Chapter 125: What are friends for? ( part 2)

(Percy POV)

The mansion (or whatever was left of it) was shaped like an U.

The wolf goddess led me through the two wings of the mansion.

Finally she found a fitting room, it looked like an old themed office, including a wooden desk.

Lupa took place behind the desk and gestured for me to take a seat. Which was not an option because the only seat in the room was already occupied by her.

"So," Lupa said like she was starting an interrogation, "First, how did you manage to defeat me?"

I grinned. "Well to be fair you're not the first wolf I encountered. I fought far worse."

"You mean Lycaon?" Lupa asked, "He's not even a good fighter."

"No," I said, "I did not mean Lycaon. Although I fought his pack a couple times but I was not talking about him."

"But I'm the strongest she-wolf in the world." Lupa pouted.

"Nevermind," I said quickly. "I wanted to talk about Hazel-"

"Oh, no!" Lupa said, "I want to know who the wolf was that is 'supposedly' stronger than me."

I cringed, "That's not necessary."

"Tell me!" Lupa said with puppy eyes (which was something she was really good at)

"Fine," I admitted. Not being able to resist Lupa's puppy eyes. "It was Fenrir."

Her eyes widened, "No freaking way. How?"

I was a little bit surprised by the fact that Lupa knew Fenrir. Or at least heard of him, on the other side. She was the goddess of wolves.

I shrugged, "Long story. Basically Fenrir tried to escape his imprisoned. My friends and I went on a quest to chain him up again. We fought him but in the end he managed to escape."

Lupa gasped, "No way."

"Yes. But I managed to trick him and rechain him." I said and I shivered a bit. The deed almost got me killed. Sure I get hurt most of the time but Fenrir was something else.

Compared to Fenrir Lupa was just cute puppy.

"Besides," I said, "My own cat and Cerberus always play with me. So I came a bit prepared."

Lupa nodded satisfied, "Okay, second question. How do you know about the Romans? The mist should've prevented you."

I sighed and decided to play my trump card. "That's simple. I'm the Champion of Chaos."

Lupa frowned, "Chaos? The Chaos?"

I quickly activated my combat avatar and Chaos shown in her full glory.

Lupa stared in awe, her jaw lowered and she immediately lowered her head, "Chaos." she said respectfully.

"Hi," Chaos said, "I'm Chaos. The creator of the universe. Percy is my champion. So please don't turn him into your chew toy."

Without waiting for an reply she disappeared and the room was silent.

"So that's how I know about the Romans." I said after an uncomfortable silence.

"So…" Lupa finally said, "Should I call you lord or something?"

I chuckled, "Nah. Just Percy."

"Okay Percy," Lupa said with renewed awe. "What can I do for you?"

"Hazel Levesque," I said. "She's a daughter of Pluto who died in 1942."

I quickly told Lupa about Hazel's past with Gaia and Alcyoneus.

"So why did you send her to me?" Lupa asked, "Why did you not send her to New Rome already?"

"I want you to train here." I said, "She needs more training than most demigods."

Lupa bared her fangs, "You know that I don't do that. I give them the necessary information and tools to survive."

I sighed, "I know. But if you could just give her an extra month it would help me greatly. ALso I want you to help her catch up with the modern word."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Lupa asked.

I groaned, "School. I actually go to school you know?"

"Why?"

"Beats me." I confessed.

I had already finished college (in my past life though) and could get any job I wanted manipulating the mist. Yet me mom decided I should go to school nonetheless.

Lupa chuckled before considering the request. After a long dreadful minute she said. "Fine, I'll do it. If she is really destined to save Rome you might be right."

"So we have a deal?" I asked.

"One condition…" Lupa said grinning wolfishly.

Chaos grinned too. 'You're never going to guess what I'm going to shout in your ear.'

...

(Hazel POV)

After an half hour of sitting in the cold Percy came back, followed by the wolf goddess.

"We made a deal," Percy said. "Lupa will train you and help you adjust to the modern world before sending you to New Rome."

Hazel let out a sigh of relief.

She knew she was weak compared to Percy and Katie.

The monsters she had seen in the short week she had been brought to life scared her a lot. She had hoped she could escape the weird world but apparently she couldn't.

"Really?" Hazel asked.

Lupa nodded, although reluctantly.

Hazel smiled, "Oh, that's so nice from you."

"Don't think I go easy on you." Lupa growled, almost hostile. "You're lucky Percy vouches for you."

"I promise I won't let you down." Hazel said determined.

Lupa raised an eyebrow, apparently surprised by her reaction.

