So hi everyone, this is going to be my latest Percy Jackson story. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you like it, please follow, favourite and review! I will post a warning with the beginning of every chapter in this story as a reminder of what to expect in the oncoming chapters. So with that, let this begin. I hope you all have a lovely day or evening wherever you are. Warning: story contains BoyxBoy, swearing, scenes of violence and bear in mind and ratings may be turned up at a later time.
Adults always tell their children that their are no such thing as monsters: There's no such thing as the darkness that is under the bed, there's none of the shadows that lurk in the corners of rooms or that pass by your window.
Parents are such good liars. They lie so well that eventually, even they come to believe their own truths.
It is quite powerful how self belief can fuel someone. Belief that they are not in a world where they are the most powerful. A world where they are ants beneath people's feet. Humans... they are the smallest of creations. The think that they are supreme? Well there's just one problem with that.
There are creatures. Creatures that walk the surface of this world. Belonging not to the light as humans do, but to the darkness. These people are often made into legends or myths. As humans moved on with modernising civilisation they forgot the old ways.
They forgot why they crawled into shelter from the darkness.
This is a story of someone who managed to walk and survive in both worlds.
It all starts one morning in June.
So... Diary... I guess I'm supposed to write in you or something. Dad tells me that I have to. It was the choice of write in you or have to go and spend a summer with my siblings back in the forests... at some training camp that my mother wanted me to attend. Ironic since she hadn't stuck around much to do much other than shove me into a basket and leave me on dad's step with a note saying that I had some older siblings who went to some kind of military camp in the forests and country side of England... Kinda funny when you consider all the trouble and pain she caused to have me in the first place... Yeah, I had a really sweet mother. A class one bitch, if that was what she was like I had no intention of meeting those who would be my siblings. Of course a time came when I met them... I would talk about them...But that would mean having to explain to them what has been going on... I'd rather have to go through all that pain all over again, so I'll explain that at a later time... like never. I better start from the beginning. Hi I'm Kenny James Sarah Johnson. Not Ken doll. Not Ken. Kenny and no, not like the south park character! I'm sixteen which means I've finally come of age. How would I describe myself?
Kenny slowly set down his pen from scribbling into the ancient pages of the leather bound book. It's brown leather was engraved with ancient symbols which had been placed there by his father. He slowly turned his head to gaze out the window as the light caught on his bronze face. He placed his head into his hand as he stared at his entrancing reflection in the window. His multicoloured eyes were almost impossible to describe, though they seemed to settle on a faint amber every now and then. That was always the preference that they took: amber or a venomous emerald. Not that he minded, those had always been his favourite colours. The Doctors put it down to some weird eye condition which they couldn't explain. He wished the rest of him was that interesting. His lightly tanned body was lean and smooth to the touch. A pair of skinny leather jeans clamped tightly around his legs while he wore a dark green polo shirt. A studded black belt hung loosely through the holder of the jeans. His ruffled blond hair stuck up in defiant spikes. Yes he was a natural blond... his father wouldn't let him dye his hair.
I tended to stray quite far from my family's ideal path for me. Of course for the sake of my father (who had been my foster parent at the time. I didn't know at that point that I was even adopted) I stayed and learnt martial arts and boxing... yeah that had gone down real well with me. But my... had I only known it at the time 'foster father' seemed to believe his reason was justified because and I quote 'he was worried for my upstanding and whether I would get beaten up' But I quickly learnt that was his way of trying to sway me back towards the family's business.
I'm a guy who likes to please people... so go ahead and sue me. For a while I wanted to follow my dad's wishes and do what he wanted me to do.
But I am an ambitious boy... I knew what I wanted to be from an early age.
Well, I learnt on one particular day. One very important day! Just after I had turned nine.
Imagine a run down small gym. It was pushed into the corner of a village, back by the orphanage I was placed into as a baby... I tried to forget a lot of my time there. I tried so desperately that I even seemed to accomplish it.
As I said. Self belief and the power of the mind are very powerful things.
"One two."
My fist pumped out smashing into the bag.
"ONE TWO!"
The punch bag went back slightly as I felt the impact spread through the strong pose of my arm.
