The Son Of Hercules

by Echoxenvy

Follow Matt Beckett, the Son of Hercules, as he and his friends wage war on the Primordial God Ouranos and his wide variety of allies. Love, hardship, battle, loss, and glory are just five of the many things he will experience on his epic journey. Current Book: The Rising Sun. OC-Centered.

58. I Visit An Alternate Universe

Now it's my turn. Let's get cracking. But first, the reviews from fifty six.

SuAvE ViPeR: "Wow. Just...wow

OH MAN, THIS WAS THE BEST!

Seriously, I'm speechless at how extraordinary this chapter was, definitely the best of the fic so far. The fight was insanely good, I loved it and it was very engaging. The Sons of Thor will not be missed.

Now someone who will be missed. HERCULES!
I actually had no idea that was coming, but it was emotional, and I'll admit, I almost cried. I now hate Ouranos far more than Levi, and I can't wait until he gets what's coming to him. But everything was very well written, the death vision made perfect sense, and the fact that you thought of all this from the beginning and tied it so well with the book, it's amazing man, you should be proud.

Olympus scene was amazing, Matt and Harper, ughhhh, they are so perfect for each other. They'll definitely need each other in the next book. Poor Malachi and Sera, they've been through enough already!

All in all, fantastic chapter and book. Cannot wait to see what Book 3 holds."

Response: Thank you so much, man. I'm glad you liked it, and hope the same applies to the next book.

MountainBookSage25: "Fucking hell I cried

Sorry it took too long to review

But DAMMIT I CRIED

Also nice to see your version of Zeus is nicer than in canon and Classics

Yeah, this is one big turning point in Matt's life

but GOD DAMMIT I CRIED

Now, to the next chapters"

Response: Oh man, you cried? Wow, I consider that an honor if I was actually able to bring out those emotions. Yes, I loved Hercules, but what's done is done, and we'll see how Matt deals with it. Glad you liked it though, I'll see you in Book 3, my friend.

Shadowhunter2077: "Ch 56 review: damn that's what I call worst case scenario, but man I didn't expect Hercules to die I almost cried, and man Malachi and Sera can't catch a break talk about bad luck, and I was hoping that Odin and Zeus would meet but that can wait, and Ouranos is back this is not good.

Ch 58 review: well to be honest I'didnt expect Matt to win, Zane had ever counter to his abilities and was far more versatile, but still great fight."

Response: Thanks man. And yes, that is definitely worst case scenario. Hercules's death was indeed out of nowhere, and looking back on the chapters centering around his and Matt's relationship, it just makes it more painful. I'm sorry but I had to do it, had it all planned since the beginning. And no, this is not good, Ouranos is back.

About chapter 58, yes, it makes sense that Zane would win. We spoke extensively about this, and although currently Zane and Matt are close in power, we agreed Zane would win, and so he did.

NiHaR OP: "Haha i thought i reviewed but i forgot lol, rip hercules, i never thought that the death of hercules would sadden me this much, but it did. i was hoping to see all the other gods reactions tho, like hera for instance. also Bjorn and Boris's death filled me with happiness, btw i missed that Ouranos kidnapped Sera, i noticed it when matt thought about it. Matt and Percy bromance moment was heartwarming, Greybeard being Odin came as a surprise. Anyway what a great chapter 22k words. HOLY SHIT. cant wait for book 3 to come soon."

Response: Yeah, Hercules's death saddened me too, I nearly teared up writing it. But it had to be done for Matt's character, and the plot of the story. And yeah, I'll include the gods' reactions to the aftermath, you'll see in Book Three. And yes, Bjorn and Boris are in hell now, they needed to be put down. Book three will be out soon man, stay tuned.

RedX316: "Oh man, my heart hurts after this chapter.

First of all, best fights yet, glad to see the Sons of Thor go down, and great Malachi and Matt teamwork, also Hercules and Matt vs Ouranos was incredible, I loved it and Ouranos truly feels like an unstoppable force now.

Now about what happened.

NOOOOOOOO! Why? Man, he was my favorite character, and the best of the fic. I'll be honest I nearly cried in that scene, it was very well written and heartfelt. I hate Ouranos so much, more than I ever hated Levi even. Hope he gets it one day.

But overall, amazing chapter, best of the story so far. Great fights, great emotional moments, and I can't wait for what you put out next."

Response: I'm glad you liked it, despite the death. And I agree, Hercules might just be the greatest character of the fic now. Hope you stick around for Book Three, because I've got more in store.

thesuperone342: "I have no words for how absolutely amazing this chapter was.

Okay that's a lie I have a lot of words.
First, holy shit that opening was absolutely insane. Best opening to a chapter I've literally ever seen in all of fiction. Great pov with Hercules' thoughts and just makes what happened to him hurt all the more later in the chapter.
Next is the fight with the sons of Thor, which is surprising the least I have to talk about. Amazing fight, as always and some really good teamwork with Malachi and Matt. Honestly really entertaining. And good deaths to both the bastards that are ripoff Magni and Modi, despite the fact they are better characters than Magni and Modi.
Now the fight against Ouranos. Holy shit that was even better than the sons of Thor fight, no cap. The teamwork against the overwhelming foe that is Ouranos was amazing, and Matt and Hercules fought Ouranos like they knew each other's thoughts. Definitely the best fight in the series so far.
Now on to the painful part. Hercules' death. I am in legitimately heartache right now from it. Hercules is officially the best character now, beyond everybody. Even Harper and Zane. Legitimately hurt way more than Chiron's death and even almost made me cry. You have him so much character development and then ripped him away from us. Absolutely astounding work.
And lastly, Hercules' send off. Probably the best part about the chapter. Matt's speech about his father was phenomenal and truly paid homage to the great father and character Hercules had become over the course of this book. I legitimately do not remember the last time I cared so much for a character. Amazing, and hopefully he appears at some point via the cloak Sigurd gave Matt.
All in all, best chapter of the fic, by far. And better than all of my chapters as well. Blows them out of the water even. This imo cements this as the best PJO fanfic of all time.
P.S. Do you want to post chapter 1 of the crossover after the author note or before it?"

Response: Thanks bro. Yeah, I really gave it my all on the chapter, and the opening. When I was done with it, I knew it was going to be great. So yes, ripoff Magni and Modi are gone lol, and Hercules is dead, very sad, but it will have great effect on Matt's character. You'll see. I agree it's the best chapter yet, but who knows, I might top it.

Disclaimer: Neither thesuperone342 or myself own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Now then, on with the second chapter of the crossover.

---

(Matt's POV)

"We have a lot to talk about, Matt."

I looked up at Zane Williams, the son of Zeus in confusion. Talk?

My eyes narrowed, "Talk? Really, after we just fought to the near death?!" I gestured angrily to myself and Harper, "You just tried to kill me and her! And you want to talk?!"

He had his blood covered hands up, which didn't really help his case. That and of course the freaking Heavenly Diamond on his waist.

He winced a little at his actions, "This is all a huge misunderstanding. I'm sorry things got out of hand, man. Can we just talk? I mean, I granted you that earlier...can't you do the same?"

That was different. I thought. I didn't beat your face in with the most deadly material known to man.

I found myself agreeing though. I had to, really. I could sense his emotions, and oddly enough, they were genuine. Besides, he was a little stronger than me, so there wasn't really much strategy in having another fight.

I begrudgingly looked at Talon and gestured to Harper. "Give her some ambrosia."

He didn't take his glare off Zane and reached in his pocket, fishing out a small block of ambrosia. I wasn't even sure if ambrosia would work, or if it was even needed for this kind of thing. He hadn't hurt her physically, which was good, and showed he might actually not be the huge asshole he seemed.

I took it from him and fed it to her. Zane didn't object, so I figured it would work.

After a second or so, her eyes flew open, and she nearly headbutted me in surprise.

"Matt!" She screamed, then saw that I was right in front of her, and her eyes got watery, but they were also puzzled. "Y-You're okay..."

I nodded, "Yeah, everything's fine."

She looked past me and saw Zane standing there awkwardly. He scratched his neck and waved at her, "So um...sorry about almost killing him. I swear, I'm gonna explain everything."

Whatever apologetic words he had were gone to her. She seethed at him and actually tried to go at him, but I held her back with an arm around her waist.

"You bastard! Let me go, I'm gonna kill him!"

Everyone knew that was impossible, considering the insane strength he just displayed, but she was seriously angry, and it seemed like she was actually going to do it. Zane himself widened his eyes a little. Not sure why, unless he wasn't used to tough girls.

I tried to mediate, "It's fine, it's fine. Just calm down. Zane's...going to explain."

"Like hell he is! He's a spy for Ouranos!"

