Nightmare and Introduction

AN: All credit goes to Rick. I own nothing.

"Get over here you stupid, waste of space." Gabe snarled as he raised his fist then crashed it down on the soft flesh of a child. "You do nothing to help this house. And I don't care about your excuses. I'm only nine, I'm not strong enough, I don't know how to cook, I'm not tall enough." Gabe mocked the terrified nine year old, in a little girl's voice. "You know what to do." He told the crying nine year old, as he took off his belt. (And no it is not that to all of you filthy mind people out there. That is disgusting.)

"I'm s…sorry, Gabe. I'm sorry that I'm useless, and I'm sorry that I spilled your beer." The child cried. "Just please, don't do it again. I'll do anything."

"To bad, you little shit. You do everything bad. You're a waste of space, you can' cook, you can't clean, you can't get the right fucking beer. But most importantly you keep your mom out of the bed with me, because she says we can't afford another child. And she won't leave you out in the streets, even if it is the best way of doing things. Sorry is not going to cut it." He snarled at the kid, and raised his belt.

CRACK, the belt slashed the child's back as he cried out in pain as his other cuts on his back opened up. "Useless" crack, "Waste of space" crack, "keeps your mother away from me" crack. This went on for a little, as the child kept crying out in pain, crying out for help, crying out for his mom.

And today his wish for help and his mother was granted, but it turned out that his wish was the worst possible thing to wish for. Because at that time the child's mom walked in and stared at what was happening, and dropping the bag of candy as tears came to her eyes and her hand to her mouth. Her emotion took a 180 degree turn from shock and horror, to rage as she bellowed out and charged her monster of a husband and started to attack.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TO MY BABY!?" She screamed as she jumped on his back and started to attack Gabe. It looked like she had the advantage and might win as her fist rained down on him, but Gabe having at least 500 pounds of extra weigh, and plenty of fat to absorb the punches, just threw the women off of him.

This was the worst nigh possiblet to attack Gabe, because of his rage and his drunkenness. "You better say you're sorry bitch. I'm only teaching this shit some respect" he slurped and snarled at the same time (if it was even possible), as he took out his pocket knife and opened it and started to stagger to the child, who looked on in horror as he knew he was going to get cut again.

Seeing the drunken man and a knife in hand, heading to her child her motherly instincts kicked in again as she jumped up and charged at Gabe with a battle cry. But even for his size, just being smaller than an adult walrus just barley, he was still able to turn fast and raise his blade…

Percy woke in a cold sweat, screaming out for his mom, sitting up so fast he almost threw himself forward. This was the second time this week that Percy dreamed about the night his mother died. It happened a year ago, but Percy still remembered the horror as his mother ran straight into the cold steel blade that ended her life. The memory was seared in his brain, but also the memory of what happened next. At this Percy just had to smirk as he remembered Gabe begging for mercy, right before Percy rammed the same knife that killed his mom into Gabe's heart. He wasn't sure how, but right after he watched the knife stab his mom, his vision became red (most likely from rage) and the next second he was on top of a bloody Gabe with the knife over his heart. All he remembered from his rage was a lot of screams and a lot of cuts. When he killed Gabe, though, he didn't feel happy or vengeance, all he felt was the feeling of being scared and alone. He crawled over to his mom, to see if he could heal her (because for some reason he was very good at healing wounds) but she only told him that his father was a God, Greek to be exact, and that Percy's father would help him. Then she told him to run.

That leaves Percy to where he is now, 6 months later. All alone, in the city, running to Gods know where. But all he knows is that Greek mythology is real, monsters want to kill him because he smells (which no amounts of baths, or dumpster diving will change), that the mortal cops want Percy arrested for the murder of Gabe and his mom, and most importantly his father loves and will protect him.

