The son of Jupiter was above him when he woke up.
"Why are you here Jason?" Percy grumbled, and the blue eyes glared into sea-green.
"You're an idiot, Percy." Jason sighed.
"Not the worst thing you've called me." Percy sat up in his bed, swinging his legs over the side.
"Whatever stunt you pulled with Reyna has done nothing but bad things for you both. You look and sound like you haven't interacted with another human in over a month, and she's miserable, Percy." Percy flinched when he called her miserable.
"I just had to do what I felt right." He stood, rising above Jason, grabbing a shirt from the drawer.
"So you ghosted her and your reasoning was your training?" Jason shrieked, and Percy flinched again.
"I didn't ghost her… I just told her I didn't want a relationship." Percy mumbled and Jason rubbed his temple with his fingers. "I really took your words to heart. I'm only fourteen, I'm destined to die at sixteen. I don't want to burden her with having a dead ex-boyfriend."
"Percy…"
"I had a dream, Jason." Jason stopped rubbing his head, looking dead into the eyes of Percy. "A man visited me, telling me about these." He showed off the bracelets. "he told me that someone that I truly love can take them off." Percy finished and Jason frowned.
"Do you think that's…"
"I don't know. Jason." Percy started, and Jason's eyebrow raised.
"I think he was my father."
X
Percy kept training his classes and working on his power, the power over the earth the man had blessed him with. Much like other gods and goddesses, this one didn't lie. Percy had complete knowledge over the earth and controlling it. He was able to morph the element to mirror his every action, his every move. This was much to Triton's surprise.
"And who gave you this knowledge?"
"No idea. Same guy who told me the great prophecy. I have a suspicion, though." Percy said, focusing on making the rock break into little, sharp shards.
"Which is?"
"I think he's my father. Like my real dad. He said he'd made mistakes, like he'd done me wrong before, despite me never seeing him before. So, either he's some super-all knowing fate that controls my destiny or my dad." Triton's curiosity peaked. The house of Neptune remained in the dark on who Percy's real father was, but whoever it was, Triton didn't want to make an enemy. That person had Nyx, the primordial of Night owing them favors.
X
Percy was being dragged to a sendoff party for James, a centurion of the first, who was going to college as opposed to serving in the legion. He'd reached halfway there with Jason when he'd realized who the other centurion of the first was. Jason had convinced him to come anyways, telling him that the odds he'd have to reconnect with her were minimal.
Boy, he was wrong.
The venue was Praetor Julia's house, within the Pomerian Line, an invite-only event, where over sixty people were invited, legionnaires and retirees alike, as well as everyone being allowed a plus-one. Piper got an invitation, and Percy was Jason's plus-one. The house was cramped, with Percy being so big, he had to squeeze through people to stay with his friends. He, Jason and Piper were standing around the kitchen island. At one point, Julia offered to show Percy around, which he kindly accepted. Julia took him around the first floor, to a very limited touring experience, before showing him the second floor, which contained a master bedroom, a connecting closet and bathroom, as well as a guest bedroom.
"This place is nice." He whistled, looking into the large master, Julia laughed beside him.
"It'll be yours one day." She said quietly, and Percy's eyes flicked to her.
"One day won't happen too soon, I'm afraid." Julia frowned at him.
"Why not?"
"Jason's going to get raised to Praetor first. It'd take for me single handedly killing every titan in the pantheon to get them to raise me first. Benefits of a son of Neptune." he said, the bitterness hidden by the joke. Julia scoffed.
"If it were up to me, you would have been Centurion of the fifth above him." Julia said, leading Percy out of the room. The music was suppressed, but still really loud.
"I appreciate it, Praetor, but I'm sure having him in such a position has done you well." Julia nodded.
"I can't deny that." She said, walking him back downstairs, and on his way back down, he very clearly saw Reyna being flirted with by Adam Won, a seventeen-year-old from the first cohort. Amid their conversation, Adam's eyes flicked to Percy's, and his gaze showed his cockiness and distaste for Percy, who shot a glare back.
"Percy!" he turned, and Jason, along with Piper were walking up to him. "We're gonna head out of here. Early morning tomorrow. Are you going to stay?" Percy hesitated, looking around the room.
"Yeah. I think I'm good to go." He said, looking, trying to spot Reyna. Why was she taking over his mind again? He said he wouldn't let her do this.
Because Percy, she's the one.
Why was his other self talking to him?
Because I can hear your thoughts, dipshit.
'What do you mean by, 'the one?''
You're an idiot sometimes.
X
The image of Reyna and Adam played throughout his head for the next day, as he started with Triton, he made classless, idiotic mistakes because his mind was plagued by her.
Triton swooped his feet out from underneath him.
"You're not yourself today, yeah?" Triton chirped, and Percy growled. "Cool it, hothead."
"I'm doing perfectly fine." He said, agitated. Percy stood, and faced Triton.
"If there's something on your mind, we can take a moment and work on that, Perseus." Triton said calmly.