It was like the rhythm of a strong wave, cascading and slowing surging through ever single posed muscle. My arm however was resurgent and unwavering. It refused on every single level to be acknowledged as anything less than a solid pose of marble.
"Come on you're slacking!" A voice shouted over.
Why did everyone want that? Why did everyone want the damn best out of me! Training takes time! Get off my back! What do you want?!
"Oh it's okay sir. The freak is used to slacking."
I paused for a moment and turned my head towards the main ring of the arena. There was Percy in all his self imposed, vein glory. His vest thrown to one side and abandoned now he was pushing his own limits. His slightly tanned chest gleamed under the spot lights of the large gym. His hair had been slicked back revealing those deep and all knowing eyes. His turquoise shorts revealed a bit more of his hip that made me blush for some reason.
He slowly walked forward, bored of the happenings in his own fight and lent slowly forward onto the corner of the wring, resting his head on the top rope and giving me that annoying smirk like smile which I detested with every fibre of my being. "Come on Freak. Stop slacking and come play with the big boys."
"Yeah, I'm sure you like to play with boys." I barked and watched him flinch back as though I had actually landed a punch onto him.
"You little bastard!" He snarled.
"Shut up! Both of you! It's bad enough that we've had to double up with that stupid dance class, now I've got enough headaches without the two of you going at it! Now get back to training!"
Percy decided to give me one last confident look before he turned back to his opponent. "Oh interested again are we-"
BANG
I didn't look.
I didn't need to. The sound of the other boy's body hitting the floor was all that I needed to hear to understand what had happened: why Percy was so confident in himself and so lazy during that fight.
He had been toying with the boy and had been saving himself for the big one punch finish.
This was all just one big show for him.
That's what pissed me off.
After that... I'm not sure what exactly happened.
A rush began to fill my mind. My eyes darted back and forth over the warn leather. The dry and aged material groaned slightly as suddenly they were met by a blitz and frenzy of attacks. It seemed to just be the same rhythm beating over and over in my mind. Punch, pause, punch, punch, pause, punch.
"EASY TIGER!" The same voice of the coach barked.
But now I had lost myself... I didn't know what was going on.
What was up and down? Where was left or right? My vision almost seemed completely black as my fists relentlessly pounded out against the leather with great prejudice. "Hey... I didn't mean to get you so-"
"YAGH!"
I turned and only caught a glimpse as my fist went directly towards Percy's face. His forearm came up in a defence and took the full blunt blow of my hit. I didn't stop there. The same feral and frantic rhythm. My fists just shooting out at any available space on Percy I could find. "HEY! KENNY!" He snarled.
But I couldn't stop. There was just too much built up, unable to escape. Unable to do anything other than hate him with my entire existence? Everyone wanted nothing less then perfection out of me! "Kenny!" Percy roared. "Calm down! WHY ARE YOU SO ANGRY?"
Angry... ANGRY?!
As soon as he said that I let the full torrent of pent-up rage explode across my mind with a scream. I imagined an unsanctioned fire, burning so bright and yet with a righteous darkness, as though summoned from the darkest pits of hell. It was reined by the memories of suffering I had kept pent-up for the last five years. The rage burst through and smashed him to the side as though he was a leaf on the highway. His eyes widened as I opened mine and I saw him stare at me with a drowning guilt.
Then as I went to lash out, my arm nearly went limp as I tore my gaze away from Percy.
Slowly it moved over and locked onto a slightly dark haired boy in the corner of the room with one of the instructors.
He slowly rose his almost porcelain hand out to the side and slid it through the air. His fingers stretched out as he leaned his head back and let his dark hair move back which originally had been swept across his face. His eyes were not completely black but the hazel brown in them were so intense that I couldn't help but just stare a bit deeper.
He was dressed in nothing other than some tight black shorts. His pale chest was exposed. He wasn't as toned as me or Percy, but he looked a hell of a lot stronger than what he did.
I was almost hypnotized as I watched his hand slowly come back down and move across his cheek delicately. His fingers were perfectly lined as they moved back out and he raised his leg as gently as he could. His foot pointed out carefully. He was so graceful and so delicate... yet he looked like he had more control and more beauty than anything I have ever seen before. "It's not good enough! What have I told you about your arms!"