Zane groaned, "I'm not! I thought Ouranos was dead! And even if he wasn't, is he that much of a dumbass to send a literal Son of Zeus to Camp? Where another person can sense auras?" He gestured to me.

I wasn't sure how he knew I had the ability, and it actually just hit me...he had the ability too. That was interesting, since Malachi is the only other non immortal i know of that can use it.

Malachi...

I was still reeling from his capture. So in case you all didn't know, my friend Malachi, the Son of Ouranos, recently was captured by his father after our fight in Scandinavia. It's...really a long story. But the point is, I missed him.

And Zane looked a lot like him.

It was weird, because I was just now noticing the striking similarities. Their voices sounded nearly the same, their powers were basically the same, and if Malachi had black hair...he'd look like this guy. The only notable difference was that Zane was a bit shorter and more muscular, where Malachi was lean.

I must've been staring, because Zane raised an eyebrow at me, "Uh...is there something on my face?"

I shook my head, "Uh...no. Let's just go in my cabin and talk."

Talon walked up to me and lowered his voice, "Matt, have you lost your damn mind? This psycho just tried to kill you! And nearly did! There was a grin on his face and he looked like he was enjoying it. Not to mention he has Heavenly Diamond, I mean come on, that's a dead giveaway."

"You know I can hear you, right?" Zane said.

Talon raised his chin and shouted, "Shut up!" Then he lowered his chin back down and kept muttering, "Look, I think we can take this guy. If you bust out the Red Aura again, and I go Nikandreos on this kid's ass, we can beat him."

Zane could hear every word, "Nikandreos? Who the fuck is that?"

Talon rolled his eyes, "We'll get to you in a minute! Now hush!" He turned back to me, "What do you think?"

"First of all...no. Okay, we have a chance to be reasonable here, and I'm not interested in destroying the camp because of a potential misunderstanding. I can read his emotions, and he's genuine, so...I'm gonna give him a chance to explain himself. If I detect any lying, then we can bust out the Red Aura and your golden thing."

Talon thought about it, and seemed satisfied with it, "Alright then."

But Harper was not having it, she was trying to break my grip my pulling on my fingers to get after Zane, but it wasn't working.

"Harper, calm down. Let's give the guy a chance to talk."

She stopped struggling, and looked me in the eye. I tried to put all of my seriousness in them, saying to just trust me on this one.

She conceded, and let go. "Fine. But if for one second I think that-"

"I know, you'll kill him."

"Yes."

I looked to Percy and Annabeth, who were standing nearby and watching the whole scene.

"You guys might want to come too, who knows what he's gonna say."

They nodded, and I finally looked at Zane, with an expression of neutrality.

"Alright then Son of Zeus, you want to talk? Let's talk."

---

After Percy told the campers the show was over and to get back to what they were doing, we all decided to have the conversation in my cabin, mainly because it was big, comfortable, and I was the only person there, so there weren't any potential interruptions that could happen.

Zane went in first, not looking back once in timidity or to check if we would jump on him. The guy carried himself around the way I carry myself around, with confidence and a certain level of alertness, not out of fear, but out of instinct.

I could've told that he was a Son of Zeus, had I looked at him better and hadn't jumped the gun and fought him, which was a mistake honestly. He had the looks of a Zeus kid, not that I've seen any besides that Thalia girl, once, but I just had a feeling of what Zeus's sons should look like, and Zane fit the description. He was handsome, and maybe an inch shorter than me. He had longer, straight black hair, parted in the middle and coming down to his shoulders, a little longer than Malachi's, but relatively the same. He was nearly as muscular as me, and with just his ripped red sweatpants on, every defined muscle looked like it belonged on a teenage bodybuilder. Basically, he was no stranger to weights.

He entered my cabin and stopped to the side, I guess waiting for me to show him someplace to sit. There was, well...my bed. That's it.

Harper came in after me, and kept glaring at Zane. The latter didn't find any discomfort in it, but I knew he could tell. Talon after Harper, Percy after Talon, and Annabeth after Percy.

"Talon, can you make us some chairs?" I asked.

Talon nodded, and concentrated.

Zane looked at him with confusion, "What, is he gonna build some chairs real quick for us?"

"You'll see."

Zane just watched on as a little golden light flashed in Talon's hand, morphing six lawn chairs. The Son of Zeus reared his head back a little.

"So you just create stuff from nothing? That's kind of badass."

Talon gave a little smirk, but covered it up quickly, not wanting to make friends with Zane. "Yeah, it comes in handy."

Percy sat in one of the chairs and groaned, "But why is it always lawn chairs with you?"

"Easier."

Zane looked at me for some sort of explanation, to which I had none. I don't know anymore than he does on how Talon's abilities work.

"Alright, I guess...just have a seat, man." I said to him, and we all sat down, an awkward silence ensuing.

The tension in the room was extremely tight. Everyone in here didn't trust this guy at all, even me. I mean, he hasn't given us much reason to. And I'll admit, I jumped to conclusions as soon as I heard Heavenly Diamond, because...well, let's just say I don't like the material after what happened in Scandinavia.

Another reason is that he's a Son of Zeus, which might be a stretch. The only children of Zeus in the modern era were the Grace siblings, Jason and Thalia. One's dead, and the other is a hunter for Artemis. Zeus having a kid is a big deal, so I'd think that Chiron, Percy or Annabeth would've known about a third one.

Percy looked around at us, and decided he'd start first. "So um, Zane. Maybe start by telling us how you got here? A bit about yourself?"

Zane studied Percy, and it was for a quick moment, that he looked at the Son of Poseidon like he was his friend, but a completely different person. It made me wonder...did he know of Percy? Or know him on some level?

"Well...I guess I can start from the basics. I didn't lie about my name, it is Zane Williams, and I am the Son of Zeus."

"How come we've never heard of you?" Harper said, "I think we'd know about Zeus having another kid."

Zane sighed, and thought about his next words, like it was a lot to put out.

"Okay so...this is going to sound crazy, but it's the only explanation." His tone got serious, and he looked at all of us simultaneously somehow, even though he was only looking at me. "I think this is an alternate dimension of my universe."

Okay, I wasn't expecting that, and neither was everybody else. Talon immediately snorted, "This guy's nuts! Matt, it's time to bust out the moves!"

Both Harper and Percy seemed to put it off as nonsense too, but Annabeth looked a little intrigued.

"Why do you say that?" She asked, leaning forward, "How did you get over here exactly? Was there...a rift? A portal?"

Zane didn't even look surprised at her intelligence, like he'd seen it before, dozens of times. "Yeah actually. I was training, and I guess I let off too much energy, and next thing I knew my attack blew up in my face, and there was a portal where it happened. I stepped through...and here I am."

I was finding it a little hard to believe, but it did make more sense as to why we hadn't heard of him. And the Son of Zeus part wasn't a lie, I felt his aura earlier, and he is stronger than me, slightly, but still stronger. He had the power, the lightning, and the wind abilities, so...that wasn't a lie.

"So let's say this portal is real." Talon said skeptically, "Is there a Camp Half Blood where you come from? Demigods and all that shit?"

Zane nodded, "Yeah, only Camp Half Blood isn't in ruins like it is here, and Chiron is...still alive." Both Percy and Annabeth's faces darkened at that, and there was an instant sense of wanting to go over there and see this alternate Chiron. "Percy exists over there, and Annabeth does too, only they're younger."

Percy's interest peaked, and I could tell he was starting to believe it. "How old are they?"

"Fourteen."

"Do you know them well?"

"Yeah, Percy's like my best friend, and Annabeth...I mean, we had our differences, but she's still my friend, yeah. We've been on three quests together so far."

"What were these quests?" Annabeth asked, "Did the first one happen to involve Zeus's master bolt? Ares? Medusa?"

Zane looked a little surprised, but relieved that our Annabeth was really catching on. "Yeah. And after that we went to the Sea of Monsters."

Percy's eyes widened, "Then you fought Atlas..."

Zane nodded, "That's right. So I'm guessing all of that already happened here, years ago."

This was crazy. I'd heard about these stories from Percy, and now you're telling me that in some alternate dimension, there's a son of Zeus that went on these adventures with them?

I had a question on my tongue, "Zane, do you have a sister?"

His face twinged a little with anger, but he kept it under control, "Thalia, yeah. Guessing you guys know her too. Is she a Hunter over here?"

Annabeth nodded.

His lip only contorted more. I guessed he was bitter about the whole hunter thing, if that happened over there. It made sense, since he was her brother and maybe he felt betrayed by her leaving him.

Percy threw his hands up, "I mean...it's hard to argue with that. Dude's got his facts straight."

