Chapter 4: The Crossing

"How are the younglings doing…How are the other younglings doing?... Good, good. How did Laura's math exam go? She has been struggling… That's fantastic. And the Derek is… Of course, Mrs. Strauss. I'll be back by tomorrow morning… It's just a small camp in Long Island… I understand… I'm sure they can be trusted…I will call you tonight with more contact information… Of course, of course… Goodbye."

Shirou snapped the phone closed and sighed. What he wouldn't give to be of age right now.

"Are you in trouble?" Grover asked from his seat beside him. The two of them were currently perched on top of a tree branch, observing Percy, who was quite a distance away, Grover with a set of binoculars and Shirou with reinforced eyes.

"Nothing that I can't handle. Mrs. Strauss is slightly worried about me being so far from Manhattan, but I can take care of myself and she knows it. She still worries."

"That's not a bad thing, though."

"Of course not. Speaking of which…" He flipped his phone open once again, this time using the camera, zooming in towards a figure in the distance before managing to take a steady picture. He sent the picture to Sally and received an answer in seconds. "I promised regular updates until arrival to camp."

"How are you getting bars in the middle of a forest?"

"I'm a magus, I can do stuff like that." Shirou muttered in response. That wasn't a lie. Reinforcing a phone's signal was easy enough, once you got the balance right to avoid frying the circuits, and he was sure that if he tried, he could get international coverage without paying a dime. It only took him one barbecued phone to get the hang of it. "How far are we from camp?"

"Um… about fifteen miles? Less? I'll be honest, I've never really taken this route to camp before. By the way, shouldn't we move on? We're going to lose Percy."

"Sure. He's moving very quickly. I told you that he would do well." He turned to the tree trunk and bowed low. "Thank you for letting us sit here and keeping an eye out. Please keep up the good work." There was no verbal response, but the branches shook slightly, even with the clear lack of wind.

"I still don't get how you do that. I'm a satyr, and the dryads don't talk to me like that." Grover sighed, with a note of envy in his voice.

Shirou could only shrug. "Nature spirits seem to like for some reason. Apparently, something about me sets them at ease. They were the ones who taught me a lot about this world. Well, I say 'taught', but really, they just gossiped while I was in earshot and gave me some names and clues to study. You wouldn't believe what kind of dirt they have on people." With that, Shirou leapt down, and set off.

"No, I think I would." Grover effortlessly leapt down, keeping up with Shirou's Reinforced pace through the tangled forest undergrowth with his cloven hooves. That conversation at least gave him a clue as to how Shirou was so knowledgeable despite the fact that he has never left the state.

The two of them skirted around the main path, keeping out of Percy's line of sight, but they were easily able to track his movements. They trekked on in comfortable silence, only stopping to make some observations. Shirou was right, Percy was moving quickly. There had only been one attack after the Cetae ambushed him on the Williamsburg Bridge, and Percy had handled it like a pro. Sure, it was only one giant snake, but even that could be deadly to newcomers. Even being slowed down by nightfall, he pushed on with no hesitation.

Maybe we should put more emphasis on monster fighting? Grover mused. Most of the combat training kids got were drills in the arena or at the shooting ranges, along with Capture the Flag, of course. Maybe they could make controlled monster fights a thing. Shirou's sink or swim method seemed to work for impulsive demigods. Either way, the Ares kids are gonna have a field day with these two.

He was cut off when a familiar scent wafted through the air. "Strawberries. We're close. We should have you do collections more often if things are gonna go this smoothly… Shirou? Dude, you alright?"

Shirou wasn't looking at him. His golden eyes, normally kind and warm, were now harder than steel. He had already conjured that strange black bow and one of those even stranger metal arrows. "We have company."

That was when he smelled it.

Percy was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. He had gone way too long without something going wrong. It's not as if he was trying particularly hard to hide, he was walking on the side of the road for heaven's sake. But except for the freaky snake and some Good Samaritans offering a lift, he didn't come across anyone else.

Then the giants showed up.

You know, maybe you are cursed. He thought as he uncapped Riptide, the Celestial Bronze giving some light in the darkness. They had come out of nowhere, looking like Gremlins that had some freakish growth spurt until they hit eight feet. Unlike other monsters they were actually wearing clothes, something he would expect the stereotypical gangbanger to wear. Tattoos, leather jackets, ripped pants, you name it. Most of them were unarmed but a few had large iron clubs taller than he was. More worryingly, the clubs looked very used, littered with dents and suspicious stains that Percy really didn't want to think about.

