Sally Jackson had a hard time adjusting being without Poseidon. Not only because she was heart broken and now single, but also because she was now a single mother of a demi-god. The fact that made this sound even more crazy was because the child's Father was Poseidon, one of the big three on Olympus. Or at least that is what she remembered from his stories to her and her basic knowledge of Greek gods from middle school. It makes her wonder what she did in her past life that had cursed her with the gift of seeing through the mist and falling in love with a god.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
Although, even though her son, Perseus, was a handful, she loved him with every fiber of her being.
She got up from her seat in the kitchen and adjusted her blue flannel bathrobe, leaving her blue mug of chamomile tea and brought a binky and a bottle of formula incase he needed one or the other. Normally it was dangerous having a Demi-god child, but Poseidon had promised protection for the child until he was 12, assuming Poseidon would keep this promise sally Jackson still lived in her small apartment in Mid-Town.
She reached for the doorknob when a sensation crept over her that made her freeze. She felt cold, and immense darkness.
"PERCY" she yelled as she barged into her shared room with her son and froze again in fear. In the small corner was her bed; next to it was Percy's crib. Standing next to the crib with one hand on it was a man in a suit and an open black trench coat facing her.
Instinct told her to run but she couldn't leave Percy. "Damn you Poseidon " she cursed silently and threw both binky and bottle at the mysterious figure and reached for her nightstand which stood next to the doors entrance and opened the top drawer to dig for the one weapon Poseidon left her. She found the bronze pen and uncapped it; it suddenly turned into a three foot bronze sword. Facing her intruder again to see him holding the binky and bottle she had thrown.
"Really? You would use that bronzed toothpick on me?" he laughed in a hearty raspy tone. Weirdly its what you would imagine a grandfather to sound like. He then turned to the still crying Percy and reached down with his formula bottle
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM" Sally barked, bringing back the sword as if charging to swing a baseball bat. She moved closer to him. "Who are you?" she growled
With a flick of his wrist the sword was yanked out of her hands and formed back into its pen form into his hand. He brought up the pen to inspect it "Anaklusmos," he said. "to be very honest with you it's a very fine weapon. Some find it old, and some may even called it a cursed relic, hell even Hercules didn't use it for long. But this blade is a master piece" he looked down into Percy's crib and smiled "One fit for a destined hero"
CLICK
The stranger turned to see Sally now pointing a pistol towards him. He merely sighed in frustration and pocketed the pen, "is that how all mortals treat their guests these days?" and again the flick of his wrist happened and the gun transformed into a dove and flew away into her house, but now she was stuck to the wall by an unseen force.
"Who are you!" Sally screamed once more. She was now more terrified than ever and horrid at the fact she let herself be binded so easily, not caring if she were mortal or not. "If you're going to eat anyone please oh please let it be me, just-just leave him alone please I beg of you!"
He looked in shock to her words "Eat anyone? Lady I am a Protogenoi! Oldest of all immortals! I would never dare eat anyone" he simply sighed and turned back to Percy's in his crib (Who was still crying). He gave him his bottle and picked him up to Sally's objection.
"Put him down!" she yelled. "Why do you act all scared for? Poseidon must've told you who I am?" the man replied. Sally didn't respond, only struggled against what ever was holding her to the wall. The stranger was losing patience with her, he rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were both in Sally's Kitchen sitting at the small round table, one at each end looking at each other with Percy to his mothers left in his ocean blue baby seat, drinking away his bottle as if nothing had happened.
Sally didn't seem fazed by the sudden movement to her kitchen but was more worried for Percy. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret Sally. I do not wish ill against young Perseus" came the stranger's raspy voice. She picked up Percy from his baby seat, unfazed by the use of her name from the stranger. She carefully tried not to spill his bottle and looked towards the stranger with malice. "Sorry if I don't believe you, its kind of hard to believe anyone once you give birth to someone like Percy, so tell me. Why should I trust you?"
