Zoe scratched the chin of Peleus the dragon. Peleus remained, as ever, wrapped around Thalia's pine tree. Zoe felt the behemoth's purr through the earth. His head, nearly the size of Zoe, brushed up against her gently. Zoe giggled on top of Half-Blood Hill, the beast's thick scales tickling her.

"Maybe we should get Peleus a friend," her father's voice interjected. Zoe turned to her father standing next to Liam. Dressed in jeans, boots, and a camp t-shirt, he looked like an ordinary man and not the powerful god.

"I'm not sure about that," Zoe said, her fingers danced across the dragon's head. She found his sweet spot behind his ears. "Peleus doesn't like to share attention. Don't you boy," she cooed to the natural disaster incarnate that was Peleus. The dragon huffed in contentment, a stream of smoke rose from his nostrils. "See?" she asked her father.

Liam shook his head. "Yeah, last thing we need around here is another fire breathing creature of anarchy running around camp. We got David for that." Zoe snorted as she turned to her friend, much to Peleus' dismay. The noon sun reflected off his strawberry blonde hair making it look bleached. His lightning blue eyes were as vibrant as ever. He had grown over the summer since the quest too. He now matched her in height and gained a fair amount of muscle. Though the latter might have been her father working him harder than ever before, same with her. In his tattered black pants and his mother's band shirt, Zoe felt a fluttering feeling in her gut. She quickly stomped it down.

Percy scratched at his beard, Reyna had told him to keep it. "I guess you have a point," he conceded. "Probably not feasible anyway given how much Peleus alone eats. I swear he should be as big as Ladon with the amount he eats." Peleus lifted his head from the ground and shot a blast smoke at the god. Zoe and Liam laughed as Percy sputtered and waved the smoke away. He grumbled about pesky lizards. He turned to Liam. "Remember to make time for practice. Don't need you getting rusty. If you can practice your lightning then good but don't push it."

Liam nodded, his hair swaying in the breeze. "Yes sir. Not like I'll have anything better to do."

"I also expect you to do well with your tutors. A warrior should be physically strong as well as intelligent," he told the boy. "So help me I'll send Chiron if I have to."

"Geez I got it, I got it," Liam complained with a smile. "Just don't expect me to come back sounding like Einstein will you."

"I mean," Percy started with a shrug. "Einstein was a son of Athena so that's a given." He rubbed at his side with a grimace.

"You okay Dad," Zoe asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Percy told the girl before crossing his arms. "Still healing from that arrow Artemis shot me with."

Zoe shook her head with a grin. "Mom tried to warn you that would happen."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved his daughter off. "I just didn't think she'd actually do it. The little psycho was grinning too."

"Any news?" Zoe asked after a moment.

Percy shook his head. "Nah, Annabeth seems to have dropped off the Earth. The Hunters are now focusing on big game hunting until they catch wind of her. Drakons, Giants, Titans, I think Artemis even mentioned the Nemean Lion." Percy noticed Zoe's sour expression. "I wouldn't worry about her. Now that we know she's...alive, she can't escape us forever."

"How is she alive anyways?" Zoe questioned. "I saw her body."

"Who knows," Percy shrugged. A blacked out SUV appeared on the road. "I have a few theories but..." he drifted off, eyes on the vehicle.

Zoe's eyes scrunched together. "What kind of theories?" The SUV pulled over to the side of the road in front of the hill. A short woman exited the back passenger door. Strawberry blonde hair pulled up in a pony tail, wearing a white blouse and capris. She looked like your typical girl next door turned mother. "Ah, your mother is here," the god pivoted from Zoe's question. The three walked down the hill to meet her.

Liam's mother smiled brightly as they approached. She pulled Liam into a tight hug before grasping his face in both hands. "I know we had this conversation, but I swear to your father if you runaway on some dangerous quest again, I will ground you for the rest of your life."

Liam smiled widely. "Love you too Mom."

The woman let go of his face and rubbed his shoulders. She turned to the other two. "Lord Perseus," she gave a small bow.

Percy inclined his head. "Miss Noble. I've told you before just call me Percy."

Miss Noble gave him a grin. "And I've told you to call me Sherry." She pulled Zoe into a hug. Sherry separated from Zoe, her hands still holding her shoulders. "Hello Zoe, my you've grown. Quite beautiful too. I bet your father has to ward off the boys."

Percy scoffed. "Please, as if Reyna isn't scary enough."

Zoe shared a smile with the older woman. "I do alright Miss Noble. When is your next show?"

"Next week," Sherry answered with a small pout at the change in topic. "I delayed the next one so I could pick Liam up myself. Can't have him going off on his own and causing any more chaos. I had to spend a whole week answering questions about my son being connected to some terrorist attack on Fort Sumter and I would rather not relive that." She turned back to Percy. "Thanks for clearing that up by the way."

Percy gave her a lopsided grin. "No problem, been there before trust me. A little application of the Mist and it was like they were never there."

Sherry looked to her son. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," Liam answered before he turned to Percy's already stretched out hand. He took the hand in a form shake. "Until next time, eh."

