. : THE GUILD OF CHAOS : .
A Percy Jackson Fanfiction
Two: Legacy of a Hero
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson in any way, shape, or form.
Percy was quite divided.
On one hand, he was overjoyed at the prospect of being home. Annabeth's immortality was a pleasant surprise, and he wondered how that came to be. It didn't matter, though. He was back on Earth, his girlfriend was still alive, and so were quite a few of his closest friends. It was great.
On the other hand, a tiny part of him still resented the gods and insisted that the Guild just leave them to fail. Why should I care about them? They didn't care about me, after all. Even when I saved their butts over and over again. His Division was sure to cause a problem, too. So would Thalia and Nico. Sure, he loved his cousins like the siblings he never had, and his Division as the family who wouldn't ever betray him, but he also knew them inside and out. They were still furious at the gods, and Percy doubted that anything would ever ebb that anger.
And the matter of his identity…
What the three Captains had left out in their explanation as to why it would be a bad idea to reveal themselves was the fact that it was only a bad idea when Chaos explicitly said that it was not permitted. The cousins had talked it out beforehand and decided that they would not say who they were, but allow the gods and demigods to guess as much as they wanted.
Percy sighed to himself as he followed Annabeth – Wise Girl – through the streets of Olympus. Something about the eternal city felt different. He couldn't place a finger on it, but it certainly was not exactly what he remembered.
Well, he couldn't say that he was all too surprised at the change. He had been gone for seven hundred years, after all, before Annabeth had even finished redesigning Olympus the first time. Things were bound to be at least a little different.
Except the gods. Apparently, he was wrong when he told Hermes that the gods could change, centuries ago. They never did.
Annabeth pressed a button on the side of the elevator that would take them down from Olympus. The doors slid open to allow the demigods entrance. Once everyone was in, it closed itself automatically and began the descent downward.
"Um, hi," Leo said, breaking the awkward silence. "I guess you already know who we are?"
Percy nodded. "The Guild keeps tabs on all the worlds, including this one. Sometimes we know more about the events that happen here than the people who actually were directly involved in it. Comes with the territory of helping the all-knowing creator."
Leo flashed a grin. "Cool. Oh, by the way, what did Stormstrike mean by 'wrapping things up'?"
"Absolutely nothing," Percy replied, smiling a little. Ah, Thalia. The drama queen, to match her dad's implied title of Drama King. "She's just being dramatic, as usual. Same with Shadow, actually. Nothing to worry about." He blinked in surprise when the elevator ground to a halt. He remembered the trip down from Olympus was an awful lot longer than that, so what…
He glanced at Annabeth, recalling that she'd once told him, oh-so-many years back, that she had plans to speed up the slow moving elevator. Percy guessed she did just as she planned.
But he definitely did not have an explanation as to why in Chaos they weren't in the Empire State Building anymore, which he discovered when he stepped out. Maybe the gods moved? They move with the heart of the West, right?
Percy frowned as his senses began to tingle. The air was still charged with a strange sort of energy; the lingering aura of many, many demigods.
So they weren't in a mortal area. Then where?
"I… haven't exactly kept as up to date as I should have," Percy said slowly as he followed the others out of the elevator, attracting Annabeth's attention.
"What do you mean?"
He hesitated. "Well… I haven't checked on Earth in over five hundred years."
"You're immortal?"
"To the same extent as the Hunters of Artemis."
"That's the same with us," Leo piped up. "The gods didn't make us full immortals because we'd be bound by the Ancient Laws, and they want us to help out at camp. Oh, you said over five hundred years, right?"
"Yes," Percy confirmed. Leo grinned.
"Well, you're in for a surprise! I bet the last time you checked, we were still on Long Island Sound, and the Romans still below that maintenance tunnel."
Percy froze in shock for less than a millisecond before continuing. "You moved? What about the Roman camp?"
This time, Annabeth answered. "We live together. Right now, we're at Calypso's island, Ogygia. You see, the mortals were getting better and more advanced technology and kept on developing all the urban areas, including the old areas for Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. We tried using the Mist, but all the technology messed it up and made everyone even more confused, so we decided it was better to just move. Since Calypso was recently released from her curse, the island she was trapped in was still uninhabited. She was actually really happy that the island would be used for something good."
