A/N: I have a really bad habit of writing stories and never really finishing them. I need help. Btw this is a new concept of story that might get your attention. Give it a go.

P/S: Had to do a bunch of research though. No spoilers, but the people who relate to the stuff I'm writing please don't be offended. I'm just a fan of your culture.

Chapter 1

After the war with Gaia ended, Annabeth thought that was it. No more wars. No more deities out for blood. No more stupid quests that takes months to accomplish and no more venturing through Tartarus.

She and Percy will finally get their time together like they've always deserved. They were going to New Rome together and start college there.

And yet things had to go wrong in the worst way possible for her.

After Gaia went up in a fiery ball of explosion, Percy and Jason both disappeared. Jason was sent flying to god knows where and Percy was swallowed by the ocean, which was ridiculous because he had control over water.

At first, Annabeth thought it was a practical joke. They thought it'd be funny if they pretended to disappear just to scare them. Then after not returning for a day, Annabeth got worried. That day turned into weeks and it turned into months. Annabeth was worried sick.

She tried asking Rachel if she had anything about Percy and Jason, but Rachel said that the Delphic Oracle had gone silent. Chiron didn't know anything about it. She tried contacting her mother and the other Olympians, but there was no use. Communications seemed to be down because the only response she get for using Iris Messaging was static.

She even went through the lengths of consulting a Roman augur. After dozens of mutilated stuffed toys, there were no signs of Percy, Jason or even the gods. It's like Olympus was on full lockdown.

Annabeth had already lost Percy once to the alien named Hera. If she loses her again . . . she'd rather think on the positive side of things.

Piper tried to comfort her, but she wasn't doing much better herself. After all, Jason had also disappeared.

Camp rebuilding had gone to work. Annabeth tried her best to help in any way she could to distract herself from the grief of losing Percy, but it's doing little to help. She asked Nico if Percy had died.

"I can't tell." Nico said miserably.

"You mean, you won't tell me?" Annabeth asked.

"No, I literally mean that I can't tell. Percy's aura and Jason's aura . . . they've disappeared. It's almost like something plucked them out of the world." Nico said. Annabeth wanted to snap at Nico for not making any sense, but she saw that he was distraught as well.

And so, the months turned into years. Annabeth had started college in New Rome. She felt like she had moved on, but not really. She still misses Percy, but moping around won't bring him back. She decided to look forward and continue on living her life.

The gods are still silent after the war with Gaia and monster attacks have been increasing. It was hard to balance out her studies along with staying alive.

So now she was taking a break along with Reyna after a long fought battle against a horde of Laistrygonian giants.

"I'm starting this will never end." Reyna muttered.

"As long as Tartarus exists, it won't end." Annabeth sighed. They sat at a hill overlooking New Rome. Little Tiber glistened under the sun as it flowed down straight through camp.

"Can you believe it's been three years since that time?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah." Annabeth chuckled softly. "Time flows by fast when you're not paying attention."

Reyna nodded and sighed. "How's Piper?"

"She's doing okay. She's been helping Mellie a lot with her father's acting career."

"I see." Reyna said. "And you?"

That was a hard question. "I'm okay." She simply answered, which wasn't a complete lie.

"You still miss him?" Reyna asked.

For the first year, Annabeth found it difficult to talk about Percy to anyone. Now, she just finds it sad. "Yeah. It's just that, he's gone so suddenly. I don't know where he is, what he's doing, if he's safe. I don't even know if he's alive."

"It's Percy we're talking about, Annabeth." Reyna assured her. "Of course he's alive."

"I hope so." Annabeth sighed. Then, at the corner of her eye, she spotted something white. She turned around to see a blur of white going into the trees. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Reyna asked.

Annabeth stood up and went into the forest followed by Reyna. As she went through the trees, the blur of white kept speeding farther and farther.

"It's getting away." Annabeth mentioned.

"What's getting away?" Reyna asked. "And can you slow down?"

They chased the thing for a few minutes before it decided to stop near a river. It was a white fox, which wasn't really something that you'd see around this area. Especially considering it had two fluffy tails.

"Look," Annabeth pointed at the fox.

"It looks beautiful." Reyna pointed out. "Is it a monster?"

