All rights belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 94

One Big Happy Screwed Up Family

(Artemis)

Someone was seriously out to ruin my day today. First my fiancé gets kidnapped by my mother-in-law/aunt, so I have to go get him back. Next thing I know he starts vanishing before my very eyes and eventually we find out that it is because someone else has managed to capture his dumbass other half. So I am forced to do nothing but watch as he falls apart in my arms. And while I am getting over that shocking scenario, I get the additional shock of being consoled by a should be dead girl/statue/something. Who just happens to be his ex-girlfriend, who makes this shit up?

'You died. I was there.' I said simply looking at pale figure in front of me.

'Yes I did.' She answered simply trying to conceal a slight shudder, I guess being forced to remember your last moments was not pleasant when you get impaled by an enormous spear.

'Then how are you not in the underworld. You were never made a goddess to my knowledge, so it should be impossible for you to be here.'

'You are aware Minerva fused my body with that of the Athena Parthenos as I died, to provide a weapon to use against the Giants correct. However in doing so she also embedded her own essence into the statue to provide the strength. Some of which was absorbed by me. Are you getting where I am going or do I need to provide the Percy summary?'

'A mortal body was injected with immortal energy, something that would normally vaporise any living thing. But you were not living at the time, were you? So in essence she created a pseudo-immortal being. One who should be dead but actually cannot die because of the immortality within them.' I guessed connecting the dots as well as I could.

'I am impressed Milady. Of course this body was eventually subdued by Gaia and Minerva was forced to absorb it into herself to protect it and herself. Hence her absorbing some of my features and becoming Anna Minerva, meanwhile I was still present in her body.'

'You unintentionally became an aspect of an aspect.'

'Yes, what my sister is trying to say is that by complete fluke, I managed to break every law of life and death and create an impossibility.' Another voice said and I turned to find Anna Minerva had re-appeared minus the decorators overalls.

'Wait- your sister how does that work?' I asked looking between the two.

'My mo-Athena does not consider me an equal as such. You and most other Olympians probably consider your aspect to be younger sibling, do you not?'

'Yeah an annoying younger sister but sure, it makes things a lot easy to think of.' It was true even if she could be a royal pain in the neck at times, besides she had gone silent ever since this began.

'Athena was born from Father's head as are all of her own children are born from her own. Likewise she considers me not very different from them with the exception I was born inside her mind and stayed around so to speak. She has never really bothered to differentiate us as the same being and has always looked down on me. Which is one of the things that made me so volatile in the past. She always looked down on me as if I was a disappointing child, a pale imitation at best; she failed to understand that I was her.' She said with a great deal of hostility before taking a breath and resuming. 'Back to the point though, unlike her I have no children whatsoever. My only experience with the concept was her rejection of me and I did not want to be like that, besides Annabeth was her daughter already even if she was now part of me. So I think of her as my little sister.' Anna Minerva explained and I couldn't help but feel angered towards Athena. Despite how much Diana and I argued we still fundamentally knew we were one and the same. What she had done because of her own superiority complex was turn the closest person to her into self loathing facsimile of herself. Had that slight drop in prominence at Rome really affected her ego that much?

'It makes sense in context. Besides I do not want to consider myself part of my mother, because that is weird.' Annabeth said and I had to agree that could be awkward. Leto was embarrassing enough when I only had to visit her occasionally.

'How come no-one knows about this?' I asked disbelieving that I was unaware of this development.

'Some such as Father and Hades know obviously do but for the most part we keep it a secret at Annabeth's request.' Minerva answered.

'I didn't want him to see me like this.' Annabeth explained turning her head to the floor and I felt my gut drop. There was obviously no doubt about who he was.

'I'm sorry.' I said quietly. Harsh as it might sound I preferred to think of it when she was dead, because with her being alive (sort of) it made me feel guilty about stealing him away.

'You don't need to be, when I first heard I was angry sure. But the truth is I am happy that he found someone. Despite my present condition I am unable to see him again the fates told me as such and today proved it. I wanted to be the one there for him just as he was for me but I couldn't. No matter how much I wanted to I am simply unable to change form around him. I should be the one thanking you for comforting him. Besides it is clear that he has strong feelings for you, I cannot deny that.'

'I was comforting him? I was crying like a little girl while that idiot took the whole thing in his stride.'

'Well he never did realise when he was in trouble until it was too late. He is a bit slow on the uptake.'

'You should try dealing with two of them.' I told her with a smile at the corner of my mouth.