The god nodded. "Until next time. Remember, practice. Can't have you getting soft."

The boy nodded. He pulled Zoe into a hug. "Goodbye Starlight. Don't do anything stupid until I get back."

Zoe smiled as she forced down her blush. She took a step back. "How can I Zappy? Taking all the stupid with you."

Liam joined his mother with a grin. The two made their way down the hill and into the SUV. The father and daughter watched as the vehicle pulled back into the road and away from the hill. Percy patted his daughter's shoulder. "Come on Zo. We got to meet Reyna for lunch." He turned and whistled loudly.

Zoe watched as the black SUV disappeared across the horizon. She turned to her father, a wide smile on his face. In the distance she could make out the form of Blackjack approaching. She almost believed nothing had changed. There was a pulse in her core. The gem on her wrist quickly absorbing the influx of energy. Almost.

Darkness. Why was it always darkness? If she were ever to meet Morpheus, she'd strangle him to death. Though, that would be killing her half brother right? Enough of that. This darkness was different however. The darkness she was used to was dominating. It made sure you knew it was there. This darkness was less oppressive and more...nothing. Like she was staring into nothing. Her vision shifted.

Suddenly she was on a battlefield. Golden dust and bodies littered the field. The ground felt squishy. Zoe looked down to see the ground soaked in blood and golden ichor. She gagged as the smell of sulfur and rotting flesh invaded her nostrils. She forced the vomit back down her throat and looked around. Some of the bodies bore silver garb. Some had orange shirts and bronze armor. Others wore purple and legion armor. In the distance she spotted a large mound, something sparkled on the top. Against her better judgement and, honestly, with nothing better to do, she made her way to the mound. She took care to avoid the bodies of the fallen who carried wounds of all kinds. Arrows, blades, some looked crush, and more than a few mauled. As she neared the mound she noticed two individuals sitting upon their own thrones.

Her father, armored in his cyclops forged armor, sat on a throne of black stone. A crown of lightning sat upon his head. A greatsword was stabbed through a bronze shield in the ground next to the throne. A caduceus, a thyrsus, a spear, a pair of bows, gold and silver, and many other weapons laid broken at his feet. His sea green eyes were nearly black. He stared off into the distance with a cold glare. Next to him, on another throne of black stone, was a woman draped in robes of shadow. Zoe started at her appearance. The woman resembled what she saw everyday in the mirror except, more. Hair like night and eyes swirling with nebulas, the woman had the same slightly upturned nose, the same jawline, the same arch to her eyebrows. Or, it would be more accurate to say, Zoe resembled her. Zoe examined the mound behind the two further. Bodies. Not just any bodies. Gods, Olympians, even the Seven. All were bloodied and mangled. All were piled on top of the other. Atop it all was a trident. Topped with the head of Zeus and stabbed into...Zoe failed this time to hold in her bile. She fell to her knees and emptied her metaphysical stomach onto the bloody ground. The end of the trident was impaled into Reyna's body. Zoe looked away, batting away the tears before looking back at the thrones. The woman gazed at Zoe's father lovingly, her grin betraying her madness, before rising. "All hail, King Perseus, Slayer of Olympus!"

A thunderous response drew Zoe's attention. Turning slightly, Zoe scrambled to her feet. Titans, gods, giants, monsters, even demigods and mortals, all bowed in submission to their new king. The ground vibrated beneath her feet. She turned to the thrones. To the devil pretending to be her father. The false idol stood tall and for the first time looked down at her. His enormous height now eclipsed the mound behind him. A primordial rumble emanated from the god. "Brace yourself daughter of Night," a voice hammered into her skull. It was definitely not her father's. Nor was it like any voice she had heard before. "This is your one warning. Heed it, lest your world be torn asunder." Images flashed across Zoe's vision. She saw a forest, a shadowy figure lurking within the trees. Two powerful beings fighting along a shoreline. There was another of herself fighting a pillar of light. Her standing in the midst of a monster army. Her and her father before a being of overwhelming power.

"Impressive," an older woman's voice reverberated through her skull. Zoe blinked and her vision shifted. Again. She was standing at the edge of the a cliff. A swirling void below her. An eerie red glow lightly illuminated her surroundings. "A lesser being would have cowered beneath her gaze. Akhlys looked one time and she hasn't stopped crying about it since." Zoe turned around, craning her head up. The woman from her vision towered forty feet over her. Her form pale and lithe, wrapped in shadows from the chest down. She smiled, sparkling white teeth blinding in the darkened space. Behind the woman stood a mansion of pure darkness and behind that a cavern of such immense size that Zoe thought the world might fit in it. Zoe couldn't tell you how, but her nebulae eyes radiated a caring warmth. "The last one to do so faired much better, albeit not nearly as well as you Mekri Nifta."

Little Night. The name ran through her head and a light bulb went off. "Nyx."

Nyx's smile widened. "Good to know you were taught properly. Your father had no idea who I was when we first met. I made sure he would never forget it."

Zoe shivered at the glee the goddess spoke with. "Why am I here?"

