The Pacifist, and The Lightning Thief
Chapter One
I firmly suggest that you drop this article, and store it far, far away from any mortal interaction — then, just to be safe, burn it — however, if you're reluctant, and your curiosity has bested you, heed this warning — this is a dreadful tale of trials and tribulations my kind have been forced to partake in. You, have been warned.
Greetings, my name is Theo Reed — I've existed on this Earth for twelve, tranquil years. I currently attend a private boarding school known as Yancy Academy, built around the consensus of schooling "troubled children." I, however, don't quite fit the general commonality; this being one of the only schools accepting of my "sad," forlorn situation — I'm an orphan. The presence of both my biologic parents unbeknownst. That, being the reason for my "lonesome nature," as many associates in my life have conveyed to me.
True, I am an introvert. However, my reclusive personality has more to do with my pacifistic views on life. Affection, matured into friendship — friendship, created enemies — enemies, led to fighting — fighting, forged war — and war, mass-produced death. Why should I, unintentionally contribute to the never-ending cycle of violence? I wouldn't — my life was perfect; being a lone-wolf, I excelled at the top of my classes, had time to study various genres ranging from: mythology (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and many more), autobiography (Ghandi, being my personal favorite, and idol), psychology, satire, speculative etc, etc, etc. Basically, I'm quite sophisticated — clearly.
Here I was, on a school field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, riding on a bus filled with obnoxious, delinquent juveniles. How swell. Across from my seat, the young, ogre-like girl Nancy Bobofit, pestered two unfortunate kids seated a row above her own with sandwich pickings. Percy Jackson, and Grover Underwood, I believe their names were. I was quite surprised at the fact Percy, of all people, had remained silent for as long as he did; he'd been a frequent troublemaker if memory served.
Percy began to rise from his seat, blatantly fed up with Nancy's incessant abuse — but apparently, Grover had found a solution to calm his best companion — a huffed pout, followed by a firm thud, answering my presumption. Sure, I'd thought of interrupting, but that'd only lead to further complications — after all, sometimes the best course of action, is inaction — coupled with the fact, that we'd reached our destination.
The museum was brilliant — its collections ominous, and sensational. I marveled at the tremendous artifacts of old, each delicacy layered finely in their perfectly-polished glass frame. That's when Mr. Brunner, Yancy Academy's Latin teacher — and, if I must, the most interesting, and articulate staff member in the entire establishment, called on Percy to answer a question pertaining to Greek mythology.
"Would you care to inform the class on what this picture represents?" Mr. Brunner quizzed, a picture of Kronos, swallowing his children whole above his pointed fingers.
Percy, to my astonishment, shot back as though the subject were common knowledge. "Kronos? That's Kronos, eating his sons... Right?"
"Correct" Mr. Brunner reassured. "And he performed said action because..?" His voice brittle with impatience — distinctly wanting a more precise summary.
A notion, which challenged me to answer in Percy's stead — "Kronos, Ruler of Time executed the simpleminded scheme out of insecurity, along with the typical component developed by such preeminent power — ignorance. Because of this, the titan-god decided to eat his children, so that he could obtain their power, and cease any risks, capable of putting an end to his reign. Kronos devoured all, but one — Zeus, because Rhea, hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock instead. Later, when Zeus had matured, he'd fed Kronos a mixture of mustard, and wine — making his father regurgitate the swallowed gods."
Mr. Brunner nodded with approval. "A perfect answer, as usual Theo. If only all of my students could be so diversely enlightened." Glaring with explicit disappointment at the unenthusiastic brats he called his students before continuing his speech.
"Zeus, did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains into Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld."
This is why Mr. Brunner was the best, he was so knowledgeable, and I couldn't help, but to admire the guy's clear affinity for mythological subjects. The other kids seemed to ignore the extended descriptive, plainly not interested in sundry knowledge.
"Who cares Mr. Brunner!" Nancy objectively proclaimed. "What use does this actually have in real life." She'd added extra-unneeded emphasis on "real," to further her odious retort. Mr. Brunner's eyebrows knitted, a scowl plastered on his face before turning to individually address the question to both, Percy, and I — "That, indeed, Ms. Bobofit, is an excellent question!" His uplifted mood a clear facade of enthusiasm. "Mr. Jackson? Mr. Reed? Would either of you, perhaps, like to address Nancy's uncertainty?" Not so much a question, more-so a subtle command.
Percy foolishly attempted first. "Uh... I d—" Cutting him off before he could make both Mr. Brunner, and himself look like dullards, I calmly responded in my own snarky, little way.
"The obvious usage being food-for-thought — I imagine you're familiar with the term "feeding your brain," yes? Studying a delicacy such as Greek mythology, of course, is cohesive to the prior term."
"Y-yeah... Whatever. You-you freaking geek." Nancy stuttered, her prior robust audibly shattered. A wolfish-grin mentally played along my lips — though yes, I'm quite pacifistic, I do at times find great pleasure in ousting arrogant individuals — through nonviolent advances, of course.
Lunch came quickly, I sat alone (as I usually did), delving into one of the works of literature I'd brought along — Pacifism as Pathology, by Ward Churchill — a great piece of work I'd come by whilst partaking in my weekly purge upon the school's abundantly unique literary center.
"Hey, dude." Percy addressed, Grover glued to his side as they both approached me. What would they want? I'd never interacted with the two before, what was up with the sudden friendly approach? "S-sup! Theo, right?" Grover awkwardly joined in.
