I don't own the PJ series nor will I ever own them. But I do own Remigio.
If you have read 'Musing by the docks' you may notice that somethings don't add up. This is because Remigio has a nasty habit of not being truthful when he's asked about what his past was like.
Also this story starts a few years before the first book, if you would like to get to the part where Percy and the others are involved go to either chapter 5 or 6.
Please note that in this chapter the people talking should be talking in Italian, thus any English here with be a { * }around it.
The demigod family tree is one of gold, gold lined and sometimes green leaves. Many branches spread and allow many demigods to feel comfortable and secure within their branches when they climb. While the large gold leaves stand on their own, a few lay protectively over the green and gold lined leaves on their branches. The dead leaves at the base of the tree grows with time, though a few remain in the tree hidden. Even then it doesn't stop the arrival of demigods who climb to the top of the tree in order to turn their leaf.
But one other tree which grows in the same field is much smaller than it's counterpart. It too is a family tree, but it's one that no one climbs. The leaves are silver, and yet many dead leaves cling to the branches, others being clung onto by the silver leaves. Some were once green and others have very faint silver lines but all are simply too old and dried to be told apart. Out of the dead, six green leaves cling to a single branch. Under the large green leaves three small leaves wear their silver marks faintly, protected from the shine of the golden tree's glare. On another branch a single green leaf protects its small silver lined leaf. Yet on a lone branch where a few dead leaves remain, a small silver lined leaf remains under the cover of a slowly dying green leaf.
Here is the tree that many demigods never see from their perch. A tree which remains nothing more than a faint blimp in the books which the demigods read. And while their roots are connected they are not equal. Except to those of the lowest, of the low branches.
Back then, boys traveled in groups, kicking a ball around and inspired to be great football players while girls watched and giggled before disappearing from sight. They all played in the sunlight never fearing that they would turn on each other, never worried about their dreams.
A pack of boys run through the streets shouting and chasing the ball as they fail to keep a look out for where they are running at. Perhaps the only thing that keeps them safe is the lack of cars on this narrow street? They shouted and scuffle when the ball rolled out of sight, but toke up their game once again and started to do tricks. One tall boy kicked the ball high into the air and tried to bounce it on his head only to have the ball bounce off to the side and head off into a small suit shop where an old man is busy tailoring at.
His hair was graying and his eyes are somewhat hidden behind a pair of large glasses that aided him with the placement of the straight pins. Slowly he inserted another pin only to be jostled as the ball bumped into his legs, causing him to 'hmp' and look down at it with a slightly annoyed look while the boys rushed to a stop at the door and looked at him.
"Sorry sir, can we have our ball back?" the oldest in the group asked as he looked at the older man who frowned deeply at him before kicking the ball back out at them.
"Keep it out of my shop," he grunts making the boys nod their heads before leaving the store front in order to restart their game in a safer place. "I almost thought that you were dumb enough to play with that inside," he added as he started working again on the suit.
At a quick glance there is no one in the room other than him. Empty suits hang from the walls in plastic covers, as rolls of fabric cover a large table near the back while a smaller one near the front has a number of hats and other accessories laying about it. Yet the old eyes point out the small boy who is hidden under the large cloth table and looking right at him.
He looks nothing more than a small eight year old from his current stance. Large dark gray eyes are almost covered by a head of fluffy brown hair that peaks out from over a box of scraps. The child doesn't say anything, but only looks at the door making the old man shake his head.
"You sure you're my daughter's child?" the old man asks making the kid look over at him with slight confusion in his eyes before looking away at the scarp box where silk and nylon scraps of cloth of different hues and textures sit waiting to be either tossed into the fire or made into some Frankenstein kind of doll. "Of course not," the older man huffed as he shoke his head and worked on. "If you really belonged to her then you would have been out there chasing that ball, that's what she did. " he added making the kid look down and focus on a baby blue slash of silk that was rumpled and ruined from a failed attempt in being turned into a tie. The child didn't say anything but look down at the box's contents, even though there was a ball in his lap which he turned ever so lightly with his hands. "I guess you should just be lucky that she's willing to bear your sin." the older man coughed making the kid look down even more into the box of scraps.
The kid was silent and after a moment shifted to lay on his side in his safe zone behind the boxes which he used as his own little fort. He didn't understand many things and the one that his grandfather spoke about was one of those. But he figured out at least this much, he didn't act the way his mother did when she was young and because of that his grandfather didn't like him that much. Not once did the thought of something else had happened in order for him to be disliked by his grandparents who grudgingly allowed him and his mother to stay occur to him.
Giving a small sigh he tried to lay on his back and looked up at the glow stars that he had placed up under the table as he played with the ball in his hands. It wasn't like he didn't try to act like the other kids, he tried all throughout school to be like them. He even showed them how good he was with a ball and yet they ignored him or shoved him away from their groups sometimes calling him names. Time to time things got rough, but he made sure to stay away from the river and to only travel on the busy streets. Though today he didn't feel like talking about what happened at school, but he was thankful for the pillow he was on.
Both the old grandfather and the young grandson remained silent in their own little worlds only to hear two women talking in the back of the shop as the door opened and closed.