Percy learned that his father his Apollo, Greek God of music, poetry, sun, medicine, archery, yada, yada, yada. This explained a lot. It explained why he was skilled in healing his wounds, loved music, singing, loved the sun, and why he was amazing with his golden bow. Ohh and did Percy mention that for his birthday (August 6th) Apollo gave Percy some wicked gifts. He gave Percy a necklace that transformed into a golden bow, where if you pull the string back it has a bronze arrow already notched. He also gave Percy an I-Pod touch (3rd gen) that has any song anyone could ever want on it, and when you hold the home button and screen button together, and hold for 2 seconds, it morphs into a golden guitar (either acoustic or electric, depending on Percy's will). And if you play the right notes, it plays a supersonic screech that stuns my enemies, and basically destroys their ears. But otherwise it is just a regular gold guitar that sounds amazing. Also he got his friend Hermes to bless Percy, so now he is a lot more energetic, he can run a lot faster, he can persuade people to do just about anything, and he can steal almost anything. Hermes also gave Percy a back pack that hides anything that was stolen from people's eyes, unless they are allowed to see inside.

There was also that awkward meeting with Aunty Arty (aka: Artemis). The name annoys her so much that Percy has to say it when she is not around otherwise he gets an arrow aimed where his dad don't shine. But either way the meeting was really funny, and really short.

-Flashback-

"Hey, hey my boy, how are you doing?" an overjoyed Apollo asked a sleeping Percy, who jumped out of bed startled by the sudden appearance of his dad, smiling down on him.

"Ughhhh, what do you want dad? I finally got some peaceful sleep." whined a sleepy Percy.

"Ohhh, nothing," Apollo said mischievously. "I just thought I would stop by with my Lil' sis here and come give you your birthday gifts."

"Wha?" asked a still tired Percy who was unable to remember his own birthday. "You're Lil' sis, I thought Artemis was older." Percy said.

"Ha I knew it. I knew when I gave the boy my blessing he would gain some brain cells." said a smirking Artemis.

"Yeah, yeah Lil' sis, either way we came here for a reason, and we only have a certain amount of time before we have to leave, so chop, chop." Apollo told Artemis, completely unaffected by what she just said.

"Okay boy listen here because I'm going to only say this once. You have my blessing. I only gave it to you because my idiot brother here begged" –insert scoffing Apollo here-"me to give you my blessing. He kept saying that you were important in the future and needed my blessing, so after the 100th time I finally blessed you, when you could still barely walk. That is why your eyes turn from a light sky blue, to silver towards the pupils. Also you have the ability to become as stealthy as a puma, senses that rivals a wolf's, and reflexes that out mach any animal. You have become almost as skilled of a hunter as my hunters, and you can rival them with your skill with the bow and hunting knives. Which leads me to your gift, here." She says in pretty much one breath while shoving something at him.

"It's a… bracelet." Percy says confused.

"Not just any bracelet boy." Artemis scoffs, "when you hit it, it turns into dual hunting knives." And true to her word, when Percy hit the bracelet, it became two silver hunting knives, one in each hand.

"Uhhh… thank you Lady Artemis." Percy said back a little happy that the man hating goddess herself just gave Percy a gift.

"Don't talk about my blessing or my gifts to anyone other than those who you can trust with your lives." Artemis said, "Otherwise I will castrate you myself." She finished before giving a small nod and flashing away.

"Well isn't she a little ray of sunshine." Percy mutters to his dad.

"No she isn't, she's a little ray of moon light." Apollo says cheekily, before giving Percy his gifts and explaining what they can do. "Listen my boy, I have to go and will not be able to visit you often. But I will guide you, until you reach safety. So keep fighting, and don't give up on me. I love you Percy." Apollo said before thunder rumbled in the distance. "Well that is my cue. Gotta go Perce; catch you on the flip side."

-End of flashback-

And that was pretty much the best birthday Percy ever had, even though later that day he had to run away from a pack of hellhounds, which he accidentally stumbled upon.

Life on the streets weren't the best, but if you have the blessing of two Olympian Gods, one the God of thieves, and the other the Goddess of the hunt, well Percy was able to steal anything he needed to survive, and he could hunt most animals, and have a relative good amount to eat, every couple of days.

