Chapter 9

Percy's onyx black eye twitched in annoyance at the sound of his sisters voice, he was never one good at dealing with emotions. Especially the emotions of the others, his eyes met the sea green and electric blue orbs of two of the children of the big three. Whom despite his request had not lowered their blades at all, even though he had requested them too. His eyes flashed dangerously. "Lower your weapons before I make your arms drop them." He snapped at the two.

The daughter of Zeus glared at him, her eyes flashing with lightning while the son of Poseidon swirled like a hurricane. He raised an eyebrow, his eyes drifting towards his sobbing sister and he growled angrily before swiping his hand. Both children of the big three hiccuped slightly as their weapons were forced from their arms.

"Stay back children." His voice was rough and ragged, demanding and angry. He slowly approached his little sister before resting his hand on her shoulder and lowered himself to a knee. Her face turned to him and he could see the delicacy in her eyes, almost shattered and broken.

"Percy." She whispered almost inaudibly before reaching forward and wrapping her arms around his torso, his muscles tensed and tightened. It had been millenia since his sister had given him a hug and he rarely received one anyway. After a few tense and angry seconds of debating on what he should do, he tentatively wrapped his arms around his sister. A warmth spreading through his chest as she sobbed into his shoulder over the death of the daughter of Hades.

His head turned to the two children of the big three, both of which we glaring at him suspiciously. A few minutes later, his sister pulled away from him and rose. Sniffling, her eyes bloodshot and deep red from sadness and crying.

She refused too look at him, staring anywhere but him before settling on staring at the ground and letting a few remaining tears trickle down her face.

Her head snapped upwards when a resounding slap sounded, her eyes watching as the son of Poseidon, Clark was knocked to the ground. His sea green eyes widened in surprise. A deep growl resounded loudly in the back of her brothers throat as he stared down the daughter of Zeus and her weapon that was inches from his neck.

"I told you before," He snapped irritated, his eyes burning like flames. "Lower your weapons."

Thalia scowled, her spitfire and her less than great patience with anyone and anything. She pushed the blade closer to his neck, while she knew he was not exactly the enemy, he was very powerful and dangerous. A security risk no matter his relations to Zoe. He had defeated a Titan that the five together could not defeat and helped destroy a giant bronze automaton that they had all struggled with and ended up costing Bianca her life just a few moments before.

She stared the son of Atlas down with a weariness. Before she could react, faster than she could even blink her blade was slapped away and he gripped her wrist tightly and twisted, forcing her to drop the blade on the ground. Irritated she let an electric shock flow through her arm and into him. "Agh." He groaned and recoiled away from her, his fists clenching tightly, his knuckles turning white. Thalia reached down and grabbed her blade, ready to attack the son of Atlas or defend.

"Enough." The sound of Zoe's voice snapped both Perseus and Thalia out of their little showdown. Her tone was demanding and stern. "Now is not the time to soothe your egos." She snapped. Her brothers face twitched in annoyance, she had the gall to lecture him. "Thalia, he defeated Perses while we were unable and came to our rescue from Talos." She growled, her eyes snapped to her brothers. "And you..." She paused, her voice leaving her as her lower lip trembled.

The son of Poseidon got off the ground, his eyes wary of the powerful Titan. "He's a Titan himself, he self-proclaimed himself one." He reminded Zoe. "How can we trust him to be near us now, we need to be on our guard. He obviously holds no love for the gods."

Perseus stared Clark down, who flinched at the terrible glare of the son of Atlas, easily the most scariest thing of his life. Riptide was held tightly in his hands and he wondered how Zoe would let a foolish child of the big three wield her blade. "No one is talking to you." He narrowed his eyes.

Clark growled slightly. "I am not here to prove my worth to the likes of you two." His fingers jutting out towards Thalia and Clark.

"Then why are you here?" Thalia interjected. "You don't side with the gods, you're not here for us. Then why are you here?" She asked curiously.

"To do what is right in the end." He answered mysteriously as all four of his companions raised their eyebrows curiously.

"What do you think Grover?" Clark asked the now wide eyed Satyr who had otherwise been completely absent from the conversation.

"Guys, he saved our lives. A Titan is not an easy being to defeat, especially the one he faced. Why would he save us? I think we can trust him, he is obviously powerful and an ally we could need. Especially where we are going."

Thalia and Clark's eyes widened in surprise, they had expected Grover to agree with him.

"I concur." Zoe intervened. "We are going to need him to get to Mount Orthrys and face the challenge that is there."

"I can't believe this!" Thalia snapped angrily, lightning dancing across her skin. "He's dangerous, reckless and we don't know if he is on our side. And now you want him to join the quest right after he let Bianca die." She snarled, lightning arcing from her fingertips.

Perseus raised an eyebrow. "How is the daughter of Hades death my fault?" The four there looked at him as if he was insane, but he continued nevertheless. "Fate willed her string to be cut, there is nothing any of us could have done, she was destined to die." He told them.

"Daughter of Hades?" Zoe asked astonished.

Perseus seemed surprised, "None of you could tell?" He was perplexed but otherwise not surprised, those who showed loyalty to the gods were often ignorant of their surroundings. Even when shoved right in their faces.

"It doesn't matter anymore. She is gone, her spirit is now in Elysium."

"How would you know?" The son of Poseidon asked him.

"I have many friends." He said ominously.

"Would you like to elaborate?" Thalia asked.