Percy knew that Calypso was freed; it had been one of his wishes when the Second Giant War was over, along with a request that Hades and Hestia became Olympians.
Annabeth's stormy grey eyes narrowed and sharpened as she gazed at nothing. At first, Percy warily wondered if he'd crossed some sort of line by bringing up the past, even though it was indirectly. Then, he shook off that idea. She was stronger than that. She was probably just mad at the gods.
"How much do you know?" Annabeth asked, changing the topic. "I mean, you said over five hundred, right? Camp Unity is six hundred years old or so."
"I… I stopped when Gaea was forced back into her slumber," Percy answered, though it hurt to lie to her after being separated for so long.
"Oh." Annabeth's eyes clouded with sadness, which wrenched at Percy's heart. "Well, a month after that…" Piper opened her mouth to interrupt, but Annabeth plunged on, ignoring her. "You know Percy Jackson, right? Son of Poseidon and one of the Prophesized Seven? He was kill… I mean, executed." Annabeth quickly corrected herself.
"I thought Gaea was sleeping?" Okay, that sounded extremely pathetic, Percy.
"Yeah, well… It wasn't Gaea who killed him. It was the gods." Annabeth took a deep breath to calm herself, and Percy regretted ever asking her to tell him about what had happened.
"Hey, it's fine," he said. "I can read about the rest. We probably have written in the archives somewhere. You don't have to-"
"No, it's okay," Annabeth cut him off. "Just… listen." Percy reluctantly nodded. "The gods killed Percy and his cousins – Thalia and Nico di Angelo – because they thought he was betraying them, or so they say. I personally think it was because he was getting to powerful, and his cousins would've been strong as well if they worked together to avenge him, so they killed off all three. Later, we found that they were innocent. After that, Hades went to the underworld and found their spirits missing. And now, they're the three that are needed to win this war…"
She froze, eyes wide. Percy tensed. Did I give anything away? I didn't speak too much, did I? I don't think I said anything that would've tipped her off that much. It's too soon, I don't want them to know who I am just yet! Just as he opened his mouth to do some damage control, Annabeth grabbed his shoulders and faced him fully, startling both the warrior and her friends.
Please don't know, please don't know… "What are you-"
"Lord Chaos said that his Guild contains heroes that had been used and tossed out like trash, and even some of the dead," she interrupted. Percy's tension increased. Crap, crap, crap, she knows! Deny it, deny everything! "Is- Is Percy in the Guild?" Percy opened his mouth to blurt out some random denial and excuse, but then her words registered in his head.
He just managed to hold back a sigh of relief. She didn't know. Good. It wasn't time yet. Then he remembered the question with a little pang. How should he answer? He didn't want to crush her hopes. "Yes…" he whispered.
The effect of that single word of confirmation was instant, and rather amusing, to tell the truth. Everyone whirled around to face him, hope shining on their faces. Annabeth looked about to collapse. "Is he in your Division?"
Percy nodded, unable to bring himself to do anything else.
"Can I see him?"
This time, Percy fought back the urge to scream, You're looking right at him now! "That, would not be a good thing to do," he managed to say, voice slightly strangled. "That would be revealing an identity, and no revealing identities, right?"
The crushed look on her face was too much, and he added, "You're welcome to guess, though."
"What?"
"You can guess our identities all you like," Percy explained, hating himself as he spoke. "We just won't reveal them."
"Wait, what about Thalia and Nico?" Katie inquired hopefully.
"As far as I know, they're not in my Division, sorry." He had no clue whether or not they were okay with him telling, so he stayed on the safe side.
"We're here," Chris said. Percy looked up from the ground and couldn't help but smile as he spotted several kids playing, carefree in the midday sunlight.
It was sort of like New Rome, in that it was a multigenerational community, but the layout was different. Twenty-five large buildings that were more mansions than houses, connected to each other by a walkway, lined one side of a street to the far left. On the other side lay thirty other lower, one story buildings. He spotted a school, a grocery market, a farm, and an armory, and concluded that they were entirely self-supported here on Ogygia.
