226A/N I do not own PJO or HOO
Quick word to my amazing fans.
Wade98-Percy had so many life changing moments, i couldn't pick just one. I finally picked Thame because it rhymed with Flame and the patrons of the hunt both have fire powers. Also, an upcoming chapter will show how Calypso is coming back. I promise to make it interesting.
to guest, I have a plan for Annabeth, she is not out of the story yet.
27 POV
When we get back from our mission, the others better be done with the missions and the hunters better be gone when we get back, 24 is getting fidgety. We are going to throw the biggest party regardless of if the hunters are there or not. Underground missions are the worst.
Thalia POV
After Thame took off on his sabertooth he called Star for some reason, I called my wolf and had her grow to riding size and rode next to Cal and Thorn for a while. Our rides were galloping slowly, but the troops behind us were at full sprint. My lady's hunters were falling behind considerably. I siganled Cal and Thorn to let everyone take a break, Thorn grunted and spun around to signal the pack to stop.
The only hunter who had kept pace with the pack Pheobe, and she looked whipped. I took the rest of the hunt 10 minutes to catch up.
I turned to Cal and Thorn, but they were adressing the pack.
"Good work men, we are almost at the Canadian border. We should reach a good campsite by night fall. Vancouver will be a quick run from there." Thorn spoke without emotion
As he was speaking, Cal was getting fidegity, he must be seriously ADHD. As Thorn continued, he made a gesture to the woods and his sleeve fell up to his elbow. His arm had a large scar running across it. It ran from his elbow to his wrist and was jagged, like he had been tortured.
When we got going again a half hour later, I pulled up next to Thorn and asked, "How did you get that scar on your arm?
His entire body stiffened as well as his lion. They took off into the forest at insane speeds.
"whew" whisled Cal, "The only button you could push for him and Necron, smooth. He will be waiting for us back at the campsite."
"What happened to him anyway?" I asked, "What could make him so afraid?"
"Not afraid, he did not want to trigger a flashback." Cal responded
"A flashback of what?" I asked
"About 200 years ago he got a mission. A search and rescue mission."
"What could be so bad about that?" I was curious. My lady had told me to get as much information I could out of these boys while was with them.
"He had to rescue an innocent demigod who was thrown into Tartarus." Cal said grimly.
Artemis POV
After Thame bounded off on Star, I told Thalia to try and get some more info off the leutenents. Then I flashed to Mount Tam.
When I got there, Thame was waiting for me.
"How did you get here so fast?" I questioned "Shadow travel? Another portal from Percy?"
"We just ran very fast." he responded while scratching Star behind the ears.
"But that does not matter right now. Look where Atlas should be." he added
Where Atlas should have been was a giant. He had red skin and light brown hair.
"Help me" he said in a very weak voice.
Thame and Star stared at the giant, they seemed like they recognized him.
I took a knife and started to question him.
"Who are you and how did you get here to replace Atlas?"
" My name is Damasen, the giant born to oppose Ares. I was in Tartarus for the entire second giant war. But I still played my part. As for why I am here, my oh so caring father deceided to give another punishment for helping them escape so he took me out of the river Archeraron, the river of pain, and sent me up through the ground to replace Atlas. this happened about a week ago." He said this with much pain in his voice. He seemed ready to help us
"You said you played your part, then mentioned helping someone escape? What happened then?" I asked, this giant might not be evil, not to be trusted, but maybe not evil.
"I will start my story at the beginning. I was made to oppose ares. Ares is war like, so I am peaceful. I became a shepard and did not fight the gods in the first war. When a drakon attacked and killed a friend of mine, Hunted and killed it by shoving a tree through it's head. That was the final insult for my parents. they cast me into Tartarus for all eternity. I was forced to kill the same drakon the same way every day. I lost hope. I slowly became trapped in despair.