'Err... No thanks one was hard enough and even then I kept losing track of him all the time. Like the time he got blown out of a volcano or when he got blown up with a ship full of monsters, or when he got kidnapped by Hera.'

'Problem is I was keeping an eye on the wrong one, now I have no idea where to start looking. If I was a egocentric super powered idiot where would I go?'

(Perseus)

'Now I know what you are thinking and I swear I can explain!' I hastily told my doppelganger as he reformed in front of me and immediately started glaring in my direction as soon as he spotted me.

'Start running.' He growled out under his breath. His knuckles turning white as his fist clenched.

'We are trapped her together.' I said gesturing to the golden bars surrounding the two of us, no matter how much I cut or bent them they would instantly return to perfect condition. Likely courtesy of my captor who after a few minutes of taunting and incredibly bad puns had got bored and walked off. Apparently running a literal tourist trap was busy work no matter how powerful you were.

'That sounds like your problem, not mine.' He answered coldly while I focused on which of his fists I would likely have to counter first.

'Let's just talk this thro-uff!' I began only to get caught off guard as he straight kicked me in the chest against the bars knocking the wind out of me as I slid to the floor. I had always questioned why he had adopted wearing boots over sneakers and now I had a size ten idea of why.

'What is there to talk about? In less than 48 hours you have managed to screw up everything. It doesn't matter how you managed to do it, the fact of the matter is you did. An hour ago I was this close to finally fixing this relationship and now I am in a giant birdcage. So go on do enlighten me as to how this all came about.' He demanded angrily looking down at me.

'I may have borrowed a few million dollars from Bill Gates and gone to a few casinos... And things kind of went downhill from there.'

'Casinos? Is this where I think we are?' He asked putting two and two together. His eyes narrowing into a squint.

'Would you still be mad if I said yes… because in that case maybe.'

For the second time in as many days, he ended the problem in the swiftest fashion. He kicked me in the side of the head and my world went dark.

(Artemis)

'Probably somewhere stupid like Vegas.' Annabeth answered with a shrug. An incredibly hard feat to accomplish when one has to use a crutch to make up for a missing limb.

'Perseus would have got bored and starting robbing vaults or burning the place down. We would have heard about it.' I told her dismissively after a brief consideration of the idea.

'How about trying the opposite end of the spectrum and not where he would have gone but what could have captured him, that list must be much shorter all things considered. Well those with enough power to at least if he debated his enemies we would be here for weeks.' Annabeth reasoned and I hate to agree she did have a sensible point, with one minor point of argument.

'Yeah but who is left that he has not already killed. Kronos and Gaia have faded, the giants are back where they belong in Tartarus, as is Typhon and the Titan's are cooperating with Olympus for once. Even the few Primordials that we remain aware of outside Tartarus would be loath to target someone of that calibre, especially considering his track record.' As I spoke I noticed that Annabeth seemed to pale at the mention of Giants. Despite the fact she was literally made of ivory and going any paler should have been impossible.

'Tethys remains on the loose does she not.' Minerva reminded.

'She is nowhere near powerful enough.' I told her dismissively.

'She beat you.' Minerva said smugly and I began to prefer it when she was a half insane bookworm.

'Thank you for reminding me, not everyone can be goddess of Warfare. Besides with my real bow I would have blown her in half. Point is Percy forced her to retreat while only a demi-Titan and holding back on his abilities. He now matches her for a water domain so she looses that advantage. Besides she does not have Oceanus backing her up.' I replied glaring at her. I did not need reminding of my time as an Artemis-cicle, even if it did indirectly turn out in a good way in regards to our relationship.

'I was only making a point and besides we are forgetting another faction, Perseus has made more than a few enemies on Olympus.'

'Between Perseus single-handedly fighting his way through the throne room and me smashing father's front door down and killing Aquila earlier. Whoever did that would be a fool or worse yet Ares.'

'Wait you did what?'

'Perhaps you would care to explain that detail a little further sister, I get summoned by Father because someone decided to go all hormonal on his doorstep.' A third voice said and I turned to find Athena looking at me arms folded. Great now I have the complete set of nerds.

'He took my Fiancé.'

'From what I understand of the situation Hera took Perseus, He willingly went to see Father out of his own free will.'

'Semantics.' I told her waving it off.

'Besides which where is the idiot and why are you in my Palace?' She asked haughtily and to an outsiders perspective the temperature of the room would have dropped significantly as three sets of eyes locked on the newcomer.

Before I could begin laying down a verbal beat down on my oh so mighty big sister, someone beat me to it.