Harper wasn't giving in so easily though, "What if Ouranos told him all of this? I mean, doesn't he know everything about you two? What if he's Malachi's long lost brother or something, and he's just now being brought into the picture. I mean, lightning and wind, it doesn't have to be Zeus, Ouranos controls that stuff too."

Zane started to argue, looking at Harper with annoyance. I'll admit, she was letting her bitterness take over, but it was understandable.

I held up a hand to him, signaling that I had this. "Harper, if Ouranos had another son, he'd know about it, and use that kid whichever way he could to kill us. If that were the case, then where was Zane in Scandinavia? Where was he at the Cursed Island? It just can't be true. Besides...I felt his aura, and it feels the same as Viribus, since Zeus put some of his energy in there."

Zane pointed at my necklace, "Wait a minute, my dad's energy is in that thing?"

"His and Gaea's, yeah. That's how I control lightning, wind, and why I was able to heal so much during our fight."

He let out an exhale of amazement, "Shit, no wonder that thing packed as much heat as it did."

I could feel Harper's slight glare on me, and I turned to her, "Hey, the guy's being truthful. Let's just see where this goes, alright?"

She kept it up for another minute, but finally just sighed, and gestured with her hand to keep going.

Zane stood up, "Look, I know all this shit's hard to believe. I don't know what the hell to make of it either. I mean, I see Nico holding hands with some kid that looks like Percy, I see a grave marked for Chiron, and all this other weird shit, I don't know what to think. But that portal proves it, this is an alternate universe."

I could understand why he'd be confused too, if he was telling the truth, which based on my sensing abilities and his logic, he was. I didn't know why he was weirded out by Nico and Aiden though, maybe the fact that Nico used to have a crush on Percy? Not sure.

Percy got up too, "If it's cool with you, I'd like to see this portal."

"Second that." Harper said.

Soon we all got up, and Zane agreed to lead us to the portal he'd talked about, not one bit of doubt in his emotion, a good sign. I was hoping he was telling the absolute truth, I didn't want to walk all the way out here and find no portal, only to realize this guy's been tricking us the whole time. He seemed okay, and maybe cool if I actually got to know him. But with all the crap going on lately, I doubt that'll happen. He'll most likely just be on his way, like it never happened. It was a mistake after all.

We walked across Camp, and a bunch of the Campers gave Zane looks, and a couple of fearful turnaways. Wow, this guy must've really been bashing on my face for them to look so alert.

We followed him all the way to the edge of the forest, and about fifty feet before we got there, we could clearly see the rift floating a few inches off the ground. It rippled with power, and offered plenty of room for a person to go through. On the other side of it, I saw an exact parallel to the forest on our side. Some fallen leaves, the trees were in the same place, everything was there.

Talon's jaw fell, "Holy shit, the kid was telling the truth."

Annabeth marveled at it, "Gods, it's an actual rift between dimensions...I never thought this could actually occur in reality..."

Harper especially was shocked, at the fact Zane told the truth more so than the portal.

I looked suggestively at her, and she rolled her eyes, "Fine, he's not lying. But that doesn't excuse what he did."

I took that as a small victory, and joined Zane in front of the portal.

"So you just...climbed through?" I asked, sticking my hand through it to find that it passed fine, no resistance at all.

"Yeah, I just ducked a little and walked right in."

Percy eyed it cautiously, "And it hasn't gotten any smaller?"

Zane gave it a once over and shrugged, "Not that I can tell."

"So there's no time limit on this thing?"

"I don't know. There might be. I've only been over here for about two hours."

Another silence fell, and we all looked at the portal like it was going to explode. But it wasn't doing anything, it was literally just sitting there, rippling and floating. What harm could it do?

A lot, if this thing closes on us. If we get trapped in some alternate dimension...that's all of our side's quest power gone, and Ouranos would definitely take over at that point, or at least do some serious damage. I guess we'd permanently be a part of whatever Zane's got going on. Percy and Annabeth would get to relive their old quests with their younger selves. Now that was a weird thought.

"Only one way to find out" Talon said, "Let's check out this kid's version of Camp." He hopped through the portal and didn't look back for us.

Zane gave a little annoyed hiss, "Dude, stop calling me kid." He too ducked and climbed on the other side.

I stepped in after him, having to lower my head as well. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

My eyes widened. Fourteen?! No freaking way this dude was younger than me. He was only an inch shorter and his frame was basically the same as mine!

"Stop kidding man, how old are you really?" I half joked, now walking alongside him behind Talon, who was oddly leading the way.

He snickered, "I'm serious. I don't know why, but I'm bigger than most kids, maybe because of the whole Zeus thing. Have you seen him in his godly form? He's huge."

I nodded, "I have actually. Your dad's...pretty intimidating."

The corner of his mouth upturned slightly with pride, "I know."

We kept walking, and finally passed Talon, who kept looking at every single tree and blade of grass, trying to figure out if it matched our forest. Harper got tired of it and smacked him on the head, telling him to cut it out. Percy and Annabeth were at the back, probably trying to take it all in, since this was supposed to be a mirror to the Camp they knew back in the day. Which was like a few years ago only, but still. Hell, one year alone is equal to ten in demigod terms.

We got to the edge of Camp, and sure enough, my breath left my body. It looked nearly the same as it did when I first arrived last year, only the minor gods cabins hadn't been built yet. Obviously this universe's Percy hadn't given the gods their ultimatum when they offered him godhood. Or well...Zane hadn't, if he was the main guy over here.

My mouth fell open and my eyes widened with awe, looking at the undamaged cabins, the Big House, the training arena, the pavilion, and...the Campers. Man, there were so many over here, at least a hundred plus.

"Wow...this is just like how it was before-"

"Before the attack?" Zane finished. Someone must've told him.

My chest sunk a bit at the memory, "Yeah, before that."

Everybody else lined up with us, standing to my right, all of them had looks of wonder on their face, having not seen the Camp like this for weeks.

Percy and Annabeth had both been torn up by our Chiron's death, and of course the responsibility on their shoulders of leading the Camp. Recently the pair had been deadpanned and tired looking, not really putting energy into anything they did, because they didn't have it. But right now, they looked downright happy, the happiest I had seen in the two weeks I'd been back.

Annabeth had tears forming in her eyes, "Percy...look." She pointed in the distance, and I looked to see what had gotten her so emotional.

It was Chiron, alive and well. He was showing a Camper how to properly knock an arrow.

Percy's voice shook, "Chiron..."

I looked to Harper on my immediate right, and saw her face filled with emotion too. I forgot that Chiron had been like a second father to her, understanding her awful situation when she was younger and letting her do special things that she needed to get emotionally stable again.

Talon whistled and shook his head, "I can't fucking believe it. It really is an alternate place, or whatever you called it."

"Told you" Zane said, "And I can prove it even more. The Percy and Annabeth I know are here too, they should be-"

"ZANE!"

The voice echoed down the hill. We all looked up to see two figures running at us, well not us, but Zane. One of them was a girl, and the other was a boy. The boy...was Nico. I mean split image you could not even think it was a different person. He was younger here, and his hair was bit longer, but it was still black, he still had olive skin, his aviator, black shirt and black jeans. The only difference other than his age was his expression. It was happy and outgoing, not brooding and reserved like the Nico I knew. Huh, that was strange.

The girl looked to be the same age as Zane, but a lot shorter, at maybe the same height as Harper, and I'd guess just a fraction heavier than her. She had long, neatly styled red hair, that came out in tufts towards the top, and was let down over her shoulder, thick and flowing with just the slightest of curls, it reminded me of fire. She wore those thin glasses that I forget the name of, but the one's that look like semicircles. Clothes wise, she made Camp Half Blood material as feminine as it could get, wearing the Camp Half Blood t-shirt over an oversized red long sleeved shirt. I say oversized because it was too long, and came down to her thighs, and nearly covered the tight black shorts she wore. I found her appearance a bit odd though, not because she wasn't pretty or anything, which she was. Honestly I'd say a daughter of Aphrodite, due to the flawless skin, facial features, and the way she dressed, but...the lean muscles disproved that. They weren't big, or even that noticeable, but they were there, and it changed my assumption to an Ares kid. Not sure I've ever seen an Ares girl this feminine, but hey, no complaints by me.

The way they ran towards Zane, they were obviously his best friends, and they had been through a lot together. I could see by the slightly annoyed expression the girl was giving him as she ran, that she had been looking for him all over. Nico on the other hand just looked elated to see him.

They closed the distance quickly and the girl jumped into Zane's arms, practically throwing hers around his neck. I noticed she had red fingernails after she did that, and that her glasses were actually reading glasses, and a little line of pearls draped over her ear.

"Hey, Airhead!" She said in a light voice, letting out a sigh of relief. "We've been looking for you!"