Annabeth and Reyna exchanged looks before drawing their weapons. They approached the fox slowly as the fox just looks at Annabeth and Reyna. Its tail was wiggling excitedly and its tongue was sticking out, as if it wants to play.

The white fur makes it look so majestic. The fox barked happily as it waited for the two girls to get closer.

"I don't think it's harmful." Annabeth said. She put her sword away and inched closer towards the fox.

"Are you sure about this?" Reyna asked.

Annabeth continued to move closer towards the fox. It's still wiggling its two tails and sticking its tongue out.

"That's it," Annabeth muttered softly. "C'mere boy. Or girl."

The fox stayed still, waiting for Annabeth to get close. Annabeth stretched her hand out as the fox was inches away from her fingers.

Then, she heard someone shouted. "Look out!"

An arrow flew out of nowhere and landed straight at the head of the fox. The fox yelped in pain and dropped dead on the spot while Annabeth and Reyna screamed in surprise.

Out of nowhere, a boy walked towards them and studied both of the girls. "Are you okay?" He asked.

He wore camouflage pants and combat boots. His black shirt was worn underneath a maroon vest. On his face, he wore what looked like a black bandanna wrapped around his mouth and nose, making only the eyes visible. In his hand was a bow that looked much more thicker and bigger than the ones that Annabeth were used to seeing.

"Are we okay?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "You just killed a harmless creature!"

The mystery man laughed. "Lady, I just saved your life. You should be thankful."

Reyna gripped her spear. "What do you mean, saved our lives? It was just a fox."

"I thought you Greeks and Romans were supposed to recognize monsters on sight." The man sighed as he ruffled his brown hair.

"That . . . was a monster?" Annabeth asked. The man gestured at the dead fox which had disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"I thought the two tails was a dead giveaway. I guess I was wrong." The man said. "That was a Kitsune. A fox spirit."

"A Kitsune?" Reyna asked. "I haven't heard of them."

"Of course you haven't." The man explained. "Entrances to the Yomi are spreading everywhere and they've been letting out all bunch of nasties all over the world. They seem to like your area more than the rest."

"Hold on." Annabeth made a 'time-out' gesture. "What are you talking about? Kitsune? Yomi?"

"I guess I should explain." The man said. He placed a hand on his heart and bowed. "My name is Asanagi Kamamura and I am, as what you call it here, a demigod."

Annabeth had spent most of her time learning how to read body languages and to her, Asanagi didn't mean any harm to them. "I'm Annabeth." She said, extending her hand. Asanagi shook it gently. "And this is Reyna."

Reyna extended her hand. "Praetor of the Roman Legion." Reyna added. Asanagi nodded and shook her hand as well.

"Well, now that we know each other's names, is there any place we can talk safely and not in danger of Yokai attacks?" Asanagi asked.

Reyna and Annabeth exchanged looks. They had a mental conversation with one another in which they come to a mutual agreement.

"There's a Roman camp nearby." Reyna said. "We can talk safely there. But I must warn you. If you do anything that threatens the safety of my camp, I will personally-"

Asanagi held his right hand up. "I understand. I wouldn't risk losing a cooperation between us because frankly speaking, we're going to need each other if we're going to survive."

"Survive what?" Annabeth asked.

"The invasion of the dead."

Line Break

Annabeth, along with praetors Frank and Reyna and centurion Hazel met at the Roman Praetors' office. The place was just as grand as Annabeth remembered the first time she entered here.

Frank and Reyna took both seats for praetors while Asanagi sat in front of them across the table. Hazel and Annabeth sat next to each other with the guest chair next to the table.

"So," Frank started. "I've been informed that you're a demigod?"

Asanagi see-sawed his hand. "More or less. I guess you can call me that."

"First things first," Reyna said. "Take off the mask."

"Not sure that's a good idea." Asanagi winced.

"Why is that?" Annabeth asked. "You said we could trust you, right?"

"Yeah, but . . . It won't be a pleasant experience for any of us." Asanagi said. "Just trust me on this."

Annabeth studied Asanagi carefully. His brown eyes looked like muddy rivers. It's unclear what he's actually thinking.

"Fine." Reyna said reluctnatly. "Who's your parent?"

"Ah, the thing is, my parents are mortals." Asanagi explained as he leaned forward. "My ancestor is the Kami."

"Kami?" Frank asked.

