê," Tyson said. "The cyclopes worst nightmare."

Naruto nodded. "I remember the stories. She was the cyclopes' jailer during the rule of the titans. She's sadistic, torturing your brothers and the Hekatonkheirs like that."

"Mommy Cyclopes used to scare Baby Cyclopes with her stories if we were naughty," Tyson added.

"Back up, back up," Percy waved his hands out in front of him. "What's a Heka-something?"

"He-ka-ton-khi-res," Annabeth pronounced each word syllable for the Son of Poseidon to understand. "Or you can call them the Hundred-handed ones. They're called that because well…They have a hundred hands."

"Duh. Ow—" Naruto let out earning a punch from the Daughter of Athena. Naruto just hugged her playfully as an apology, causing the girl to get red-faced.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat as she recovered from Naruto's actions. "Anyway, they were the Cyclopes' older brothers."

"Very powerful!" Tyson said with a gleam in his eye. "As tall as the sky, so strong they could break mountains!"

"And Briares?" Naruto inquired. "Do you know him personally?"

"We cyclopes look up to our big brothers," Tyson continued in a happy tone. "Can we go see him?"

Annabeth looked at the skies above them, then to the cell where the Hekantonkhiere was staying. She too was curious to see why someone like Briares would act like this.

She turned to his friends. "Alright, I think we have time to go and take a quick peek before Kampê comes back."

They approached the cell. The weeping sounds got louder. this time, they were able to see what…creature…was making the noise.

It was a human-sized creature with pale skin, as pale as the color of milk. He was wearing a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet were too big for his body, with eight toes on each foot, each with cracked and dirty toenails. The upper part was the weird part. To be honest, Janus was pretty tame when compared to this. From his chest sprouted hundreds of arms, living up to his name. There were so many arms, all of them tangled and twirled together. Several of them covered the creature's face as he sobbed.

"So much for being tall enough to reach the sky," Naruto said.

Tyson didn't mind the blonde's snarky remark. He just fell to his knees, calling out the creature's name.

"Briares!" The cyclops called out.

The sobbing stopped to regard what the cyclops had to say to his older brother.

"Oh, Great Hundred Handed One," Tyson pleaded. "Help us!"

Briares looked up, his face long and sad. His nose was crooked and his teeth were bad. His eyes were completely brown – no white sclera or black pupils, like his eyes were formed out of clay.

"Run while you can, young cyclops," He said miserably. "I cannot even help myself."

"You are a hundred-handed one," Tyson argued. "You can do anything!"

Briares wiped his nose with five or six hands. Naruto watched in awe as several others fidgeted with bits and pieces of scrap metal and wood from a nearby bed. It was simply amazing to watch as his hands built small toys almost like they had minds of their own. His other hands were scratching the cement floor. Some played rock paper scissors, reminding Naruto of the days he spent in Konoha playing cards by himself. Still, others made shadow puppets on the wall. If Briares were in a band, he could play all instruments on his own.

"I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampê is back! The titans are rising! We will for sure be thrown back into Tartarus!"

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson advised.

Percy watched Briares struggle a bit. Then, his face morphed into something else. There were the same brown eyes, but the other features were different. He had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile that looked creepy with the straining that he was doing. He didn't even hold it for a second, and just like that, it returned to what they had seen before.

Briares shook his head. "No good, my scared face keeps coming back."

"Wow!" If Percy wasn't impressed by the hands with minds of their own, this did the trick. "How did you do that?"

That just earned an elbow from Annabeth. "Don't be rude!" she scolded. "They have around fifty different faces."

"Must be hard to get a yearbook picture!" Percy commented.

"Like you already tried to take one!" Naruto teased his best friend.

"Hey! I resent that!" The Son of Poseidon protested. "I already tried taking one in Meriwether!"

"I'm surprised you lasted a whole year there," Naruto kept on the tease.

"Hey! I would have stayed longer if Mr. Blowfish didn't find a better school for me," Percy argued.

Naruto tried to argue back but both he and Percy were socked on the arm by a very irritated Annabeth. "Now's not the time for that!" She shushed them.

Percy just stuck out his tongue while Naruto made a face.

Tyson wasn't bothered by the two demigods' bickering. He was still entranced at the thought of meeting one of his heroes. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?"