Okay, so the way she was hugging on to him and nuzzling into his neck showed a sign of...more than friends. Okay, I was wrong, I was wrong.

What happened next though surprised me a lot more. Nico ran right into Zane's side and buried his head into his shoulder, giving him a deep hug as well.

"Where the hell did you go, Zane?! We were worried sick!"

Zane returned the hugs, and kissed both of them on the cheek. "Sorry guys, I uh...well, it's a long story."

Every single one of us watched on with confusion, especially Talon. I think he was trying to figure out if the younger kid was Nico. I was trying to figure out if he was dating both of them. Well idiot, he just kissed both of them, so what do you think.

The girl and Nico noticed us, and parted from Zane, although the girl kept her lithe arm on his shoulder absentmindedly, like she was a part of him. "Who are they, Zane?"

Before we could even respond, Talon blurted loudly, "You a boy or a girl?"

I could hear Harper facepalm behind me and Annabeth smack him on the shoulder. Percy's ears got a little red and I just wanted to go back through the portal and forget this ever happened. What kind of stupid question was that, Talon? Dude, now I'm starting to understand why Harper calls you a dumbass all the time. It's obviously an Ares girl. Feminine, but tough enough that she can fight, clearly a daughter of-

"I'm a boy. My name's Taylor."

I nearly fell to the ground. Okay then, I was wrong.

Talon acted like he didn't just destroy her- sorry, his personal boundaries. "Ah, my bad, man. Hard to tell, you look like a chick."

Taylor shrugged, "It's okay, I get it a lot. I actually kind of take it as a compliment now."

Zane didn't really know what to do about it, but he managed to introduce us, "Um, guys, these are my boyfriends, Taylor and Nico, who I guess you know."

He was a bit awkward in saying the boyfriend part, and I could tell the relationship was new. But he was at the same time, seriously content with them.

I shook hands with Taylor and Nico, the latter giving us confused and hesitant stares.

"Nice to meet you two, I'm Matt. This is Harper, Talon, Percy and Annabeth."

Their eyes widened at that, and Nico gave a little gawking noise. I probably should've laid it on them a little easier, probably some more build up would've been helpful.

And as if things couldn't have gotten weirder, this world's versions of Percy and Annabeth decided to walk up in this moment.

I heard the younger Percy say to the side, "What. The. Fuck."

We turned and looked at him. Yep, it was Percy, but surprisingly, he looked the most different out of all the counterparts I'd seen so far. Even Annabeth next to him looked just like the one I knew, only younger, and Nico was the same way, but with a different personality and longer hair.

This Percy was like a freaking grown up. He looked about the same age as the near nineteen year old beside me, and this one was only supposed to be fourteen. The most striking difference was the hair, as this one's was long too, like pretty much every boy from this universe I've met so far. Must be a trend. Only Percy's hair didn't come down to his back or shoulders, he had it tied up in a man bun, which would normally be hard to pull off and look tough at the same time, but this version of my friend did it. He was muscular and tan, but not as much so as Zane or myself. He had on a Camp T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

Annabeth was pretty much the same, only shorter, less developed, and younger. Her blonde hair was about the same length, and she still had that studying gaze, using her gray eyes to basically read your soul. She matched Percy with the shirt, and like our Annabeth, she sported jean shorts. But something was different about this one actually, something I just now noticed. This Annabeth had a celestial bronze knife strapped to her waist, unlike our Annabeth's weapon, which was a sword made from a Drakon bone. Maybe...this was her old weapon. I think I remember something about her losing it in Tartarus, or maybe I'm wrong.

"Uh...Zane, what the hell is going on?" Nico asked nervously, "Why are their older versions of Percy and Annabeth, and who're all these other people?"

Our Percy and Annabeth's eyes were glued to their younger selves, a little in horror. The Percy I knew was mainly looking at the man bun his counterpart wore, and was nodding slightly, probably thinking about growing it out himself.

In fact, Percy's first words to his alternate self were, "Nice man bun."

Zane's Percy looked like he'd seen a ghost, he was staring at the two with utter confusion and it was clear he was weirded out. But he still nodded at the older version of himself, "Thanks...um, can I just ask what the absolute hell is happening?"

The two Annabeth's were studying each other, and the funny thing was, they were mimicking each other's movements without knowing it. Like whenever they tilted their head, the other would do it. Maybe they were connected or something.

Zane sighed, "Guys, I can explain everything. Just maybe not out here in the open."

I gestured to the training arena, "Arena?"

Talon interrupted with a shout of happiness, "Oh man, the training arena! How I missed you and your death matches!" He ran towards the arena like he'd reunited with an old friend, leaving us in the dirt. Our Percy broke his gaze from Zane's Percy and called after Talon, "Hey, what do you mean death matches?! Talon, you better tell me what you meant!"

Harper put a hand on my shoulder, "This is a bad idea. I say we just grab the dumbass and get back to our world. There's no reason to stay here."

Maybe she was right, but I don't know. There was a sort of feeling inside of me now, that there was a reason that portal had been created, not just because Zane was training, but for something else. Besides, I missed Camp the way it used to be, and here's a perfectly good one.

"You may be right, but it won't hurt to at least have things sorted out. We won't be hear much longer."

She reluctantly nodded, and I turned to Zane, "Shall we?"

"Let's go."

---

The training arena was packed.

Kids were going at it everywhere, dueling with swords, training against practice dummies, among other things.

As soon as we walked in the door, Talon gave a smirk to Zane's crew.

"Watch this." He turned around and pulled down his sunglasses. I knew what he was doing, and prepared myself, since he hadn't done it in a while. A feeling of dread and death entered the entire area, a lost battle, absolute emptiness and hatred, among a whole list of negative emotions. The kids looked around and saw a tint of red everywhere, feeling the intense bloodlust gaze Talon was giving them, they scrammed.

Soon enough, the entire place was clear, and all that remained was us.

Zane was impressed, "Okay, that was pretty fucking cool. What was that?"

"Bloodlust." Talon said, "I can emit it, and send out some serious hate. Works well with long lines and shit like that."

Nico looked at Talon in awe, "Can you do it again?"

"In a minute. I think the big boys have something to say."

I guessed by big boys he meant Zane and I. We all took a seat on the bleacher like steps near the side of the room, with Zane and I being the center of attention. Talon sat above all of us, Harper sat next to me, Nico and Taylor sat next to Zane on either side, and the pair of Percy and Annabeth's sat side by side. Although I don't think this universe's Percy and Annabeth are together yet, but there's feelings there, I can tell. They're sitting awful close to each other, and whenever their arms touch, I can see the blush on both of their cheeks. Glad to know some things never change.

Zane and I looked to each other at the same time, giving each other little nods to see who would go first.

I guessed it would be better coming from Zane, and he knew it, so he started.

"Yeah, so I know this shit is weird, but it'll make more sense in a minute. This right here, is Matt. He's the Son of Hercules, and everybody else that came with him is from, get ready...an alternate universe."

Everyone from his world gave him confused looks, which is justified. I'm still trying to adjust to it.

"Before you say anything, hear me out. I was training in the forest, and I went a little overboard. Long story short, I created a portal to an alternate universe." He pointed at me, "Their universe. They have their own Camp Half Blood, they went on our adventures years ago, Percy, Annabeth and Nico exist over there..."

"Do we exist over there too?" Taylor asked, referring to him and Zane.

Zane shook his head, "No, they'd never heard of me before."

Our Percy took this chance to raise a finger, "Hold on a second, I think I remember seeing a red haired Ares kid. That might've been you...but I'm pretty sure that person died in the Titan War."

Okay, that was a bit of a downer. Taylor didn't seem too affected though, his eyes just widened a little.

Zane's Percy gave a time out signal, "So wait a second. You're telling me, that these guys are the older versions of Annabeth and I, who have already fought Atlas, been to the Sea of Monsters, and the Master Bolt quest years ago?"

Zane nodded, "Pretty much, only they didn't have me with them, they had Matt."

"Well...no, actually-"

Before I could tell him that I wasn't on those quests, Zane's Nico interrupted and asked our Percy, "So what's next? What came after Atlas?"

Annabeth answered, since that was actually her quest that she led. "Daedalus' Labyrinth. We had to go through it and stop Luke."

Zane's Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Luke exists in your universe too?"

Our Annabeth's face darkened, the haunting memories returning. "Yeah, he's dead in ours."

Zane scoffed, "Really? Wish he was dead in ours."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, "You might be saying that now, but towards the end...he turned around, like the very end, but still."

