Flowers and Brimstone
Flora_Winters
Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series and I'm not making any money here either.
Summary: Hades and Persephone have a baby, but they had to secret him away to the mortal world where he grew up believing he is human. He sees dead people. Plants talk to him. The meds do nothing but make him sneeze. But, one day, while visiting a garden shop with his folks, he falls face first into a situation that cracks the enchantment which cloaks him from the realm of myth. As if being the adopted son of a preacher man wasn't bad enough, now he's running from a snaked haired woman, a goat demon, and people with scary swords. Irreverence, Language, MM, OC, Violence
Chapter One
It all started the day he picked up Jesus (much lighter than the stone man looked) and used him to bitch slap a snaked haired demon into a pond full of blue lotuses. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. So, let's back up a step, rewind a few hours, and take a daunting trip to Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, for this is the place where it happened, the place where the enchantment surrounding him began to shatter like a stained glass window.
~OOOOO~
Christian Shepherd turned his face away from the dead soldier and stared out the car window. Watching and listening to a dead teen tell off the preacher behind the wheel wasn't helping him keep a straight face. Apparently the repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell had set his dad off into spewing Leviticus all over the dashboard, which had ticked the dead guy off.
"You wanna know what really puts my dick in a vice besides a dumbass Christian, Chrissy?" The dead nineteen year old asked, sitting back beside him with a frown. "Stupid fucktarded terrorists. Always blowing up shit with their goddamn bombs. As if Allah and her four camels give a sandy fuck. Really pisses me off, man. I was going to get married, build a house, adopt children, and live happily ever after with my guy. But, oh no! Durka-durka Muhammad-Jihad had to come lalalalalalalala along and blow my fine ass up. It took me three years to get a body this smoking hot. Ripped, tan, and drop drawers gorgeous. Now it's all scorched, in several different pieces, and buried in a cheap ass pine box in an ugly ass cemetery. If I had known this, I'd have become a hairdresser."
Christian squeezed his eyes shut.
"Oh, babe," the ghost suddenly whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm…"
Christian held up his hand and just shook his head. He knew the army had been William's only option for getting to go to college. But, he'd never gotten to get that far.
I'm going to join the army, Chrissy. Go to business school and get us the hell out of this damn town.
"Did you hear that, Christian?" His dad (Joseph Shepherd) asked, looking back at him from the rearview mirror. "Their blood shall be on their own heads. Remember that."
William growled from beside him, giving the fire and brimstone screaming preacher the finger. "Protecting bastards like him makes me wonder why gays even want to join the military."
"To protect the ones they love," Christian spoke without thinking.
William smiled. Pale and grey.
"What was that?" His mom (Mary Shepherd) asked, closing her Bible study book.
"Are we there yet?" He asked, giving the back of her head a good glaring at. All she did was read that stupid book. Oh, he hated it.
"Almost," his dad answered. "This year our manger is going to be wonderful. Life size and perfect."
Christian merely nodded. He looked over at William and just glared. He still hated him. He hated him so much.
I hate you! I fucking hate you! How could you leave me? I wish I'd never met you! Please come back! I need you! WILL!
He'd known.
He'd known the moment William had died.
He'd been in the garden, underneath the plum tree when the sharp pain stabbed his chest. A needle filled with liquid ice being injected into his trembling heart.
Please come back! I love you!
And he had.
Will had come back.
Walked right up to him at the funeral and smiled like an idiot.
Well, isn't this awkward, babe?"
He'd fainted. And Will had been with him ever since.
He'd thought listening to plants sing along with Lady Gaga was a sign of madness, but no. His boyfriend had come back and was always getting him looked at in funny ways.
"Have you taken your medicine, Chris?" His dad asked, stopping at a red light.
He nodded. "Two purple pills."
"You're just like a pill," William began to sing. "Instead of making me better, you keep making me ill, making me ill."
Christian continued glaring at him.
William grinned, but relented.
He had a beautiful singing voice. Think of Josh Groban. Elton John. The boy had never needed music. His voice was song.
"Good," his mom spoke, turning around in her seat to look at him. "I think you need to eat more, sweetheart. You've gotten so thin and pale."
This was true. He had lost weight and desire for sunlight. William was a ghost and it was hard to see him in sunlight. William was more solid in the dark.
He knew what he must look like to others.
Pale as bone.
Eyes greener than grass after a summer storm.
