Chapter 1

Percy closed the cell door behind him after checking on Annabeth. It had been a few hours now, and she still looked sickly. Her hair now had a gray streak in it and she was bruised being pinned between the sky and land. Percy had her moved to a better cell, with a bed, and a blanket to keep warm. She even had a window, albeit a small, barred window, so she could get sunlight. She was still unconscious but breathing evenly. He left her with a flask of water and some squares ambrosia for when she woke up.

Percy's heart ached as he remembered seeing Annabeth struggling to hold up the sky. And he felt a wave of anger as he imagined Luke putting her under there. Yeah, they were on opposite sides of the war, but this was Annabeth. The girl Luke had thought of as a little sister, the girl who wanted so bad to save them that the sirens tried to use it to lure her to her death. Seeing her so weak and helpless just felt so wrong. It had been bad when she'd been attacked by Polyphemus, but getting hurt in a blaze of glory like that was just like her. For her to be broken beneath the sky somehow didn't feel like it made any sense.

Percy stepped outside the fortress. Some demigods were arriving on Othrys today, and he was to meet them. After getting some distance, though, he heard a neigh, and looked up to see a black pegasus descend and land in front of him.

Hey, boss, it greeted Percy.

"Blackjack, what did I say about calling me boss" Percy said, petting the horse.

Sorry, boss, the pegasus said.

The pegasus had been a prisoner of the Titans on the Andromeda, and Percy found him when monsters were trying to restrain him as he panicked. Percy intervened, forcing the monsters to back away, as Percy stood between them. The pegasus was still anxious but Percy just talked to him. When he calmed down, Percy lead the him through the ship to the kitchens. It was there the pegasus first spoke to him. Percy decided to take him to his own area of the ship, away from all the monsters, and visited him for weeks to feed him and talk with him. Percy began calling him Blackjack, and one day, the pegasus took Percy for a ride around the ship at night. That night, Percy tried to set Blackjack free, seeing as how the ship had not reached their destination yet, so the horse wouldn't be able to tell anyone where they were or heading. Blackjack, stubborn as a mule, refused to go, and stayed as Percy's companion. Other demigods tried to sneak a ride with Blackjack, but he refused to allow them to ride him, and he would not go anywhere near monsters without Percy around.

While Percy was grateful for Blackjack's loyalty, he also knew that he might feel confined on the ship, so when the Princess Andromeda started sailing close to the shores, Percy told Blackjack he could roam the land and visit any time he wanted. And that invitation now extended to the base on Mt. Othrys, much to Blackjack's displeasure.

What's wrong boss? You look terrible.

"I've had better days," Percy said, sounding a little exhausted and annoyed, "Just saw an old friend."

That's great! Why are you sad?

"She's a prisoner," Percy stated.

Who took her? We'll fly up and rescue her.

"That's the problem. She's our prisoner. And she's not looking so good."

Oh…so, do you still want to go rescue her?

"It's very tempting. But we wouldn't get far. She's really hurt and I don't think it would be safe."

Maybe later? Blackjack asked, innocently.

"Heh, yeah, maybe later," Percy said, patting the flying horse.

Percy took out some food from his bag and gave some to Blackjack, then waited.

Soon, he saw a dozen demigods walking up the mountain. While the bulk of the Titan army were monsters, more demigods who were either unclaimed or children of minor gods had begun filling their ranks. Percy took it upon himself to train them, as Luke had trained him. Once the Titan base began to establish, Luke had asked a handful of demigods to join them while the rest stayed on the Andromeda.

While Percy did not like the fact that more demigods were near these monsters, it did make him feel a little more at ease, knowing more kids like him were with him. That he wasn't surrounded solely by monsters. He told Blackjack to go graze, and he went to greet the new arrivals.

Once Percy saw them to their rooms, he went to one of the areas deep in the fortress. He opened the doors and saw a solar with some furniture and a fireplace. Percy saw Luke standing at the fireplace, staring at the flames. Luke looked very sick and a little pale and seemed to be seeking warmth from the fire.

"How is she?" Luke asked, not bothering to look at Percy.

Percy closed the door behind him, approaching Luke, "She's resting. After what she's been through, I wouldn't be surprised if she sleeps through the whole war."

"Good. Percy, I'm going to need you to-"

"How do you live with yourself?" Percy interrupted Luke.

"Percy," Luke said, "what are you talking about?"

"What you did to Annabeth! I mean- she's your friend," Percy shouted.

"It needed to be done, Percy. Kronos needed his General free and we needed a god out of the way. I wish it wasn't Annabeth, I really do, but it was and now it's over," Luke said, a little frustrated.

"And am I supposed to feel better about that? It was very underhanded."

"You're supposed to trust me, when I make these tough decisions that need to be made."