Zane's eyes brokered no argument, and I sensed a deep, deep hatred for the Son of Hermes in his heart. Those two had some serious history, and I could practically feel the battles they'd had. "Trust me, you don't know our Luke. He's pure evil, no chance of redemption, and believe me, I know a thing or two about the topic."

Interesting. I'd have to talk with him later about that. Zane Williams was becoming more fascinating to me.

I decided to change the subject, "There has to be some kind of meaning to this. I mean, it can't be chance that Zane opened a rift to our universe. Maybe...we need to help each other in some way, or something else. I don't know."

Harper shrugged, "With what though? Ouranos? Or the Labyrinth? Can we even meddle in each other's problems? Like wouldn't that go against the fates or something?"

Both Annabeth's nodded, "It would." They said simultaneously, they looked at each other and smiled. Okay, they might actually be connected.

Our Annabeth decided to elaborate, "If one of us were to help you on the upcoming quest...it would cause a paradox, and that wouldn't be good."

The other Annabeth nodded, "Besides, who knows how long that portal will stay open. It might even be closed right now."

That was a bad thought. We all tried to push that one away the moment she said it.

Nico tried to lighten the mood, "So Zane, what happened after you went over there?"

"Well, I met some people, the alternate version of you actually, then Harper and Talon, who told Matt about the Heavenly Diamond on my waist-"

Harper leaned forward, "Yeah, you never told us why you had that. How did you get it?"

Her tone was a bit demanding, but I understood. I hated the material a lot too, simply because of it's wielder in my universe, and what happened recently...

Zane tapped the handle of the Morning star, "When we were fighting Atlas, I found a bunch of this stuff under the floor of where he held the burden. My father said it was created by the pressure of the sky and the Earth colliding."

Talon nodded, I had heard him describe that before, last year. "Yeah, that's true. Great forms of pressure are what make it, but that's the only source I know of."

Zane shrugged, "There might be more, I'm not sure. But this was crafted from that source, and It's my weapon now, since my old one got destroyed by Atlas."

I put the pieces together, "So that's how you beat Atlas? With Heavenly Diamond?"

He nodded, "Yeah. I hate to admit it, but we were completely helpless against him without this. I used it to kill him."

I didn't even think to ask who took the burden then if Atlas was gone for good, I was too busy wondering how the other quests went. Zane's version was very different from what I've heard.

"So, what else happened when you went over there?" Taylor asked, tapping Zane on the knee.

"We sort of fought." I said.

"Yeah" Zane agreed.

"And he also sort of lost his cool and beat my face in."

"Yeah, well you tried to atomize me with that weird giant red beam thing."

"Well you almost attacked Harper."

"I wasn't going to do anything, dude. Can we just agree that we both tried to kill each other and nearly did?"

There was a pause, and we just stared at each other for a moment. Finally, I sighed, "Yeah, you're right. I'm the one that started it anyway, I should've just let you explain yourself instead of jumping the gun. I just...hate Heavenly Diamond."

For some reason, Zane didn't ask why. He started to, but he must've thought better of it, and to save it for later. I appreciated that, as I didn't want to relive the events of Scandinavia just yet.

Instead he said, "It's partly my fault too. I shouldn't have held up my lies and I should've just told you guys the truth about the portal, then we could've figured it out together. So, sorry for that."

"I'm sorry for starting the fight."

He actually smirked, "You kidding? It was pretty awesome, and really fun for me, er, besides the nearly killing you part."

I felt weirdly honored, "Oh well...that's good to hear. Why do you say that?"

He scoffed like it was obvious, "Dude, I haven't had an equal fight in so long, it's been driving me crazy. Then I meet you, someone basically as strong as me, and I actually have to try. Doesn't happen a lot for me. Usually the opponents are too weak, and I just plow through them, which happens the most, or the opponents are too strong, which really only happened with Atlas. Besides a weakened Hyperion and Luke in the past, you're the only neck to neck fight I've had. That's why it was fun, because I had to try against you."

I was trying to keep up. Hyperion? Just what has this dude done in his demigod career? I'd have to ask later.

"Well, that's good." I responded, "To be honest It's the same for me over here. So I guess I could say that I had fun too, for a little bit."

Nico was looking back and forth between us, "He actually almost killed you, Zane?"

Zane nodded, "Yeah, he's tough. Sure would've been interesting to have him with us when we fought Atlas. Doubt that would really help too much, but it'd probably make that bastard sweat."

Alternate Percy nodded at me, "Yeah, I can feel his aura. It's nearly the same as yours Zane."

Taylor mockingly groaned, "So there's been another mountain lifting, fighting gods and titans for fun, super strong demigod out there this whole time?" He was talking about me, "Looks like you found a new pen pal, Zane."

Zane chuckled, "Heh, maybe. We'll have to talk later about our quests, Matt. I gotta say, I'm a little curious."

So am I, I thought. Though I really need to break it to him that I wasn't on any of those earlier quests, and I sure as hell haven't fought Atlas...yet. Although I'm sure Ouranos will rope him in soon somehow, wouldn't surprise me.

Talon pointed between us, "So now that the bad blood's out of the way, let's continue the fight discussion, since it's one of my favorite subjects."

Annabeth facepalmed, "I know where you're going with this, and please don't."

Talon looked mockingly offended, "You don't even know what I was going to say!"

Harper looked at him with her arms crossed, "You were going to suggest the rest of us fight to see how we match up, weren't you?"

He made a croaking noise with his mouth open, like he'd been caught stealing. "Um...maybe. But come on! Aren't you all curious?!"

Taylor looked at Talon with an eyebrow raised, "Maybe I was wrong, the cowboy guy should be your pen pal, Zane."

"Name's Talon, cherry hair." He said, "Now then, in light of our new friendship, what do you say we have a little sparring session? Hmm? Little one on one action to see who's better? Percy on Percy? Annabeth on Annabeth?"

The Annabeth's looked at each other and scowled back at Talon. "Uh, no."

"Why?"

"I could name a hundred reasons. Mainly, she's literally fourteen, and I'm almost nineteen. How would that be fair?"

The younger Annabeth looked like she didn't want to admit she wasn't skilled enough, but she nodded in agreement.

Harper threw her hands up, "Why are we even discussing this? We just met each other, why would we freaking fight? We've worked this crap out, so why don't we just go back to our world, and say goodbye?!"

Because I want to find out more about Zane, I thought. It was weird, I know, but for some reason the potential conversation we could have interested me. It would be like talking to my counterpart, even if I didn't have one over here, Zane is the closest thing to it. I wanted to hear about his versions of the adventures, and let out some steam myself. Maybe I could even open up about my father...

Okay, maybe not that.

Doubled with the fact that I have a very strong instinct that there was a reason this happened, we're staying here. I'm not leaving just yet.

Before I could tell Harper, Zane shrugged, "I like Talon's idea. A little friendly sparring never hurts." The way he said friendly suggested he meant slightly otherwise.

Talon gave a thank you gesture to Zane, "Exactly! If anything, it'll bring our world's closer!" Please Talon, you just like fighting. "Besides, what do we really have to do? Nothing. There ain't shit going on in either of our worlds at the moment, so we got time to kill. Let's fucking fight!"

We could all tell, even Zane's crew, that Talon wasn't going to give in on this. We were to freaking spar with each other, which was dumb, but oh well.

Nico sat up a little, and leaned on Zane's leg. "So we know how Zane and Matt's fight turned out, it was close, but ultimately Zane won." He said that last part with an undertone of pride, like he was silently telling everyone - yeah, my boyfriend's strong, and he beat your toughest dude. Take that.

He continued, "So maybe we can skip that, unless they want to fight again?"

Zane looked at me, "Rematch?"

"Maybe later, let's let the others have the spotlight." I said. Oh well, I guess I'm officially going along with this now.

Zane seemed fine with that, and Talon definitely did. "Percy and Percy?"

Our Percy looked hesitant to do so, probably too exhausted and tired to really do anything, but he didn't outright disagree. Zane's Percy looked reluctant too, but for a different reason. I could tell that he was feeling our Percy's aura, and the fact that it was weaker than his.

He voiced this, "You sure that's fair?"

Talon threw a dismissive hand, "Just go weapons only, no powers or any shit like that. Way more fun."

Our Percy looked okay with that, so he stood up. "Alright, sounds okay to me."

Alternate Percy hesitated, but ultimately shrugged and got up as well, "If you're cool with it, then I'm down."

Our Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose, "This is so unnecessary."

Maybe so, but at least it'll distract us from the bummer mood back at our Camp. I was okay with it.

The two Percy's walked to the arena floor on both ends, and stood parallel to each other. They drew their own respective Riptides, both blades looking the same. I felt that alternate Percy had suppressed his aura drastically to fit my friend's. Man, Zane's Percy was really strong, about the same as Malachi I would say.