'Mother! Percy is gone, so how about you shut up and listen before jumping to conclusions.' Annabeth shouted leaving the entire room silent as the goddess slowly turned her head towards her daughter in surprise.

'Annabeth?' The grey eyed goddess asked in surprise while me and Minerva simply stood there blinking at the scene in front of us.

'First off you have no right to call him an idiot, you barely know him and even then you are prejudiced because of his father. Second not everything is about you. Do you seriously think I would be revealing myself to Artemis of all people without a good reason?' The girl argued and I had to concede she had a point. If the position had been reversed, I would not have wanted to see her except at the other end of an arrow shaft.

'I have to agree, you are letting your arrogance show. Besides you would not want it to become common knowledge of your crush on Poseidon would you? Wasn't that the reason you were so against Percy and Annabeth in the first place?' Minerva said innocently and I had to admit I momentarily forgot about Percy as my attention was on the colour changes the goddess's face was going through. Initially she had turned a paler shade than her daughter before turning crimson.

'I…Er…But…' She stammered completely losing the ability to communicate.

'So I take it I shouldn't mention that to dad?' I said trying not laugh, the hilarity of the situation overcoming my melancholy.

'If you would be so kind, as you can see she is a little touchy on the situation. Now are you going to be civil?' Minerva asked turning from me to her counterpart who was taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

'You…Would…Dare?' She growled out between breaths.

'Sure, what have I got to lose? After all in your own words I am not you?'

At that point Athena seemingly lost it and disappeared in a blaze of golden light. Only for the sound of banging and clattering to sound in a room to our far right.

'Minerva was that necessary?' Annabeth asked quietly, flinching at the sound of glass shattering in the background. More worrying was the name on the door in which the rampage was occurring. Was it possible for a goddess to get affected by Anthrax?

'Necessary? No, but I cannot deny it was not fun. You spend two thousand years with and hating your mother and see how many opportunities for fun you get. Now then back to the main subject before we were rudely interrupted. How do you propose to find him, after all you are goddess of Hunters, are you not?' She asked turning to me.

'Animals and Monster sure no problem, it is a bit different when the prey doesn't want to be found and likely has gone to measures to prevent detection. Besides I have no guarantee that he is even in this country.'

'Well he can only speak English, Latin and Greek unless he has become a linguist since I last saw him.' Annabeth stated correctly.

'He barely speaks them competently half the time. But you are right he wouldn't go somewhere they couldn't understand his bragging.' I said groaning.

'This was so much easier when we had an Oracle who practically told us where to go.' Annabeth complained and I had to admit the idea appealed to me, shame said Oracles ability spout said foresight was obscured by a moron's lips.

'Remember the last prophecy you went on. There is always a downside to them somewhere. An objective is so much simply. Go to A, Rescue B, Kill C. We don't need betrayed by L added for fun.' Minerva warned and I had to admit she did make it sound nice and simple. Shame I suspected it would not be that easy. Though I had to raise an eyebrow at the oddly specific letter she had chosen to represent betrayal. Gee I wonder who she was referring to?

'Good point. Lady Artemis perhaps you can explain some of Perseus's like and dislikes so we can narrow the search areas.'

'Well dislikes is easy...Me.' I began and I got the feeling this was going to take a while. He truly could have gone anywhere in the world.

(Perseus)

'Errrr. That sucked, I get it you are mad, you didn-' I muttered angrily only to get cut off.

'Shut up and listen, we need to buy time for Artemis to find us. At the moment Chronos thinks he has us easily contained because of your inability to escape previously on your own. He does not know I am here, hopefully we can use this to our advantage when the time comes.' A familiar voice said from within my own head.

'Oh joy sharing a body again, this can't end badly. Besides how do you know about him?'

'I can see your memories dumbass.'

'Wait all of them?' I asked hesitantly. True I hadn't exactly gone around sleeping with every girl who had thrown themselves at me, but my actions were not entirely above board technically.

'Yes all of them including about ten million reasons why you are never gambling again. Guess what you just volunteered to solve Reyna's financial crisis.'

'You cannot do that! I earned that fair and square.' I protested angrily.

'You cheated, constantly, how is that fair? Besides you lost your right to protest when you walked inside the building you knew fall well was a damned trap. I barely escaped the first time and you blundered in again.

'How was I supposed to know the place was run by a damned Primordial Lord? He is not exactly on the phone book or the tax returns.'

'Even so you had to pick the one guy who actually trumps our most powerful domain. Good job, I can't believe I am saying this but I would rather fight Gaia than this clown. At least she looked intimidating; he looks like a normal guy.'