Naruto and Percy sweatdropped. They were amazed at how Tyson could say that all in one breath and at such a transition as well.

"Do you have a hundred pens?" The Hekatonkheirs asked.

"Uhm, can we deal with that later?" Grover whimpered. "Kampê will be back sooner or later. We have to get out of here."

"Tyson, break the bars so he can get out!" Naruto said.

"Briares can do it!" Tyson smiled proudly. "Hundred-handed ones are much stronger than cyclopes."

"If he's so strong, then why is he stuck in jail?" Percy asked again like that wasn't an insult.

Annabeth elbowed him again. This time in the ribs. "You are being so rude today!" She spoke. "He's terrified right now. How would you feel if you were tortured and imprisoned by Kampê for a thousand years?"

"Fine," Percy nursed his aching rib cage. "I get it!"

Briares covered his face again after hearing Annabeth's scolding.

"What's wrong, Briares?" Tyson asked in concern. "Show us your great strength."

Naruto placed a hand on the young cyclops's shoulder. "I think it's better if you did it, big guy."

The happiness in Tyson's face slowly melted away. Without another word, Tyson ripped the metal doors off their hinges like they were made of clay.

"Come on Briares," Annabeth held out a hand. "Let's get you out of there."

For a slow second, his face morphed into that of a hopeful expression. Several of his arms slowly reached out to reach for her, but twice as many shot out to slap them away.

"I cannot," He once again returned to his terrified face. "She will punish me."

"Don't think like that," Naruto spoke up. "You fought the titans before, isn't that right? Do you remember the outcome?"

"The war…" Briares reminisced on the days he and the gods fought the Titans. He remembered hurling rocks, then lightning shook the earth. We won but just barely. Now they are getting stronger. They have all the more chance to win this time around."

Naruto sighed. It was hard passing on his optimism to someone as pessimistic as this one.

Percy stepped forward. Naruto felt that this was one of his adoptive brother's glimmers of brilliance.

"Then let's make a bet," Percy said smugly.

Everyone looked at him like he grew a second head.

"Percy, what are you—" Annabeth tried to stop Percy, but Naruto held up his hand.

"I think this will work," Naruto said with a confident smirk.

Percy pounded his fist on an open palm three times. "Let's play rock paper scissors."

Briares looked at the Son of Poseidon, his face morphing into his doubtful face. "What's the use? I always win rock paper scissors."

"I think you'll this game very interesting," Naruto added, remembering that particular game that even he did not win, depending on how you look at it.

"Fine, what are the conditions," Briares face showed that of curiosity.

"One game of rock paper scissors," Percy stated. "If I win, you come with us. If I lose, we leave you here, and we won't try to convince you to leave this jail anymore."

Tyson looked at him incredulously, but Naruto placed a hand of reassurance on his shoulder.

The two players readied their hands. Percy repeated his motion with his right hand over his left palm. Briares did the same, except his hundred hands sounded like a whole army marching ready for battle.

"Rock paper scissors, shoot!" They both shouted.

The Hekatonkheirs's hands were not all the same. There was an avalanche of rocks, a set of scissors more than enough for an entire classroom, and enough papers to make a fleet of airplanes.

As for Percy…

His hand shot out an unfamiliar sign that confused everyone in the room.

"See, I always win," Briares said sadly without even looking.

"Are you sure?" Percy said smugly.

Briares opened his eyes. "Wait…What is that?"

"It's a gun," Naruto repeated the words Paul told him some time ago. "A gun beats everything."

"That's not fair!" Briares protested.

"Well, Kampê's not going to be fair when she comes back either. She's going to blame you for destroying the bars." Percy reasoned. "Now, I believe I have won this little game of ours, so get up on your feet. We have to get out of here!"

Briares sniffled, but his face was no longer depressed. "You demigods are cheaters."

Slowly rising to his feet, he walked out of the cage.

"That's the spirit!" Tyson clapped happily, now that his hero has come back to his senses.

Hope filled up the spirits of our heroes. All they had to do was get downstairs and find the entrance they came through.

They all began to turn to leave, but Tyson froze.

Down below, in their supposed destination, was the jailer. And she did not look happy.