Oh, and there were like, a dozen of them.

This was not gonna go like it was with the seali- the Cetae. Those things were just fat, thick-skinned slugs. And he was on a bridge, on top of water. These giants were just as ugly, but they were built like athletes and could probably outrun him ten times out of ten. And they were armed. Hooray.

"WE FOUND THE SEAFOOD!" One of them roared out, pounding his chest like an ape.

"SEAFOOD! SEAFOOD!" The rest of them chanted, banging their fists together, the ones that were armed slamming their clubs against the tarmac hard enough to crack it.

"Oh brilliant, you numbskulls can talk?" Percy muttered. Inwardly he was trying not to panic. Why should he panic? Shirou was probably in the tree line with an enchanted sub-machine gun or something. But damn these giants were intimidating. He couldn't run, at least not for long. He'll have to play it smart. Not really his strong point.

But hey, how hard could it be?

"Look! Big, fat, demigods!"

"WHERE?! WHERE?!"

They looked away for two seconds, which gave Percy time to lop a giant's legs off and sprint into the trees. I cannot believe that worked. So, not only were these guys supremely stupid, they were (relatively) easy to cut down. Which was great. If they had thick hide like the Cetae, he would be completely screwed, but Riptide went through them like butter.

He looked back over his shoulder and saw that the giants had just started to cop on to the fact that there were no other demigods, and their 'seafood' was currently sprinting away. They were roaring and shouting, definitely enraged. Percy figured he had about thirty seconds before they caught up to him. Maybe in daylight he could do better, but at night, in the dark and uneven forest floor, he wouldn't get far. Thirty seconds. he mused.

Just enough.

He dashed through the trees for a few more seconds before hiding behind a tree trunk. The howling and loud stomping from the giants made it very easy to judge their distance, even in the dark. Still making sure to keep out of their line of sight, he hopped onto one of the tree branches, hauling himself up until he was about six or seven feet off the ground.

He slowed his breathing as much as he could, listening carefully for the giants' approach. He had to time this to the split second.

The moment he saw a hint of a giant's tanned skin, he leapt off of the branch, flicking the cap off of Riptide as he did. He was going to aim straight for its neck, killing it before it even managed to look at him or register the glow of the Celestial Bronze blade.

That didn't happen.

It could have been luck, it could have been pure instinct, it could have been the metal shine in the corner of his eye, but somehow, Percy managed to raise his sword enough to block the club aimed at his face. A strike like that would have been enough to cave his skull in. As it was, having blocked it, the blow sent him flying. He flipped around in mid-air, only stopping until he collided with a tree chest first.

He barely had time to catch the breath that was knocked out of him, before having to scramble away to avoid another wild swing. What the hell? It didn't even look at me! There's no way he saw…

If he had the luxury, he would have facepalmed hard. Smell. They smelled me nearby. That's how they found me in the first place! Gah!

His internal frustrations were cut off when more giants came into view. Turns out there weren't a dozen of them, only about seven. It would have been eight, if it weren't for that one giant he dismembered. Unfortunately, the giants were a bit angrier with him since he took down their friend. Can monsters have friends?

Percy wheezed, but soldiered on. Shirou had punched him before, and even though he had a smaller fist, it still felt like a battering ram. Without warning, he threw himself forward, pushing as much force into his legs as he could. The sudden burst of speed caught the nearest giant by surprise. It didn't react fast enough, at least, not fast enough to matter. Riptide tore through his chest, and Percy's momentum carried him forwards even as it exploded into dust. Six left.

A second later, Percy rushed the giants, hoping that the cloud of monster dust would hide him. It worked, and the giants swung blindly. He barely had to move his body to dodge them and leaning back and forth had made them miss by inches. Of course, having such a huge target right next to him was far too tempting for him to pass up, and he managed to carve deep gouges in the limbs and torsos that got too close to him. Once he was out of immediate danger, Percy looked back to survey the damage. He had managed to kill one more giant and incapacitate another, and two of the giants were now sporting large injuries in their arms, rendering them completely useless, but if anything, they were more enthusiastic than ever. So enthusiastic, that they didn't bother with the threats and the four giants that could still run simply charged at him all at once from all directions, giving him no way to escape. Oh man, what do I do, what do I do?