His hair is raven black and since he'd let it grow out, it's a nest of wild curls. His dad hated it and that's only one of the reasons he kept it long. The man didn't want him making a scene at church.
You make me cut my hair and I'll show you demonic possession. Linda Blaire has nothing on me. The church will fire you before I'm even finished, Daddy!
The reason he defies his father on the topic is because William loves his long hair and he would never allow it to be cut again. He would see the old man in the dirt before he'd relent.
"Can we get something to eat on the way back?" He asked her, ignoring the faces William was making at his father. Faces that would have gotten him slapped across the face back in the day.
"Other seventeen year old boys play ball and go to camp," his dad said, taking off through the green light. "All you do is stay in your room or mope around the house."
"His best friend was murdered, dear," his mom said.
He caught the emphasis.
"That was two years ago, Mary."
"Shut up!" Christian yelled at the top of his lungs, causing his dad to hit the brakes. He was thrown forward, then back, fumbling to remove his seatbelt. "Don't you talk about him! Never talk about him!"
"Christian!" His mom cried. "What are you doing?"
He threw open his door, only for a horn to honk. A bus zoomed by, causing him to fall back inside.
"Stop," William said, trying to hold him down, but couldn't. His hands just went right through him. "Just stop."
He was so mad, he began to sneeze. The damn pills did nothing for him.
The grass.
The trees.
Flowers.
The dead.
"SHUT UP!"
His mom had crawled back and was now holding him in her arms. Her perfume was strong. It burned his nose, but her touch gave him sudden comfort.
"Calm down," she soothed, patting his back like one would a crying baby. "I know you hurt. I know. Mommy does."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Will?
"Will?" He called aloud.
"Present," the ghost said from shotgun.
"Shut the door so it doesn't get rammed off," his dad growled.
His mom did.
"You need God, boy," the preacher said.
"And you need to trim your nose hairs. Jesus! I could swing around on those things like they were vines," William laughed.
~OOOOO~
Christian knew he was unstable. He was still surprised he hadn't been locked up in a nice padded cell somewhere in a land far, far away. If it wasn't for his mom, he knew his dad wouldn't have thought twice about it.
If you dislike me so much, why did you and mom have me?
You're adopted.
What?
I thought you'd make a nice addition.
MOM!
"Stay here," his dad said, getting out of the car. "Mary and I will only be a moment."
"Your mother and I," his mom corrected, getting out as well. "Be back soon, sweetheart."
He looked out his window. Statues looked back.
"Creepy place," William said from beside him. "And I'm a ghost."
He watched his parents vanish inside and closed his eyes. A few moments of quiet would be a small blessing.
"Hey. Hey. Hey. Talk to me. Hey. We're alone now. Hey. Man, this place is huge. Maybe that dick will get lost in there and your mom will leave without him."
Christian smiled.
"You're beautiful when you smile, Chrissy. I just wish you'd smile more often."
He opened his eyes.
"And I wish you could touch me, Will."
"I wish I could touch your old man. I'd push him in front of a bus. BAM!"
Christian laughed.
"Heaven," William grinned. "That was a whisper of heaven right there."
"Stop," Christian told him, looking away. "I'm still mad."
"I love you."
Christian's eyes stung and he took a deep breath, holding back the flood that wanted to breach the dam he'd built.
"Wow. Those statues are so freaky. Don't they look freaky to you?"
He looked out the window again. Now that he actually looked at them, yes, yes they did. They looked so real. So very scared.
Odd.
"They must have come out wrong," he said, pointing. "That's why they're half off."
"Hmm," William beamed. "Let's go explore."
Christian thought it over.
His dad did tell him to stay.
"All right," he said, getting out. "But, don't wonder off."
William made a face. "Me? Wonder off? Never."
Christian chuckled.
William happily sighed, but then held up a hand. "Did you hear that?"
He listened. "Hear what?"
"I thought I heard shouting," William said, walking by him.
"Dad probably mad about the cost of Jesus or something," he snickered.
"Let's go see."
Christian followed after the dead solider boy.
"Do you ever wish you could change out of uniform?" He asked.
William looked back. "All the time. I miss jeans and going barefoot."
Christian looked down. "Why don't you tell me these things?"
"I complain enough, Chrissy."
He remained silent and looked at the statues. So many looked as if they were screaming. Perhaps the nice ones were kept inside.
"Life before Death," William smirked.
Christian rolled his eyes and walked by his tall boyfriend, going in first.