No... he looks perfect! There's nothing wrong with his arms! My thoughts whispered.
The boy took a slow and steady breath as his soft gaze slowly turned towards the ceiling while his head bowed slightly backwards. His leg raise up in a perfect ninety degree angle as he raised up on the tip of his other foot.
I could see from here that his instructor was smiling internally though they didn't let it anywhere out of her external mask. Typical trainer critic style.
Percy followed my gaze and the next thing I knew was there was a fist launched at my face and sending me flying back towards the ground.
Even so... my eyes didn't move away from the boy once. He was so elegant and beautiful in stance.
His other leg slowly began to come down point first as though it was a sharpened blade about to make contact with a victim.
But this was pure and absolute beauty.
The boy's foot landed and even the trainer raised an eyebrow as he instantly shifted his weight and began to quickly flip.
I finally hit the cold ground and watched as he finished the third flip by spinning out on the tip of his toes. His other leg was arched back and move out as though he was a rotating razor.
He finally came to a stop after the fifth spin and caught his breath. His nimble fingers curled around a near bar and he took small, controlled breaths. "You think that this is going to be good enough?" The tutor growled. Her voice and tone went against everything that was hiding deep within her eyes. Her pride of the boy. He amazement over that performance.
All distorted in her voice by a blatant and controlled lie.
Why was I thinking like this? What did some other boy and his bloody dance have to mean with me-
Shut. The. Hell. Up. My own thoughts cut me brilliantly short before I could go down the path of my usual angry attitude. For once, just acknowledge something of yourself you idiot. My thoughts scolded me worse than the punch from Percy had dealt onto me.
Kenny paused again as he looked at the amount he had already wrote into the book... wow, his father had been right. Once he started writing in this diary... It would all just come much more naturally to him. He had a lot to tell this story.
But then came is deepest admission... the one he had never told anyone else other than his father after he had found him in New York...
I gave up boxing after that day. Ran away from my foster home in the country side and high tailed it to London faster than I could have done than if I hadn't... sneaked around a bit.
I found my birth father and found out the truth of my tale.
The truth that when he had lost me, he had lost everything that mattered which was left for him. Cute story right? He got his son back and the boy found his real father after years of abuse in a orphanage. Yeah, fucking great story, but that's not where my real tale begins. I'm going to keep this diary to remind myself each day of what I have come from... what I have gone through.
So one day I can look back and realise how strong I really was.
But moving on, yeah, life with my real dad was amazing. I learnt that I was a really sweet kid.
Yeah...I was the product of rape. My mother had apparently raped my gay father when they were seventeen. Drugged him and taken his seed to get herself pregnant. But my dad didn't care about that. He cared about the fact he had a son.
We got to know each other a bit better.
Then with his support I traded in the gloves for a pair of dance shoes and never looked back.I want my name up in lights!
New York! London! L.A! I wanted the stage and I wanted the screen. I didn't want to stay here in England... well as long as I wasn't on the west end! I wanted to be with my real father back in America! I shouldn't be going to some over hyped, self obsessed, egotistical filled, stuck up, snobby... What was I on about? Oh yeah. What I want to be when I grow up?
Kenny smiled fondly at the old memory... yeah. It seemed so long ago now.
-Swap to 1st person-
Well... It all started during the summer in London. I had just got my first break with one of the school transfers and had been given a concert and dance stage to have my first gig... My dad had never been so proud of me as the moment that I took my first step onto that black floored stage.
There was just one problem. I was being pitted against one of the local girls. You see I didn't much after my father. I got my mother's blond hair and features apparently... at least that's that I'm told anyway. My body isn't muscled but it is toned slightly, which always surprised people when it comes to showing my strength. I wasn't exactly tall... which was frustrating when people seemed to always call me cute! I'm not some little stuffed toy to just be looked at!
But anyway... onto the events of that night.
It wasn't that long ago now.
