Title: To Be A Hero: The Lightning Thief
Author: Keeper Of The Fandoms
Fandom: Percy Jackson And The Olympians (Book)
Major Pairing: Nico/Percy/Talon (Thalia)
Word Count: 3286 words
Tags (Will be added to later): Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Violence, Genderbent!Thalia (Talon), Good!Luke, Mild Annabeth bashing
Basic Info: I have been given this story by a good friend of mine… Fallen Down A Rabbit Hole! She wanted me to rewrite it with a male Percy instead of the female version because she wanted to see it but didn't have the energy to continue writing it.
Now some of you seem confused so let me say this cos these ideas will be continued in my story.
A) Percy is a guy, Nico is a guy and Thalia is also a guy called talon.
B) The pairing is poly meaning Nico/Percy/talon as in a romantic relationship!
C) Percy is the son of Poseidon. The champion of Gaea. The brother in all but blood to Apollo. And yes his mother was sally but she's been killed off (sorry darlings).
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson, its characters or plotline. I only own my own ideas!
'It is not the strength of the body that counts but the strength of the mind.'
Percy sighed, hiking his black messenger bag further onto his shoulder and tapping his foot nervously, twisting the stud in the bottom of his left earlobe as his fingers traced the tattoo on his wrist, fingernails scratching along the inked lines. He hated field trips with a fiery passion. Or to be more exact they hated him. He bet if there was a god of field trips they must hate him because no matter where he went or who he went with he always ended up in trouble.
Since he was all by himself, no parent or guardian to vouch for him, he was always blamed and instantly expelled never mind the fact that he tried to tell them it was the monsters fault. Of course he stopped trying that explanation when he turned 8 and realised that nobody else could see the other word like he did and if he kept insisting that the hole in the wall was instead made by a giant black hound the size of a car he would eventually end up in a specially designed hospital wing.
The bus finally roared to life and he repressed a sigh of relief, following his best friends incessant tugging as he lead him aboard the bus, the two taking their seats towards the back where they were less like to be preyed on by Mrs Dodds. Percy was certain she was lying about her name because there was no way that a woman like his teacher could be married, it just shouldn't be possible.
Unfortunately for him and Grover, Nancy Bobofit decided to sit behind them with her posse of pretenders. They then proceeded to strike up a conversation about purses and shoes, what colour nail polish they should wear with what outfit and how their hair would look best.
"Kill me," Percy pleaded, dropping his head against Grover's shoulder and scowling unhappily, the boy chuckling, the sound vibrating through his chest so he could feel it against his forehead. Percy didn't understand why he felt so comfortable around Grover; before he came to Yancy he couldn't stand most human contact, for some reason it made him feel uneasy. Then again with who he once had for a step father it was no question why he was like that.
"Sorry little bro but if I have to suffer so do you," Grover grinned, wrapping an arm around Percy's shoulders and tugging him closer, breathing in the scent he had come to associate with him, the ocean and a crisp, sweet berry that on anyone else would be weird but fit perfectly with Perseus. He knew about Percy's step father; he was the only person still breathing who Percy had told about his childhood before he ran and Grover knew that what Percy craved more than anything was positive human interaction and touch; even if he didn't know that himself.
"Why does it have to be a museum? I mean whoever came up with this idea was obviously stupid. 'Hey I know, let's send a bunch of mental case kids to a place that holds stuff thousands of years old and worth millions of dollars," Percy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and pillowing his head on Grover's arm. "I'm going to sleep, wake me up when we get there," he muttered angrily, relaxing against Grover and slowly drifting off, the loud voices of his classmates fading into the background. Grover rolled his eyes but pulled him closer, tucking his jacket in closer as Percy shivered lightly in his sleep.
The bus ride was relaxing=ng for the two teens at the back of the bus with Percy sleeping quietly against Grover while the rest of the bus descended into anarchy. As they pulled up in front of the museum Grover gently shook Percy awake. He blinked sleepily, reaching up to rub his eyes as he blearily took in his surroundings. "Yay, we're here," he groaned sarcastically, running a hand through his hair and sighing unhappily, clambering to his feet and trudging off the bus with the other students.