On his right was what looked like the camp; fourteen cabins arranged in a semicircle, with an opposite, larger arc of twenty cabins wrapped loosely around them. In the center was a fountain of water, with a small campfire hearth resting in front of it. A young girl was poking the flames with a stick; Hestia. A training arena sat past the camp, with a dirt path leading towards it.
"No demigods live in the mortal world anymore?" Percy asked, just to make sure. "I mean, newer demigods probably started off there, but nobody stays, right?"
"Yeah," Katie confirmed. "We manipulate the Mist when we can, though that isn't as reliable. Sometimes we just tell their parent, or simply leave. Since demigods are ADHD and dyslexic, we're usually the dumb ones in class. In the mortal world, well, due to all the technological advances, they're starting to think that they know everything and anyone who doesn't is a stupid idiot."
"Redundant," Annabeth murmured.
"Wonderful," Percy said drily. "So now it's even harder to be a demigod."
"You are one, right?" Annabeth asked.
He decided there was no harm in accepting it, and nodded.
The daughter of Athena stopped and looked up. Percy followed her gaze, realizing that an entire herd-flock of pegasi were frolicking in the skies. Annabeth whistled eleven times, and an equal number of pegasi flew down to meet them.
Percy panicked, realizing that they probably knew he was a son of Poseidon, and quickly flashed a brief mental message to them.
Guys, I know I'm a son of Poseidon, please don't make it look like it. They don't know. Act like I'm a legacy of Mercury, or something.
One of the pegasi nearly tripped over his own hooves, which was amusing to watch. The others stared at the Captain for a moment before looking away, pretending like he was nothing special to them.
He could feel that they wanted to speak with him, though, so he messaged a mental Later. They relaxed a little.
"They're not stabled?" Percy asked the other immortal demigods.
"No," Annabeth said. "It was better to just let them fly around when and wherever they want to, and they're easy to call."
They all hopped onto a pegasus, and were soon streaking through the air.
"Wait, wouldn't the pegasi have ran into your flying ship already?" Leo inquired. "You said it's invisible, so how come nobody's flown into it yet?"
Percy grinned. "There are some repellants installed on the invisibility shields. All animals find themselves subconsciously turning away, so unless they know exactly where it is and really what to go there, they'll just swerve. Same with other flying people, unless they're in a vehicle. Then they crash. Fall down, go boom."
Leo grinned, probably liking the way Percy phrased it.
"So, in other words, it's over there," Annabeth deducted, pointing to a seemingly empty space, where a herd-flock of winged horses had suddenly turned away from seemingly nothing, scattering a little in temporary confusion before recovering and flying off in a different direction.
"That's the side," Percy confirmed.
"How do you know? You can't see it, can you?"
"No, but I can sense the energy waves," Percy answered. He could feel the familiar vibrations of his spaceship reverberate through the air. "It's another perk of working for Chaos; enhanced sixth senses. Hey, where are we going, anyway?"
"I'm going to send everyone a message to gather at the meeting hall," Annabeth said, referring to the huge building that was at the somewhat center of the island, right in front of the floating elevator for Olympus. "We need to tell everyone what happened during the meeting, including you guys."
Percy looked back at his invisible vessel. "Then I'll meet you guys there later. I'm going to stay at my ship. Like Chaos said, most of my Division really hate the Olympians and some of the campers, so I'll need to calm them down a little."
"Why do you hate us so much?" Travis asked.
"Well, Percy Jackson was somewhat of a legend in the Guild, even before he joined," Percy explained, feeling strange about talking himself in third person. "The Guild admired him for defeating the titans and Gaea, and for surviving Tartarus. There are plenty more reasons, but the point is that everyone was really mad at you guys for killing him and his cousins. It was like a symbol of cowardice from the gods; destroying the ones who had the slightest chance of being able to defeat them."
"But they were executed-"
"In an unfair trail, which is another reason."
"-for betrayal," Connor finished, confused. "Wasn't that why? I mean, Annabeth has her idea, but it isn't… true, right?"