He wasn't fast enough to give himself breathing room to fight for real, and he was in a clear section of the forest, where there weren't enough trees to get some cover, and even if there were, in the dark these guys had every advantage. He didn't have night vision and he might as well cover himself in bacon grease since these guys could smell him coming a mile away. There was really one way out of this.

He dropped Riptide.

Five flashes of crimson, five explosions of golden dust. In that moment, for the first time in his life, Percy understood the saying, 'if you blink, you'll miss it.' He didn't even see the arrows themselves as they flew through the air. The only sign of them were the little blue lights that came from when Shirou dissolved his arrows. In less than a second, Shirou killed, hell annihilated five monsters that nearly killed him. Damn, that guy is freakin' terrifying.

Shirou let his bow dissipate, rotating his arms and wincing. Reinforcement and physical conditioning could only do so much when your body was that of a twelve-year-old. True, he was probably more physically fit than any other his age, or even older, but the strength required to launch swords at supersonic speeds with a bow of all things was far beyond what a human could accomplish. Even lifting the black bow without magecraft made his arms ache. He couldn't wait to grow up and begin real training.

In fact, he was rather envious of Percy. He had stepped back his training in such a way that it wouldn't impede his natural growth, but it seemed that his godly constitution prevented any ill effects from regular and rigorous exercise. Whereas he himself had to moderate himself and supplement his muscles and bones with Reinforcement every time he trained hard, otherwise his own growth would be stunted. Furthermore, Percy's growth rate was absolutely phenomenal. After barely a month of training, he was already a formidable warrior that would have given Shirou's teenage self a run for his money, and that was without water. The only thing that would give him the edge at 17 would be using Archer's arm, and that had disastrous side effects. "Are all demigods this powerful at this age?" he asked Grover, whose eyes were on the verge of popping out.

"How did you do that? I didn't even see you draw." Grover asked, slack-jawed. "Not even the Apollo kids or the Hunters could shoot that fast!"

"I've never met these kids, or whoever these Hunters are, but I'll tell them the same thing I'll tell you. Magic." Oh, Rin would have an aneurysm if she knew that he was calling this Magic. "And can you answer my question now"

Grover only shook his head and sighed. "Sooner or later, that answer isn't going to be good enough. And no, not all of them. All demigods are naturally stronger than mortals, but how much depends on their godly parent." Grover's face grew contemplative. "Percy's father is one of the Big Three, so I was expecting him to get really strong, really quickly. But I've never seen a demigod do anything like that at age twelve. I know he didn't win, but still. Even Tha-, I mean, even other Big Three children wouldn't be so good."

Grover was a very bad liar, so bad he wasn't even good at lying by omission. Still, he decided to leave it alone. But more importantly, the strength of demigods as a whole was rather sobering. He was still raw, but if Percy continued on this path, he could very well reach the level of a Servant by the time he reached his twenties, and a high ranking one before his death. For someone who lived in a world where a modern-era Servant was almost unthinkable, that was… terrifying.

He shook those thoughts away, leaving them for another time. "Come on, let's go fetch Percy. He's not in the best shape right now. You have those healing foods."

"I made sure to stock up as soon as I heard this stupid plan."

It only took them a minute to reach Percy's position, and what greeted then was a twelve-year-old nearly passed out, panting heavily on the forest floor. "Hey guys. Did you see what I did?"

"I saw what you almost did. You almost got yourself killed."

"But I didn't!" Percy insisted, as if that was the clincher for the argument. For him, it probably was. "And secondly, you nearly got me killed. You are not telling anyone that this was my stupid idea. I get enough of that myself without you adding to it. Still though, once you get past the whole 'terrifying near-death experience' thing, that was pretty damn kickass! That deserves something, huh?" He held up his fists, still laid out flat on the forest floor.

Grover couldn't help but laugh and returned the fist-bump, as did Shirou. "Alright man, alright. It was kickass. Can we get into camp now? Please? My heart's been jackhammering for the past hour and now I think it's going into cardiac arrest."

"You guys are gonna have to pick me up 'cause my body isn't doing what I tell it to."

In response, Grover opened up his rucksack, retrieving a bottle of water and a square of ambrosia. He stuffed the square into Percy's mouth and splashed half the bottle all over him. Just like that, Percy sat bolt upright, chewing on the ambrosia. Yet another thing for Shirou to be in awe of. Grover had explained to him that even the slightest bit of ambrosia or nectar would kill him, and he didn't want to risk it. Ah, well. He had other ways to heal himself. "Popcorn… How many flavors does this stuff come in?"

