Always Protect

Percy opened his eyes a crack, keeping them trained on the ground, so that he could push himself up and move quicker.

"What do you mean 'Medusa'?!"

"Medusa turns people to stone, remember? These statues are way too realistic for a woman that doesn't take off her veil!" Castor responded, catching on.

"Also, the veil would be to hide her face and snake hair." Annabeth added.

"Not helpful, Annabeth! How about we discuss her wardrobe choices after we kill her?"

"You can't tell, but I'm glaring at you in my mind."

Castor snickered at them, even as he nearly ran into a statue.

"Guys! Plan!"

"Right, well in the myths she was decapitated by Perseus so we can do that, we just have to remember that even once she's dead, her powers still work."

"That's great and all but we can't really see right now."

"Hey guys..." Castor said, slowing to a stop.

"Well if we can find something reflective we can use that."

"The only issue with that is, once again, we can't see right now, Annabeth!"

"Guys...?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize that the only way to find things was by looking! Guess blind people can't do anything in life." She combated sarcastically.

"Guys!"

"What!" the pair shouted in sync.

"Isn't it a little quiet?"

All three demigods froze. Castor was right, the only sound was the wind blowing outside. Percy looked as high as he dared before shifting to the side, putting his back to a stone fountain.

Turning carefully, he looked down at it. It really was beautifully crafted, though its beauty was slightly marred by how murky the water was. He touched it lightly and watched in amazement as the water cleared as ripples moved outward from his hand. He was so busy staring at the now clean water that he almost didn't notice the faint hissing of Medusa's hair behind him. What he did notice, was the reflection of the monster coming up behind him. And dear Merlin he hoped the water was distorting the image and Medusa wasn't really that ugly.

Closing his eyes, he uncapped Riptide and instantly made a wide swing.

Shuck! Thump!

The hissing stopped.

"Did I get her? Guys? Guys, is she dead? Please tell me she's not about to kill me?"

Annabeth moved towards the small boy's voice with a hand reached out.

"Hey! Don't touch my face!"

"Sorry, I had to make sure you were there and not several feet in front of me."

"Well, can we open our eyes yet?"

The Daughter of Athena crouched down carefully and felt around for the Gorgon's head. She gagged a little as she caught hold of the limp snakes making up Medusa's hair and quickly pulled the veil back over to cover her face, sighing in relief.

"We're good."

Castor came out from a row of statues, removing his shades to rub at the bridge of his nose.

"Thank the gods for that."

"Well," Percy said as he looked and black shrouded head, "you were right about one thing Cas."

When violet eyes looked up at him questioningly, the Potter smiled teasingly at him.

"We were able to handle it."

"Oh shut up."

<><><>

"You know, you were wearing shades the whole time, you probably would've been fine to look."

"Yeah well 'probably' isn't good enough."

<><><>

The trio raided the emporium, taking all the money (mortal and godly) as well as any food that was in a sealed package. Castor had wanted to take some burgers and fries as well but was outnumbered as neither of his companions liked the idea of relying on food that was most likely drugged.

They kept moving, not wanting to stick around any longer that necessary, and slept in the woods. They made a fire with some fallen branches, dry leaves, and a lighter they had also scavenged from Medusa's cemetery of statues, and gathered around to keep warm. Annabeth took out her mythology book and flipped to the portion about the underworld. Castor sat next to Percy and started to explain a bit more about the godly situation.

"Alright, so each of the gods has their signature weapon of sorts, a symbol of power. Zeus has his Master Lightning Bolt, your dad has his Trident, Hades his Helm of Darkness. There is a rule that the gods are not allowed to take each other's symbol of power. That being said, it is not unheard of for the gods to get there half-mortal children to steal those objects for them."

"But why would they want to do that? And why would anyone let themselves be used like that? Zeus wants my head for something I didn't do, I can't imagine actually doing something like that." Percy said with genuine confusion.

Most of his life was being told what to do and then blamed for made up things he did wrong, now that he was away from his relatives he would do everything in his power to keep his independence.

"The gods don't interact much with their children unless they need a mess fixed. Because of that, some demigods are desperate for the approval of their godly parent, willing to do anything they ask. It's mostly when they're young. The older we get, the more we realize that most of the gods don't really care."

Percy frowned into the flames. The Dursley's had taught him to be weary of authority figures, everything they put him through made in hard to trust, but if it were Harry on this quest... His little brother was saved from the brunt of the abuse so he searched for positive interaction with adults wherever he could get it. The only reason why it wasn't as concerning a trait as it could be was because the nine year old (almost 10) deferred to Percy in most situations so his older brother could protect him from being hurt or taken advantage of. The Son of Poseidon was pulled from his thoughts by Annabeth snapping to attention.

"That's it."

"What's it?"

"Hades must have the bolt."

The boys exchanged incredulous looks.

"Umm, Annabeth, if Hades had the bolt why would he send the Kindly Ones after Percy?" Castor asked slowly.

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid." Annabeth scowled. "If he didn't make it seem like he was looking for it, some of the suspicion would be on him, not just Poseidon. In sending monsters after Percy he casts further doubt onto his father."

"But Mrs. Dodds said something about Harry and you said she was talking about exchanging the bolt for my brother."

Annabeth bit her lip for a moment.

"Maybe... Maybe Hades is missing something too. His Helm. It would make sense that no one knows about it, with all the fuss that's surrounding the bolt no one would really notice or care much about Hades' Helm. The god may be one of the big three but he's always been the black sheep, he doesn't even have a seat on the Olympian Council unless it's during the Winter Solstice and even then it's mostly honorary."

"Well we don't have either of them so how could we get my brother? We have nothing to trade."

The three of them sat thinking, occasionally glancing at each other as though looking for answers in their fire lit faces.

"I think we can figure it out tomorrow guys. But I guess we know why we're journeying west now." Annabeth said, laying out her sleeping bag.

The boys followed her lead, creating a triangular border around the dancing flames.

"Alright so I know what you're talking about," Castor started sleepily. "But for Percy's benefit I think you should explain it."

Percy rolled his eyes but listened when the Ravenclaw spoke.

"It is said that the entrance to the Underworld is in the west."

Grey eyes met sea green.

"Looks like saving your brother is part of the quest after all."