"Sometimes I despise your how wise and patient you are." Triton laughed.
"You'll come to realize your impatience is one of your biggest flaws, but occasionally a great strength."
"Shut the hell up." Percy said, raising his trident.
When he met with Jason and Piper for lunch, Piper seemed equally as distracted.
"Piper, what's wrong?" Jason asked while they were eating at a local deli. Her eyes shot up to look at the guy sitting across Percy, and she frowned.
"Have you not heard?" Piper started, and Percy and Jason both shook their heads. "The first sent out a war band to search some of the area in Los Angeles and didn't give any of us a reason." Percy's heart dropped. Jason's eyes flicked to Percy. "Took like twenty-five kids with them, led by Octavian." Percy's heart dropped even further into his chest. Jason looked away from Percy, shrugging. "They left like- really early this morning."
"It's the first. They probably have it under control." He said, taking a final bite of his bagel, scrunching the wrapping paper. Piper frowned.
"It's weird, though. Octavian and the Senate didn't tell anyone. Not even the others in the first." Piper's frown deepened. Percy stood from his seat.
"Sorry guys, I have a class to teach in twenty. Got to run."
X
Percy woke the next day, with the same girl on his mind, much to his frustration. Nearly the same thing happened with Triton, who recognized the exact same distraction on his pupil's face as yesterday.
Triton kicked Percy backwards, "You care for the girl too much, Perseus."
"I do not." He growled, and rose before the god, who scoffed.
"You've been sparring like you're twelve again, Perseus. And the only direct reason to that is that girl. If I didn't know better, I think you lo-" Percy sprung forward, jamming the butt of the weapon into Triton's gut, who doubled over. "You douche." Triton let out, clawing at his midsection.
When he taught his class, unfortunately for him, they recognized the same emotion on the demigod's face.
"Percy?" one of the kids called out to him. Ethan, a son of Mercury stepped forward. Percy nodded to the demigod. "Why aren't you teaching us with the same intensity you've taught with before?" the fifteen year old asked.
"Nothing, Ethan. Just slightly worn out."
"Is it because of the First's mission?" Ethan asked, wasting no time. Percy stiffened slightly, but unnoticeable.
"No. Does everybody know about that?" He asked, and almost every kid nodded their heads. Percy shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"God's help me."
X
Reyna was awfully skeptical of Octavian's 'Olympus-backed' mission for the First. When he told them Los Angeles, because that's where an entrance to the underworld was apparently held, she grew even more skeptical. Why would Olympus send the augur of all people to lead a mission to an unknown entrance to a territory they already controlled? It made no sense. She could only pray to Bellona that Octavian was right.
It was the evening, almost three days since they'd left, and she realized Octavian was wrong.
Dead wrong.
She heard screams from behind her, and saw one of the trailing legionnaires fall to the ground.
"Kate!" a voice screamed, and Reyna rushed backwards.
Below her, the girl, Kate, was gasping for breath, holding and clawing at a bloody stomach.
"Medic!" Reyna hollered, and two people rushed behind her. They started to work, bandaging, giving the demigod painkillers, but Reyna knew otherwise. She looked out into the woods, but saw nothing.
"What did it?" Reyna growled, and the other girl demigod who alerted her shook her head.
"I didn't see!"
A rustling to her left, and Reyna was just able to catch the hellhound in time to kill it.
"Ue!" Reyna barked. "Brace!" the demigods turned outwards, and the monsters emerged from the woods, pushing the circle of twenty-four inwards towards one another. Reyna didn't hear her peers die, but was too focused on the monsters who picked the poor choice of a fight with her.
"Stop trying to kill her!" a voice boomed, and a titan emerged in front of Reyna, pointing his sword at her. Blue eyes and white hair, Reyna didn't know how she didn't see the building-tall being before. She noticed the fighting around her had stopped, and Reyna turned.
There were only seven demigods remaining. Octavian was one of them. Reyna turned back to the titan.
"Notice the situation you're in, girl? No son of Neptune to save you now." Reyna's stomach churned at the thought of Percy. She felt someone next to her, and ironically, Adam stood there.
"We can kill this ugly fucker, Rey." Adam said, and Reyna internally cringed. At the party, he'd started to call her that nickname. She entertained him because she was bored with everything else, and wanted to get her mind off Percy.
"No, we can't." she said back, quietly. Adam lightly touched her shoulder.
"If Percy can kill two of these things, they can't be that hard to kill, right?" Reyna shook her head.
"Make a choice yet, demigod?" the titan asked, impatiently. "Coeus doesn't have too much time." He spoke in third person.
"I'll fight you for it!" Adam stepped forward. Reyna grabbed his shoulder.
"No! Adam!" she pleaded, but the guy looked back at her.
"I'll kill him for you." That made her want to let him go fight the titan. Adam strolled forward, before the Titan, drawing his regular Gladius from its sheath, raising it. Coeus laughed.
"Coeus, you meet your end today." Adam called to the bigger being, who continued to laugh.