Flames burst from the stage around me as the bright light burst over me while my hair moved up in waves with my dark grin as my body kept moving keeping in time with the beat. The audience awed at the sight as the first song was coming to an end and I knew they were slipping away from me to the bitch who was circling me like a shark. The lights wrapped around me again as I stepped into the flames dancing them along my skin ignoring the faint prickling sensation when they got on my skin for too long. I pranced and swerved with the flames while the people in the audience stared at me with a wild fascination as I looked like I was the body of the flames themselves. Thank you, the Hunger games. I thought as I forced my body to flip and bring my body expertly back into balance.
But it was too late.
We both sung out the last line of the first song while I reached out a flames hand to her and she held her arms sadly over her heart.
The audience stood and roared for us both though I could see their applause was more directed towards Isabella than me. She elegantly bowed and blew out a kiss to them while I shot her a glare.
I panted for breath watching her before I calmed myself. I could see Percy (my boyfriend at the time. Yeah we had met up and the douche had explained why he hated me was because of a childhood crush...) and my father in the audience watching me with curious eyes to how I would react to this. It calmed me and made me smile slightly and inwardly as he too was sat with his boyfriend. (Yeah that's right. Me and my dad are just a fabulous pair.) The girl had came on halfway through the first song and decided to use my show and my special effects as her own. The entire stage which I had spent months planning on working! This is my show Isabella and I will fight you to the death over this! This audience belongs to me! Go find some street corner with some beggars! My thoughts snarled and my eyes pierced through her, though she didn't blink an eye.
I slowly raised my arms as the next song began and I grinned, I had practised this one every single day for the last year. I didn't care if this was a supposed to be a battle now; I was doing this to make money for me, the fact I even got to perform a Lady Gaga song felt like an honour to me. "I know that we are young and I know that you may love me." I changed my whole body language to look sad as though I was weeping in the flames as my hand slowly traced up my raised arm and I turned my to the side. The flames fell in golden droplets down my arm and splashed against the LED light circle which was beneath me. "But I just can't be with you like this any more"
"Alejandro" she finished with a sly grin as the main beat of the song kicked in. she began walked slowly around the circle I danced in pulling on her long fur coat that held around her shoulders while a synthetic snow fell around her making her look breath taking to the audience.
I could smell a faint smell of blood which made my eyes flash to my arms, had the flames burst through? No. I would have felt a greater pain than just what I was feeling right now.
"She's got both hands. In her pocket" I sung my lines as I moved the flames more and more into a swirling vortex around me.
"And she wont look at you" her eyes flashed at me.
"Won't look you at" I bit back keeping my voice in tune.
"She hides through love"
"En su bolsillo" my family's old accent filled my voice as the words flowed seductively from my mouth and even though the words though not themselves that attractive, the whole accent brought a new frame to them.
"She got a halo around her finger" she winked as she pulled the hood up over her head and winked softly to the audience.
"Around you" I began building the flames as I felt the costume begin to burn away, I had to keep it hidden for what came next but this meant giving her a solo and that meant giving her an edge which I couldn't afford to loose!
"You know that I love you boy, hot like Mexico, rejoice, at this point I gotta choose, nothing to loose." Her voice owned the words and I growled silently before the flames dropped to the floor and the audience gasped as they saw a black cloak around me before I sharply stood up and took back the song.
"Don't call my name. Don't call my name, Alejandro. I'm not your babe"
"I'm not your babe, Fernando" A frown sneaked it's way onto her face as the audience stared at me as I gracefully and as lightly as I could jumped from the circle back onto the metal frame twirling around it under a soft silver light so my skin looked warm and alluring under the falling snow. Other than a trailing cloak which moved around my torso like wings, all I wore was some shorts which barely went down halfway past my thigh, but it had the desired effect: it drew the audience's eyes to my body and I saw more than just one of them blush.
"Don't wanna kiss."
"Don't wanna touch"
"Just smoke one cigarette and run" I grinned as I watched all their eyes were locked on me now.
"Don't call my name. Don't call my name, Roberto" She tried in vain to fight and regain the song but it was to late, the audience all kept their eyes on my movements as I owned their attention; lying slowly and softly on my back leaving my arm limp at my side after brushing my lips ever so softly then staring into the cold snow. "Alejandro." I allowed my eyes to soften as I let one single tear streak down my cheek and fall onto the snow where a forest back ground fell behind me filling the final role and the audience sucked it up like a child being fed with a spoon.