'You made her swallow you; I don't think that is going to work with him. He is a little bit small compared to her but I mean we can always try and force feed him Maelstrom that normally does the job against a Primordial.'

'Somehow I don't think it is going to be that easy. But it is our best option.'

'So when do we break out of here and kill this idiot?' I asked eagerly practising clicking my knuckles in anticipation.

'When Artemis turns up and most likely starts trashing the place around us.'

'I am in no rush in that case. I like the idea of their being a Primordial between me and her wrath.' I said dejectedly after quickly observing my counterparts memories of the last few hours, a particular goddess's gold/silver gaze which was sending a shiver down my back.

'You are going to lose either way. The longer this takes the angrier she will be, and if something should happen to her or anyone else because of your stupidity. I will kill you.' He threatened and I was beginning to suspect I was caught between a rock and a hard place.

'Woken up have you? It is about time!'

'Dear gods do you ever shut up with the puns? I get it you like time, now be quiet about it. Jeez find some better way of torturing me than opening your mouth!' I shouted turning my head around to the source of the interruption. Chronos merely looked at me blankly and blinked a few times.

'How hard is that?'

'Are you insane?' My counterpart screeched inside my head.

'Have it your way then! I wonder is there is anything in your life you don't want to remember? Pain? Betrayal? Loss? I am going to enjoy finding and making you experience them again and again.' Chronos finally said his voice tinged with outrage and loathing. His eyes now aglow with light as he gazed at me and I had to instinctively gulp. well who would have thought he would take it so personal?

'Oh Shit.' I muttered to myself as my body became frozen in place and my mind collapsed around me.

(Thalia)

The only advance notice we got of the inbound train wreck of a situation was when Nemea lazily lifted her head and looked out the street side window before leaping down from the sill and sitting expectantly behind the front door.

Only to get launched through a wall on the other side of the room above Jacqueline's head with velocity and sound of a meowing cruise missile as a blond armoured goddess kicked the door open with all the subtlety of a tank. Most of my fellow hunters ducking behind furniture to avoid the gorgon faced shield she bore on her left arm.

Those of us who had not fell out of our chair or dived for cover were still agape in shock before a familiar goddess stepped out from behind the armoured figure, shaking her head disapprovingly. Worryingly her eyes were the same I am going to kill everything colour as when she went psycho before.'

'Lady Artemis..Annab-...Minverva?' I sputtered out as I leapt to my feet almost confusing the goddess for her daughter due to the similarities. Well except Annabeth was never one for heavy armour and spear and shield combat.

'I have to go hunting, I do not know when I will be back.' She said simply turning her back on us.

'That's it, no explanation, no nothing? What on earth is going on? What are you hunting?' I demanded only for the goddess to keep walking.

'Hopefully a certain idiotic Titan.' Tania said cheerfully and the goddess froze mid step as the daughter of Ares inadvertently hit the nail on the head. After all he was normally stuck to her side as close as her shadow. The fact he was absent seemingly cemented the fact.

'Where is Percy?' I asked curiously.

'If I knew I would not be hunting him.' The goddess said quietly turning towards us again.

'What my sister is trying to say is we do know where Percy was and what happened to him. The factor we cannot account for is Perseus we have no idea where he was and is.' Minerva answered finally speaking whilst simultaneously dodging a leaping lion cub that'd shadow travelled behind her and attempted to leap onto her back. Before the cub could react Artemis had grabbed the scruff of her neck and picked her up where she hung limply.

Well it was good to know that it was not technically Percy she was after as didn't they have enough problems already. But that Perseus had done something and inadvertently dragged Percy into whatever it was not going to be good for anyone.

'Milady? I think I know where Perseus is or at least where he went last night.' Reyna said and my mind snapped back to the idiots visit...And what we had been doing at the time.

'Go on Praetor...' Minerva said turning towards my 'partner'.

'He had a lot of money and said something about robbing Casinos.' Reyna said rather selectively and I hoped that neither goddess would ask any more into when and under what circumstances we discussed this.

The only response from the goddesses was the knowing smile on Minerva's face and the steadily tightening grip on the Lioness's fur causing her to struggle in discomfort.

'Told you so.' Minerva said trying and failing to remain composed.

'Gods Dammit!'

(Anna Minerva)

'That...Stupid...Moronic...Idiot...Of...All...The...Places...And...People...Why...There?' Artemis curse between smacking her off the dining table. The hunters having since vacated it when her mental breakdown started and backed off to a safe distance. I used to believe that Artemis was fairly level headed and stable for one of the Greek side of Olympus but that impression was disappearing quickly with each thud. Then again she was dating Percy Jackson so sanity had probably vanished a long time ago.

