The sky was a beautiful blue, with little to no clouds floating across it. The sun was extremely bright, slowly racing towards the other edge of the sky to sink beneath the gray waters. Trees dotted the park, the deciduous leaves beautiful patterns of golds, reds, browns, and yellows.
A small girl lay sprawled among the grass, her pixie-cut auburn hair even more messy than usual due to the amount of grass and dirt in the thick strands. Her eyes were closed peacefully, her dark eyelashes fluttered shut against alabaster skin. The girl's arms were sprawled behind her head, her knees up and her feet facing each other.
A yawn escaped the girl, and a piercing gray eye popped open. A frown marred her face as she noted the dark clouds to the east. Perfect. Groaning, the girl stretched, messing up her hair even further to get rid of the grass and dirt.
Heaving a big sigh, the girl pulled herself up into a sitting position, legs crossed this time.
"Well, Iris, gotta get a move on." she told herself with a yawn. Jumping up, the girl pulled down on her old black trenchcoat, ignoring her dark green long-sleeve t-shirt and black skinny jeans. She also wore a pair of knee-high black high-tops. Glancing around the area suspiciously, Iris tugged on the silver bangles on her right wrist worriedly.
There was something wrong around here. Iris pulled on the bangles and in a swift movement, in her hands was a double scythe. The scythe was beautiful, a pure black with silver runes engraving the metallic blades. There was a zircon gemstone in the top blade, surrounded with swirling floral designs. The bottom blade had a tanzanite gemstone surrounded by intricate wintry designs. All in all, it was a very beautiful blade but at the same time it looked menacing.
Iris' eyes narrowed as the bushes rustled slightly off to her left. "Come out!" she snarled harshly. "By the name of the Creator, Chaos, I demand you come out!"
A small yelp was heard and a person- no, a satyr fell out of the tree above the bushes. Out of the bushes came a boy with messy black hair and bright green eyes. His eyes were narrowed as they took Iris in. The boy was very handsome, Iris thought critically. But overall he looked somewhat dumb. With a yawn, Iris glared at the boy, who shrank slightly under her calculating gaze.
"Who are you?" Iris demanded fiercely, instinctively arching her back and her limbs following suit as if she was going to sprint off.
"Whoa, whoa!" the boy's hands flew up defensively, his expression hiding surprise. "We were following you."
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.
"Why?!" Iris' voice flew up several octaves. "Couldn't you have picked someone better to stalk?" she implored- more like demanded- sardonically.
"Wait, wait!" The boy cried as Iris darted forward. "Don't kill me! We were sent on a mission to follow you from the Gods."
Iris' eyes narrowed, before straightening in a semi-relaxed position, her double scythe slinging across the back of her neck and across her left shoulder. Her weight shifted to her right foot, her right hand on her hips. "The Gods?" she echoed bitterly. "Why them? They turned their backs on me when I saved them in World War Two from the Titans! When the Award Ceremony started, the Gods wanted to throw me in Tartarus because I had gotten 'too powerful'." A hollow, echo-y laugh escaped Iris, eyes glinting bitterly. "Just like they will you, kiddo."
The boy's emerald eyes swept over her, before resting on the fallen form of his furry friend. Said furry friend picked up his longer, curly brown head, eyes a moroseful chocolate. The satyr frowned up at Iris before getting up on his feet. "Please, Shadow-child. You can help us." the satyr pleaded heavily. "We- all of the demigods and Gods and Goddesses alike- have been looking for one of your kind for so long. You're the first we've seen. Please, we beg of you."
"Grover." the boy frowned.
Iris felt her emotions waver, before instantly snapping up. "Why?" her voice choked slightly on raw emotion. "You left me. You left me alone. You left me to die like the rest of Us. The Night-child was felled by the Gods as was the Void-child, the Earth-child, Light-child, Day-child.. not to mention the Heaven, Mountain, and Sea-childs. Nor the Underworldean and the Procreation-child." Iris' voice was dead. "Well, the Void-child is missing, and so is the Heaven-child." Tears were swimming in her eyes.
"We were family. You would know that, wouldn't you? You live with family practically every day during the summer, if not the year. We don't have a place to call home. As far as I know, we're the only ones left!" Iris' felt overwhelmed with what she was being told. "Didn't we do enough for you?" she echoed her words from thirty-eight years prior.
Percy- the black haired boy- frowned at her words. "What do you mean?" he inquired softly.
"Oh let me think. The Civil War, the Revolutionary War, the Spanish-American war, World War One, even! All of us Primordial-children are roped into every single war!" she spat bitterly.
Percy's eyes widened slightly, before softening into something of kinship. "Tell me about it." he said softly.
Iris' frowned softly at the look in his eyes. Then she looked down at her feet, scuffing the toe of her high-top in the dirt. Thoughts whirled around her head. Could she help them? Yes. Should she help them? Probably. Would she help them? ...Maybe. Would she help them to save other people? Yes.
She sighed, her mind made up. "...fine. I'll go with you." she muttered resignedly, swinging her scythe in a circle. It shimmered into her bangles.
Grover smiled through tears of gratitude. "..By the way, call me Iris Shadowchild. Iris or Ire for short." she murmured shyly.
"Grover. Grover Birchchild." Grover beamed happily.
"Perseus Jackson. But call me Percy. I don't like being called Perseus- it usually means I'm in trouble of some sort." The black haired boy smiled at Iris. The Shadow-child smiled tentatively.
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you. Shall we get going, Jackson?" she said softly.