"Uh... Yeah. Any specific reason why you two are attempting conversation with me?" I pondered aloud, perhaps sounding stuck-up in the process — not that I particularly cared, the less interaction the better. Right? Ignorant to my subtle rejection, Percy, and Grover invited themselves to accompany me — whatever, it didn't really bother me, as long as they didn't try to further solicit, we'd be able to co-exis—.
"So, like, nice job man!" Percy's hand made contact with my back, a gentle slap of gratification for a reason unbeknownst by yours truly. "You really set that pig-head Nancy straight." The two shared a laugh, swapping several jokes about the girl — I unintentionally smiled at the foolishness, a small chuckle escaping my lips in the process.
"And here I thought you were a robot Theo!" Grover teased — Percy, not long after joined in. A robot? Seriously? I sighed, averting my attention back to my literature. That's when Nancy Bobofit made her untimely entrance, apparently her reign of stupidity hadn't been quite over — stomping her way up to Percy, Grover, and I, her face smug. The beast of Yancy Academy took it upon herself to stare in my direction, no doubt because of our past "feud" — I palmed my cheek, looking up at the brute with clear disinterest. Her glare subsided, now focused on her old prey — Percy, and Grover.
She galloped over to Grover, pelting his lap with ravaged rations plastered together with multiple (edible?) oddities. Quite gross. Grover shrieked, hanging his head dejectedly. That's when I noticed Percy's face — flushed with red, glowering at Nancy with a look of reprisal. That's when it happened — I almost didn't catch, and if your eyes weren't fixated on Percy, you would've missed it too. A hand of water (yeah, I said it. A hand of freaking water), grabbed Nancy, pulling her into the fountain instantly.
"PERCY PUSHED ME!" Nancy fibbed — but he didn't? Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me (which I doubt, as I have perfect 20/20 vision) — Percy hadn't touched the despicable liar.
"I-I, what? No!" Percy clamored. Mrs. Dodds, the school's pre-algebra teacher, seemed to appear out of thin air, grilling Percy on sight with disciplinary chatter. Grover abruptly shot to his friend's defense, attempting to shift the blame on himself, rather than let it sit on Percy — A noble lie, but for some reason Mrs. Dodds seemed to have it out for Percy, her eyes fixed on him like a three course meal — which is why I made my presence scarce, even if I'd given my own testimony she wouldn't have altered her perception.
"It's alright guys" Percy whispered weakly — His frail response putting neither, Grover, or I, at ease. Percy followed Mrs. Dodds into the museum, turning back to flash his usual troublemaker grin, before vanishing into the historic building. Grover darted passed me, fumbling over his words, while trying to keep his breath in sync. "to Mr. Brunner!" had all I heard before the guy had been lost in a crowd of students.
"Curiosity really did kill the cat..." I mumbled with a sly smirk, prowling on Mrs. Dodds, and Percy. There they stood in the middle of the previously visited Greek, and Roman section, Percy, evidently uncomfortable being alone with the hag. Mrs. Dodds growled like a feral animal (this was seriously getting weird), my hand pocketed, ready to speed dial the cops if anything off-putting happened further.
"It was only a matter of time before we found you out" Mrs. Dodds snarled at Percy. The kid looked dumbfounded, croaking a skewered "whaaaa?" in the process — I had no clue what she was on about. What did Percy do? I knew he was trouble, but he didn't peg me as the type to commit anything too terrible.
"What in the-" I mistakenly yelped aloud at the grotesque sight before me. Mrs. Dodds began to mutate — She'd grown bat-like wings, with claws, and mouth full of stained fangs. My mind began to wander, she symbolized a bat-like creature in old Greek lore, (what were the creatures called... Furries? The furry? The Furies!)
Her glowing, crimson eyes locked on to me, then back to Percy — That's when I'd seen Mr. Brunner appear, he'd thrown a pen over to Percy, shouting his student's name in unison. "Percy! Catch!" Percy palmed the thin ballpoint pen, moments away from being Mrs. Dodd's lunch. "W-what do I do?!" Percy shouted back, only a few feet away from the monster's clutches.
Something then happened, my vision blurred, repairing itself immediately. I-I, could see... Better?! Time seemed to slow, my eyes wandered adventurously with information — I could see the monster's entire anatomy. "P-Percy!" I stammered, overwhelmed with information. "Sever her pinion! It'll cause an imbalance — Her anatomy is similar to a bat's, it'll cause a movement imbalance!"
"Opinion? What?! I don't want a stupid opin—"
"Her wings dammit! Slice at her wings!" I shouted like a madman.
I marveled at the situation I'd gotten myself in, here I was, a pacifist, spouting instruction on how to injure Mrs. D—, a monster. I held my position studying what Percy would do next — Percy seemed to act on instinct, as though he'd done this before, uncapping the pen turned sword, dodging to the side, then dicing one of Mrs. Dodd's wings in two. Instantly, she'd vaporized into a pile of gold dust — there we stood, Percy, and I. Mr. Brunner seemed to disappear, as abruptly as he had appeared.
That's when Percy raced towards me, (the former pen turned sword, back in its original form) a quizzical look on his face,
"Dude, you just saved my life!" Percy exclaimed.
"Dude... You just killed my pre-algebra teacher." I answered back — half sarcastic, half mystified — Percy scratched his head in confusion.
"Dude. So, I guess that makes us friends now? Right?" Percy laughed, the same old troublemaker smile, plastered on his face.
Lucien here. First time doing something like this, let me know your thoughts so far. Pairings set as canon (except the OC's). Thanks for reading chapter one, I hope you all enjoyed it. Stay tuned. Oh, and don't forget to R&R. Constructive criticism rocks.