"Alejandro"
"Ale-ale-jandro" I fought to keep a grin from my face.
"Alejandro." She owned the last note but still it was too late.
She had won the first song but I had owned the second.
And that's what people always remembered.
Terry and Poly soon walked out and smiled clapping along with the audience. Isabella grabbed my hand and raised it as we both plastered fake smiles on our faces to make the audience look like we were good sports. Behind the mask we were both shooting each other glares and I could tell a similar response going on between both our tutors. "What an excellent piece of dancing." Terry cheered out to the audience who clapped even harder in agreement.
"And what a perfect example of amazing vocal skills." Poly smiled out to the men of the audience who roared back agreeing with her. I felt my tutors hand gently rest upon my shoulder as she steered me away.
As we made it behind the stage and I reached my bench station, I slammed my hands down onto the desk and panted for breath as I set my breathing back into the right pattern. "What the hell happened out there!
Terry smiled brilliantly as she sat me down on a bench behind stage as the next students took their spot. "BASTARD!" I finally swore as soon as I had turned my Mic off and looked at the thick red patches of burnt skin that lined along my body. The pain I had felt on stage from doing the flame dance had been eating away silently at me but I had stayed composed. If I had even lost one movement, the whole routine would have fallen apart. "You did brilliantly Kenny." She said openly avoiding my question.
She looked up as she heard a crashing coming from the other station. "Damn it Isabella! Calm down he was just better than you! Get over it!" Terry stormed away quickly and I leaned back into my chair, biting my lip to focus through the pain.
For a while I just stared into the reflection. I definitely took after my fathers British features though I had my mother's hair. Well... It's not as though I had much to compare it to. I had never met my mother. There was lose word or a lot about where she went in a note she had left to me and one she had left to my father... Well we only knew what was mainly in the note to him, he nor I have ever opened the note left to me. Apparently she lived over in Greece though she moved around a lot, sometimes to Italy, a lot of the time to America like New York... there was even note that she sometimes visited here In England to go to that camp that she had mention... she talk about how she was someone she hoped he would take after and was a busy- Oh I don't care. She might be a success to others, but to me: she was nothing more than a loser and failure. "I wonder what she would have thought of that performance..." I muttered quietly.
"I'm pretty sure she would have loved it." A voice whispered softly.
I half turned in my chair as a I stared blankly a boy who was holding a bag of ice in one of his peachy hands. His hair was a mess of gold like mine was. His eyes were a deep hazel brown though every now and then, they seemed to shift and move as though they wanted to flare into something else. He wore a collared blue shirt and some brown shorts which made it down just barely to his knees. A bright smile was placed neatly upon his humble face. He was about my height... just barely.
"I used to be a lot smaller." The boy chuckled softly and walked over as he pulled out a few ice cubes and put them down gently on the burns.
I winced slightly and caught my breath but didn't show to much pain. "What are you on about."
"You were sizing me up." The boy said casually making me pause slightly. "You were looking automatically for any weaknesses. Even if you weren't doing it consciously, you were looking for the best way to beat me." The boy smiled and pulled out a long piece of silk and began to wrap it around my arm with the ice underneath.
Even I couldn't hold back the slight moan and gasp that the cool ice gave me when it was compressed onto the blistering skin. "That good huh?" The boy smiled and pulled up a chair as he sat in front of me. How old was this guy? He looked about my age- "Twenty one now."
"What?!"
"Don't worry." The boy smiled. "Anyway, I guess I better introduce myself. My name is Honey."
"Bit sweet isn't it?" I grinned and watched the boy smirk. "Now, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. How you answer them decides on what happens next." He tied the piece of cloth gently and made a bow which made me roll my eyes. "It suits you." He beamed.
"And what if I don't want to answer the questions?"
"Then you will be giving up the role and opportunity of a life time." The boy smiled slyly as he watched the curiosity burn through my eyes. "So first question... how old are you?"
"Sixteen." I growled and turned my head away looking at the bow... It did look cute on me I suppose.
"What is your average grades in school?"
"In maths and science... I scrape a C average. In theatre and English I'm the top of the class scoring next to full marks." I shrugged. "Though I only get the good grades because I do it on a computer that my father gave me."