That was when they came. Bob, or Iepatus(spelling?) brought them to me. One had been brought to the brink of death by the arii, the curses. The other was in better shape, but not much. I healed the boy and the girl told me their story. I was ready to let them leave, but the girl gave me something I had not had in many years. Hope. I thought about what they said for a time. So I changed my own fate. I captured and rode the drakon I had been trapped in for thousands of years. I made it to the doors of death to escape, but found the same same two demigods and Bob facing a fight they could never win alone. Tartarus, my father. I charged him and battled my father until the Doors of Death vanished, taking the demigods back to the surface. Leaving me and Bob for our punishment.
We went through many tortures to terrible to describe. 200 years ago another demigod was thrown into torture with us. A little while after, a demigod in a black cloak came and recued him. He tried to save me and Bob as well. But doing so got him captured as well. He was tortured for hours on end. His hood never came down though. He managed to escape with the demigod and gave Bob and I the keys to our cells. The problem was the keys only worked for Bob's chains. When his chains fell off im, he dissolved into thin air. His spirit was called to inheirit a new form.
I was tortured for many years after for not telling them how they escaped. Eventually, my father deceided to give me a new punishment. He brought me up to Earth and used me to free Atlas. I have remained here, on the brink of freedom, but even further trapped than I have been before."
"That is my story Artemis."
"Who are the two demigods that you saved from Tartarus at the doors? I asked.
"Their names are not as famous as their story. They were the ones who sent all my brothers back down to me. They defeated the Titans when they rose for the second time. They were the second and third people to survive Tartarus. They were Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase."
I gasped, Percy and Annabeth had told us their story, but had never included a giant of titan helping them escape.
"How do I know if you are telling the truth, Percy told us his story, but you were never included in it." I told him, turning to leave to find Atlas.
"He speaks the truth." Thame was speaking this time. "It took me 200 years, but I got Percy to tell me what really happened in Tartarus. It matches exactally with what Damasen said. Whe we find Atlas, we will bring him here to free you Damasen."
he said the last part directly to the giant and I was shocked. He was willing to free a giant. He had a good story, but giants were evil by nature.
"Thank you." Damasen had started to cry. "I can return to my flock, I know things have changed, but I am done with fighting. I just want peace."
Thame nodded to him and got on Star.
"We will be back to free you Damasen" he said and Star and him vanished into the woods in the distrance.
I glared at Damasen, but flashed myself back to the hunt.
Thorn POV
When Thalia mentioned my, scar I started to remember things. Necron did too. I got us out of there as fast as I could. We shadow traveled right to our choosen campsite, set up my emergency tent, and collasped inside and that gave way to a flashback.
~~Flashback~~
Thame had given me a mission to save a demigod who had been trapped in Tartarus since birth. He was another royal, or a forbidden child that the gods had tried to kill. The monsters had raised him to hate Olympus, but when a Giant had gotten holkd of him and learned his parentage, the he was subjected to torture.
When I got to Tartarus, it was exactaly as I remembered it. A demigod killing machine. I started my journey theough the abyss until I reached the torture center of Tartarus. I snuck inside quietly and found the prison. I got inside easily, it built to not let anyone out, not keep others from coming in. I stole a copy of building plans and prisoner detail list off a cyclops, I saw 3 names besides the one I was looking for that shocked me. Iepatus, Damasen, and my sister, Bianca.
~~End Flashback~~
I woke when I heard Star and Thame return. I exited my tent and watched him set up our cabins.
He told me about what had happened on Mount Tam and I nodded, I had a chance to make it up to Damasen. He didn't ask me what had happened to me, he knew already. Going to Tartarus once is hard. Making it out twice was near impossible.
By the time the rest of the pack and Cal got to camp dinner was ready. The Hunters passed our camp looking enviously at our venision steaks and forest salad. Any of us could have summoned food using the blessing of Hestia, but going out and doing it by hand made it taste better for some reason.
"You are welcome to eat with us." Thame said this to Artemis, but she only glared at him and moved the hunters camp farther away from us. She must have still been upset about Atlas escaping and Thame promising to set a giant free. Gods could be so blind sometimes.
