Previously:
A rustle of leaves and light footsteps then I suddenly saw a face I did not realize I had missed.

"Aww," she let out before dropping next to me and running her fingers through my fur.

You won't be saying that when you realize who I am, I thought with a mental snigger. I now have blackmail.

"You will be coming with me," Thalia said, picking me up with a surprising amount of ease. "We will fix you right up."

I can honestly say that I have never been more weirded out by a dimension. And that's saying a lot considering the sunshine and daisies dimension I just came from. And that fairy tale one...

Maybe I should focus more on going into saner dimensions.

I have spent the past hour and a half being pet and passed around the hunters to be cooed over. Apparently, I wasn't a wolf like I initially thought. I am a wolf pup. Not only is it awkward but it's embarrassing.

"Where did you find him, Thalia?" That was the current hunter hugging and squeezing me like I was a stuffed animal. My leg had been bandaged but still, every move to it hurt like Hades.

At my whimper of pain, Thalia took me back. Which I was grateful for because I knew she would at least not be so touchy-feely. Or so I thought.

I let out a huff of annoyance as Thalia kissed my nose. How ridiculous, my cousin would never show her affection that way. It was normally small electric zaps or punches.

"In the forest," she answered.

"Why were you in there?" A different girl asked. "Phoebe already went hunting today and Atlanta is on patrol."

"I was trying to follow...him," Thalia's voice dropped to a low whisper.

Him? Who's him? I thought to myself.

"Why? Do you not trust the Guardian?" This voice belonged to a small girl of around ten. I'm pretty sure she was fairly new because any other hunter would not have said that about this Guardian who is so obviously a male. "He brought Zöe back, didn't he?"

Zöe?

"No, and neither should you," a new voice said. "We don't know who he is."

"Lady Artemis! How did it go?" Every hunter was looking eagerly at the auburn haired goddess for a response.

"Lord Zeus will not change his mind," Artemis said. "He is convinced more than ever now that we need the Guardian. And he insisted it was not his choice on whether he stayed or not."

There were groans all around.

"Fine," Phoebe said. "We'll make him want to leave."

There were murmurs of agreement.

Artemis, however where very uncomfortable with Phoebe's evil glint in her eye. "Ok, but nothing drastic," Artemis agreed. "I don't want to explain that we killed him to Father."

Thalia huffed and left the camp fire angrily with me dangling helplessly from her arms.

What the heck is going on?

When Thalia finally stopped, she sat on a fallen tree and lifted me to her face. We stayed there for an unknown amount of time. Until-

"What are you going to name him?"

I yelped in surprise and twisted in the hands holding me in midair to see a ninja fall front he trees and land right in front of Thalia. He had a deep hood and wore a blue tinged cloak with silver lining. A bow and quiver hung on his right shoulder and a pair of knives at his waist. His voice sounded familiar too, like I know it on a very personal level. Or like I'd heard it recently.

"That is what I was trying to figure out until you dropped out of nowhere!" Thalia put me down so she could stand her full short height and scold the ninja with her hands free. "Speaking of names, what's yours?"

"Guardian," the ninja said in an exasperated tone like he'd been asked that already.

Now that I was free, I limped forward, sniffing at the man's boots. He smelled really familiar.

"How can we trust you to guard us if you don't tell us your real name?" Thalia demanded. "Or show us your face for that matter!"

She's got a point there, dude.

The man sighed. He must have realized this too. "Fine," he said. His hands reached up to his hood and grasped the edges. He hesitated here, as if unsure if he should do this. Then he brought the hood down.

What ever I'd been expecting, it was definitely not that. I sat down hard on my rump, looking up at my doppelgänger who's sole attention was on my cousin. He looked like a much better version of me. His grey streak was gone for some reason. He seemed taller than what I would be but I can't really tell that because I am currently in dog form.

My cousin was suspiciously quiet. I chanced a glance back up at her only to see her hands covering her mouth and tears appearing out of the corners of her eyes.

"Percy?" She whispered hesitantly only to receive a small smirk from the ninja that was me but not me.

"Hey, Pinecone face," he said softly.

"You Kelp-head! We thought you were dead!" You did?

"I was," Not-me said. What?

That caused the strange, emotional version of my cousin to let out a sob and throw her arms around the only other human in sight. "What happened?" She asked.

