Welcome to the Hunter
Background: Percy's mother passes away when he is just a child. Percy, as a result, runs away from home from his abusive step-father. He starts living in the wild and becomes an excellent Hunter due to some help ( It gets a lot more complicated ). Details will come later in the story.
Disclaimer: I own everything. Well, except anything related to Percy Jackson.
Lets begin.
"Life's unfair. But you must persevere. Because, after all, tough situations do not last, tough people do" ~ The Hunter
-The Hunter-
It was inevitable and Thalia knew it. The monsters had been constantly gaining on them. She knew that one of them would have to stay behind to defend against the horde of the monsters. "It is my mess" thought Thalia, sighing internally "and I better clear it up"
"I am staying behind" said Thalia, facing Luke and Annabeth while running, "No, Luke. You know that all of this is my fault. I am going to clear this mess even if it costs me my life"she said again, just as Luke was about to mouth his protest.
"Very well" Luke said with a pained smile, knowing that this would be the last time he would see his friend, "See you in the afterlife, Thals" and Thalia nodded. With that, Annabeth and Luke, both giving her a sad and heartbroken smile, ran away into the safe zone which is the opening of Camp Half-Blood.
The monsters were all in front of her now. "I am going to enjoy your blood, Daughter of Zeus" said a Fury with a sadistic and gleeful smile.
"Bring it on, scum" shouted Thalia as she took out her shield and spear to get ready for the fight of her life. Just as the first monster was about to attack Thalia, it was attacked by a silver throwing knife which embedded itself in the ground as the monster turned to dust.
"Oi! Alecto, what have I told you about attacking demigods with an army?" came a taunting voice from the woods. The Fury froze in fear which stopped all the monsters from attacking. "Now that's better, is it not?" said the voice again. Then, much to Thalia's surprise, a person wearing a black hoodie and jacket came down from a branch of a tree and stopped in front of Thalia and took out his knife from the ground.
"The Hunter! Why are you here?" screeched the Fury " I was never told about your involvement"
"Oh really, now? " said the person while keeping a hand on his chin, as if in deep thought. "Oh, right! Zeus has hired my services to protect his little daughter from little monsters like you" giving Thalia a smirk, "Now, why dont you guys scramble, so that you can live?"
"Curse you!" said the Fury, as all the monsters started charging them both.
"Oh! thats so sad. I can just feel your love" said the person sarcastically. The person just ran to the monsters at high speeds and then started moving through them with a celestial bronze knife as if they were transparent. Then, the person stopped and sheathed his knife again. Just as he did that, all of the monsters turned to dust except the Fury which was flying in the air. "So, Alecto, will you be leaving now peacefully or should I use force?" said the person with a dark smile as he turned to look at the Fury.
"Just you wait! My master will hear of it" screeched the Fury as she disappeared.
Thalia was in awe of the person. He killed all those monsters as if they were nothing. She would have loved to train with him if they had met on any other day but the circumstances of today were such that she was left with very few options.
"Why are you here?" said Thalia, with a guarded look. "And who are you?"
" I mean you no harm, Miss Grace. I am here to do exactly what I said I will, that is, to protect you. Your dad has hired my services. I go by the name 'The Hunter' for my exemplary hunting skills" said the person, shrugging. Just as he said that, a lighning bolt hit nearby.
"You know what this means, Miss Grace? Your precious little daddy is calling you" said the person as he grabbed her wrist and disappeared with her, before she could retaliate.
A few moments later, a small group of campers arrived at the site. Suddenly, Annabeth fell down to her knees and started crying, hard.
"They took her, Luke! They didn't even leave her corpse behind. Damn those monster scum" said Annabeth, her gut-wrenching sobs echoing into the solemn night.
Luke kept a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. " Stop crying, Annie. Thals wouldn't want you to cry for her. She would probably whack you on the head and tell you to grow up. She died the death of a noble hero. I respect that. You should too"
Annabeth narrowed her puffy red eyes at him. "So, what would have me do? Forget her and move on? Are you saying her death was justified? How could you? I thought you were like her brother. I hate you, Luke. I hope I never see you again" with that, Annabeth ran back to the camp, not even turning to see Luke's heartbroken face as he tried to stop her but, it was all for naught.
What no one noticed was that there was no blood left behind. A small little mistake that changed the world, as we know it.
Meanwhile, in Olympus
The atmosphere was tense and stifling. They had just seen what had transpired in the aftermath of Thalia's survival. The reactions in the room were extremely varied. Some were indifferent,(Zeus, Hera, Ares) some were sad with a hint of nostalgia, (Athena, The Hunter, Artemis, Hephaestus), one was gleeful and the others faces were sympathetic. Thalia was feeling extremely nervous trying her hardest not to break down in front of the council. After all, it was her fault that her childhood friends had broken up.
"Thalia Grace" Zeus' voice rumbled. "You have been called here for a very important decision of your life. It has been decided by the council that you will given the choice of immortality in honour of your noble deeds. Choose wisely, daughter. The fate of Olympus depends on it. I recommend that you accept the offer"
Thalia's volatile emotions converted to white hot anger as she realised that Zeus did not even inquire of her feelings. "You do not care, do you! All my life I have survived without depending on you! You did not give a single indication that you love me or you care for me! I guess it is true! I HATE YOU! ITS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"You shall not speak in this way to me, daughter!" said Zeus, some of his true power showing, "I shall not tolerate this insolent behaviour! You spoiled brat!"
