Chapter One: Gods and Heroes
"I will deny I ever said this, of course, but the gods need heroes. They always have. Otherwise we would not keep you annoying little brats around." ~ Dionysus
The River Lethe was a sloshing mess of milky white. It wound its way through the Underworld as far as the eye could see in either direction. Sickly looking poplar trees shaped like pine cones on a stick littered the banks. Secreting more of the memory erasing water from its branches as it collected beaded up. Joining the white waters as the drops fell, becoming something bigger and more important. Like the river itself.
The last time Percy Jackson was here, his cousins, Thalia Grace and Nico DiAngelo, had been with him and they were up against the titan Iapetus, who was now Bob, a poor soul rotting away in Tartarus for saving Percy and Annabeth's life when they had to escape the pit in what felt like a lifetime ago.
If the son of Poseidon had to be completely honest, he couldn't remember why he fought the "Piercer" in the first place. Over the years of his life, he had done so much that the experiences piled on top of one another. He was pretty sure it had to do something with a sword maybe? Who knows.
And now he stood at the banks of the Lethe. Getting ready for all of it to be washed away completely, and permanently.
Percy took a deep breath, the ethereal looking eighteen year old psyching himself up to plunge into one of the few waters that rebelled against his heritage as the son of Poseidon. His knees bent, ghostly muscles coiled like a viper as he prepared to jump.
"You don't have to do that you know." A baritone voice said out of nowhere, causing the deceased son of Poseidon to jump into action instead of into the memory erasing river. The black haired demigod whirled to face the intruder. He was a tall man in a neat black suit leaning against one of the poplar trees along the banks of the Lethe. He was nearly seven feet tall, which was tall for a mortal at least but Percy had fought random run of the mill greek monsters bigger than that so size didn't really matter to the son of Poseidon. What made him wary was how "normal" he looked, for lack of a better term. There weren't any bulging muscles of boar tusks popping out of his face but that just assured the black haired demigod all the more that this guy was some sort of an immortal Percy hadn't met yet
"Sharp reflexes." The man commented idly as he nodded his full head of snow white hair in the direction of Percy's waist.
The son of Poseidon followed his gaze, and realized that on reflex alone his hand drifted over to his pocket. But didn't reach in as he had to come to the oh so often realization that he had passed his faithful blade Riptide, a three foot long xiphos crafted from celestial bronze and enchanted to always return to its wielder, to his eldest son Charlie a very long time ago.
And oh yeah, Percy was dead too, so there was that. So even if it was still his, Riptide wouldn't follow him here, likely it would have been rusting away in some casket next to his skeleton.
"What do you want?" Percy growled, his form flickering purple in the presence of this strange god. The mystery immortal's eyes were some of the strangest Percy had ever seen. Both the pupil and iris were pitch black but the irises were flecked with white like little stars as they whirlpooled into the middle before disappearing. It was like the orbs were miniature black holes swallowing up equally small universes, an intimidating sight to say the least that spoke to the man's power, but Percy refused to back down.
The immortal cocked his head. "Do you already have me pegged as a bad guy Perseus Jackson? How rude."
To say the use of his full name was as irritating as it was totally not surprising would be an accurate statement.
"The only gods that like me are the Olympians, and even saying that is a stretch." Percy snarked. "Not to mention I'm already freaking dead, so I'm sorry to whatever 'Daddy's Little Monster' you're trying to avenge but she definitely attacked me first so leave me alone."
The mystery man threw his head back and laughed. A loud booming sound that probably woke Hades right out of his Fields of Punishment woven pajamas.
"I can see why my daughter Gaia never shuts up about you Perseus Jackson. You truly are everything you're cracked up to be."
"Uhh thanks?" Percy said, before the sudden gravity of The Immortal's words came crashing down on him. Ghostly sea green eyes widened.
"Did you just say you were Gaia's…" The son of Poseidon trailed off.
"Yes." Chaos, the First Being and Creator of the Universe smiled. Clearly amused at the stumped expression on the spectral form of Percy Jackson.
All of the sudden, Percy hoped that he wasn't here for revenge for his daughter and that his sarcastic assumption was, in fact, spot on.
"Fuck." He cursed under his breath.