"To talk of course," Nyx answered, her smile never wavering. "I felt things have cooled off enough and so I asked your brother Morpheus to arrange this little meeting."

Zoe looked at her in confusion. "Why would I want to talk to you?"

"Why wouldn't you want to talk to your mother?" Nyx asked with a frown.

Zoe shook her head. "You're not my mother."

"Of course I am Young One," the goddess scoffed. "Don't tell me you consider that roman girl your mother. She did not carry you for over a century, waiting for the perfect moment to birth you."

"Well she at least raised me," Zoe retorted to the goddess. Her instincts screamed at her to stop but her anger grew as she spoke. "She didn't rape my father and then drop me off on his door step. She didn't send monsters and titans after me to try and kill me. She didn't try to unleash Tartarus on my world and kill all my friends."

"Well, technically it was Tartarus who sent monsters to hunt you," Nyx responded with a shrug. "Pallas would never have actually killed you. He was just pushing you until you had no choice but to break your wards. And as for your father, well, he certainly seemed to enjoy himself after a while."

"You took advantage of him," the girl raged.

"Enough!" the goddess shouted suddenly with a sneer. Bat-like wings sprouted from her back, eclipsing everything behind her. "I did not bring you here to discuss your father's mental state." Her wings folded back behind her. Her face relaxed and returned to her calm demeanor. "I brought you here because I figured you deserved some answers after, you know, abandoning you your whole life. So if you have questions, ask them. But know there will be those that I choose not to answer."

Zoe wanted to continuing yelling but clamped her mouth shut. Her survival instincts finally winning out over her rage. A million questions bounced across her skull. Though she figured pestering a primordial with trivial stuff was not in her best interest. "What was that?" she asked, pointing over the cliff and into the swirling void.

The goddess smiled again. "That, Young One, is Mother Chaos. All things came from nothing and so she is nothing. Nothing but the void in which we all eventually return too."

Zoe filed that away under questions she wish she didn't ask. If that was Chaos, then did that mean her vision was real? Could that actually come to pass? That wasn't her question though. "Why now?"

Nyx tilted her head in confusion. "I told you dear. Things have finally cooled down. And I couldn't have communicated to you earlier because that would have ruined my plans-"

"No," Zoe interrupted her. "I meant, why did you give me to my father when you did? Why did you play your hand now?"

Nyx held her chin for a moment as she thought about it. "Well, because now was the perfect time," was her answer. "After defeating Gaea and losing to Zeus, Perseus wasn't of much use to me. New gods are typically overflowing with energy, however he had already used it up defeating Gaea. Add that to his mental instability and he never really stood a chance against Zeus. Now though, he is stable and has had time to develop his power and influence. Honestly, this will be to easy."

"Dad would never join you," Zoe argued with the goddess.

"Oh, don't be so sure Young One," Nyx chuckled. "Before long, your father will be running to my open arms." She waved her hand and darkness began overtaking Zoe's vision. "Oh, and I do hope you appreciate the gift. It's not every millennium that I get to spoil a child," she laughed before it all went black.

Zoe awoke with a start. Diego jumped from her side in surprise, awoken from his own sleep. Zoe panted as a cold sweat dripped from her forehead. She was back in her bed in her home in New Rome. Her light blue wallpaper decorated with picture frames and mural drawings of both camps. Her armor rack sat in the corner by her dresser, her bronze legion armor atop it. Her clothes were strewn about the floor and her desk was littered with papers. "Is everything alright milady?" Diego asked in concern. Zoe ignored the racoon as she climbed out of bed and entered her joined bathroom, shutting the door behind her. She used the sink to rinse her face clean of the sweat and felt a weight bounce against her chest. Scrunching her eyes in confusion, she reached into her shirt and pulled out a pendant. It was a thin silver chained necklace with an onyx gem framed in gold. A nebula seemed to swirl within the black gem and Zoe felt the urge to pull at the gem. Against her better judgment, she did. Shadows engulfed her before disappearing ass quickly as they had come. She once again stood with the Stygian Iron cuirass against her chest, though that was far from it. She now wore pauldrons and bracers on her arms and greaves across her shins. Looking in the mirror, she saw that she now bore a black helmet with a pure black plume across the top. Her leather skirt covered her thighs and sandals appeared on her feet. Briefly, Zoe began to panic. How had she gotten this pendant? Why was she being given this armor when she had her own? How did she get it off? At the thought, shadows engulfed her again before dissipating again and she was back in just her pajamas.

Zoe gripped the sink and tried to get her breathing back under control. "Okay, you know what? No. Not dealing with this right now. I'll talk to Mom in the morning about this," she spoke aloud to herself. She straightened out and went back to bed. Diego climbed back into bed with her without a word and the two drifted off into thankfully peaceful sleep.

A/N: Heres a late Christmas present. This is the end of Part One of Three. I'll be taking a month to work on a personal project then will start working on Part Two. So probably around March or April is when I'll post it. I'll update this one to let you know that the new one is up so you don't miss out. Until then thanks for reading.