"Um, I guess you can call them gods. Kami are gods from where I come from." Asanagi said.

"So the Kitsune you mentioned . . ."

"They're from my pantheon as well." Asanagi nodded. "They come from Yomi, which is our version of the Underworld. Well, some of them do. Some of them are friendly spirits that manifests through the power of good will."

Annabeth feels like she's taking a foreign exam. "Okay, what pantheon are you from?"

"Shinto." Asanagi said. "The Japanese pantheon."

"Japan has a pantheon?" Hazel whispered to Annabeth.

At this point, she was more confused than amazed. If Egyptians and Norse can have their own pantheons, why not Japanese? "I guess?" Annabeth replied.

"How do we know that you're not lying?" Reyna asked as she kept her steely gaze upon Asanagi.

Asanagi sighed as he reached for something in his pocket. Reyna's hand immediately went to her weapon and Frank's hand reached for his bow. "Relax, I just want to show you something."

"What is it?" Reyna asked cautiously.

He took out a small, thin red book and placed it on the table. "Here you go."

"What's this?" Frank asked.

"It's my passport." Asanagi said. "It's proof that I'm actually from Japan."

Everyone sighed. "It's not about whether you're from Japan or not. I'm asking how do we know if you're not lying about this whole Japanese pantheon thing." Reyna said.

"Ah," Asanagi laughed. "That makes much more sense. Well, I guess there's one way to prove it."

"How?" Annabeth asked.

Asanagi stood up and stretched. "This won't harm any of you, but I sincerely hope this room is fire proof."

"Wait, what?" Reyna asked but Asanagi had already started.

He muttered something in Japanese that Annabeth didn't understand. He muttered it like an incantation as he stood in a pose with his left hand close to his chest and mimicking the shape of a finger gun pointing straight at his head. The right hand was held in front of him with the palm facing forward.

As he continues his incantation, the palm of his right hand starts to burn with a kanji symbol wreathed in flames.

Then he finished his incantation and smacked his palm onto the floor. A wave of flames spread from his palm all over the room, up to the ceiling before disappearing.

Luckily, nothing burned and caught alight. But Frank didn't look too good. Annabeth didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until she exhaled. The flames had engulfed her entirely, but she wasn't harmed.

"That was . . . fascinating." Hazel gulped.

If Annabeth had to guess, she figured Asanagi was smiling underneath the mask. "Fire is my main element. I am a descendant of Kagatsuchi, the Kami of Fire." Asanagi explained.

"Yeah." Frank said nervously. "Don't do that again when I'm around."

"Sorry if I surprised you, but you said you needed proof." Asanagi shrugged.

Annabeth believed him. The last time Annabeth had seen someone handle fire like that was Leo, and he's not here. "I trust you."

"Thank you." Asanagi said as he bowed slightly. "Now that we've gotten to know each other, let's get on to the main topic."

"You said the dead were going to invade the world of the living." Reyna remembered. "What did you mean by that?"

"I meant exactly what I said." Asanagi said in a serious tone. "The creatures of the Yomi are becoming restless and entrances have been popping up everywhere in the world. Of course, we can seal them, but we're currently short handed on staff and the monster attacks aren't helping."

"I have been noticing an increase in monster attacks lately." Hazel offered. "Does that have anything to do with what's happening in your pantheon?"

"Most likely." Asanagi confirmed. "In every pantheon, the realm of the dead connects in one way or another. With the entrances of Yomi appearing everywhere, it's possible that monsters from your Underworld are experiencing the same thing."

"So that's what you meant by cooperation." Annabeth summarized. "We help you seal the entrances and the monster attacks would decrease."

Asanagi nodded. "I really hope you would be able to extend your help to me. Japanese warriors from all over the world are trying as best as they could to seal up these entrances and my task is to focus here."

Frank and Reyna looked at each other and nodded. Frank stood up. "We don't really trust you yet, but I too want nothing but safety for my camp and fellow friends. If we can achieve that by cooperating, then I am willing to do so."

"I agree." Reyna said.

Asanagi bowed. "Thank you for your help."

Annabeth sighed in relief. Thankfully, there was no need for bloodbath. "Where do we start?"

"First off, I need to ask you something." Asanagi said. "Do you know about a boy named Jason Grace?"

A/N: Thought I'd end it there. Let me know on your thoughts about this kind of story.