Everyone had a weakness. Mine was that, One: I don't give two shits about maths or science. Two: I just don't give any damn care about science or maths because the teachers made it quite clear I would never succeed in a career with it. Well... except in one field. I'm good with plant life. To be specific, I'm good with herbs that wouldn't be allowed near any school.
Poisons.
I could handle some animals... When I went to the zoo as a baby, I had lost my first foster parents because they had found me in the lions den.
I lost the next one because when the social worker came, they found a mother viper had been nursing me in my bed and keeping me warm instead of a blanket.
The last pair lost me when I ran away in the middle of the night. That was when I had been seven.
I had survived in a cave where a mother and baby grizzly bear kept me warm and safe...
I loved animals. The predators were misunderstood.
They're hated because they're feared.
But going back to the teachers at school who had failed me because I didn't care what happened when a fucking stupid nuclear atom (When the hell was I going to go near a power plant anyway) went into a meltdown.
And I made it quite clear to them, what class once bastards they were-
"Relationships?"
"None." I stated as an automatic response. Honey looked at more for a second as he must have sensed I answered that a little too quickly. This guy knows too much for his own good. I thought coldly and leaned back in my chair as I watched his face become a mask.
"I see." He nodded slowly and looked at me a little sadly. No. You don't feel sorry for me. My thoughts snarled. "I take it your father is out there in the audience... with that boy." Honey paused and I watched his eyes.
But for the first time.
I couldn't read someone's expression.
"Your friend?" He said politely and I nodded as I rose out my seat and walked over to the nearby wardrobe which had a spare set of clothes for me. I winced slightly as I pulled the pearl white shirt over my head and adjusted the collar so it didn't scrape against my sore neck. I kicked away the shorts of the costume and felt Honey quickly turn away. I smirked to myself slightly and quickly pulled some boxers on and a pair of ordinary shorts over them. Through all this I kept the bow on my arm and had grown quite use to the comfort of it. "Finally... How do you feel about your mother?"
I paused and glared at the back of the wardrobe. If it had been possible, my eyes would have pierced through the wood like a torch.
As the new act started, thunder echoed over the sound system and a flash of what looked like lightning followed quite quickly.
I turned my head slowly and gazed at the boy over my shoulder, letting him only see the left side of my face. There's no way he can know about my mother. There are only three people who know that my mother abandoned me and raped my father. Me, my father and my mother. It's impossible for him to know! "It's fine. It's always difficult having a mother who is on the road and away from home a lot."
"Away from home a lot?" Honey repeated. "You're right that must be hard. Must be like never having him around at all."
I lunged forward but as I went to grab him, Honey grabbed onto my burnt arm and applied a tight pressure making me gasp out in pain before his foot hit behind my knee and brought me crashing down. His arm locked around my neck and he held me into a tight grip. But by now I was seething. "HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! YOU JUST CAN'T KNOW!" I thrashed about.
"Calm down." Honey said quietly and restricted some of my air slightly making me feel weaker.
I was already exhausted and hurt from the performance but I couldn't fight my full strength... how the hell was this boy this strong anyway!
As my thrashing stop I heard him coo softly, "there, calm down. Good."
"Stop Patronising me." I growled and watched his eyes sparkle with a slight amusement.
"Answer the question." Honey whispered softly.
"I hate the woman."
"Because she abandoned you?"
"Because she would never understand me if I did. She comes from a world I could never live in. One where I would never belong. One which I don't even know about!" I snarled.
"If you don't know what type of world she comes from, how do you know you wouldn't fit in?" Honey whispered as softly as he could. He was treating me like a cornered animal.
"I feel it in my bones." I muttered and watched as he paused slightly.
Yeah... That's how I first found out about my mother and the other side of my family.
You see, I did take after one member of my family. It certainly wasn't my mother. It wasn't my father.
It was my big brother Honey. The only member of that side of the family that I got on with. The one I stayed in contact with.
So that's everything about me... how about I tell you about the day that I turned from an ordinary student.
Into my worst nightmare.
I paused and stared at the diary for a moment. "Should I really tell my story." I wondered out loud and quietly.