A sudden cooing noise startled Sally, making her break her gaze on the stranger. He waned his hand and the kitchen window opened to let the bird out, another wave and Sally's mugged cloned itself and darted towards his other hand resting on the table. "Because if you haven't noticed by now I have not only stuck you to a wall but I know both your names and have taken both your sons sword and to my confusion a pistol which I assumed is filled with" with a flick of his hands the pistol appeared floating in front of them. Slowly by an unseen force was being taken apart revealing the parts and finally showed the bronze bullets in the cartridge and chamber "celestial bronze bullets, my my my." He took a sip from his cloned mug, " Demi-gods sure have gotten busy upgrading weapons to stay current with this century" with another wave of his hands the gun and all its parts vanished. " I will say this though, I find guns very cowardly, it takes a true man to learn the ways of the sword"
"The gun was something my…last lover left for safety. The sword is what you assumed"
"No-" he cut her off, "not assumed, I knew. Although I will admit I did not see the gun, that caught me by surprise, I am too lax in my age, although I guess I can blame it on the fact that I am very very old, but don't let that fool you, as I said. I disarmed you in seconds, and had you pinned against a wall. If I wanted you dead you would've been long time ago. I did not come here to kill you, you made that assumption yourself, but by what you stated I really can't blame you."
Sally got a closer look at the stranger to see he indeed looked old, his wrinkles somehow made his face look old but young at heart. His eyes were a startling emerald green, and his hair was natty and dark grey and his stubble looked more than a couple weeks worth, He reminded Sally of the hobos she would see down at central park at night. Though his suit would beg to differ.
"Okay, ill believe you" she sat down back in her chair and put Percy back into his baby seat "Who are you?" and with that the stranger smiled. "I am Chaos, your Great-great grandfather in law."
"What!" exclaimed Sally standing from her chair "you shouldn't exist" and she looked intensely at him. She did believe he was some sort of immortal, but she had presumed a titan or maybe Zeus himself. But the god of all gods?
Chaos merely smiled and gestured to himself "Yet here I am, let me guess, the gods think I am dead? Or perhaps I am nothing but a myth to them?" he laughed into his mug as he took another sip. The gods these days were very curious creatures to him. It has been long since he has interacted with any of them, the last of any interaction he's had was with another Protogenoi. It was his daughter Gaea; he had hoped to interact with them more. Something had held him back, probably the blasted fates. Curse his choice to make them a little bit more powered than him.
"From what Poseidon has told me, you shouldn't exist! All the Olympians think of you as a scary bedtime story" he raised an eyebrow to that, "Really now? Am I a fear or a lesson to the gods?" he asked. He felt a little disrespected, but then again it had been so long since he had been around.
Sally shrugged and shook her head "I wouldn't know, When Poseidon mentioned you he wasn't scared. He was more intrigued then scared."
"Curious, I guess I shall make myself present to them sometime in the foreseeable future. Now Sally, I have a question for you. Do you know why it is dangerous to bare a child of the big three Olympians?" he asked the question sternly.
She nodded, "They were banned because of world war two, something about them being too dangerous. But slip ups happen" she then looked to Percy and smiled as her eyes caught his own. She lifted him from his seat and hugged him, "but I don't see how they can be so different from other half bloods"
Chaos took a sip from his mug before he continued, "The way they are different from other Half-Bloods is that they acquire dangerous abilities from their godly parent. Children of Zeus I have seen have had the ability to use lightning as a weapon, conduct it, and to call upon commands of wind, they can even further their control on wind to fly. Children of Hades have abilities to raise and command the dead, to use a special type of transporting ability called shadow travel. Children of Poseidon though, I see them as the most dangerous" Chaos glanced at young Percy with wonder, "For like their father, they can rock the earth beneath them, call upon the waves to aid them, water gives them a huge boost in energy and can heal them within seconds. In some instances they have made small sized scaled hurricanes and sometimes can conduct lightning thrown at them. Even though they can't summon it like children of Zeus they can wield it just the same. That is why they are deemed dangerous"
The room went silent (as silent as can be with Percy babbling)
Looking down at her son Sally felt dread for his future. She wondered if he would be able to control these abilities, or if he would live past teenage years if he posed as such a threat. "Oh Percy" she kissed his head and held him close. She turned her eyes to Chaos. "I doubt you came all this way to warn me about Percy's abilities, I could've learned that from his father"