"After Annabeth and everyone at camp betrayed me, I left, not caring where I went, I just knew I had to leave because no one would believe me when I said I didn't do it," Not-me started. As he continued his story-of which I was only half listening-I realized he had almost the same thing happen to him as me. The only difference was the gods took my side and the campers had no part in it. He came across the most powerful being in the universe and because a Guardian to protect the next worthy deity that called for aid. Which just happened to be Artemis. The poor guy.

Then Thalia explained that Artemis and the Hunt never believed the...you know, she used a term for Annabeth that was totally expected but not entirely polite for me to repeat.

Not-me seemed mildly shocked that the Hunt and Artemis had taken his side. Which was understandable, who would have expected a whole group of man hating hunters to be on a man's side?

Yeah, me neither.

I sniffed in disbelief and looked around the clearing only to stop and sniff again. That smelled like the huntress that had squeezed me before. I barked to warn Thalia and Not-me. I knew my doppelgänger would want to reveal himself on his own terms.

The hood went back up and Not-me disappeared into the trees.

"Thalia?"

"Zöe?" Thalia called out, picking me up again. Which was unfortunate because I really wanted to go and find a door. I did not want to stay in this insane world any longer. Unfortunately there aren't any doors on the tents in camp. So I'm stuck for the foreseeable future.

Wait, did she say Zöe?

"Thalia, I heard you found a wolf cub," the dark haired, dark eyed daughter of Atlas emerged from the trees. "Have you named him yet?"

Thalia held me up to Zöe's face and said, "No, do you have any ideas?"

"His eyes are just like Perseus'," Zöe commented.

I was frozen, right in front of my face was Zöe Nightshade. One of the people I failed to protect in my youth. She's back? How? The little girl mentioned the Guardian? Did my doppelgänger bring back the dead? Again, how?

"They are, huh?" Thalia brought me back so she could stick her face in mine. "And the grey streak is like how Percy's was right after he held the sky up."

Yeah, it had started fading but it came back for some reason after Tartarus. It hasn't changed since.

"How about Maelstrom?" Zöe suggested. "His eyes hold storms."

Wait, where's her old speak?"

And I thought we were in the forest in the middle of the day. How did we get back to camp at night? What are we doing just waiting at the table?

Well, the hunters were waiting at the table. I assume Thalia had put me with the rest of their wolf pack. Because that's were I was at the moment.

What the heck is going on? I thought.

They normally sit down around the thing of wood called a table to eat their food, cam a reedy voice. Normally at the same times everyday.

I looked around only to see a grey wolf looking at me and wagging his tail. What?

I know, it's weird, the wolf tole me. They eat with sticks too but not eat the sticks themselves.

I just looked at the wolf, too weirded out to say anything now.

They call me Poco, have they given you a name yet? He asked now.

He's more annoying than Nico was.

They call me Maelstrom, I answered shortly. Where is their food?

The new guy makes it, Poco answered. The girls don't like him but I do. He gives me big pieces of meat.

I cook in this dimension?

As if on cue, Not-me came through the tent flaps and asked what everyone wanted to eat.

Their orders were nothing alike. They were asking for foods ranging from steak to pasta and I'd started to wonder how exactly this Percy would be able to cook it all. The hunters looked ready to eat now.

Then food just started appearing out of no where in front of each girl. Some good sized pieces of meat appeared in his hands and he knelt on the ground in front of the pack to give it to them. All the wolves attacked the meat, leaving room for me.

Seeing this, the Guardian moved to me and...summoned? A smaller pieces and placed it before me. He rubbed me on the ears-which was so weird-and left me to the food.

So is this a power that resulted from being an adopted son of Hestia in this dimension? If so, I want in.

But none of that was the weirdest part. The weirdest part was when he left. Without eating.

Does this guy not eat?

I was just about to turn to my food and eat-because I'm not a barbarian-when the scenery changed.

Again.

This time, I happened to be in Thalia's tent, in a makeshift bed she'd made for me. I shook my head to get rid of the vertigo.

All these jumps were starting to get to me.

I laid there, not feeling hungry even though I never got the chance to eat and soaking in the awkward atmosphere I was creating for myself. My cousin, who was a hunter of Artemis, was sleeping not too far away from me. Without a care in the world. At the moment.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore so I got up and limped outside. Dragging my 'bed' with me, I stopped just outside her tent flaps and plopped down again, now feeling much more comfortable. Except I couldn't sleep. So I lay awake, watching the shadows in the forest.

It was in the early hours of the morning that something happened. Something in the forest moved and I almost raised the alarm but I saw it was just Not-me running off for some reason.

Not too long after, I saw bursts of light in the distance and light that could only be fire. Then I heard the faint screams of monsters and clangs of metal on metal.