"Good," Lupa said calculated. Hazel made a mental note to not let down her guard near the wolf goddess. "Now say goodbye to Percy and then we can start your training." Lupa said harshly.

Hazel nodded and turned to face Percy.

This was a goodbye, Hazel hated goodbyes.

Hazel and Percy walked away from the wolf goddess so they had some privacy, although Hazel suspected that she could hear everything perfectly fine with her wolf ears.

"So," Hazel said. "Time to say goodbye."

"Yes," Percy said, feeling as uncomfortable as Hazel felt. "I hope Lupa can help you catch up with the 21th century."

Hazel laughed. The 21th century was crazy compared to her old life, things had changed so much.

There was so much more noise nowadays, cars and trains were everywhere. Machines became compatible and actually available to the public, but that was not the thing that surprised Hazel the most.

It was the lack of amazement, things like smartphones, animated movies and food. The food was so much better then she had eaten in her entire life.

But people were not amazed by these things, they just shrugged it off and saw it as a minor detail.

"I guess I'll try," Hazel said half heartedly, "Though you said that demigods had less interactions with the modern world...right?"

"Depends," Percy said, "But most Roman demigods stay at New Rome the entire year and New Rome isn't that difficult to fit in."

Hazel smiled, "Well, I hope it...so what are you going to do? Get yourself in more trouble?"

"I don't get myself in trouble!" Percy muttered without much conviction.

"Yes you do." Hazel said.

"I could say the same thing about you," Percy countered. "In the first week of your new life, you encountered Arachne, Kampê and Orion. Plus you traveled one of the world's most dangerous labyrinth and you freed the Sibyl. Also, you're getting a private training from Lupa."

"How did you manage that?"

"We made a deal." Percy said without revealing anything.

"Well, thank you for doing that." Hazel said. She coughed uncomfortably, "I mean, you've brought me back from the underworld and you basically gave me a second chance."

Percy shrugged."It's not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Hazel sweatdropped. "Seriously Percy, you gave me a new life."

"Better get the best out of it." Percy laughed.

"I'll try." Hazel said, "If you try to stay out of trouble."

"I can't," Percy chuckled. "It always finds me first."

Then his expression changed. "Hazel, I need you to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"If I ever show up at your camp without my memories. Don't tell me who I am or what happened to me."

"What?" Hazel asked flabbergasted.

"I need to figure it out myself." Percy said determined.

"Wait," Hazel said. "Rewind to the part with you showing up at camp without memories."

"Small chance," Percy said, "And I hope to avoid it but if I can't you can not tell me who I am. Otherwise, the butterfly effect might become too strong, and I'll lose my biggest trump card."

Hazel had no idea what the butterfly effect was but Percy sounded scared.

"I promise." Hazel said finally.

Percy held out her hand. Hazel shook it.

Percy grinned. "Take care Hazel."

"You too, Percy."

Also," Percy said with a smug smile, "You have to find your way back to the wolf house yourself. This is the first training of Lupa."

Hazel blinked and noticed that she had paid no attention to her surroundings. She had just followed Percy blindly and now she had no idea where she was.

"You son of a-"

Percy had already disappeared.

...

(Percy POV)

"You son of a-" Hazel yelled but before she could finish the insult Lupa had teleported me back top the wolf house.

"How did it go?" Lupa asked, her tail was wagging left and right. My guess was that was in a playful mood.

"Great," I said, "I hate saying goodbyes. But are you sure it's safe?"

"One of my wolves has his eyes on her." Lupa said with a reassuring smile, "Although I'm going to give her a hard time I won't make the challenge for the pup impossible."

"That's nice from you." I said.

Lupa smiled and bared her fangs. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going back to Camp Half-blood after that I'm going back to school." I said.

"I hope you remain true to your end of the bargain?" Lupa said, licking her fangs.

I gulped, "Could not forget about it for a second."

Lupa smiled, "Good."

...

(TimeSkip)

'Also.' Lyssa said, 'I'm leaving your head.'

I was walking up the Camp half-blood hill and I felt myself getting warm inside, I was getting closer to the hearth, to my home.

My backpack was slung over my shoulder with the bow of Odysseus tapped onto it. Rebel was walking alongside me, happily bouncing on her paws, he was really excited to go back to camp half-blood. Especially since his favourite Titaness would play with her again.

Katie had left me early, said she was going to her father's family again, hoping she would not get grounded for skipping school.