"Unfortunately, it is. The Guild isn't so foolish as to believe the gods' words," Percy answered. "And I'm sure you're not, too. And making all you immortal as an apology for killing your friends? Complete lie. They know that you guys are some of the stronger demigods, and wanted you to be able to fight for them in case something happened. The Fates had warned them, Chaos told me. Right after the execution, the Fates told them that they would regret the pointless slaying of heroes, so they tried to make up for it by making you all stronger. When nothing happened for centuries, they were actually debating on taking away your status as immortals."
Percy's blunt statements made the immortal campers cringe and flinch, but it was nothing but the truth.
"Look, get your people together," he finally said, snapping the others out of their little thinking phase. "I'll catch you all at that meeting hall later."
Before they could reply, he stood up, whispered a thanks to the pegasus he had been sitting on, and leaped off. He heard their startled shouts before he vanished, dissolving into water vapor.
He rematerialized inside the ship, right at the control room.
The five soldiers who were piloting the vehicle noticed him and stood up immediately with a salute.
"Welcome back, Captain," they chorused, much to Percy's chagrin.
"Guys," he groaned, rubbing the sides of his temple. "What have I told you about the saluting thing? And would it kill you to call me Percy!"
"No, but it's as funny as heck," one of them grinned as they all dropped their hands and stood at ease.
"You, my friends, are evil," Percy said, narrowing his eyes playfully. "I should punish you all!"
The five exchanged a fake horrified look, and screamed, "No! Not the punishment!" Percy tried to keep on an evil face, but it didn't really work.
All of them started laughing less than a second later. The five soldiers seemed to be in a lighthearted mood, but Percy knew they wanted to crush the Olympians with every fiber of their being.
They'd even told him as much.
"Okay, what did we miss?" Thalia inquired, walking in with Nico a few steps behind her just as they started to wind down from their laughing fest.
"Nothing, Pinecone Face," Percy answered, grinning. "Just a little joke. Oh, by the way, you and Zombie Dude need to cut back a little on the air and shadow powers, okay? Zeus and Hades were asking about the air and shadow traveling."
"Oops," the two muttered.
"It's fine, just be careful. I managed to cut them off before they could ask if you were their children. And I hope you don't mind that Annabeth knows she can try to guess our identities."
They froze, including the pilots. "What?!"
"What can I say?" Percy shrugged helplessly. "Look, what's done is done. I also said that you're not in my Division, but I said nothing about being Captains of other Divisions, so they probably think you're not here. Probably."
"Wonderful," Thalia sighed. "Now they can be as suspicious as they want."
"They were suspicious anyway," Nico pointed out. "Actually, now that I think about it, it might be a good thing."
"See? Nico agrees with me."
"Yeah. Aqua Man's only good idea, and it wasn't even intentional."
"Hey!"
"Kidding. Not. But, seriously. Since Percy talked in third person and implied that we weren't in the Guild, we might have them off our backs, at least for a while, since they're looking for someone that's not specifically a Captain."
Thalia paused. "I guess… But don't do that ever again!"
"Don't plan on it," Percy promised. He lifted his left wrist, where his watch sat. "Give me a moment, I have to update my Division."
That little device didn't look much, just a high-tech black and sea-green colored wristwatch with a silver rim around it. In actuality, it was a storage, communications, and shielding device. Every member of the Guild had one.
Percy tapped the screen, which activated its holographic display. He twisted the rim, scrolling through the options, and clicked a small button on the side to select one, causing the holograph to vanish, but the face stayed lightened. Instantly, the five pilots' watches lit up, along with the rest of Division One.
"Hi, everyone. This is Percy speaking, but you already knew that," he said into the screen, ignoring his cousin's eye rolls. "Anyway, first things first."
He took a deep breath, knowing that this would be the hardest part.
"Calm down, guys. I know you want to murder the gods, and I know that you have reasons, and I am honored to think that you'd go to such lengths to avenge Pinecone Face, Zombie Dude, and I. But that's not why we're here. We're here to stop the Protogenoi with minimal deaths, and you know it. We don't have the time to have grudges." Percy glanced at Nico, who sighed and nodded agreement. He would know; it was his fatal flaw, after all. "Think of it this way," Percy decided. "The sooner we win this war, the sooner we get to leave, so let's just work together for a little while, okay?"