'Minerva what is the major issue with Vegas?' Annabeth asked from within my head.

'Apart from being an oasis of sin and gluttony? It has a troublesome occupant. Nice architecture though and good proximity to Hoover Dam which is nice.'

'I don't care about mother's day job what do you mean troublesome? We went there before and had no problem.'

'Did you?' I questioned sceptically.

'Well we got delayed for a bit at the Lotus Ho-. That is where he is isn't it?' She cut off realising where I was coming from.

'Most likely but therein lies the problem. We Olympians are not officially allowed into Vegas; Lord Jupiter was forced to negotiate that for fear of the consequences when we came to United States and found ourselves stuck in the same country with him for the first time.'

'Negotiate with who and why?'

'The Primordial Lord Chronos. The reasons should be clear enough.' I told her and I could have sworn I heard her mentally gulp.

'Minerva... I need your assistance.' Artemis groaned lifting her head of the table and looking across at me.

'You do realise that would involve going against father's will?' I said as a reminder.

'Wouldn't be the first time and he would never agree to help rescue Perseus. Soooo that means I have to do this without Olympus.' She said with a smirk. Clearly hanging around Percy she had begun to pick up on his mannerisms.

'If you mess this up you will be putting all of Olympus in danger. Is he really worth all that risk?'

'Of course he is, I love him! Besides without him there would not even be an Olympus anymore.'

'I suppose you are right in that regard, besides if we pull this off it will remove a great threat to everyone's safety. However we do this on one condition: I come up with the plan.' I said smiling evilly.

'If the first part is I have to walk in there alone, No!'

'Oh no I was thinking more Shock and Awe. You can hit a target from Lunar orbit can't you?' I asked rhetorically only for the goddess to leap up and grab me in an embrace causing me to drop Aegis with a clatter as I found myself swung around in a circle while she made a sound that sounded like Squeeee.

'I will take that as a yes, now put me down. Besides there is more to this than blowing it all to hell. We also have to worry about the people he has ensnared over the years. So while you provide a distraction, we are going to need some help preventing collateral damage. If only there was some conveniently located nearby demigods who could help?'

'Girls, we need to talk.' She called sweetly and the sound of a dozen hunters gulping was audible from across the room.

'Hold up you want us to sneak into a enchanted Hotel which you will be systematically destroying around us, rescue a large amount of people all the while avoiding a nigh unstoppable Primordial who is powerful enough to capture the most powerful person we know. Did I miss anything?' Thalia sputtered after a quick explanation.

'I'm game beats spending all day here doing paperwork.' Reyna commented putting a hand on the other girls shoulder who instantly relaxed or so it seemed.

'Can't we just leave him there; I mean it would be easier for everyone.' One of the Hunters asked enthusiastically.

'Tania. I wasn't asking though if you want to do something else. I can always try find out how much damage a daughter of Ares can do when dropped from a great height.'

'On to concrete? Not a great deal, she is not dense enough.' I answered instinctively quickly estimating the girls mass and density and calculating that it would only result in cosmetic damage at most..

'Oh believe me she is definitely dense. Unfortunately that is a hereditary trait, give it a few years and hopefully she will finally learn to get along with Percy.'

'We need to get going before something else can go wrong.' I told them all and Artemis merely nodded as the hunters scrambled off to get their equipment.

'The idiots probably having the time of his life.'

(Percy)

Well the good news was the screaming had finally stopped. Though whether that was a result of Chronos getting bored or Perseus simply being unable to do so anymore was still up for debate. Whatever was happening I had no idea what it was as Perseus had sealed off his side of our mind but it was clearly not good for his sanity, or whatever he had left of that in the first place.

'Perseus?'

'...'

'You ok?'

'I am...Legion.' A familiar cacophony of voices said simultaneously and all sense of reassurance that things were going to be fine went out the window.

'Well crap!'

AN. Hope everyone had a nice Easter break.

Short(er) chapter this time, but I didn't want to drag this out more than necessary and besides this means I can get right into Operation Dumbass rescue next chapter.

Thank you to all who suggested domains for Annabeth, some of them I already had but others were interesting. I will continue to explain her in the future. And no there will not be any Percabeth/Persebeth. It will not work out EVER no matter how much you want it. if you want that read the Canon and watch Rick hide it behind bullshit.

And we should be getting to the kids before chapter 100 providing nothing goes wrong. Chronos...Marina...New Rome/New Year...Timeskip/Birth.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave thoughts in the box below