Chapter 2: Gods and Gifts
A/N: Enjoy Chapter 2 and please make sure to review and give some suggestions. If I use a suggestion, I will give the person that gave it a shout out when it is used. Also, I will probably only update on weekends since I'm super busy on weekdays. With that, read away!
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Percy Jackson & The Olympians or the characters. Uncle Rick owns all of it.
Last Time:
Percy Point of View
I heard my mom scream in horror as I lay still, waiting for the right moment. I peeked through half closed eyes to see the monsters foot coming down. I waited until the last second to roll out-of-the-way and jump onto the Minotaur's shoulders. With one swift move and a lot of effort and strength, I snapped its neck and fell off. I lost consciousness as I hit the ground with a thud.
Present Time:
Percy Point of View
I awoke to a bright white room and the sound of machines beeping every now and then. I looked at my surroundings and tried to figure out were I was. The room was the size of a standard hospital room and it had no windows. The floor had a checkerboard look to it and the door looked like it was made of mahogany. I gasped as I suddenly remembered what had happened before I lost consciousness. I looked underneath the blanket expecting wounds and casts. However, what I found confused me greatly...I was fine. No bruises, cuts or anything.
"H-H-How?" I said.
"I healed you of course."
I jumped and whirled around to see a blonde haired, blue eyed doctor. I looked closer to see he was around six foot and had a decent tan. Then, what he said hit me. Healed.
"L-Lord A-A-Apollo?" I asked.
"Bingo."
I stared in shock for about three seconds before I threw myself at his feet bowing as deeply as I could.
"I-I'm sorry Lord Apollo, I would have bowed sooner if I had known it was you."
"Rise young one and follow me. My family would like to speak with you."
I stood shakily and followed him as he walked out of the room briskly, not looking back. I lost track of all of the twists and turns we took until I found myself in what looked like a massive waiting room. The room was complete with comfortable looking chairs and TV's placed throughout the room.
Before he could continue walking I said, "Lord Apollo, may I ask you a question?"
"Speak your question child." He said without hesitation.
"Yes my Lord and where is my mom?"
"Ah yes. Your mother is waiting at the base of the building awaiting your return."
"Okay. Thank you for that valuable information Lord Apollo."
"You're welcome young Perseus. Also, please just call me Apollo. After all we're friends aren't we?"
I stared at him in shock. He wanted to be my friend...him a god, my friend? I could see his blinding smile and his hand held out waiting for me to shake it. I made my decision quickly and without a second of hesitation I took his and shook it.
"Sure thing Apollo. But, please call me Percy. I sound old when someone calls me Perseus."
He looked at me, bewilderment plastered on his face. When he suddenly started laughing and gripping his sides. For minutes I just stood there with a smile on my face as he laughed hysterically. He continued to laugh some more until lightning suddenly flashed, causing the laughing god to stop immediately.
"Alright Percy. Now, we must hurry because Zeus is losing his patience."
We walked out of what I thought was a hospital. But, when I turned around what I saw shocked me. I had just been in Apollo's temple/house. Even though it hurt to look at it, I could tell it was made of gold. I turned back around to see Apollo a little far off, walking towards a large and beautiful building. As soon as I saw the building, I knew it was the throne room and I could feel the raw power eminating from it. Not wanting to make the gods mad at me for being late, I ran after Apollo.
I finally caught up to Apollo as he reached the massive doors. I stopped to catch my breath next to Apollo. He just stood there and waited for me to recompose myself before he opened the doors and walked in. Once inside, I watched as he grew to his 10 foot tall form and sat down on his throne. As soon as he sat down, I slowly walked to the person I assumed was Zeus and bowed.
"Lord Zeus, if I'm not mistaken." I said kind of scared.
"You are correct young demigod, I am Lord Zeus. Now, rise so the Olympian council may speak its mind."
I stood a little shakily. They radiated so much power it felt like they would incinerate by just sitting there.
"U-Um shouldn't I bow to the rest of the council?" I asked, not wanting to be turned into ashes.
The gods all looked at me as I stood there visibly shaky in fear. Thankfully, someone decided to take pity on me. I turned around to see who had placed a hand on my shoulder to see Lady Hestia towering over me with a sweet and kind smile on her face. I bowed as soon as I saw it was her.
"No. No. No need to bow young one. Come and sit by the fire with me."
I didn't resist as she guided me to a comfy looking chair and sat me down in it. The chair was a calming shade of blue and it sat by the fire. As I sat down, I saw the gods following my every move.
"So, if I may ask. Why have you called me here?"
The gods looked at each and seemed to have a quick mental conversation for a few minutes. Seeing this, I just sat in silence and stared at the flames when I realized something was in my pockets on either side. In silence, I pulled the Minotaur's horns out of both pockets. As they lay in my hands I just stared in surprise because I didn't pick them up.
"Percy, may I see those?"
I looked up to see a man with a beard that was literally on fire. I tried to bow but he held his hand up as if to stop me.
"I think I speak for most, if not all of the gods here when I say this, stop bowing." Hephaestus said.
I looked around to see all of the other gods nodding. Turning back to the god standing before me, I gave him the horns and closed my eyes as he disappeared in a bright flash. After some time had passed waiting for his return, another bright flash forced me to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I saw two deadly looking daggers being held out to me. The daggers were pure black and had a large jagged edge. None other than Hephaestus held these daggers out to me.
(A/N: Look up daedric dagger on a Search Engine and imagine it completely black.)
"Lord Hephaestus, are these for me?"
"Yes Percy, they are. Now, before you take them know this. These daggers will reappear a few moments after it leaves your hands. Also, they will appear right where you put them whenever you need them."