"We're back from the market," A young woman said as the grandfather looked up from his work and gave a smile and a welcome home greeting. She had only come up to the doorway of the shop with her basket before heading back into the kitchen where her mother was at already unpacking their goods and getting water boiled. "Is Remigio home?" she asked as she came out with a glass of water and some pills for her father who sat down and took a break from his work.
"He is, but I don't see the reason as to why he takes to hiding." he grumbled before taking his pills. "I mean, there has to be something better than hiding all the time." he said loudly looking right at the large table where the young Remigio was hiding at.
The mother looked at her father and then at the table where her son was hiding at before giving a sigh and patting her father's shoulders. "I got him." she said as she looked down at the floor for a bit before she walked over to the large wooden fabric table and moved the scrap box out of the way so she could see her son looking right up at her. She smiled and went to pat down his fluffed hair and motioned for him to come on out of hiding. Slowly he shifted to his side and crawled out from his hiding place and gave his mother a hug. Though when she hugged him back, he winced and tried to jerk from her grip. "Whats wrong?" she asked surprised that her son tried to move away from her so suddenly.
Remigio looked up at his mother with wide eyes before looking back down at the floor with a worried look on his face. His mother knew something had happened again but looking back at her father she figured that he would at least notice that her child was quieter than normal.
"Come on, lets go talk." she said as she stood up and held his hand to lead him to the back rooms and up the stairs to the bedrooms. Remigio didn't say anything as he walked the stairs, he was still in his school uniform though he had left his shoes in his little fort. Walking up to the second floor he broke away and headed to their room, which was next to pressed into the back of the home near the only restroom in the house.
The yellow tinted walls did nothing for the religious pictures that hung in the hallway, but at least they were out of the white room that was home for the small family. Remigio opened the door and walked over to his bed which was set up by the closet and sat on it looking over at his mother who smiled lightly and closed the door behind her.
In a gentle voice she asked a simple question. "What happened?"
Her son remained silent for a moment before he turned around and went to lift up his shirt ever so carefully in order for him to not move the muscles that were bruised. The mark looked like it had come from a ruler, the long narrow mark was still red and raised. In a low worried tone the boy finally spoke. "I thought that they wanted to be friends." he said as he looked at his bed as he could feel his mother brushing her finger tips over them ever so lightly.
Hearing her sigh and pull back he lowered his head even more and looked off to the side knowing what was going to happen now. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" she asked as she could see three marks on her son's back. "Hm? Who was it this time?" she asked almost pleading to know why her son had said nothing to her about what was going on with the kids at school.
"I didn't want them to hate me even more," he muttered as he allowed his shirt to drop back down over the marks. He gave a small sniffle as he tried to hold back the tears.
"Remigio, you have to stop this. One day someones really going to hurt you and you won't be able to come back home to me." she said with a worried tone as she hugged her son lightly. She rested her head on his and tried to comfort both herself and him though it caused her son to look up at her confused and upset.
"Why don't they like me? " he asked as he looked up at his mother. "I know why grandfather doesn't like me." he said making his mother stop and look down at her son worried.
"Do you?" she asked in a surprised and yet worried voice only to watch her son nod his head as he looked up at her.
"It's because I'm not like you, I'm not the same." he added as he noticed that his mother looked like she was about to cry. "No don't cry, it's okay one day I'll be like you and then he'll have to like me." he said trying to cheer his mother up as she blinked a few tears away before her son went to go and wipe one off of her. She smiled some and nodded her head even though she knew the reason as for why her son was not enjoyed as much.
She took a deep breath and sighed some as she kissed his forehead. "You know what?" she asked as she looked down at her son in her arms who looked up at her a bit happier that he kept his mother from crying.
"What?" he asked
"I think I know the reason as to why they don't want to be your friends. " she said with a smile making her son blink and look up at her surprised but also now begging to know. "It's because their jealous," she said with a smile "they don't like you because you're able to do so much more than they can." she said happily to see her son slowly go from confused to being happy.
"You mean like how I can see ghosts and everything?" he chirped making his mother pause for a few seconds and slowly nod her head.
"Yes, theres that," she said as she patted his head some "But I was talking about how good you are with a ball." she said as she looked at the joy that appeared in her son's eyes. "I've never seen anyone able to bounce a ball on their head the same way that you can." she said as Remigio smiled and nodded his head.
"I've been watching the football team at school." he said as he looked at her with joy before he got up and grabbed another one of the balls that was in the room and went to bounce it on his head a few times making his mother smile and laugh some.
"Get back over here silly, you know better then to play like that in the house." she laughed in fact the both of them laughed and giggled a bit before the grandmother down stairs called for them to quiet down. "Okay that's enough, grandmother is busy watching her stories." she said with a smile. "Have you done your homework?" she asked getting a head nod.
"Oh I almost forgot, I ran into your father when you were in school." she said as she pulled out a coin from her pocket. "He says that this is for you." Remigio cocked his head a bit when he noticed that his mother handed him a gold coin which was like the ones that he would find under his pillow on his birthday.
"Am I ever going to see dad?" he asked making his mother shift and smile lightly.
"One day, he's a very busy man. No matter what grandmother and grandfather might say about him."
Let me know what you think about it, after all I did find this in a random notebook
Sorry for it being so slow too, but once we get to chapter 5 or 6 things should start picking up.