"So be it." Coeus said almost gleefully, and walked towards the demigod. Adam tried to use his quickness and smaller size to his advantage, but his attempt at sweeping under the Titan's legs ended up with him getting swatted into a tree.
"Adam!" Reyna called, and he rose from the tree.
"Imbecile." Coeus growled, and Adam charged towards the Titan. Adam jumped, impaling his sword into the Titan's upper leg. Coeus growled in pain, shaking the demigod off of his leg. Adam rose from the small fall, but had his legs swept out from underneath him. Coeus brought his blade down into Adam's chest.
"Dumb demigod." Coeus growled, turning to Reyna. There were already shackles on the other demigods. "I thank you, daughter of Bellona, for complying with our… acquaintance's plans." Coeus turned to Octavian, who walked towards the titan.
"My pleasure, Coeus. Only did all of the hard work." Octavian said pridefully.
"Shut up, dumb dog." Coeus spat, and Octavian shivered. "You'll make a mighty fine piece of bait to get that son of Neptune out of hiding, girl." Coeus said, eyeing Reyna.
"Saturn will be proud."
X
Percy was in a dream. Specifically, a forest area he didn't recognize. He was in front of some sort of rock formation, and he faintly made out… cabins? Through the trees.
"Kid! Get away from Zeus's Fist!" a buff girl with brown-blonde hair called to him. He frowned. Zeus's Fist? He finally snapped into his senses and realized the fighting around him. Demigods fought monsters but were losing. Badly. The monsters were outnumbering the demigods ten-to-one, and the demigods seemed nowhere near prepared for this battle. The noise was deafening, but a cry to his right made it out from the fight. He turned, and Reyna was knelt, a blade clearly protruding from her gut. Percy's eyes widened, and he ran to her, barely catching her as she fell over.
"Percy?" she whispered, and he nodded feverishly. "Wh-What are you doing here?"
Percy shook his head, "I don't know." He said quietly. He looked down. The blood was coming out quicker than he'd anticipated. She was going to be dead within three minutes.
"Percy- if this is it," she started, but he snapped his hand over her mouth.
"Don't you dare." He growled. "Medic!" he cried out, but he already knew it was hopeless. Reyna shook her head, smiling.
"Always trying to save the day." She said, her voice quiet. The noise from the ongoing battle had faded out. It was a dream, but it felt real.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that." Reyna spoke, but it wasn't Reyna. The voice was deep, manly, powerful. "I don't believe we've met yet, Perseus." She continued to speak. Percy looked up, nobody was moving. The battle had almost been paused.
"Who are you?" he asked Reyna, or, not Reyna.
"The king of the Titans, the father of the gods, titan of Time." Another voice spoke, Percy rose slowly, turning to face the man. He was dressed in a suit, with a little clock decorating his right pec. As he looked to the Titan, the false temperature dropped, and Percy felt his knees becoming weaker.
"Saturn." The Titan's form shimmered.
"Kronos, but yes. Same idea."
"We're supposed to kill eachother." Percy said, and Saturn-Kronos, laughed.
"The gods want you to think that, boy. Not everything has to end in violence."
"What do you want?" Percy asked, rather coldly.
"I want what every person in this pantheon wants right now, and that's you fighting for me." Kronos said, a scarily welcoming smile on his face.
"Why would I do that?" Percy spat. "Everyone I love fights for the gods."
"Because I believe if you fought for me, they'd simply follow in your footsteps. You hold more weight than you know, demigod." Kronos said, walking towards Percy. "I could tell you who your real father is." Kronos whispered into Percy's ear. His breath made Percy shiver.
"I don't care for my real father. If I mattered to him, he would've helped us." Percy growled, and Kronos flinched back.
"You're yet to realize how important your parentage is. Surprising. I would've thought Night would've told you." Kronos said, and Percy frowned.
"Night?" Kronos shook his head.
"What about if I told you everything you saw here is true?" Kronos said, and Percy's blood froze. Kronos smiled; he'd knew he'd hit the jackpot. "These demigods dying. That girl you care about? She's destined to die here as well. What's her name? Reyna Arellano? She's going to die here, Perseus, but you can save her." Kronos said with a wicked smile. Percy frowned.
"You lie."
"I have seen it from Prometheus and Epimethus themselves. The two titans of foresight have foresaw your girlfriend dying here, in two days' time." Kronos drawled on, and Percy's heart kept dropping. He felt inclined to believe him.
"Perseus." He met the Titan's cold, golden eyes. "You're going to wake up, and they're going to tell you she was captured. Come to New York within forty hours, and I'll show you why you should fight for me." Kronos said, and he ended whispering into Percy's ear.
Percy shot up in his bed, sweat beading down his forehead. A young, scrawny legionnaire burst into his room almost instantly.
"The first's war band has been captured!"
yo its beena fuckin minute guys sorry college got a wee hefty and wacky i'm back to writing though hope u enjoy it :D