"You are a smart one" he grinned and sipped again from the mug then made it vanish, "I can see why Poseidon was smitten with you-"
"Apparently not smitten enough" Sally muttered under her breath and put Percy back into his seat and traded his now empty bottle with his binky
"-I came here because there is an evil coming." His face turned to one of sorrow, "As you might know, I am only one of 7 Protogenoi; Gaea, Tartarus, Nyx, Ahklys, Ouranos, Pontus, and Erebos. My sons and daughters that I created after I was 'born' into this universe" he got up stood in front of the kitchen window and gazed out to the moon, "My eldest daughter, Gaea. She bares hatred towards me because she believes I abandoned her and her siblings. In reality I did leave hastily, but my presence on earth is, quite unhealthy." He sighed and looked back to Sally
"Wait, how are you here then?" she asked with one eyebrow raised
"To be frank, I am not really here. I do have not held a physical form for many millennia. I never had the ability to do so, for me to do so would be ridiculous. I am too powerful to take a physical form by myself. I need a conduit of some sorts, a vessel if you must. What you see before you is what you would call a hologram, an echo of me. Although I did catch what you threw at me I never really held it, and the tea I drank. Well, that was real I am quite parched and do love chamomile tea, I can intake sacrifices like gods and titans do." He chuckled, "But to finish answering you original question, my daughter Gaea hates me. When she first told her youngest son to kill my Ouranos, it was a cry of hatred for me. Even though she did it to save her other sons she was convinced I would come back to her domain and forgive her for leaving; but as I watched my son perish I could not return, I could not stop her, I could not meddle. She believes I had truly abandoned her, in reality I could not return because my presence on earth could actually be enough to destroy it." He sighed in sadness "I don't know where I went wrong, before the earth had formed, before Gaea had her domain, we were all happy, like an actual family."
Sally could not believe she was seeing a god in sadness about his family. The only one she had seen act this way was Poseidon when he told her he had to leave. "I had no idea Gods had good lives as a family, no offense" she winced, that had sounded better in her head.
Chaos chuckled "They let their immortality get to their heads. I had taught them to be humble, but children rarely do listen to their parents. Well parent in my case." He looked towards Percy " I know I may not act like any other gods you may have seen or interacted with. But I was alone in the void for almost three thousand years before my children came into existence by my hand. When you are in the void for so long you cherish the company of others, when my son Ouranos had perished. I was filled with an enormous sadness, I could only mourn him from afar." His voice filled with pain, a lone golden tear slipped from his right eye, Sally felt sad for him. "Gaea is returning from her sleep that the gods and their children put her into from the Giants wars. I fear that because of the fact that the gods have been too lax in this millennia they wont have the power to vanish her once again. Her timing when she returns couldn't be any more bad. Exactly a year before her return another threat to Olympus will arise. The Titans Kronos returns to wage another Titan war against Olympus "
Sally rose her eyebrows "Why do you come here to tell me this? Why not simply go to Olympus to tell them? I'm pretty sure they can believe that you are alive after all this time. Surely they would believe you" she pondered. He simply grinned and looked towards Percy, he had fallen asleep in his chair. We walked to him "May I?" he asked Sally, making a gesture as to pick him up "Oh um, sure" and he picked him up and held him, he looked at Percy with a sad smile. "You mortals are so very lucky, you get to see your children grow into adulthood. With us immortals we can appear as grown adults when we are born" he put a finger into Percy's hand and grinned as Percy gripped tightly. "I came here not to just warn you and tell you of Percy's ability. I tell you because young Perseus is a viable candidate to be my vessel."
Sally's heart stopped for a full minute (well not really but she was terrified)
"What?" was all she could muster
"Come" said Chaos, "Lets see young Perseus to bed before I explain, I would not like the young one to wake up so soon." He walked to Sally's bedroom, Sally just behind him. Once in the room he gave Percy to his mother "I know this may come and sound like bad tidings but I do not believe that the gods will be able to handle Gaea's return so soon after the Titans. I fear they will not have the strength, they have been lax for too long!"
Sally tucked Percy in and laid a small dolphin plushy into his out stretched arms. She kissed his for head and held in a tear. She quickly wiped it away before Chaos could see. "What happens if he weren't your vessel? As in I say no" her voiced wavered but she pulled herself through to ask it.