That was when I started barking. I got up on all fours even though my ankle still hurt like Hades. My small voice barely reached the edge of the camp but fortunately, the girls heard me and saw the lights.

Thalia ran out of her tent with her bow and spear strapped to her back. She pet me on the head and whispered, "Stay here, Maelstrom, good boy,"

I whimpered, wishing I could go but my ankle kept me from moving much. So I plopped my rump on the dirt and watched anxiously.

It felt like ages until I saw and heard someone coming back. They were rushing, which worried me.

Then, three to four hunters came in, holding a stretcher with Thalia in the lead and Artemis not too far behind.

"Get him to the infirmary tent!"

Him?

Is Not-me wounded?

"Where's the ambrosia and nectar?"

Badly it appears. That can't be good. I caught a glimpse of him as he was carried by and I whimpered again. He had part of a spear in his side and multiple cuts all over him. His hood was also down so they all knew it who it was. Knowing it was me made it even worse.

Suddenly, Artemis seemed to have made a choice.

"Put him down!" After they did as she said, she continued, "Apollo! Get your sorry, lazy butt down here!"

A flash of light and a familiar blond, smiley god of the sun appeared. "You called, little sis?"

Artemis stomped over, grabbed his arm and pulled him to where Not-me was laying on the ground. "Heal him!" She said forcefully.

Apollo blanched. "Percy, oh, gods," he muttered, kneeling down to lay his hand on the unconscious Guardian's wounds.

His hands glowed, sealing Percy's wounds as they did so. As the last cut scarred over, Apollo sagged to the earth, obviously exhausted from the amount of healing power it took out of him.

"Thank you, brother," Artemis said softly.

"I'll be at my place if you need me, taking a nap," Apollo yawned then he flashed out.

"Take him to my tent," Artemis ordered, still quietly.

Say what? What was wrong with the infirmary?

Next thing I know, my ankle is only a little sore, it's around mid-day and no one is around but me to hear Not-me scream like a little girl when he woke up. Good thing for that because Percy-no matter which dimension you're in-never lives down stuff like that with Thalia around.

The Percy of this dimension came out of Artemis' tent and looked around only to see me, waiting patiently.

"Hey, Maelstrom, where is everybody?" He asked, coming to give me a scratch behind the ears.

I had no idea, seeing as this dimension does weird time skips that make no sense but I had a clue. I could hear them talking by the camp fire.

Upon arriving, I found out it had turned into story time. Where this Percy told his story of how he because their Guardian.

Turns out he was adopted by Hestia and the fire light from the night before was his fire sword. I never got one of those! Then Hestia presented him to the Olympian council as her champion and so then a random powerful being called Chaos appointed him as Artemis' Guardian.

This is all after Annabeth betrays him much like she did me and he ran away. I felt for him but the thing that was throwing me off was the fact that he and Artemis were sitting rather close together and obviously had feelings for each other. That and I don't have a fire sword.

I wonder if I could do that with Riptide. Just coat the blade with my fire powers...I'll try it when I turn into a human again.

Once story time was over and the hunters each showed a surprising amount of remorse and love for the alternate me, Artemis spoke up. "I have an unfortunate announcement to make," she shifted in her seat by the fire. "Lord Zeus has ordered us to head to Camp Half-Blood tomorrow because of the attack last night."

Of course, cue the protests.

"There's no use arguing, Father has ordered it," Artemis said over their loud protests. "At the very least, we can make the best of it."

"Pranks?" I'm pretty sure that was Phoebe who suggested that a little too excitedly.

"Of course!" Thalia agreed without hesitation.

Oh, Styx.

I stumbled from my walking because I didn't even know I was walking. I was following at Thalia's heals, that much I could figure out because she bent down and picked me up after I fell.

"I know this is s lot of walking, Maelstrom but we're almost there," she muttered into my fur. "Your foot isn't quite healed yet, I'll carry you from here."

Soon, from my elevated height thanks to Thalia, I could see the hill with her tree the same time she did. I tensed the same time she did, I almost forgot that I hadn't been back since...yeah. I accidentally flooded the place.

Zöe blew the hunter's horn as we crested the hill and I saw almost the entirety of camp.

Ah, nostalgia. Gotta love it.

Then a blonde daughter of Athena appears out fo nowhere.

Oh, hello, bad memories. Wasn't expecting you until August.

"Thalia!" She smiled, oh, so innocently. "What are you guys doing here?"