I stared in awe at the daggers for a moment before I slowly reached for them. Before I picked them up however, I looked at Hephaestus as he nodded. The grips on the daggers seemed to have been molded specifically for my hands. I twirled them experimentally and then decided to place them on my back. The sharp parts of the blades facing each other as each handle faced opposite directions. As I withdrew my hands I felt the daggers disappear. I smiled and in the blink of an eye I drew the daggers and slid them towards the throne room doors. I counted and counted until the I felt the daggers return to their places on my back. Ten seconds sharp, not one second earlier or later.
"Thank you Lord Hephaestus for your wonderful gift. What must I do in return for your generosity?"
He smiled and I noticed the other gods smiled as well. Surely there was some kind of catch to it or something right?
"No Percy, just think of it as an award for killing two baby drakons and the Minotaur at such a young age."
With that,I watched as he walked over to his throne while growing to full size and sitting down. Suddenly, a man in a bermuda shirt and fishing shorts walked over to me. As he walked over, I noticed a throne was empty. Once again I stood up and as soon as I got to my feet, I went to bow. But, before I could bow the man had reached me and pulled me into a hug.
"Hello my son. You have grown during the time I have not seen you."
"F-F-Father?"
"Yes Percy, it is me."
Without a second thought I hugged him back as hard as I could, not wanting to let go. Our embrace lasted for a little as I breathed in the smells of the sea that seemed to radiate from my father. But, sadly all good things must come to an end. Once we released our embrace, Poseidon gave me a pen.
"Here you go Percy. Think of this as a birthday present for all of those birthday's I missed."
"What is it Father?"
"Oh yeah. Uncap the pen but make sure you point it away from yourself."
I pointed it away from him and myself and uncapped the pen like he said. Instantly the pen transformed into a Greek style celestial bronze sword. Like the daggers, the swords grip felt perfect in my hand. As a bonus, the sword felt perfectly balanced, not to heavy and not to light.
"Its name is Anaklusmos in Ancient Greek. It translates to Riptide in English."
"Thank you for your gift Father."
"Your welcome my son. Whether or not you think so, you earned it."
~~~~~ TIME SKIP ~~~~~
Still Percy's Point of View
It has been around seven years since I got my daggers and sword from the gods. It has also been around seven year's since I have been to Camp Half-Blood. I've stayed away from it trying to have as normal a life as I could. But, at the end of every summer another clay bead appeared on my leather necklace. Chiron knew of me and we stayed in contact as much possible. But, lately Zeus and Poseidon seem to be really mad. Don't ask me how I know, but I bet if you were to look at the dark skies and raging seas, you would think the same thing.
My mom broke me out of my thoughts when she said one word, "Food!"
In an instant I was in the kitchen, eating the delicious blue pancakes she made me. I saw her sit down and eat her own pancakes when an IM appeared, waiting to be accepted.
~~~~~ TIME SKIP ~~~~~
Still Percy's Point of View
"I had help, sir. Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase."
"To show my thanks I will allow you to ask Hephaestus to make you two items, on me."
"Thank you Lord Zeus."
As the god of the sky flashed out, Poseidon walked over to me.
"Your Uncle has always had a thing for dramatic exits. He would done very well as the god of theater."
"As you say Father. If I may, I must go get those items made and show my friends I wasn't turned into ashes."
"Very well then. But Percy, at least give your Father a hug."
I gave him a hug as he wished and took my leave. As I walked through the streets of Olympus, people looked at me as I passed them. Each nymph and minor god I passed gave me a grateful and respective look. After some time I reached my destination, Hephaestus' workshop on Olympus. The sign in the window said Open in Ancient Greek, seeing the sign I walked in. The front room was really something. It had a counter fo the customers to the left of the door and to the right a large, expensive looking waiting room. A massive fireplace was across from the door to the workshop. Behing the counter stood Hephaestus with a notepad and pen.
"Zeus told me everything, so what do you want?"
"Ok, well for the first item I want a bow that will appear when I reach for it with an endless quiver of arrows that change attributes at my wish."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Okay...let's say I wanted to shoot an arrow at a group of monsters that exploded on impact or released smaller projectiles as it went...get what I'm saying?"
He wrote it down quickly then said, "Okay, that'll be easy. What about the last item?"
"Okay, for the last item I want a belt that has pouches for storage on it. If you can please make the storage limitless. But, at the touch of a certain spot it needs to be able to turn into a set of armor."
"Alright then, wait for at least 4 hours while it's all made."
"Okay, thank you Hephaestus."
I watched as he nodded and went to the forges in the back to get to work. I sat in one of the chairs and listened to the sounds of hammer hitting metal. I think I fell asleep once or twice while waiting because the next thing I knew Hephaestus was walking out. I jumped up quickly and walked over to the counter just as he placed the items down.
"The items have been made to your specifications. I even took the liberty to make one of the pouches summon nectar and ambrosia at your wish. Also, the belt cannot be cut and I even made sheathes for your daggers and attached them to the back. Lastly, I made it so no one except you could wield the bow or lift the belt."
"Thank you Hephaestus. Though, if I'm not mistaken...you did that so you could get more money out of Zeus, right?"
He nodded with a huge grin on his face as I laughed.
"Well then there is something else you could do if you want even more money from Zeus."
"What would that be son of Poseidon?"
"Make it so that only I can wield the daggers and my sword, like you did with the bow."
"Consider it done."
With that he left for another thirty minutes until he walked back out and handed the daggers and sword back.
"Thank you again, Lord Hephaestus."
"It was a pleasure."
With that I picked up and placed the items were I wanted them to be. I said thank you one last time and left the workshop, wanting to test out the new stuff.
A/N: Okay my dear readers...please be sure to review if you want and read on!