Lyssa just announced that her so called 'Babysit duty' was over and that she had accomplished her mission. I kind of felt sad that the goddess of madness was leaving me...although she was completely nuts, she had been a good friend.

'Cya Percy,' Lyssa said cheerfully, 'Also, target incoming.'

I felt the presence of a certain goddess leaving me.

As Lyssa left, I felt kind of peaceful, the last winter had been one long quest. Starting with the kidnapping of Artemis, followed by Fenrir trying to break out and finally Herophile rescue.

I had lost people, but I had also gained a lot of new friends.

I've held the sky, became the king of Spiders and the Death. I met the world largest dragon and brought back someone from the death.

It had been an eventful winter.

And I was sure that this was just the start of something bigger, something that would involve all the pantheons.

Falcon, Kite, Hope and Summer. I knew what this meant, Falcon and Kite were Carter's and Sadie's bird forms. Summer was Magnus Chase. It was kind of obvious with him being the son of Frey and also possessing the sword of Summer.

I was Hope of course.

My guess was that at some point all four of us were needed to stop a threat, although I could not imagine who are what was coming. Combining the three pantheons was something risk but not unheard off.

Setne himself had tried to destroy the Greek Pantheon and the Egyptian Pantheon in the old timeline. It was possible.

The point was that I could not imagine the four of us working together like a team, yet.

'Chaos,' I said. 'Start the Fight Club project.'

Chaos chuckled, 'You better watch you're right.'

"What?" I asked before a dark blur crashed into me.

One moment I was having a casual conversation with Chaos, next moment I was pinned against a tree.

In front of me stood Nyx in her full glory, true my heart did a little relay race in my chest when I saw her.

It was like she had dressed today just to impress me. She wore a black dress that had tiny sparkles on them, like the stars in the night sky. Her long black hair wavered on a non-existent wind. She had put on red lipstick that contrasted with pale skin, making her look like a hot vampire. 

Her glowing white eyes were fixed on mine and had a murderous glint in them that would make the entire Olympian council shiver in fear.

Nyx was surrounded by an aura of darkness and in her left hand she held a whip, in her other a void black dagger.

Did I mention she was looking angry?

"17 days!" Nyx cried out as I groaned in pain, "46 chapters! That's how long you were gone!"

"Ah," I yelled, "We've talked about it. You thought it was a good plan!"

Nyx grimaced, "No, I said it was the only thing we could do."

"Then why the hell did you attack me?!" I yelled.

Nyx cocked her head to the side, "Because…"

She then frowned, "I don't know."

Nyx offered her hand and helped me to the feet. Her expression changed from relief, "Damit Percy! I missed you."

She smiled and gave me and embraced me in ar bone crushing hug. "You came back," she whispered. "I was worried sick."

Rebel purred amused and began to headbutt me playfully.

"Hey," I said, "I came back right?"

"Yes you did." She said and hugged me closer. "Life is not the same without you."

She stepped back and shot me a sheepish grin. "Sorry for smacking you against the tree?"

"Don't worry about that," I said. "I heal pretty fast."

Nyx frowned and sniffed in the air. Her eyes widened, "Wow, you smell so differently."

I shrugged, "Well, a lot happened."

"Want to tell me?" Nyx said, "I mean, we could share a diet coke at the beach and exchange stories."

I grinned, "That would be great."

Then I quickly realized something, "We still need to explain how I came back from the death."

Nyx chuckled, "I already solved that issue."

I raised an eyebrow, "How?"

"Simple," Nyx said. "After you died I manipulated the mist and made everyone think you went on a suicide mission and that we still haven't heard of you. Now you show up at camp half-blood and you will reveal to everyone that you went on Quest for Athena to retrieve the Athena Parthenos."

"What?" I asked completely confused.

"You almost died," Nyx said, "But Athena saved your life. In exchange you went on a quest for her and retrieved the Athena Parthenos. Athena can vouch for you if you want."

I blinked, "Did you come up with that plan yourself?"

She grinned, "Yup, am I smart or am I smart?"

"A plan worthy of Athena," I complimented, "How did you got Athena to agree to this?"

Nyx rolled her eyes, "The fates are my daughters remember?"

"Oh, completely forgot that." I sweatdropped. "So my absence was without any consequences?"

"Oh no," Nyx said. "Your friends at camp are still angry at you."

"Crap."

"Have some diet coke."

The End of Book: 7

A/N So here's the end of this chapter and the end of this book.

I hope you people liked it and I hope you guys are satisfied with the ending. In case you forgot, this is not the end of the Labyrinth Arc. This is just the end of this particular book.