Just as she approached, I let out a low growl and squirmed in my cousin's arms.

Holding me close to her chest, she glared at her oldest friend. "You stay away from me, traitor," she spat. "I know what you did to Percy."

Annabeth's face went white. "Wh-what do you mean?" She asked.

I knew what she was really asking and I growled as Thalia walked us past her. She knew everyone would turn against her if they found out the truth. So she is asking how Thalia found out.

Not-me waited patiently outside as the hunters entered Artemis' cabin and got settled. I walked slowly from my spot on a bunk bed to the door and sat facing it awkwardly. I wondered long-sufferingly why Thalia didn't leave me outside with the pack or with Percy.

That's so weird, talking about myself because I'm the third person here.

Thankfully, someone saw my struggle and opened the door for me, allowing me to go free. I ran out, only to go head first into the back of the Guardian's legs. Falling backwards, almost in a summer salute, I huffed in annoyance. I am not liking my small form right now.

Not-me chuckled and stepped to the side to allow me passage. "Sorry, Maelstrom," he said, still laughing.

If you were sorry, you wouldn't be laughing, I thought, and proceeded to walk off with my nose in the air. That happened to illicit another laugh from him.

As I explored the camp, I realized I was in close proximity to a lot of doors that can take me to a much more sane world. Then I sighed because now I wanted to stay. It was nice being back at camp. No one recognized me and left me alone. I decided that if I ever went back, I would go in disguise. Except maybe as a bigger dog or something.

Not only did people not recognize me, they didn't see me. Not until they almost stepped on me anyways.

Soon it was dinner time, shown by the conch horn and everyone came running in an unorganized way. It was uneventful at the moment...

Which is weird because anytime things got uneventful, this world would just do a time skip or something.

"What are you girls doing at camp, anyways?" Someone from the Ares table yelled over. "Looking for some fun?"

There it is. Something's happening!

The obnoxious boy's comment received a round of laughter from his immediate reineds.

Fortunately, the girls knew enough to not say anything back.

Unfortunately, the boy didn't want to stop trying. Something in his pride demanded he get up and lean over the end of the hunter's table in what was I think supposed to be a seductive way.

This was a red flag for a lot fo people. Lots of conversations stopped and I sat up, looking around for Not-me. Both Not-me and Artemis was missing for some reason. Which was also a red flag. The son of Ares was making himself too comfortable at the table.

"Hello, darling, would you like to join me in the woods tonight?" He said, trying to sound alluring.

Now, I would have been able to keep my cool had he hit on Thalia Grace or even Phoebe. I know they can take care of themselves, even against someone of his size. No it was because he was doing it with little Mindy.

Been with the Hunt only a year and was only twelve. Granted, she had the attitude to go with her age and could definitely take your feelings apart like cotton balls.

I held back to see what she would do but I could feel the rage building up. What should have made me felt better was her response but I saw the clench in his jaw afterwards.

She looked him up and down, not bothering to hid her disgust. "What kind of fun would you be able to give?" She asked, causing Thalia and Phoebe to snort. Then she leant forward eagerly. "Do you love shooting guys between the legs too?"

Again, there were snorts but this time it was from the whole hunter's table and from the neighboring tables.

If the tick in his jaw wasn't enough of a warning, his fist slamming against the table was. His other hand moved to grip her arm and as he spoke, his southern accent came through.

"Oh, I don't think that was such a good idea, darlin'," he sneered.

Almost at the same time, his buddies stood to back him up and Thalia and the rest of the hunters stood to help Mindy. Not only that but I'd finally had enough of this nameless character. I filled my lungs to start barking angrily, wishing more than ever that I had a bigger body. Or that the Guardian was here. Where was he?

Instead of barking, though, a yell-a human yell-came out of my lips. Somehow, I had transformed back. I've got to learn how I do that. It's very inconvenient.

"Percy?"

Murmurs erupted and the Ares boys paled but didn't back down.

"You step away from her or you are going to find water in places they shouldn't be at times you least expect it," I growled out. "And maybe even fire."

"Fire?" The Ares boy was thrown off. "You don't have fire powers."

"Wanna bet?" I held up my hand, which was now on fire.

"I'd back down if I were you," heads turned to see the Guardian at the edge of the pavilion.

"Where've you been?" I asked.

"Talking with Lady Artemis," he answered. "She wanted to make sure her hunters would be looked after while she was gone." He paused, slowly walking to the Ares boy's face. "Or avenged."

"No offense, dude," the kid gulped, sending me nervous glances. "But you don't scare me nearly as much as Jackson does."