The two simultaneously charged each other, both not serious. My Percy went for an overhead stab, while Zane's blocked it with ease. The two began exchanging strikes, parries, jabs, and various other attacks, simply testing the waters. Our Percy started actually trying though, and it was clear he had more experience than the younger version of himself, and with the power equal, the Percy I knew was quickly gaining control. His strikes became harder, and the other Percy was having trouble blocking and keeping up.

Finally, he got so overwhelmed by the skill, that he had to release some more of his aura. He did, and literally ripped water molecules out of the air, sending a tidal wave at our Percy. It hit him and threw him back several feet, but he managed not to fall down, and his clothes stayed dry.

He wiped his face and gripped Riptide harder, "Thought we weren't using powers?"

The other Percy grinned, "I bent the rules a little, hope you don't mind."

My Percy didn't mind, because he started to use his own powers, only he didn't have the water molecule thing, at least not now. He reached out with his arm and the water fountain in the corner of the room burst to nothing, releasing a dozen gallons of drinking water. Percy furled it and threw it at the other Percy with a concentrated blast, and it was pretty powerful, but nothing to his counterpart.

Zane's Percy darted forward, nearly as fast as light, and swung Riptide with a bronze flash, purposefully hitting our Percy's riptide so it wouldn't kill him. He flew back in the air and landed hard on his spine, skidding across the floor.

Our Annabeth gasped in worry, and I was about to tell Zane this was getting a little out of hand. The fight was over. But just as the thought crossed my mind, I felt an aura spike. Not Zane's Percy, but our Percy.

He raised his head up, and to my surprise, he was angry. But to my even greater surprise, his aura was visible. It was faint, yeah, but I could see the slightest hint of a sea green aura surround my friend, and the latent power inside of him came out just a fraction, bringing him even past the alternate Percy's current state.

Riptide had the same aura surrounding it, kind of like how Sigurd infused his aura with his cutlass in Camp Asgard. Very interesting. I could feel it's deadliness spike, and it's durability rise. Our Percy disappeared from view and reappeared above the alternate Percy, Riptide above his head in a striking position.

The other Percy knew it was time to get serious, and his aura rose to insane levels. The ground shook around him, and I saw his skin literally turn to water, like if you touched him, it would be like sticking your finger in a puddle. From his elbows and knees down, dark blue fluorescent rock formed where bone and skin should be, making those parts of his arms a little larger, and more durable. His power was incredible now, and reminded me of Malachi at his full power. Wow, I can't imagine how that fight would go...

Our Percy, while much stronger than I'd ever seen him, didn't stand a chance. Alternate Percy released his new aura and knocked our Percy all the way across the arena. He hit the wall hard and ricocheted to the floor, the sea green aura fading from him.

Annabeth and I both jumped down to see if he was okay. We ran to him and lifted his head up, but to my shock, I didn't see any sings of cuts, or even bruises. Normally that would've happened.

"How'd I do?" He asked groggily.

Annabeth lightly shoved his shoulder, "You lost, Seaweed Brain, but that last part was...pretty impressive."

I nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah man, what the heck was that burst of power all about?"

He shrugged, "Dunno. I just...felt it, and I decided to act on it. It was like something rose up in me, something I didn't even know was there. I haven't felt that tough since the Battle of Manhattan..."

The thought occurred to me, that Percy was obviously a child of the Big Three, gods that possess unreal amounts of power. Maybe if he received the same kind of training I did from my dad...just how strong could he become?

That was a thought for another day. Annabeth, the other Percy and I helped him back to the stands, where the other Percy said his aura had a lot of potential. That it did.

Talon nearly jumped off of the stands entirely to get his turn. "Alright, my turn! C'mon, who wants to have some fun?"

There were no takers. Talon just stood there looking at all of us with excited anticipation. Zane clearly shared Talon's attitude about fighting, but he seemed uninterested with fighting my friend, probably because he just fought me, or he didn't consider Talon strong enough. Which right now he may not be, but let him use some of that weird golden energy...and the Son of Zeus would change his mind.

Taylor was doing his nails, Harper was on our side, Percy had already fought, and both Annabeth's wanted no part of the whole thing. So that left...

"I'll do it." Nico said.

Talon grinned, "Alright! That's what I'm talking about, kid. You got balls!"

Zane looked at Nico with concern, "You sure, Nico? You don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Nico shook his head, a smile aimed at Zane, "It's fine. I wanna test out my Shadow Form anyway." He looked up at Talon with a hint of competition on his face, "If this guy is strong enough to bring it out."

Talon took that as trash talk, and chuckled, "Not bad, kid. Let's see if I can bring it out, shall we?"

The two took their positions on the arena floor. Talon with a celestial bronze sword on the right and Nico with a solid black sword on the left, one that looked just like older Nico's. I sensed the Son of Hades's aura, and found that it was stronger than the one I knew, exponentially so. Wow, Zane's group was really powerful it seemed.

He was stronger than Talon too, but that really didn't determine the fight the way Percy vs Percy had been. See, Talon's abilities are really weird, and his aura is...confusing. It feels like a hint of each Olympian's aura had been thrown into his body, and it was constantly shifting with something else, making it hard to read and determine it's level. But either way, the display I saw in Scandinavia was god-like, so I wouldn't count the ex-assassin out.

Talon hefted his sword, "Shall we, death boy?"

Nico glared, "Bring it, redneck."

Nico disappeared from view and reappeared in front of Talon, swiping at him with his black sword. Talon, although he mainly uses guns, was also very skilled in swordfighting, and had years of experience. This allowed him to easily parry Nico's strike and deliver a quick stab almost immediately, Nico was surprised and dodged, albeit barely.

In retrospect, it was a good matchup. The son of Hades, god of the dead, versus Talon, the guy who can't die.

Talon began a quick assault with his blade, delivering precise strike after strike, nearly knocking the sword out of Nico's hand each time and pushing him back further and further. Nico decided it was time to get serious, that Talon wasn't to be messed with.

Nico thrust his hand upward and a misty black shadow burst from the ground, but it didn't literally destroy it, it just appeared and shot up like a jagged rock. It hit Talon in the chest, and should've killed him, but he only skidded back a couple of feet, perfectly fine. He looked up and smirked at the surprised Nico.

"Oh yeah, I should tell you. I can't get hurt." What happened next was absolute craziness. I'd never seen it happen before, other than once. Talon's entire body was enveloped with a golden glow. From his head all the way down to his boots, he was wrapped in divine light. His sword became infused with the immense aura and turned bright as a star it seemed, letting off surges of energy. His aura skyrocketed, and it quickly surpassed even alternate Percy, who had shown incredible power a minute ago.

Even Zane was impressed, his eyes a little wide and his mouth agape some. "Holy shit...I didn't expect him to be that strong."

"Yeah, Talon's special. He's the son of Nikandreos."

"I heard that earlier, when you two were whispering. Who the hell is Nikandreos anyway?"

I thought about telling him, but realized it would take too long. "Uh, tell you later."

He seemed okay with that, and focused his gaze back to the fight. Nico was clearly shook at the new transformation, so he decided to kick things up a notch too. He concentrated, and the entire ground shook. I leaned forward, very interested in what he was about to show off. I expected it would be his "Shadow Form" Which was really interesting, but since he was a son of Hades, I thought it made sense.

A black smoke like substance encased Nico just like the golden aura encased Talon. Black mist and particles floated in the air from Nico's form. His eyes turned a dark, but bright red, making him look like a miniature image of his father. It was pretty intimidating, especially for just a fourteen year old.

The two disappeared with golden and black flashes, leaving behind a trail of their energy. They clashed in mid air, and they were going so fast, I doubted many of the others could see what was going on, but I could. They were clanging swords together, delivering blows to each other that should've shook the entire world, but somehow as soon as the shockwave tried to leave, it was contained and dissipated, like both of them were trying to keep the arena intact. That was smart, after all we didn't want to mess this camp up too.

Finally, the power of Nikandreos became too much for Nico, and Talon released some of his aura. I wasn't sure if he had complete control over this form, but either way, the force knocked Nico backward, giving Talon enough space to dematerialize his sword and pull out his revolver. The golden glow seeped from Talon's hand and infused with the pistol, giving it a pure white and gold color. If there was a god of cowboys, it looked like that would be his weapon and symbol. Heck, Talon just might become the god of cowboys one day, he certainly had the power right now.

He fired a single bullet, and that was all it took. As soon as he pulled the trigger, a tiny golden ball of light immediately hit Nico's shadow form. There was a moment's delay, then everything was set in motion. A trail of golden light followed where the bullet had went, and Nico was thrown back against the front wall hard, his form dissipating and his aura weakening slightly. He landed face first, and I could hear him groan from here.