Thalia was shocked. So, he did not care after all. "Sorry for my outburst, Lord Zeus" said Thalia in a ice cold tone, bowing "Can you give me some time to think on your offer? My head is not clear. Losing both of my only friends may be the cause"
"Understandable. You shall be given fifteen days to think on the offer" said Zeus. With that, most of the council members were about to leave the hall, but were stopped by Zeus' voice. "The Council is not adjourned. We still have one more thing to discuss. Who are you, Hunter? Remove your hood"
"I am under no obligation to answer any of your questions" The Hunter replied coldly, "I have no loyalty to Olympus. But you must know that I hold no grudge and do not have any personal reason to attack the Gods. I am merely a mercenary."
"Give me one reason to not kill you where you stand for your insolence" Zeus said menacingly. Just as The Hunter was about to reply, Artemis cut him off, much to the others' surprise.
"Please" said Artemis, in a soft yet firm tone, "Do not make this hard for Father, Perce. Tell him your identity and heritage as a personal favour for me" ignoring all the other peoples' shocked looks.
"Fine, but you owe me one, Lady Artemis and you know what it means" The Hunter grumbled as he removed his hood, revealing jet black hair and vibrant sea green eyes.
Everyone was extremely shocked, including Poseidon, except Artemis and Athena. Both of them were personally acquainted with Perseus and his antics. As to how they met him.. let's just say that it was luck. Thalia was mesmerised by his eyes. They had so much depth in them that Thalia could literally drown in them, momentarily forgetting her problems.
"So, introduction time!" said Perseus, clapping his hands, shaking everyone out of their stupor. "My name is Perseus Jackson, or Percy, if you will. I am also known as 'The Hunter' and some people also know me as 'The Broker'. I am a son of Lord Poseidon, as most of you will have figured it out by now. As to how I know my demigod heritage, let's just say that wisdom, strategy and spite are a very bad combination. I have been trained by Lady Artemis for a couple of years and also met Lady Athena and Lady Hestia in my travels. Also met a couple of demigods, fought with them against monsters, lost both of them, have been living in the wild ever since" Percy shrugged "and I also lost my mother when I was six, you know, the usual how-I-became-so-strong-as-a-child story"
All other people in the room looked mildly disturbed, even Ares and Zeus. To survive that amount of loss and to come back as good as he is, that took a vast amount of strength, which most did not have sadly. Poseidon was feeling extremely guilty and was doing his best to stay composed. It was not easy for him to just find out he had a child, who had suffered enormous amounts of loss and did not have any sort of a parent to console him. It was a miracle that he did not hold any sort of grudge against him.
"Son, I am sorry for not being there for you" said Poseidon, looking downcast, "I know that you would not want to do anything with me but from this day on, I will always be there for you when you need me, that I swear on the River Styx" Poseidon looked determined as the thunder rumbled outside.
"Okay, good to know" said Percy, indifferent, "Well, anyways. Lord Zeus, I have done my job and will be leaving, bye! See you later"
"Perseus, stop!" said Zeus, preventing him from going back home. "I have a felling that I can trust you, although I know I should not. I have one last request, I ask that you train Thalia for the time bring, she is not well trained. "
"No way! I am not training a rookie under any conditions" said Percy, angry at the gods for having the gall to ask him to train a demigod. He was done with demigods for life. He knew he was a demigod too, but he knew it would be better to qualify him as a mercenary.
"You will ignore my direct order?!" said Zeus, apparently offended that a child would not follow his order. Seeing Percy's nod, he continued, "I am one of the strongest gods out there, fool! You will listen to me!"
"Good to know that Gods are just overpowered bullies" said Percy, his eyes cold enough to make you shiver just by looking at them. "Fine! I will train the brat! But you shall pay Lord Zeus" his voice ominous, filled with danger.
Percy took Thalia's hand and disappeared in gusts of wind, before anyone could protest. Following their departure, all of the Olympians left, most of them sending pitying glances at Poseidon's miserable state.
Somewhere in New York
Percy and Thalia reappeared in front of a normal-looking house. Percy entered the house, motioning Thalia to join him in the house.
Thalia also entered the house. It was nicely furnished. It had everything that you would want in a decent house- a couple of rooms, a television, a kitchen, and a comfy sofa. Then, Thalia realised something,
"Oi, Percy! I am not a brat!" exclaimed Thalia in an angry voice, "Just because you have suffered so much does not mean that I have not had my share of suffering"
"You shall be a brat until you can kill the horde of monsters I just did" said Percy coldly, "and you shall call me Perseus. Do not assume you have the right to call me Percy. Your training shall begin tomorrow" Just as Percy was about to retire to his room, he heard Thalia's voice.
"Does it get any easier to deal with the pain?" asked Thalia, her fury calmed for now because she knew she could not hold a candle to Percy's power, yet.
"No it does not get any easier" said Percy coldly, after taking a few calming breaths, he continued, " Look Miss Grace, Life's unfair. But you must persevere. Because, after all, tough situations do not last, tough people do. And you must know that they were lying to you. They are not offering you immortality because of what your deeds, they are offering it to you because you are a child of the Elder Three." At Thalia's questioning look, he explained "There is a prophecy that one of the children of the Big Three will be given a choice when they turn 16, which will preserve or raze Olympus"
"Why should I trust you? and how did you get this information? You are also a child of the Big Three, what will you do?"
"It is your choice to trust those who have betrayed you at every turn of your life or to trust me. As for how I know this information, there is a reason that I am called 'The Broker'. I always know. For what my opinion is worth, I think your two friends don't deserve you. If their friendship is that fragile, how do you know that they will accept you back? As for what I will do, I think I will become immortal because I do not care about anything" Percy went to a room and slept, uncaring about Thalia's feelings.
Some time later, Thalia also went in the other room and slept, given a lot to think about.
And that's a wrap. More details about some of your queries will be given as the story progresses. Like it? Hate it? Please do review. Will Thalia trust Percy? Stay tuned to find out!
Signing out,
TheDarkAce