But what sucked the most about living in the streets, was being alone. There was no one you could trust. It was such a lonely life; Percy sometimes wished he could find a soccer ball to name Wilson (Hehe Cast Away reference), at least he would have a friend, or something to talk to. But even if Percy did find someone to talk to even for a little bit, if they figure out who he is, they run away screaming that he is a murderer. Even if Percy is only a ten year old child, and when they run away, Percy always feel like someone just stabbed him in the heart, then shat on him.

There was also the problem with the mortal cops. Whenever they find Percy they go all ballistic on him and start chasing him. Some even release the hounds or shoot at Percy. Had it not been for Artemis's, and Hermes blessing Percy would have been caught or shot ages ago. And also trouble with street thugs, or rich boys acting tough, but Percy's pistol and switch blade usually worked well, after some failed threats, and a lot of scared gangsters. And then there were the monsters. Even though they are usually only a hellhound or two, or the usual dracaenae, there wasn't much of a challenge. But sometimes, Percy ran into a Hydra, or a Drakon, or even squads of monsters that are actually somewhat organized. He couldn't believe it either. But those monsters always get so close to killing Percy, always. But after months on the street, Percy became an excellent archer, and a hunting knives expert.

But now here is Percy, a year after his mother died, a ten year old child all alone sleeping in Brooklyn garbage with barely anything to eat, and a nightmare to remind him of the worst day in his life. You know the usual, day in the life of a runaway demigod. But it was time for Percy to get a move on, so he jumped out of the garbage, grabbed a stale, two week old granola bar out of the trash, and headed in any random direction.

It was going as good as it ever does when you're sneaking in the shadows and avoiding gangs, for Percy. But then he heard something that made Percy stop dead in his tracks. He heard a voice that he thought that he would never hear before.

"Percy, my baby boy, come to momma. Come home." was all Percy needed to hear before he bolted into an abandoned warehouse with mountains of old empty crates that held useless and broken objects. The place was a maze, it kept twisting and turning, and every mound looked exactly like the other. It was dark, and shadows seemed to be everywhere, but Percy didn't pay attention to any of the details, because all he cared about was finding his mother. But even though Percy knew that his mom was dead, there was still a part of him that clung to the thought that the one good person (besides his dad) in Percy's terrible life was still alive. He would do anything to find this voice, and begged to all immortal beings that it was his mom, who was somehow alive, and miraculously found her son.

But as it turns out Percy's luck was just as bad as always, because when he came to the place where his mother's voice was coming from, all he found was an empty space. Well not exactly empty, because as he scanned the room he saw that there was giant fire, with a cauldron, large enough to cook a whole elephant and still have room, dominated most of the space. The rest of the room was full of cooking utensils, and ingredient. But the worst was that hanging upside down by their feet, and their hands tied were three people. Two girls and a boy, one of the girls who had blonde curly hair, tan skin, and intelligent piercing grey eyes seemed to be about 9 years old. The other girl who had short black spiky hair, slightly pale skin and electric blue eyes seemed to be 10 years old. And the boy had blond hair, with light mischievous blue eyes and was slightly tanned seemed to be 12 years old. All of them had cuts on their bodies, looked exhausted, but all of them had alert eyes that seemed to scream; we're scared and need help, but you need t leave now, otherwise you'll die to.

But Percy got the message too late, because right when he saw their looks, he felt a sharp pain in his head, as he collapsed to the group his vision slowly turning black. The last thing he saw and heard was a Cyclops walking into his vision, mimicking his mother's voice exactly saying, "Ohh poor Percy, you lost your mother again. At least you'll be good enough to eat."

Gods dammit, my mother is dead. I am all alone. And I truly am an idiot for thinking otherwise. Why, why must I go out like this, and not in style, like an action hero, was all Percy thought, before unconsciousness finally overcame Percy.