I felt Zane tense up and clench his fists. I had almost forgotten that Nico was his boyfriend, or well, one of them, and he probably hated seeing him get hurt. I could tell right now he was waiting to see if Talon was the type to attack a person while they were down, or gloat about it. I knew the Son of Zeus was one decision away from charging my friend. And I'm gonna be honest, with this whole bizarre Nikandreos thing...I'm not sure if Zane would win that fight.

But there would be no need to find out. Talon wasn't like that. His form dissipated, and he holstered his revolver. Falling to one knee from the stamina drain, he didn't taunt Nico, instead, he looked at him with respect.

Zane unclenched his fists and nodded. He got up and started to walk down to where Nico was, we all followed. That was an insanely powerful blow he took.

Zane scooped up Nico in his arms and held up bridal style, "Hey, you alright?"

He nodded sleepily, "Yeah, I just need a little..." Then he dozed off, all of his stamina drained from him.

Zane looked at me, "Should get him to his cabin. You guys can continue the sparring if you want."

I shook my head, "Nah, I'd say we're done with that. I'd rather talk to you for a minute if that's okay."

He looked a little puzzled at my words, but ended up agreeing.

Talon protested on the other side of the arena, "Oh come on, that's it?!"

I shot him a look that brokered no argument, "Yes, that's it. It's getting too late for this to continue." Even though it wasn't dark outside, I figured any more fighting was pointless. I'd rather find out more about these different versions of the previous quests from our world.

Everybody else agreed and we all went outside, Zane carrying Nico to the Hades cabin, which already existed over here.

The Percy and Annabeth I knew got my attention, Percy saying to me, "Are we going to be over here much longer?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. I wanted to talk to Zane some more, if that's cool."

"Yeah we um...wanted to talk to you know..." Percy gestured to Chiron, and I understood.

"Go ahead, man. But are you sure it's safe? It won't cause any paradoxes or whatever Annabeth called it?"

Annabeth shook her head, "Simple conversations like we've been having won't do anything crazy. The memory of us will remain, but no events should be altered. I'd say it's fine."

I nodded, "Alright, have at it then."

The pair walked over in the direction of Chiron, and Harper came up to me, a bit of a steely expression on her face.

"So, we're staying over here for a while?"

I sighed, "Harper, I'm telling you, there's a reason why this happened. I don't know if it's major, but I think we're supposed to help each other out in some way."

"So you're gonna talk to Zane, one on one?"

I looked over to the Son of Zeus, who was entering the Hades cabin. "Yeah. I want to find out more about his experiences, and just how different things are over here."

I expected her to keep protesting, or to insist that we should go, and I was prepared for that argument, as little desire as I had to have it, I was prepared for it. But to my surprise, she just nodded.

"Fine. Just...be careful. I'll join up with Talon or the others for now, maybe find out more about this timeline myself."

I gave a small smile, "Alright then. Catch you later."

She nodded, and walked off. I turned my gaze to the Hades cabin, and darted after it with a speedwalk.

I passed some campers that I had actually seen at my version or people that I'd heard about. I noticed the Stoll twins, who were still there, I noticed Clarisse, the Daughter of Ares, who's still at Camp, actually the head counselor for the cabin. I also saw people that I knew to be dead, which was odd. For example, an tall African American kid, Charles Beckendorf passed by me. I could tell it was him because Percy told me quite a bit, about how the two were good friends, and his sacrifice on Kronos's boat during the Titan War. A part of me felt compelled to thank him for that, but saying it now would obviously be weird. For all I knew, in this timeline, he doesn't die, and maybe doesn't even go on that mission.

I finally approached the Hades cabin, and found Zane inside, tucking Nico in his bed at the far end of the cabin. It looked oddly like he was tucking his little brother in, as weird as that sounds, that was the image I got. Zane was much larger than Nico.

I entered, feeling like an intruder, I knocked on the door opening. "Sorry about Talon. He gets a little carried away sometimes."

He knew I was close with the aura sense, and didn't even put up his guard. Probably because he didn't need to. "It's fine, I understand what it's like. I'm the same way." He turned to look at me in his peripheral, "Your friend's strong, really fucking strong. Just who is Nikandreos?"

"Well, I was hoping we could talk more in your cabin. I want to know more about this universe, if that's fine."

He shrugged, and made his way to the door, "Fine by me. Gotta say, I'm curious myself."

We walked out of the cabin door, and made our way to the Zeus cabin. It looked a lot better here. It appeared basically the same as ours did, only this one actually looked like it was stayed in regularly, and everything was kept neat.

As we walked, I spotted a girl in dark clothing, with black hair passing us. Wait a second...

"Harper?"

The girl stopped, and looked at me. Holy...holy shit. It was her.

She raised an eyebrow, "Do I know you?"

I was thunderstruck. Harper was here? What the hell? I mean, there was no doubt about it, it was her. She looked to be about eleven, the eleven or twelve, close to the age she came to Camp in our universe. She had on a black leather jacket, jeans, and t-shirt like she always wore. Her hair was the same, only now she had blue streaks on the side, like she used to.

"Hello?" She said impatiently, "Do I know you?"

I shook my head, breaking my trance, "Um...sorry, I had the wrong person. Nevermind."

She just rolled her eyes and walked off, leaving me a little freaked out. I looked everywhere for my Harper, but couldn't find her, Percy, Annabeth, or even Talon. Damn, they must've gone into the Big House.

I turned to Zane, who looked just as confused as me.

"What the hell just happened? You saw that right? That was my girlfriend, but younger. That was Harper, dude."

He nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. "I know. That's...really weird, I've never noticed her here before. But granted, I never notice or even pay attention to any of the girls here besides Annabeth and my sis-" He cut himself off and bit his tongue, a sort of shadow fell over his face as he almost said the word sister. Man, there must be some serious bad blood between him and Thalia.

Maybe it made sense. I mean, if this truly was an alternate universe to our own, then Harper would exist here, and she would come to Camp. But did this mean that she had the same past? Her brother and everything? Did this mean that I existed? If I went to New York right now, the same apartment complex I used to live in, fighting off monsters that smelled me, would I find younger me?

Okay, one thing at a time. Talk to Zane.

I threw a dismissive hand, "Whatever, let's just go to your cabin." He agreed, and looked a bit relieved to stop talking about Thalia.

We got about twenty feet from the structure, when I noticed a blonde kid, about average height, staring at Zane, a lot of resentment behind the stare.

I gestured with my head to the boy, "Hey, who's that?"

Zane looked at the boy, then looked quickly back ahead, "Oh that's Arthur."

"Why does he look like his pet just died?"

"It's...a long story."

I decided to leave it at that. We finally entered the Zeus cabin, Zane opening the door. Sure enough, it looked pretty much like the one back home, only this was way nicer. Zane had it set up so it was basically his mancave. Two beds were in here, one for Thalia too, I guessed. It looked like it hadn't been slept in for a while, as I could see specks of dust collecting on it.

I decided to wipe it off and take a seat. I didn't want to sit on the dude's bed, and there weren't exactly couches in here.

Zane didn't think anything of it, and sat down on his own bed. "So, you wanted to talk about stuff?"

"Yeah. I'm just curious to find out more about this universe. It's pretty obvious things are different here."

"Obviously. Well...what do you know about the quests from your world? I mean, how did they go when you were leading them?"

Oh, so this is where I break it to him. "Uh, well I actually didn't lead those quests."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I'm only sixteen, and remember, the Percy and Annabeth I know are eighteen, so my universe is technically in the future. If I went on those quests, I would've been like nine."

He thought about it, and put the dots together, "Right. Well...you have been on quests haven't you?"

I scoffed, "You think I'd be that strong if I sat around all day?"

He shrugged, "Maybe. Sometimes power's arbitrary."

He had a point, but still. "Nah, I've been in a lot of fights, and two quests so far."

He nodded a little, "Nice. I think I've been on like...four? Well, let's just say three. The fourth one was the retrieve Luke and that failed miserably."

"Retrieve Luke?"

He sighed, "You know what...let me just show you. Don't panic at what I'm about to do."

Okay, him saying that only made me want to panic. I managed to keep my cool though as he focused his intense gaze directly in my eyes. There was a weird feeling in my head, like it was being tickled from the inside. My vision became fuzzy, and his eyes started to get more focused, more and more, any background view was lost on me. Finally, I saw a flash of several events.

Within a few seconds, or maybe a few minutes, we exchanged our memories. I don't know how he did it, but he must have some form of mind control, because I know I sure don't. Besides the ability to read emotions, auras, and talk to Kyros a little, I don't have mind powers. I figured only Sigurd did, but apparently Zane does too.