"How many flavors are there?" Grover replied. "Come on. I want to get to the House before the cleaning harpies get to us."

The three of them started walking, climbing the hill with the strange pine tree on top. A wave of scents assaulted his nose, and not just the strawberries. The most prominent scents of smoke and wine and the other weaker well mingled together, almost oppressively. He might have only ever been third-rate, but he was still a Magus, and a Magus knew when he was on dangerous land. He barely heard Grover's nervous gulp as he crossed the threshold and the scents only became more intense.

The entire place was as quiet as a ghost town, which was to be expected as it was in the middle of the night. Yet Shirou couldn't help the shiver that persisted in his spine. A Magus was naturally attuned to the unnatural, or rather the supernatural, and this place was sending his senses into overdrive. The air was saturated with energy, to the point where the mere act of breathing felt like a direct injection of caffeine.

The satyr led them to the appropriately named Big House, explaining the workings of the camp. As they approached, the scent of wine became cloying and invasive, and his instincts were becoming more and more disturbed. Which meant that the source was in that House. He was going to meet a god. A Divine Being. One of the few things in this world that he would never fully comprehend.

"Chiron and Mr. D usually meet up with the new guys.

"Grover," his voice was small and cautious, as if he was hiding his position. "The god in that house…Who is it?"

Grover looked uncomfortable. "Shirou… you know I can't give you a name. Names have power and you… well, I can't just bat them around like that. But…everyone calls him Mr. D. And he has a bit of a drinking problem?"

That all but confirmed his suspicions. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit scared. He had never faced real divinity, though a few enemies had come close. And this particular god had a bit of history for being… volatile to say the least. Then again, out of possibly dozens of entities, for some reason this god was chosen to be the caretaker of a demigod safe haven. Surely, he couldn't be that bad?

Grover must have seen his worry. "Hey, Shirou… For what it's worth, you won't meet him today. Mr. D is usually resting by now. He's almost never up this late and I doubt he would wake up just to meet us…"

They entered the House, to be greeted with Chiron, back in his wheelchair, playing a card game with a grizzled, slightly chubby middle-aged man wearing gaudy purple running shoes and an even gaudier leopard print Hawaiian shirt. The man's face was red, his eyes bloodshot and his nose red. "You're late, Underwood!" the man growled, not even looking up from his hand. "We've been here so long that I was starting to get sick of pinochle! Or at the very least get sick of playing it with Chiron!"

A small strangled noise wormed its way out of Grover's throat. He had completely frozen in place, the shock evident on his features. "M-Mr. D? Why are you here? I mean- I mean, of course you have every right to be here, but you're usually resting at this time."

"Normally, I would be. But Chiron here convinced me that it was worth staying to meet your latest miracle. Frankly, when I heard what you were up to, I didn't expect you to last an hour and the next time I see you would be as a daffodil. But no! You have arrived and by the sounds of it, your charge still has all his limbs. I would applaud, if it was earlier in the day. And if I actually gave a damn." The man now confirmed to be Mr. D clucked his tongue and threw down his cards in disgust. He waved his hand, a can of Diet Coke appearing within it. "So, what in is so bloody important about the latest brat that I had to stay up this la- Hrrph!"

Diet Coke sprayed across the cards, immediately after Mr. D. finally deemed to raise their eyes and look at the three children. His eyes briefly glared at Grover, examined Percy and dismissing him immediately, before finally resting on Shirou himself. Which was what seemingly triggered the waste of perfectly good cola.

"What in Hades are you supposed to be?"

To be fair, as first impressions go, he's had worse.

I feel that I should make something very clear, while this story is still in its early stages. Percy is going to be very much a main character in this story, just as much, if not more than Shirou. I've read a lot of stories from the perspective of an older and/or more experienced Shirou, and while they're awesome, I've noticed that they don't lend themselves to character development. Old men are often set in their ways. Percy in the original works is a great protagonist in my opinion, strong, loyal, brave, but still sassy and very much a teenager, and I think it would be interesting to see how he would grow with a guiding hand like Shirou.

Now for the elephant in the room. I know, I'm sorry. It's been a while. College is a bitch okay? I may have slightly underestimated the difficulties associated with an engineering course. I wrote this chapter over the course of three months. For those of you who follow my other main story, the chapter is almost finished.

Later bitches!