"That choice I am afraid isn't yours to make, for my vessel to accept me they must give me their consent and their consent only. But that is only reserved for my vessels, if I were to say, enter a random man or woman they wouldn't be able to contain me. They would burst into flames before I was really ever in them" he put a hand onto her shoulder in comfort "If my daughter were to win it would mean the end of all mortals. Sally everyone on this earth is in Gaea's domain." Sally turned to Chaos but couldn't make eye contact and looked down in thought, "Why is Percy so special that makes him qualified to be your vessel?"
"It is what he WILL do that makes him special" he moved his hand from her shoulder and tilted her head so her eyes met his; Sally felt as if the floor had given up underneath her and she began to fall as darkness surrounded her
Sally was disoriented because of the sudden movement but she landed safely onto her feet into nothingness. She looked everywhere around her and saw nothing but stars in the distance. She looked down to see herself standing on nothing, it was quite dizzying to her.
A bright light in the corner of her eye made her turn around and look upwards. Like a movie projector a scene played. A young man summoned water in the shape of a triton; he looked very familiar to Sally. Black hair, and sea green eyes is what caught her attention, it was the same eyes and hair she was starring at no more than a second ago.
"Perseus" she and another voice said. She turned to see Chaos walking towards her. She had guessed it was him though, he had changed into a different form, he was younger, his grey hair had turned a dark shade of brown and was of medium length, a small wave of hair was pushed to his right, his wrinkled were no more but now his face was sharp and pronounced. He was dressed in a button up shirt tucked into black slacks and dress shoes. In his right hand was a black suit jacket, out of the entire new appearance only his eyes were the same. Old, but at the same time young emerald orbs.
"Where am I? I'm not really dressed for travel" she asked, wrapping her arms tightly around her bathrobe, granted she was in jammies but to be out in the void of space really didn't seem comfortable to be in with just jammies.
Chaos gave a crooked grin in his new form. "We are where in my domain, I'm sorry if I look different but since I'm in my domain I am able to look like my younger self. I wanted to show you of what your son will become" he pointed back to the scene above me and rewinds it to the begging. "Now watch" the scene began
"Luke! It's not to late! Don't do this!" Percy yelled as he dodged a blade.
"It's way past too late Percy, I will see the gods downfall " and he kept swinging at Percy, but he was too fast, he dodged again and again effortlessly. Though you could see it wouldn't last for long, then the scene faded. Percy was shown again, but older, he must've been a teen. He was holding up some invisible force as a battle waged around him. Even though he didn't utter intelligible words you could tell the weight of what he was holding was almost unbearable.
"Percy" gasped Sally with worry. A hand again rested on her shoulder "That weight your son is bearing? Is what the Titan Atlas is cursed with bearing. Your son Sally, he's holding up the sky! No mere Demi-God may hold it but your son is defying all of expectations"
The sky?! Dear lord thought Sally. The scene changed again to a younger Percy, he was in sword combat with a six foot something biker, a full taller than her son. Their swords were swinging so fast you could barely see them; you would hear clangs and thunderous roars of their swords. "That man you see? He his an Olympian, your son is fighting Ares the war god to a standstill!"
"Why is he fighting Ares?" she asked worried. "I cannot give too much details but to see Ares in so much anger I have to assume that young Perseus angered him" laughed Chaos. Sally didn't find humor in her son fighting the war god
Sensing her worry, chaos waved another hand and the scenes stopped playing. He turned Sally and starred at her directly in here eyes to comfort her. "Sally I wish I can promise you no harm will come to Percy. In truth he will be in dangers path in more ways then once. Only because of the dangers and enemies he will face will his mind and soul will mature enough to hold part of my essence."
She still worried. "How does Percy fully become a vessel…it sounds…depressing, a vessel."
"Its not really all that hard to understand. I will become present in Percy's mind permanently. I can see why you worry, it sounds like it will be me in his body. It'll actually be quite different. Percy will still be the dominant mind, I will be a voice in his head, and he will be in full control unless he gives me the metaphorical reins to his body." And with that piece of new Sally felt a little at ease.