Chaos laughed again, albeit it this time more subdued than the last as he pushed his back off the tree and sauntered his way to the son of Poseidon, walking around him and studying him from all angles. Percy, for his part, stood as still as he could. He might have bit off more than he could chew, but he wasn't going to back down now, already deceased or not.
"Why were you about to jump in the River Lethe?" Chaos asked, breaking the terse silence that had formed between the two.
"Fancied a swim." Percy shot out faster than his brain could recall who they were talking to.
The Creator of Universe's deadpan look led the black haired demigod to believe that the First Being seemed to share his brain's sentiment.
Stupid mouth.
"I mean," The son of Poseidon growled. "I'm trying for rebirth."
Percy knew immediately after he said that, that if he got to go through with his rebirth, Chaos would have no trouble making his new life an absolute miserable hell that would make the Fields of Punishment seem like a theme park.
Chaos looked quizzical. "But you have so many friends and family in Elysium. Why leave all that?"
Percy closed his intangible eyes, sighing as he did so. There was no point lying to the Creator of the Universe. "When a soul is put into Elysium, they become the age at the moment they were the happiest in their lifetime. I only look eighteen because that was the year me and Annabeth had our son Charlie, and once I found out she was pregnant, we got married that same year."
The First Being hummed to show he was listening, making a go on gesture with his hand.
The son of Poseidon took a deep breath before continuing. "I've been in Elysium for a very long time, searched it up and down, left to right, and I couldn't find her. The woman I had been married to for nearly sixty years was not in heaven, even after everything we went through. Which meant there was only one place left."
Percy turned back from where he came and lifted a translucent purple arm up to point down the dirt beaten path, past the marble gates, through the winding streets of beautiful stonework and happy people in Paradise and across the sparkling blue lake littered with all types of vessels from yachts to sailboats.
The Isles of the Blest.
The little tiny island in the center of Elysium's lake held the smallest population in all of the Underworld. Only souls that had chosen rebirth three times and achieved Elysium every time could reside there.
And Percy Jackson, greatest hero of all time or not, was only on afterlife number one.
The son of Poseidon felt more confident now that he said his piece. He stood a little taller, a little less defeated in the face of the most powerful being.
"If you want to torture me or get back at me for Gaia, send me back to Elysium alone, because trust me, that's torture enough."
Chaos hummed in thought, any traces of humor he had found before seemed to be gone, which Percy found to be a plus, at least he was being taken seriously now. Or maybe that was a downside now that he thought about it, and he had just wasted the only advantage he had on the First Being.
Chaos, as if sensing Percy's discomfort, offered the son of Poseidon a small smile in an attempt to try and calm him. "You don't have to keep thinking of me as an enemy of Perseus Jackson, I've actually come to you for your aid."
"You're The Creator. Forgive me if I find myself a little suspicious that you need me."
The First Being let out a snort at that as he outstretched his hand, a droplet of Lethe water from one of the overhanging poplar trees falling onto the back of his hand as he did so. Chaos tilted his arm around as the teardrop shape made its way to the cufflink of his suit before disappearing down his sleeve.
"What if I told you that I would let you go through with your plan, and even support it?"
Percy narrowed his sea green eyes. "I would ask what the catch was."
Chaos continued as if Percy hadn't even spoken. "That you could keep your memories, your powers, your looks, your name, hell even get back that old sword of yours, if you tried for rebirth."
"Again, I would ask what the catch was."
The First Being sighed in annoyance. "Must you look a gift horse in the mouth?"
"Yes." Came Percy's simple reply.
Chaos sighed again. "Now I know why even the gods you do choose to side with hate you."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"You're stalling."
The First Being dragged his hand down his face. At the very least, talking to someone who had the stones to talk back was an oddly refreshing experience for a deity in the position of absolute power. And he was sure that if the deceased son of Poseidon said yes, life was going to get a lot more interesting for the Creator of the Universe for at least the next couple of decades or so.
"The catch, Perseus Jackson, is that you would be sent to a different world."
…
…
…
"Hm." Percy said after a brief moment of silence.
"What?" Chaos raised an eyebrow. "What is 'Hm'?"
"Just expected a bit more I guess." Percy's ethereal form shrugged.
The First Being's jaw dropped. "A bit more? I just confirmed the existence of intelligent life outside of your Solar System. No mortal, nay, no living thing outside of the Protegenoi themselves knew this, not even your gods. And all you have to say for yourself is "Hm" and "I expected a bit more"?