I glanced at Guardian and smirked. "Dude, I already know everything, I was Maelstrom," I informed him. "I'm just Percy from another dimension though."

Guardian hesitated a second then brought down his hood, smirking. "How'd you end up here?" He asked.

"Long story," turning back to the Ares kid, I stared him down.

"There's two of them?" He whispered in shock, backing away, hands up. If possible, he paled even more.

"Boo," I said, causing him to fall down and scramble away. Laughing, I turned to fist bump Not-me.

"Percy?" Thalia whispered, looking back and forth.

I pointed to my look-a-like. "He's yours, I'm from a different dimension," I assured her.

"Maelstrom?" She asked now, looking only at me.

"Also me," I nodded. "Good name, by the way, Zöe. I liked it." I choked up a little when I looked at Zöe. "Great to see you, by the way," I continued. "You're still dead in my world."

"Percy!" An almost inhuman shriek pierced the air.

We both pulled out our weapons-him the bow, me Riptide-and pointed it in the direction of the blonde banshee that broke our hearts. "You take one more step towards either of us and you get an arrow and sword through you," Not-me growled.

"Percy?" She whimpered. Looking at me she said, "What did I do to you?"

I stepped back, closer to the one with the long range weapon. I still felt uneasy around her. "You cursed me and my peace with myself," I answered. I felt the panic rising and started shaking. "You stay away from me!"

"Perce?" Not-me said uncertainly.

"Not much of a different story from yours, brother," I said shakily. I didn't move my eyes from her. She still creeped me out. "Hestia adopted me, Mom and Paul are dead and this pathetic excuse of a demigod with her 'real' boyfriend showed her true colors. Only difference is that I travel from different dimensions and I'm not falling in love with the goddess of anti-love."

"What?"

"What, you don't think I haven't noticed?" I turned slightly to face him, keeping the blonde in my vision. "The whole hunt has and we may be oblivious to our feelings but we can see it plain as day in other people. I'm guessing you have a way around the oath?"

"Y-yeah," he answered stutteringly.

"Good," I said, patting his shoulder. Still eyeing the daughter of Athena, I moved around the Hunt's table to Thalia. Now that there was a whole table full of avenging hunters in between us, I felt a little safer. "I have to go now, it was great seeing you all again even though you aren't from my world. Zöe-" I stopped, still amazed Not-me brought her back. "Y-you know I never meant-that I...I'm sorry-"

"-Percy," she interrupted kindly and with a hint of amusement. "I know, you don't have to apologize."

"But I-"

"It's good to see you're the same no matter what you go through, Percy," Zöe interrupted again with a smile.

I smiled and ducked my head. "Well, good-bye everyone," I said. "Sorry about the identity thing, my friend."

Not-me grinned as we shook hands and fist bumped. "It was going to happen eventually," he answered.

I acknowledged that with a tilt of my head. "That's probably true," I agreed. "We're not very good at keeping secrets."

"How are you leaving," it was that pest and traitor again. The sudden reminder caused me to jump and hide more behind Thalia.

"Like I would tell you," Not-me sneered, drawing his arrow back again. "I'll take you to the Big House, Perce."

We finally made it safely to the Big House and Percy re-asked the question. "I go through a door," I answered with a smile. "The first time was after this long incantation but now all I have to do is think about it."

"Awesome," Not-me whispered.

"One thing before I go," I said, turning serious. "You know she's a maiden-man-hating goddess, right?"

"Yes," Not-me looked like he didn't know what I was getting at. Oh, well. His problem, not mine.

"Okay then," I shrugged and moved to the door. "See you in the mirror, Percy!"

Not-me chuckled. "Bye, brother!"

This trip, I focused on walking through the door. Not falling. Of course, being me, I had to still fall into some kind of mess. I fell flat on my face in some sort of lab. There was a lot of rushing and fussing until I was finally left alone, trying to blink away the blurriness.

"The clone only suffered a momentary lapse in focus, he is fine," a voice said.

"How? He is the clone mix of Superman, the Martian and Batman, at least two of the three have too much brain power to loose focus," another voice said.

"He was only first awoken two minutes ago," the first voice said. "He is getting used to his bearings. Cadmus' new weapon will be ready for orders momentarily."

Weapon? Clone? That sounds like I was made to be a tool. A pawn. No thank you. Ten seconds here and I already need to get out of here. With the body. If I leave this body behind, which I suspect will happen, they willl have their 'weapon' anyways.