Percy chuckled, "You know, Annabeth once told me it was a mistake to trust you. And right now, I'm not so sure she's wrong."

Percy turned to leave, "I…I'm not sure I can do this anymore. Is it even worth it now? The General, Kronos, all of it. And look at yourself. You look…I just don't know if it's worth it."

"Percy," Luke shouted, almost desperately, "I need you on my side."

Percy stopped and turned to Luke, "I know. The prophecy. But I don't even know if you need me now with Thalia-"

"No Percy. Not just in the war. I need your support. You've kept me level-headed. When I wanted to abduct demigods, you showed me they can be convinced to join peacefully. You've backed me and helped me with the more vicious monster wanted to take over."

"Please, just a little longer" Luke all but begged.

Percy saw desperation in Luke's eyes, and inhaled "Fine."

"Thank you," Luke said, "And Annabeth is safe here. Her suffering's over."

"I'll be the judge of that," Percy said.

"But there is something I need you to do. I just got news from camp that a quest has been issued, and the General is going to see who has taken it. I need you to go with him. See who's with him and find out what they're planning. And if you can convince Thalia-"

"Let me stop you there," Percy interrupted, "The last time we met, it did not go so smoothly. Blades were drawn, I got set on fire, it wasn't pretty."

"I know you can convince her. You two have a lot in common. You could reach her."

"Alright. Just give me some time to get ready."

Percy got up and left. He walked down the hall and went to see some of the demigods. After talking to them and telling them of his assignment, he got two of them to stand guard outside Annabeth's cell. Percy passed them and walked in, see her still sleeping.

"Hey Annabeth," he whispered, "I'm going to leave right now, but I just want to tell you I'm coming back and that you are safe. I got some demigods, like us, to protect you. I'll try to be back soon, and I might even bring back a friend. But I need you to get better."

He didn't know what he expected, but she didn't respond. After a minute he got up and left to prepare for the mission.

The past few days had been a whirlwind for Nico. He found out that gods were real and that he was a demigod. Seeing Thorn become a monster had been a little scary, but it was also cool that he was living in a world where creatures from his Mythomagic existed. And if he was a demigod, maybe he will have some special abilities. He already had a magical cap that made him invisible, which he got from one of the missing demigods while they were struggling against Thorn.

They even met a few gods: Artemis, Apollo (who gave them a ride to camp) and the wine guy Mr. D. It would have been a great day, if he didn't almost get killed, and if his sister didn't join the Hunters of Artemis. When they arrived at Camp Half-Blood, Bianca told him that he would have to stay at camp for a while, but she joined a group of girls who travel around, fighting monsters. When it was announced that Capture the Flag would be campers vs. Hunters, he did feel a little more motivated to win.

It was during Capture the Flag where he learned the power of the cap.

Thalia lead the group and put him out of the way, on border patrol. He quickly became bored, so he tried the cap on – and noticed his hands were missing. He looked into the stream and saw the reflection but he was not in it. After his team got decimated, some dead woman walked to the lead Hunter, Zoe, and said some weird prophecy for her to go on a quest to save her goddess. She decided to take the satyr, Grover, with her, and the demigod, Thalia. And she chose to take two hunters as well. One was a fellow hunter whose name Nico immediately forgot, and the other was Bianca.

"Nico, you can't come with us," Bianca said.

"But Grover said that that girl and boy might be there. They helped us," Nico said.

"And I am going to help them. But I need to know you're safe here."

"You're lying. You just want to get rid of me. That's why you joined those girls, right?"

"Nico-"

"Just go! It's what you want. To get away from me."

That night, though, Nico had snuck out of the Hermes cabin and made his way through the camp, wearing the magic cap. He figured if he left now, he would have time to catch up to the questers. He went to the armory and grabbed the first dagger he could find, and went to the store to take some supplies, including a backpack to hold them in. He thought he might have to run to catch up to the quest, but he found the team standing around, talking about their quest. Apparently, the other Hunter became a victim of a camper's prank and would not be going with them. Rather than find another companion, they decided to leave with only the four of them. Nico followed behind them, as silently as he could and saw them getting into a white van. The back doors were open as Thalia and Zoe were talking and Nico took the time to sneak into van. The doors closed behind him and he put himself into a corner of the van as Zoe and Thalia got into the front seats and drove off away from camp, onto their adventure.

A/N: This is the next story in my Dark Percy series. It took me a while, but I am finally posting. I'd like to thank my beta, I Am Definitely Jeff Bridges, for helping me move through this fic, from correcting my spelling, to throwing in critiques and suggestions. Just a heads up, some story arcs of this version are going to be dropped, but I hope you enjoy the changes. I have some fun stuff coming up.