"Now children I want you all on your best behaviour today or we shall have some very big problems," Mrs Dodds growled, glaring around at everyone, her gaze freezing on Percy for a long while before it moved on.
"Why do I always get blamed?" he pouted, crossing his arms angrily and following the group into the museum, plodding despondently through the exhibits with his earphones turned up as loud as they could go. Teenage kicks by the undertones blasting into his ears as he absentmindedly tapped out the beat on his leg.
A hard elbow in the ribs from Grover prompted him to pull them out, most of the class turned towards him, most grinning happily as if they expected him to get told off. Mr Bruner, the only cool teacher at Yancy sat at the front of the class, staring at him with raised eyebrows.
"Now Percy as I was saying we are currently in our Greek and Roman exhibits which means some of these artefacts are over a thousand years old so please do, not, touch. I am afraid that if you break it you could very well be taken to court. Come along children, there is a very special exhibit," Chiron beckoned for them to follow him and led them towards a large stele, talking animatedly about the picture of a young girl, clad like she was going into battle with a wicked shield and spear held in her hands.
Percy phased out of the long winded lecture, his gaze focusing on several different artefacts, one of them showcasing a carved picture of Apollo, the sun god appearing to be more malevolent than he had ever seen him. He was his brother, sort of, and he didn't like how they had portrayed him. Apollo had looked after him when his Mum died and had sort of adopted him as a little brother that he could dote on and play pranks with as evidenced by how they met.
He had first met him when he had invaded Olympus one day, placing liberal amounts of Hermes' forever stick glue onto Zeus's throne for when he next sat in it. He disliked the king god who said he would stop having affairs but still went behind Hera's back. Apollo had caught him just as he finished and instead of turning him in he helped him by making it more powerful so Zeus' would be stuck there for quite a while.
Apollo had later admitted he spent weeks spying on the young demigod to make sure he was safe before Percy finally caught him watching him. They hadn't really planned to become so close, the two bonding over the course of several months until they couldn't go more than a few weeks without seeing each other. Apollo always called him sweetheart or whatever cute nickname he fancied and Percy in turn called him sunshine. He helped him when he had trouble with his dyslexia, went to his parent teacher meetings, taught him how to drive using the sun chariot and looked after him when he was sick.
"Mr Jackson!" Mrs Dodds voice cut through his daze and he whipped his head back towards the front, meeting the old woman's glare head on.
"Yes Mrs Dodds?" he asked politely, refusing to get in trouble again, the headmaster had told him if it happened one more time than his time at Yancy Academy would be coming to an end. He didn't particularly like school but Apollo told him it was important for him to finish school so he would have choices in the world. He couldn't help but feel that it should be a parent telling him this.
"Since you seem to think you already known enough not to be paying attention then I suppose you can answer a question for me," the creepy teacher rose her eyebrows, staring him down and daring him to protest.
"Fine, ask away," he challenged, cocking his hip and crossing his arms defiantly.
"What is that a carving of?" Mrs Dodds pointed to one of the images on the stele and he felt a wave of relief as he recognised the carving. Apollo had told him all about the sordid history of the Greek gods.
"That is Kronos eating his kids. The idiot, also known as king of the titans, was given a prophecy that his kids would grow up and overthrow him so he ordered his wife to gather his children then he ate them. But of course his wife didn't like that so she hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock in some blankets, the stupid titan ate it thinking he was Zeus which she guess means that Zeus had a face that looked like a rock," a loud crack of thunder outside cut through his explanation and he tried not to laugh, it would be no good if he gave away he knew why that thunder was booming.