~OOOOO~
"A koi pond with sunken stone koi," William called over to him. "What will they think of next?"
Christian shrugged.
Vines dangled down from the high ceilings and flowers grew wild. The place didn't look too well taken care of. Aunty Em should be ashamed. Most of the statues had moss on them.
"Would you look at this guy?" William said, standing next to a stone figure. "I think they made him with a hard one."
Christian looked at it. It was of a Spartan warrior. He looked about his age, too.
And yep. He had a stiff one.
William laughed. "Aunty Em is a perv."
He was just about to comment when he suddenly heard someone yelling.
"Annabeth! Percy!"
"Grover!"
Percy! Annabeth!"
"Grover!"
William made a face. "I knew I wasn't hearing things."
"No," Christian said, walking passed. "That's what I do."
William laughed. "You made a funny, babe."
"Come on," he said, running off down the yellow leaf path.
~OOOOO~
"I once had lovely hair. Hair so lovely and long. I was beautiful, too. So very, very beautiful." A woman's seductive voice hissed like serpents across a bed of jade green silk. "So beautiful, I caught the wondering eye of Poseidon. He is the reason your mother cursed me, daughter of Athena."
Christian parted a fiery red bush and peaked through.
Mom?
She was holding a young girl's hand and looked scared out of her mind.
A tall woman stood with her slender back to him. She was dressed in black leather and had a black scarf wrapped around her head.
"Your mother is the reason I am so alone," the woman crooned ever so sadly, reaching up to undo her headscarf. "Your mother is the reason I look like thisss."
"Don't look!" The young girl yelled, closing her eyes, putting her hand over them as well.
His mom did the same as the girl and his eyes widened when the headscarf came off.
"Is it just me," William said. "Or does that Muslim bitch have a head full of snakes?"
Christian couldn't move.
He hated snakes.
"What is the matter?" The snake haired woman asked. "Are you afraid? Come on. Sssneak a peak. I double headed sssnake dare you."
She laughed.
Mom! Run!
"Look at me!" The woman shrieked. "Look what your mother did to me!"
"Run Mom!" He yelled.
The woman spun around and her blue eyes glowed with fury. Even with all those snakes, she was still very beautiful.
"No Christian!"
The woman hissed, turning her back to him. His mom gasped and turned to stone right before his eyes.
"Mom!" He screamed, trying to get free from the bush.
He was stuck.
"Oh shit," William whispered.
"Still breathing like a real boy are you?" The woman asked, turning to face him once more. Her eyes glowed and her snakes hissed with sharp fangs. "Curious. Back in the forgotten times, even the mighty Kraken perished before my gaze."
She sniffed the air.
"Curious. I see you have a ghost with you. He is very handsome. Hair too short for my taste, but a lovely shade of gold."
William gave her the finger. "May all your snakes go lame, bitch."
"Run!" The girl behind the woman yelled. "Get out of here."
"No," the snake haired woman said. "Ssstay with me, my pretty."
"Come on," William said. "She'll hurt you."
"Medusa!" The girl yelled. "Leave the boy. It was my mom who screwed you over. Come make me pay for what she did to you."
Medusa? No way.
"Daughter of Athena," Medusa seethed, spinning around. "I'll make you scream."
"Run! Get out of here now!" The girl shouted. "Go!"
Medusa ignored her. The girl was trapped by his mother's stone grasp.
"If I can't turn you to stone," Medusa said. "I'll find another way to hurt you, lovely locks."
"Over my apparition!" William yelled at her. "Run Chrissy!"
He did. With tears in his eyes, he ran.
Mom…
Medusa laughed and clapped her hands. Loud bangs echoed all around.
Locks.
He was trapped.
All of them were.
Hands snatched him from behind and he cried out. He was spun around and those blue eyes scorched him once more. They glowed with such hate.
Snaked snapped at him and he struggled not to pee on himself. He was shoved to the ground hard.
"What are you?" Medusa asked. "You're no mortal."
Her eyes met his again and he felt himself breaking. She put a sharp heel on his chest, sniffing the air over him.
"You stink of mortal though," she said, looking down again. "Yet you're immune to my gaze."
He trembled.
"Speak!"
"You killed my mom," he stuttered and trembled.
"And your daddy, too," she laughed. "It was fun."
He felt faint.
No…
"Medusa!"
She spun around and he looked.
"Son of Poseidon," she greeted. "You're wearing my sunglasses. That's cheating."