Only a little
"For me to fuse with Percy in a more permanent way will be by this" and with another wave of his hand a part of space opened up to reveal a floating piece of rock. In the center of the rock was a metal glove of some sort. It looked old, medieval almost but that wouldn't be the word that sally would use, but it looked menacing. It looked as if it were made by tiny other pieces that folded nicely into each other, the tips of the fingers looked like claws or talons, the palm areas looked like rugged leather lined with celestial bronze, the upper part looked to be made of some kind of celestial silver.
"The Chaos Gauntlet. The only physical presence that I am able to muster these days sadly" Chaos looked at it with much pride that Sally couldn't understand "I keep forgetting what I'm looking at is a hologram of some sorts, so this is you huh?"
Chaos chuckled and scratched his… head? "Yes, before I left the earth I created this for my last vessel. We had, uh, well, complications using my power in his body, this became a conductor of sorts." Sally then looked at him "Percy will be able to access your power?" He returned her stare and nodded, "Yes, I feel that was quite obvious when we combine. But not only will he be able to access my power, the abilities of his own will double"
Double? Sally thought. As if Olympus didn't see him as a threat enough already…
"-he will also be Immortal-"
What.
She turned quickly to Chaos "Immortal?" she asked hastily, cutting him off
"Yes" he looked at her as if questioning her "in a sense, he will not age, he will not get sick, but he will be weak to outside danger. That is the only weakness of a vessel"
if Sally wasn't worried enough already, that bomb Chaos had dropped was enough to make her feel sick. "Take me home…"
"Wait what?" chaos asked confused
"Take me home now!" yelled Sally
In a flash they were back in Sally's apartment in New York. She made her way to the kitchen and opened a cabinet and grabbed a bottle and uncapped it and started drinking it. The label read "Apollo's Red Hots Rum"
"I don't think you're supposed to chug it all at once" Chaos chimed in, his voice raspy again and Sally spit it out.
"By the gods that is nasty" she garbled and then turned on the faucet and rinsed out her mouth, "I can tell this is a little too much to take in at once" said Chaos
"More than a little" garbled Sally again from the sink. She gargled and spit out water then stood up straight and took a deep breath in and out. She turned off the faucet and faced Chaos. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked
"It depends on the favor" he replied. Sally breathed in and out slowly then asked "can you keep him safe?" this caused Chaos to looked puzzled "Sally, his life wont be normal, safe isn't exactly normal amongst Demi-Gods, Percy's life would be more dangerous because of his godly heritage."
"Just please promise me, for my own sanity. I get that Percy is different because of Poseidon and that he wont be a normal child but please, as a parent speaking to another parent. Ease my mind please" she sad looking down with a sad smile
He took her hands with his and had him look into his grandfatherly eyes and said "I Chaos, creator, swear to keep Perseus Jackson, safe as possible" the smile Sally had turned from one of sadness to one of hope. "There is a lot to prepare for now isn't there?" Chaos nodded to her question. He looked into the direction of Perseus in Sally's room "I do not fear for him, he will be the greatest hero of them all, better than the original Perseus, Theseus, Odysseus, Achilles, he will be the best of them all combined. For that you have my reassurances" he looked back down at Sally, "now it is time for me to leave, you know of the danger and what he must become. Now I just hope what I see doesn't have any complications. Like I said, I am old but I did not foresee the weapon you had. I hope my eyes haven't missed something"
"Goodbye Sally Jackson, Mother of the hero Perseus Jackson."
Sally nodded
"Goodbye Chaos, hope all will be well"
"Me too child, me too"
And with that he vanished. Sally stood there in the kitchen and capped the bottle, which she drank from and tossed it in the garbage. She turned back to the table and found Anaklusmos resting in pen form next to her mug. She pocketed the pen and threw the liquid from the cup into the drain and rinsed out the cup and walked away from the kitchen to her bedroom. She looked down on to her sleeping son and a silent tear slipped from her eye.
Kneeling down she looked at him from the bars of the crib and smiled as more tears escaped her. Some from sadness to his fate, some from happiness that he would possibly live till she was old and grey.
"My little Perseus, so strong and brave without even taking your first step" her heart broke for a quick second but mended itself "I Love You" she finally broke down
No matter what she told herself, she would always know.
If Percy were to die (gods forbid)
It would be on the battlefield