"Anyway since they were immortal and shit the gods that got eaten grew up in Kronos's stomach while Zeus trained to overthrow his dad. So when he was older he fed Kronos and mixture of wine and mustard to make the titan throw up and out came all his siblings who were by then fully grown. After that there was a huge war and the gods won, overthrowing the titans and locking them all away to suffer eternal punishment. she mean they even locked away the good ones like Prometheus and Calypso even though all they ever did was be born. When the war was done the gods each got a realm to look after but the three brother, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus couldn't decide so they drew lots, Hades got the underworld, Poseidon drew the sea and Zeus received the sky and declared himself king of the gods because he was an arrogant arse." At the last part a massive boom of thunder shook the museum.
"Very good Percy now on that happy note I believe it is time for lunch," Chiron said cheerfully, wheeling his chair out ahead of the students who poured out of the museum like it was on fire.
The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, Grover and Percy sat on the edge of the fountain in an attempt to pretend they weren't from the school for dysfunctional youth. Not that it worked very well considering Yancy was the only group of teenagers around.
"Do you want my apple?" Percy asked, offering Grover the red piece of fruit, smiling at the way his face lit up. They were each other's only friends on campus, too many people condemned Percy for hanging around with the weird disabled kid. He dreaded to think of Grover's life before he came along and how lonely he must have been.
"Hell yes. How do you always seem to have an apple on hand?" Grover cheered, swiping the fruit from his hand and hungrily gnawing down on it. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, it wasn't like Percy could tell him that he carried a bunch of apple seeds in his pocket and he could grow the fruit in 10 seconds flat.
"Just talent she guess," he said flippantly, looking wistfully towards the apartment building he used to live in with his Mum, the only one who looked after him for the first 6 years of his life. If she had lived she would have just been getting home from the candy store, he could close his eyes and still remember the feeling he got when he saw her walk through that door every afternoon, the smell of liquorice and sweets and her hugs, as warm as a quilt.
"Hey Perce you okay there?" Grover asked quietly, poking him gently and he instantly wiped the depressed look from his face, smiling easily once he had locked those feelings away in his mind under the file 'don't open until stronger'.
"Fine Grover," he grinned, his smile instantly dropping as Nancy Bobofit and her crew came over.
"Great another visit from the wannabe bitch," he muttered, storming to his feet as the red headed girl dumped her half eaten lunch in his best friends lap.
"Oops," she smiled crookedly and Percy growled, feeling a red hot anger welling up inside his stomach, smothering him in its rage. The water in the fountain responded to his unspoken command and grabbed Nancy, dragging her to the depths and holding her there, instantly releasing her when he told it to, the red head clambering to the side spluttering.
"Shit," he muttered as the whispers began, some seeing what actually happened with the water grabbing Nancy and others claiming he pushed her. He fucking hated the mist, it seemed to hold as much of a grudge as the rest of the mythical world and always made him out to be the bad guy.
"Mr Jackson come with me now," Mrs Dodds growled, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him into the museum, turning he could see Grover trying uselessly to communicate with Mr Bruner from across the yard, staring after him with frightened eyes.
He was instantly on alert, if Grover was freaking out then something was wrong, he had always hated Mrs Dodds but he just thought it was because of how mean he was to him, but being a satyr Grover probably had a different reason. Percy was pushed into an empty room, Mrs Dodds locked the door, turning on him with bared teeth.
"Now honey I believe you have something I want," she said in a sickly sweet voice, advancing on Percy creepily.
"Um I do?' he wondered uncertainly, it was always better to find out why they wanted to kill you before they tried to kill you.
"You've being giving us problems honey. Did you really think you could get away with it?" Mrs Dodds smirked nastily and he wracked his brains for anything he had done.
"If this is about me putting oil on the gym floor before the big game I am really sorry," he apologised quickly, trying to buy some time. Not that he was actually sorry, the basketball team were all total arseholes and he thought justice was deserved.
"Of course it isn't honey that was actually rather hilarious seeing all those idiot ball players skidding about like headless hydras but no. You know what this is about. Confess and you shall suffer less pain," she hissed, her eyes glowing eerily red in the darkened room, her nails sharpening into wicked points. Leathery skin took the place of her black bikers' jacket and huge bat wings burst from her back, large fangs replacing teeth as she snarled.