"No." He closed down the discussion.

"Now time is ticking away, we must head west."

"Hold up," Clark cut him off. "Who said you were coming?" His face morphed into a look of annoyance.

"Listen, boy." Zoe snapped. "It is not your decision." She growled.

"And it's yours?" Thalia growled at the huntress.

"We need him." Grover spoke quietly but his voice was resounding to Thalia and Clark, both of which were close to the Satyr as he was the one to help bring both of them to camp. If he believed this man who be of use to the quest, then maybe both of them should be rethinking their plan.

"Fine." Thalia snapped irritably and stormed off and out of the desert away from the others and away from the wreckage of Talos and the death of the daughter of Hades.

"Lets follow."

They followed the angry daughter of Zeus until they came to the sight of a truck, Thalia grinned as the engine roared to life and turned to the rest of the questers. "Grover you and Clark are up front with me, Zoe and him are in the bed." Her tone left no room for discussion.

Thalia was not exactly the best driver, but the ride for both Zoe and Perseus was awkward. The air was thick with tension and the two seemed to be very uncomfortable at the moment with each other. Zoe finally broke the uneasy silence between the two of them.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked him in exasperation, she could not figure out his motives or plans. He claimed that he hated both her and the Olympians, and she really could not blame him. She disliked most of the gods and goddesses of Olympus besides Artemis and Athena. The rest she could care less about.

"What do you mean?" He responded in a growl, his eyes flashing with anger as they met her identical orbs. Zoe flinched violently as if he had physically struck her, the coldness in his tone, the venom was mentally destroying her. It was driving her insane, knowing she had ruined the lives of her brother for millenia had weighed heavily on her heart. She had wanted to meet up with him, excited to say she was sorry and reconcile with one of the few males she was tolerable with. But she had ruined it. She destroyed his life and may have destroyed hers in the process.

"Why are you here? Why are you helping us?"

"Out of the goodness of my heart." His tone oozed with sarcasm and bile. She scowled at his response.

"Perseus." She snapped out of irritation. "Be serious, why in Hades are you here?" She growled at him, demanding the answer with her tone of voice.

His eyes flared in irritation as he tried and failed to stop himself from glaring harshly at his sister, despite how much that she deserved it. He hated that he still cared for her, he disliked that he still loved her and he was only on this quest for her and not any other reason. But he had to make sure that she did not realize his attentions.

"Our father must not be fighting when the second Titan war begins, otherwise the Olympians are doomed to fail."

"And since when do you care about the survival of Olympus, you told me, you told my mistress that you hate the gods and yet you are on a quest to help a goddess that you despise. Why?" A small smirk rose to his lips.

"I do not, I could care less whether or not the Olympians live or not, to be honest I would prefer if they were overthrown. If I cared enough, I would wage war on the gods themselves. But, in the same retrospect. The Titans are just the same as the gods just with different names. Neither side is truly better than the other, the gods are only believed to be the righteous side because they say so and trick and force demigods to do their bidding. However, the Titans don't just want to rule this world. They want to salt and raze all that the gods era has built. Which means demigods, mortals and everything created in the era of the gods would be destroyed. Life as it is known would crumble to dust and the Titans would start from scratch. And while I would be happy with the deaths of many of the Olympians, I would not be happy with the deaths of the mortals and demigods who are stuck with the bad luck the gods give them. They try to live a good and peaceful life, many of them deserve much better but get nothing."

Zoe seemed surprised at his response. Not only did she not expect for him to care about the affairs of mortals, he did not expect him to tell her he would kill the gods if gotten the chance.

On the other hand, the son of Atlas was surprised that the lie rolled so effortlessly from his lips, and the better part his sister seemed to believe his folly. He hardly cared for any of the mortals, actually he couldn't care less about the affairs of any mortal, many were corrupt and unjust like the Olympians themselves, but he did not want his sister to find out his true intentions.

"Percy, the gods are not as bad as the Titans..." She was cut off abruptly by her brother.

"Yes, yes they are Zoe." He snapped. "They are just as bad if not worse than the Titans. All of them are unjust and treat the world as if it is their playground."

"Really I remember the age of the Titans." She told him.

"I fought for the Titans." He growled. "You choose to believe the gods are better because of your mistress, she blinds you and warps your mind to believe that they are better than the Titans when they are not."

"She saved me..." She was cut of with a thunderous roar.

"You betrayed me," He snarled. "And now god helped me. Your goddess is the worst of them all, the sexist, hypocritical goddess of the hunt. She is a murderer, she ruins the lives of everyone. Not just the lives of those she kills. If our father didn't need to bear the curse of the sky, your goddess would be perfect for it."

Her eyes widened at his words, she could not believe what he was saying.

The time was ticking to an end, the words of the prophecy rang clearly in both of their heads.

"And one Shall Perish by a Parents Hand."

Zoe knew time was ticking away, she had ruined her brothers life and given the chance to reconcile before one of their deaths was impossible. She had burned the bridge to any relationship she had with him, she knew she would not let him die at her fathers hands. She would not let Percy die in her place, she would die.

A lone tear trickled down her face.

What she did not know, was her brother was thinking exactly the same thing as her, with one exception. That she would not let her die for him, the only reason he was on this quest was to save her and there was no way he would let her die. Not at the hands of their bastard father. He would die in her place, he loved her despite all she had done for him.

He was so tired. Tired of it all.

He wanted it over.