We ate our dinner as usual and Thame anounced the Atlas was free to our men. Many groaned, others looked excited that we had a new powerful target. Later that evening Cal, Thame and I went over to the hunters camp to discuss plans for attacking Koios and finding Atlas.
Artemis was announcing Atlas was free to the hunters. Thalia was the only one who had enough sense to ask who was now holding up the sky. Smart, beautiful Thalia. Whoa, where did that come from. I had to get myself to stop thinking like that. she was a hunter and has shown no sign of wanting to leave them. She probably didn't even remember me after I went missing and was declared dead by my father 774 years ago.
"A giant is holding up the sky now my leutenent. The giant in question has made up some story that he was put there as punishment for saving demigods and that he is peaceful and would not hurt us. He has Thame fooled and has convinced Thame to set him free. If the giant is set free, I will need all of your help to kill it." Artemis answered Thalia with much hate in her voice."
"That will not happen Artemis. He is innocent on all charges. He did not choose who his parents were or that he would be a giant. You shall not harm him." Thame had stepped out of the shadows and Cal and I followed him.
Thalia POV
"You shall not harm him." Thame seemed pissed as he stepped out of the shadows. Cal and Thorn followed. Thorn must have been tough. He had to relive part of Tartarus and he was already back on his feet. He had my respect.
He reminded me of someone else. The only person who tempted me to leave the hunt. But he was gone now and has been dead for a very long time, 774 years. I missed Nico, I missed him every day. But I could not think like that. I am a hunter and he is gone forever.
"Come with me leutenent, Thame, Cal, and Thorn." My lady called us over to her tent for planning.
"My scouts have reported to me that both Atlas and Koios are in an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city. They have a rather large force of hellhounds and venti. They are planning to attack Aeolus when he passes over them."
Thame said this all calmly, but I was panicing. Two titans, a muscle and a brain, working together to take a moving near impossible to track fortress.
"Who are your scouts?" quetioned my lady.
"Necron, Orcala, and Star are our scouts." Thame said this like it was not a big deal.
"How are we going to kill the Venti?" I asked him, "They will sense our attacks and only children of Zeus can be certain to hit them. I am the only child of Zeus in the hunt and I do not think there are many in your pack."
"We have one child of Zeus, but he is one of the Royals. They are on a seperate mission right now. I am going to call them back from their mission so they can help us. But I will give you this warning. Whenever a group returns from a sucessful mission. The leutenents and I leave for a night so the pack can celebrate without concquences from us. They will be loud and out of control. I encourage you to move to a different campsite while they are celebrating."
"Who are the Royals?" I asked, wondering who my brother was.
"The Royals are forbidden demigods. They have been hunted by the gods their whole lives. They are too powerful so the gods tried to have them killed. One was thrown into Tartarus when he was 2 years old by a god who did not want them to exist. I did not want to risk their safty, so I sent them on an indefinetly long mission. But they are needed, so they will come."
"Why is my brother being hunted?" I asked.
"The gods had faith in him so they tried to bend him so he could be the child of the third great prophecy. They ended up sending him on a suicide mission, his entire team was killed except one. When Zeus saw his son had failed, he tried to kill him. His son absorbed the bolt and became incredibly powerful. He was hunted for having the power of the master bolt within him."
Artemis turned to ham and asked, "Which god threw an innocent baby into Tartarus? I want to have a word with them."
Thame looked at her coldly. "That would be YOU Artemis. He spent 15 years there before Thorn found him and brought him out."
Thorn shuddered at the last part. I could not beleive that my lady had thrown a baby into Tartarus, it was probably someone else, but when I looked at my lady, she had turned deathly pale and quickly got up and left.
Artemis POV
I had known the answer to my question before I asked it. How could he be alive. My biggest mistake has come back to haunt me. My son was coming, probably full of vengence.
Thame POV
After Artemis left, we all quickly discussed tomorrow's attack. Artemis would handle Atlas while I attacked Koios. Thalia would lead the attack on the veti with 27 and Thorn and Cal would lead the groud forces and Phoebe would head the archers.
I went back to camp and found the Royals had arrived.