Firstly, I saw him as a young boy, maybe ten or eleven, in school. He was walking with a taller kid than him, the kid had curly hair and walked on crutches. The next vision showed the two in the gym of the school, fighting what looked like a Laestrygonian. The fight went on for a little bit, but the monster was too strong. He crushed Jacob's chest, and Zane got a huge boost in strength, killing the Laestrygonian. That must've been the first monster he killed...

Another scene played. Zane walked into what I guessed to be his house, and found his...his mom being eaten by a group of the same monsters. Her blood and mangled body was spread out all over the kitchen floor. If I could throw up here, I would. I was horrified, and my sympathy immediately throbbed for him. Knowing what it's like to have my mom get hurt...no, that wasn't the same thing. His mom was dead. Dead, as in not coming back. At least I could visit mine.

His rage burst through the roof, and his power rose to astronomical levels. He destroyed the Laestrygonians and ended up destroying his entire house with a blast, causing it to disappear off the face of the Earth.

More visions flashed. Him going to Camp Half Blood, meeting a young Taylor, a young Percy, Annabeth, Nico, fighting legendary monsters and figures like Alecto, Cerberus, Echidna, and even Ares. Yes Ares, at like twelve. I saw him and Percy on a flat beach, fighting the god with their respective enhanced forms. The blue rock thing I saw earlier on Percy, and Zane surrounded by lightning. I was amazed at their teamwork, and the sheer brutality of the fight. By the end, Zane ended up killing the god of war, bloodying him to nothing.

What I guessed to be the Sea of Monsters came to me next. Some of the things I recognized, due to the Percy I knew telling me of some of the events. But this was still very different. I saw the group fighting bronze bulls at Camp Half Blood, racing chariots, confronting Luke, fighting the Hydra, visiting some magic spa and nearly killing the entire populus, especially on Zane's part. I saw some things that...made me cringe. Zane was very brutal in these flashes, even killing innocents, by accident, but he didn't seem to show any remorse. On several occasions he put the group in jeopardy, like in one scene, where it looked like they were passing through a giant rock tunnel, Zane released a lot of his power, and if not for Percy, everyone else would've died.

Another scene showed him torturing some dude I didn't recognize, slowly and brutally, all the while he had a maniacal grin on his face. Afterwards, the others yelled at him and called him out on his actions. I could see the Son of Zeus' fists clench and his eye twitch, showing that he was holding everything back and trying not to kill his friends. Jeez, this guy was worse than Talon.

But in the next flash I saw great regret on his face, and he talked to his father about wanting to change. He flew back to the battle that ensued, fought Luke and two other powerful figures I didn't recognize. The pair of them had muscular bodies, but their heads were like colorful voids, one with purple mist and the other with yellow mist.

When it looked like he was dominating Luke, at the last second, time seemed to skip, and suddenly Luke was behind him, his golden infused sword stabbed through Zane's torso. Zane laid and nearly bled out. I saw his group hesitate to help him, due to his past actions, but ultimately they decided to help him.

Many more images came to me, Thalia awakening from her tree, him training her to heighten her powers, Taylor kissing...Arthur, the dude staring at Zane with resentment. Huh, there must've been some drama there, I knew the feeling.

Next, they were all outside in the snow, fighting what looked like a Manticore. Then out of nowhere, a portal opened, and a hulking, gargantuan figure stepped through, wearing a toga and sporting an absolutely immense aura. With one flick, he nearly killed Zane and Percy, the former being the guy that beat me. So yeah, this guy was strong. Wasn't sure who it was, but it was most likely some god or a high ranking titan. Maybe Atlas, actually no, this would be Atlas. It fell in line with the quest and the fact that he literally talked about him earlier.

They went back to Camp, both Taylor and Nico kissed Zane, something definitely happened there, and I'm sure with some context, I would understand better. I figured there was some sort of love triangle. But then...how did they all end up dating each other? Oh well, doesn't matter.

They fought a giant army of Grey humanoid figures that reminded me of the Draugr we fought in Scandinavia. Zane released all of his base aura in a giant circular explosion, and wiped out the thousands of grey monsters.

Next must've been the climax of the quest. The entire group found themselves at some fallen city as big as Olympus, standing face to face with Atlas. They tried to fight him, but the Titan of Strength was clearly toying with them, using minimal force.

At one point Zane was transported to another mountain, and fought Luke, who looked a little different now. He had cracks around his eyes and they glowed a golden color. The fight was equal at first, but towards the end, Zane dominated him, and nearly killed him. But Luke took the coward's way out, opened a portal, and disappeared.

Zane went back to the fight below, and they still didn't have any success. That is, until Atlas released some aura, and the entire floor burst open, revealing a bed of Heavenly Diamond. Zane deduced by the shard that cut Atlas, that the metal could hurt the immortal. He grabbed a piece and shanked him, erasing his immortal soul and sending him to the Underworld.

The final vision was his sister joining the hunt on Olympus, and a look of rage and betrayal passed over his face. He left the room and sat on the stairs leading to the palace, where Taylor and Nico soon joined him.

At the same time, my memories were transferred to his mind, and I saw them go. Me killing the Shark monster at seven, the Stymphalian Birds, the Chimera, the Nemean Lion, going to Camp, meeting my friends, and generally the first quest.

The second and most recent quest showed too, training on my father's Island, fighting the Ourae, the Sons of Thor, Krios, Hephaestus, the original cyclopes, Griffith Manor, me getting possessed and fighting Malachi, the Draugr, the Midgard Serpent, the Sons of Thor again, and finally...my father's death at the hands of Ouranos.

Like a snap inside of our heads, the link broke. We fell apart and I was back to reality, trying to process everything that I saw.

We fell silent for several moments, just staring at each other. We'd basically been exposed to each other's experiences, and oh boy, was I shook.

"Dude..." I said.

He looked just as surprised as I did, even though he initiated it. Surprisingly, his first words after all of that were, "Did you...seriously throw a giant snake into the sky?"

I was too shook to say anything. I just witnessed what I wanted, the truth of these quests revealed. And yes, they were very different. Zane wasn't as similar to me as I thought, he was violent at a time, very violent, and he enjoyed hurting people, and fighting, killing.

Now I know my tendencies, and how I can lose control. The Hephaestus situation was clear on that, but Zane...no, there's not even a comparison to be had there.

"I figured that was the quickest way to explain." He said, "Now you understand a little more."

I found myself tensing up. Had he really changed? I know his face seemed regretful there, but...does that mean he truly changed? He didn't kill me, but he could've, and he almost did.

He leaned in a little more, and my guard went up, my body tensed, and my aura flared a bit.

Zane noticed this, and his expression became hard, "I'm not like that anymore, man. You saw."

"You killed innocent people." I said deeply, and with judgement, "You almost killed your group."

His face twinged with pain at the memory, "I know...believe me, I know. But I've changed. I swear I have."

I wasn't sure what I would've done next. Maybe talk to him and figure it out, or gain my senses and think about what I saw afterwards. How he held himself back from doing certain things, where in situations he normally would've snapped, he kept it under control. But the bad kept pulsing in my mind, and I don't know what would've happened. But I could tell he was waiting on my action, or inaction. Was another fight about to start?

I wouldn't know. Because just as the tension got to it's highest point, Aiden appeared in the doorway, throwing it open and screaming, sweat pouring down his face.

"THERE'S A GIANT ROBOT ATTACKING CAMP!"

The tension broke, both Zane and I turned to Aiden, who was panting and looked like he had run a marathon.

"Aiden slow down, what's going on?"

He turned and spat on the ground outside the door to get rid of his saliva. He caught his breath and managed, "Big Four bastard, says he's gonna destroy Camp. Brought...oh man, an army of storm spirits. He's in a giant robot, trying to finish us off. You guys gotta come back!"

Zane and I turned to each other, and it was clear that whatever tension we had a few seconds ago was gone. It was time to fight, and we needed to do it side by side. Big Four and giant robot, those were not good things.

"We'll talk more later." I said neutrally.

He nodded, "Fine. I guess you want me to come?"

"If you don't mind."

He jogged out the door, answering my question.

I ran after him and back towards the portal. I wasn't sure just yet how I felt about Zane Williams and all that was going on, but at least my theory was proven right. This happened for a reason. It was time for us to work together.

---

(000)

Alright, so maybe not as flashy and exciting as thesuperone's chapter, but I think it served well, and gave some development and good dialogue. Hope I captured the characters of Zane's world decently, and those of you reading enjoyed this. Next chapter will be back to Zane, then the final chapter to Matt. Expect thesuperone to bring out another epic fight for chapter three.

With that, I give the next one to him.

Until Next Time.