Chapter One: Into the Den
"Dad?"
Percy flinched as her felt finger caress his cheek. His eyes shot open and muscle memory committed him to snatch his trusty sword, Riptide, from his pocket.
He found himself in a wide cavern, lying on his back and in intense pain. Kneeling above him, wide eyed at the celestial bronze blade held to her throat, a young girl, about sixteen held as still as a statue.
She had curly blonde hair and bright green eyes. A faint scar curved across her left cheek. Percy swore she looked familiar. The mix of features threw him for a loop and the general disorientation of waking did not help either.
"I-I, uh, um, I come in peace?" she stammered and tried her best to manage a smile.
The glow of celestial bronze glimmered in her eyes. Percy tried to rack his brains for memories and vowed to climb Olympus and break something if the gods had any had in this situation.
Cautiously, he lowered Riptide and capped it. The blade shifted shape and he lamely held a black, ballpoint pen in his hand.
"Who are you?" the blonde immediately asked. "H-How did you get here? I thought I was alone and it was so long since-since…"
"She's gonna kill me," Percy groaned and closed his eyes. "Oh Hades, Annabeth's gonna kill me."
"Who, what?" the blonde bit her bottom lip and glanced around nervously. "If at all, I kinda want to live long enough to go to college, please."
Percy grumbled as he sat up. The blonde wisely scooted back a couple steps and watched him curiously. To his credit, Percy had a knack for waking up to unfamiliar places but this one took the cake and all the candles with it.
The cavern hosted a large roof not unlike Carlsbad, where he last met the God of the Wild, Pan. Vines, moss, and various greenery coated the cavern. He heard, or better yet, felt the rush of an underground river flowing through it all. Gold and ruby colored bugs floated about the closed airspace joined by pulsing blue-green lichen on the walls. Despite the dim light and strangeness of it all, Percy didn't feel all that perturbed.
"Uh, you, um, do you like, have a name?" the blonde asked once more.
Percy shifted his gaze and the cogs started to work in his head. "Yeah but first: did you call me 'Dad'?"
Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the cavern. It was joined by a chorus of chuffing, a sound most are unfamiliar with unless they've stared down a telkhines.
"Ah, we shouldn't stay here," the blonde girl said urgently. "The monsters are out hunting. Come on, please?"
Percy grimaced and staggered to his feet. The blonde moved with fluid grace and dashed towards an outcropping of rock and vine. Percy followed closely, uncapping Riptide as he ran.
He found her crouched by a wide, underground river. She seemed to be speaking to someone but he couldn't make out the words over the hunting howl of telkhines.
She turned and nodded. "I hope you can swim. We just need to get down river and we should be fine."
Percy rolled his eyes. The blonde dove into the river with a practiced form. The son of Poseidon decided to cannon ball in. The cool water kissed his skin but he willed it from wetting his clothes.
He couldn't sense any nearby water spirits. The river felt more free, almost primordial. As he looked around, he again saw the blonde girl's surprise expression. It reminded him of the strange looks people at camp had first given him.
She began to swim downstream, and he followed without a word. The underwater river did not fail to impress Percy. Though he hadn't spent much time in rivers these days, it was a spectacle.
Silver longfin, cavefish, and darters zipped around with ease. Smooth river stones emitted faint gray glows. And some sort of freshwater soft coral grew from the side of the river. It had a dizzying effect of looking like the stomach of some humongous whale. It wouldn't have been the first-time Percy had been there.
They surfaced after a couple minutes in a completely different area. Percy suspected a cave system connected by underground rivers earlier.
This cavern was markedly normal, save for the glowing nest of torch bugs hanging from the remains of a crashed biplane.
"Hold up," Percy said as they climbed onto land. "Before I go any further, I need you to answer my questions."
The young blonde turned anxiously and fiddled with a pin in her hair. "Okay, before we go any further, I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability."
Percy walked over to a dry portion of the river bank. He sat down, and beckoned for the blonde to join. He cocked an eyebrow and he rolled his eyes.
"What's your favorite food?" he asked. "If I can still breathe under water, I should still have my other powers as well."
"Other powers?" she said softly. "Uh, I think my favorite food is a supreme pizza, New York style, no mushrooms."
"Picky," he smiled and clapped his hands together.
A soft orange flamed appeared in front of him before swelling into a fireball about arm's length. The blonde girl flinched instinctively but the flame did not burn. It felt warm, almost homely.
In front of Percy, a large pizza appeared on a metal tray: supreme, New York style, no mushroom. The blonde's eyes went wide and she suppressed a squeal of joy.
"You're kidding?!" she gasped. "What kind of black magic was that?"
"Sit down, you look hungry and I don't like talking on an empty stomach," Percy grinned and handed her the first slice.
She bit down on it with gusto and Percy helped himself to a piece. The texture was perfect, the cheese and the topping exploded with flavor. And as they ate, Percy decided to spring his question.
"What's your name? Are you a camper? Where are we? Did you see a maniacal Queen of the Gods before we got here?"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," she said finishing her third slice. "Okay, first, my name is Sally, Sally Jackson. We're somewhere in the Spirit World; and no, the last god I saw was the Mistress of the Hunt. I take it you're a demigod too? Son of Neptune, if water means anything to you. But that sword of yours isn't gold, it's bronze. Son of Poseidon. A Greek? Maybe you're supposed to help me?"
"Sally Jackson?" Percy's jaw dropped a bit. "Who's your godly parent?"
"I'm a legacy. Both my parents were demigods. You've probably never heard of them."
"Oh?"
"Y-yeah, they uh, sorry," Sally looked towards her pizza in shame. "Look, I barely know what I'm doing here but it feels like it's been years since I've seen another person, let alone a demigod."
"What were their names?" Percy pressed.
"Annabeth and Percy," Sally smiled tightly and let out a harsh bark of laughter "Crazy, right? Such powerful and great people and I'm their daughter. They deserved better than me."
"That why you called me dad," Percy laughed. "Hm, I wouldn't say we're both powerful. If anything, Annabeth was always the most dangerous."
"Wait, wait," Sally cocked her head. "What do you mean?"
"Can I see that hair pin of yours?" Percy asked.
She handed it over cautiously. He slid his hand across the length of the pin and smiled as the soft glow of celestial bronze grew. He laid the blade carefully on the ground before uncapping Riptide and placing them side by side. The identical blade bore the same Greek symbols, the same handles, grooves, and edges. Perfectly mirroring one another, Percy knew it when he first laid eyes on the hair pin.
"Yeah, that makes sense," he laughed.
"Wait, I-I don't understand," Sally swallowed." No, no I do undertand. I was right? I was right! I knew it!"
Sally Jackson sprang across time and space and wrapped her dad in a tight hug. Percy, despite only being a couple years older, resigned himself to Fate's cruel ironies and embraced the weirdness of it all. Beyond all capacity for rational thought, some invisible tie brought him to bear. Whatever fortune may come, he was ready for it.
He didn't speak. He let her babble a bit about string theory and how no amount of magic or godly power could twist the fabric of reality to bring them together. He let her cry in his arms, tears of profound joy and confusion. He held her the whole time and wondered how best he could help her.
A/N: Hey, it's been a while. Hopefully we can start something new here, yeah? Good on y'all.