"Fuck my life, it just had to be a fury didn't it, why not send a freaking Minotaur or a hellhound I've met those ones enough," Percy shouted at the ceiling, spreading his arms in the universal signal for 'come get me'.
"You know what I am," the fury growled cautiously, her wings flexing.
"Yes I do now if I may, either try to kill me or kindly let me leave," Percy sniped back, ripping his necklace from its place around his throat and lifting Terra, his sword, pointing it directly at her heart. He had an assortment of weapons but Terra was his favourite. It was perfectly balanced, a mixture of stygian silver, imperial gold and celestial bronze. It glowed, a thrumming power source that held a small part of his great grandmother's essence.
Gaea wasn't as bad as everyone made her out to be. She had looked after Percy when he had nowhere to go, made the demigod her chosen and gifted him with power and weapons that had never before been bestowed on anyone, immortal or otherwise.
"Who are you?" Mrs Dodds eyes glowed furiously at the sudden appearance of the blade, probably able to sense the three mythical metals within.
"Your worst nightmare bitch," Percy snarled, sidestepping as she lunged and swinging down with his sword, slicing through the joint of one of her wings. "Sorry." he droned unsympathetically, parrying the attempt at swiping with her claws, the two clashing horribly.
Percy hissed as a claw clipped his shoulder, leaving a deep cut across the skin. He turned to her and instantly went into a series of swings, jabs and slices, each one making a new cut on her shrivelled body. Mrs Dodds snarled and went on the offensive, so caught up in revenge she didn't even notice as Percy slowed his attacks and allowed the fury closer.
When Mrs Dodds finally stopped in front of Percy, set on ripping out his throat Percy flicked his sword into an arch, the blade slicing clean through her neck. She collapsed into golden sand in front of the demigod, with a twist of his hand he sent her into the breeze, despite being monster dust she was still a part of the earth in that form and he could get rid of her. Thanks to grandmother he had a small amount of control over earth, nothing major but enough that he could perform acts like that, Gaea had told him as he grew older his powers and control would grow.
He had only just put his necklace back on when Mr Bruner came rolling in looking about wildly, he quickly pretended to be looking at one of the pieces of art, turning to greet him.
"Oh hey Mr Bruner," he said cheerfully, attempting the best dazed expression he could and noticing with mild amusement his teacher's look of shock then pride. If he didn't pretend to be under the mist then he would have questions and he didn't know if he trusted him enough to answer them.
"Hello Percy, what are you doing in here?" he asked slowly, wheeling closer.
"Um I was… looking at the exhibit. Because I wanted to…. I think. Or maybe I was looking for a bathroom. No I was trying to find a gift store, that's right," he unfocused his eyes and looked about with a dazed expressions before clearing it as if he was seeing the events in his head.
"Did anyone come in with you?" he questioned cautiously, stopping in front of the young demigod who hid his triumphant smirk and shook his head. He thought Chiron would be able to tell if he was really being affected by the mist but obviously the teacher was just happy that he was still alive.
"Who would be with me, other than Grover and I'm pretty sure he's outside, as we should be," he prompted gently, hurrying back to the museum entrance and leaving Mr Bruner behind with a perplexed expressions on his face. He hid a snigger in his palm and followed a sweating Grover back onto the bus for the long ride back to school.
A bubbly blonde woman bordered the bus and Percy had a feeling that she was actually a low level nymph or someone similar since they would have to instantly replace Mrs Dodds or the children would get suspicious, mist or no mist. "You feeling okay there Grover?" he asked worriedly when he caught his friend staring at him.
"Yeah just fine Perce, though I think I'm going crazy," the last part was whispered so quietly Percy could barely hear it and he frowned, now scared about how Grover would be taking it. He just knew things were going to change, this was the first time he would be unable to disappear without people asking questions and he found he sort of didn't want to.