A chorus of 'okay's and 'fine's echoed softly from the small built-in speakers as the warriors relented.
"Good. Also, call me Typhoon during this mission. It's my cover name. Thalia is Stormstrike, and Nico is Shadow. Now… Battle plans." Percy's mind flashed to the message Chaos had sent him a little while ago. It was a sudden and troubling, but not entirely unexpected. "We actually need to win this war without sealing the Protogenoi up again," he revealed. "Chaos wants us to make the Primordial gods and goddesses good again."
The Protogenoi hadn't started out evil. Nothing does, really. Somewhere along the line, their massive power corrupted them and made them evil. Chaos was asking for a way to undo the change.
Problem was, Percy hadn't a clue as to how.
An hour later, Percy departed and vapor traveled to the meeting hall he'd seen earlier that day, sending the people into a little panic attack. Luckily, his timing had been just after Annabeth had finished explaining everything, so nobody attacked him.
"I have nothing to say," Percy shrugged when Annabeth asked if he wanted to say anything. "I'm sure you already covered most of it." She nodded and dismissed the assembly.
The immortal campers, plus a new boy who Percy didn't know, stayed.
He eyed him closely. The new person sort of resembled himself, so maybe he was a son of Poseidon. Black hair, slightly tanned. The only thing that put him off was the stormy grey eyes, which should actually belong on a descendent of Athena, not the sea god.
"Typhoon," Annabeth said. "This is Zale. He's immortal, too. Zale, this is Typhoon, Captain-Commander of Chaos's forces."
"Nice to meet you, Zale," Percy said. "Nice name, by the way. Strength of the sea, huh?" From the name, he guessed that the demigod's godly parent was Poseidon. But what about those eyes?
"Yeah. Thanks," Zale replied.
"Who's your godly parent?" Percy asked curiously. "You look like you're descended from Poseidon, but you've got the stormy grey eyes of an Athena child."
Annabeth looked away. "Um… You see… He's not a demigod."
"Oh. A legacy, then?"
"Yes. My… son, actually." Wait, what?
Those words sent Percy reeling. Part of him flared up in anger, thinking that Annabeth had betrayed him. Another part of him was happy for her, though. Another was simply too stunned to react properly.
One part held a tiny little suspicion that maybe Zale… Percy shook his head a little, pushing the thought away.
"Who's the father?" He fought to keep his voice level as his emotions ran around in turmoil inside his head.
"You know him. He's considered a legend to you guys, right? That's what you said, isn't it?"
Oh, dear gods, no way…
Suspicions confirmed and utterly dumbstruck, Percy stared at Zale – his son. But how? He was absolutely positive he did not impregnate Annabeth. He knew he didn't. Besides, if he did, Athena would've killed him long before his 'execution'.
"Your father…" Percy trailed off, unable to finish out loud. …is me.
Maybe immortal daughters of Athena had the same ability as the wisdom goddess herself; to be able to merge thoughts with someone and create a brainchild that way?
Zale, unlike his mother, met Percy's eyes.
"Yeah. I'm Zale Jackson, son of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, legacy of both Poseidon and Athena."
DragonAce1999: Yeah... Dramatic dun-dun-dun! Anyways, I apologize for my belatedness in everything. I'm planning on revealing just what exactly happened when the three cousins supposedly died... And is anyone wondering why only Annabeth, Piper, and Leo are alive out of the Seven? Anyone wondering what happened to Jason, Frank, and Hazel? Anyone thinking they're in the Guild? What about past heroes?
I don't even know why I asked you all those questions... It's like a non-story cliffhanger!
Special thanks to the ten reviewers of last chapter: TimeLadyofTARDIS, Goddess-of-Solar-Eclipses, THEBATMANIMPOSTER, ParadoxalPaladin, smegol26, deadgod, TDog.1997, allen r, KariE2000, and candyland7! I love you guys, you all are awesome!
Thanks for reading, and please review!
Published: 5/8/13
Updated: 6/11/13