The teen ran at her with a large sword and she ducked over backwards, sending him flying into a statue. It shattered on impact .
"Ouch," he growled, falling to the ground.
"Percy Jackson. The Lightning Thief."
"I ain't done it."
Christian rolled over. All the plants called to him.
Use us. We'll hold her.
They were so loud.
Deafening.
"Do it," he called to them. "Hold her now. Do not let her go."
Vines grew and slithered at a tremendous rate. Concrete cracked and broke apart as they shot towards the gorgon.
"What's this?" She gasped, being restrained.
Percy laughed, only to be kicked in the chest by her heel. He soared backwards, landing on his back yet again. He didn't move.
Serpents bit into the vines, snapping them.
"I'll be free in just a moment," Medusa spoke, "And then I'm going to kick your a…don't you run away when I'm threatening you. Come back here, boy!"
He ran by statues, looking for an exit sign.
Medusa screamed in rage from behind.
"This way," William said, popping in. "I showed that girl and other guy out."
"Percy?"
"No. Grover."
"When I catch you, I'm going to pull all your lovely locksss out by their rootsss," Medusa hissed, stalking ever closer.
He suddenly tripped over a fallen form and fell flat on his face. With a moan he turned to see what it was.
He gasped, scuttling backwards.
Dad…
It was his father. Flat on his back, mouth open in a silent wail. A stone statue.
"Get up, Chrissy," William urged. "She's coming."
"Dad…"
"Run Chrissy! Now!"
His back bumped into something solid and he yelped. Looking up, it was Jesus starting down at him.
"Found you," Medusa said, coming around the corner, standing over his stoned father.
He gripped hold of stone Jesus and pulled himself up.
"You have such beautiful eyes," she said. "I think I'll pluck them out and wear them as earrings."
There was nowhere to run.
"Yo, cunt features," William called from the left. "How many dicks you got on your head? One for every cock you sucked? Athena has a sense of humor, huh whore?"
Medusa's eyes flared.
"I can't harm you, shade," she spoke. "But I can hurt you by harming him."
"No!" William yelled.
She darted forward, heading right for Christian with reptile grace.
Without so much as thinking about what he was going to do, Christian gripped Jesus with all his might and was going to try and pull him back over onto her, but that's not what happened at all. Jesus suddenly felt lighter than a piece of writing paper and his balance was immediately thrown off. He spun around with Jesus, striking Medusa with the statue as though Jesus were a baseball bat. Jesus exploded and Medusa went flying head over heels backwards. She landed with a huge splash in a lotus pond.
William just gawked.
"Damn, babe."
He dropped the rest of Jesus and fell to his knees. Thunder boomed in the distance.
"Let's get out of here before she…oh, babe. Don't cry. Please don't cry. I can't hold you."
"Hey!" A voice called. "Where is she?"
It was Percy.
William pointed. "In there, dude. Babe here knocked some Jesus into her."
Percy came over. "You're a ghost…"
"And you're jailbait."
Percy made a face, but then looked down at Christian. "What house are you?"
House?
My house is gone.
"Guys," William said. "Guys."
A shrill shriek pierced Christian's ears and the lotus pond bubbled. Water exploded in a wave and Medusa landed before them. She had a slight gash across her forehead. It was quickly healing itself, too.
"You're all dead!" She yelled.
"Nope," William waved. "Just me."
She snarled.
"Duck!" William cried. "And hold the basil!"
Christian went down and Percy did the same.
A huge truck came crashing through. It hit a statue and the top part struck a once more stunned Medusa, sending her backwards into the lotus pond for a second dip.
"Woo!" William shouted. "That was awesome, too!"
Christian uncovered his head, wondering where the truck had come from.
"Grover!" Percy called. "Annabeth?"
The truck horn honked twice.
Medusa came up out of the water. "Son of Po…"
Percy was right there and he lopped off her head with one swift swing. The head rolled and the rest fell back into the pond.
Christian looked down into the gorgon's glowing blue eyes.
"Babe?"
Snakes snapped uselessly at his ankles.
He felt dizzy. The world was spinning.
"Catch him. I can't."
He took a step back and just kept on going back. He fell flat and was out cold amidst screaming stone.
~To Be Continued…
Note: I hope you enjoyed reading this. If you did, please review and tell me what you think. I just finished the Percy Jackson series and loved it. I can't wait to start the new one.
~Flora