The deceased son of Poseidon shrugged again. "Sorry. But my life has been. Er... was, crazy enough that something as tame as this doesn't really surprise me. I think the Norse gods were a bigger surprise to be honest."
Percy couldn't help but suppress a smile at the shocked look on Chaos' face as he said that. It was the truth, the thought of new worlds wasn't that weird when the capital G God appears on your doorstep to break it to you. And he had gotten tired of being surprised, at a certain point the black haired demigod had learned to just kind of roll with the punches.
"So is this going to be like a John Carter type of thing or am I going to go to a planet where there are humans there too?"
Chaos' jaw finally snapped shut. He let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, like he couldn't believe what the hell he was dealing with. Finally, the Creator of the Universe picked his head off his hands and looked at the son of Poseidon in… Awe? Disappointment?
Percy wasn't really sure, but offered a toothy smile to the First Being nonetheless.
"No." Chaos said at last. "There will be humans there."
The First Being then conjured a full chair and table cafe set out of thin air and took a seat, motioning for the son of Poseidon to sit down.
Reluctantly, Percy followed suit.
"The thing you need to know about these humans is that their souls can be harnessed and manifested into a secondary skin or a suit of armor known as aura. By unlocking one's aura they also gain access to one's unique super power known as a semblance. A person's semblance can be almost anything, and usually falls in line with something that fits their character."
Chaos snapped his fingers and a blue hologram of a faceless person appeared over the center of the table. He was well built, bit still rather lithe, the outlines of muscle clear as day. And while the eyes and nose were exempt from the image, there was a cheery smile on his face.
"Someone with a confident, happy-go-lucky personality might have a semblance as simple as good luck.
The Chaos snapped his fingers again and the translucent mannequin changed, this time compressing into the form of a much shorter woman sporting a hammer over one shoulder, even though it was a just a projection, it seemed to have a life of its own, swinging its hammer around like a baseball bat and jumping around the small iron table.
"Whereas someone who is more sporadic and strong-willed will have the semblance of converting electric shocks as big as a bolt of lightning and as small as a fork in a socket into physical strength."
Percy nodded to show he was following along. Everyone had super powers specifically tailored to them. Sure. Why not? "So I don't have to hide my powers at all?" He asked. "I can just play it off as a semblance and no one will bat an eye?"
Instead of answering the black haired demigod, the First Being placed his left hand palm up on the table and closed his eyes in concentration. All of the sudden Percy felt like his heart was about to jump out of his throat, he got that anxious feeling in his chest.
That was until a bright light assaulted the bottom of his vision and he looked down, eyes widening as his spectral form was distorting at the chest, like he had just stuffed a soccer ball under his chest. It grew brighter and brighter until a small 'pop' sound was heard, causing Percy to close his eyes and wince.
When he opened his eyes he saw that his ghostly form had returned to normal, if albeit a little dimmer than when he had left Elysium. The son of Poseidon looked up, in the palm of Chaos' previously empty hand was a swirling mass of sea green, strands of an earthy red and storm cloud gray were laced throughout, like a mystical ball of swirling yarn, but you decided to dye the string those two colors at random intervals.
The black haired demigod outstretched a finger made to touch it, but stopped millimeters away. "What is that?" Percy asked warily, studying the foreign object with intent
"Only the very essence of your being." Chaos replied calmly like he hadn't just dropped that logic bomb.
It didn't take long for Percy to connect the dots. "That's my soul."
"Mhm." Chaos nodded.
The son of Poseidon narrowed his eyes, his hand flipped over from about to poke to a give me gesture. "I'd like that back please."
"…"
"Technically you could claim your father's powers as a semblance." Chaos said, studying the swirling mass in his hand. "But your soul is 'uncharged' for the lack of a better term due to not being born on Remnant, you would be unable to manifest an aura, and having a semblance without one would certainly raise more questions than you would like."
Percy snorted as he let his arm stay outstretched, waiting for the all powerful and all knowing to return his god's damned soul back. "So what? You're just gonna charge me up like a battery or something?"
Chaos shook his head. "Souls." He paused trying to find the right words. "Are something even I won't mess with on principle alone. With your consent or not. I'm sure I could 'Charge you up to be able to project an aura', but it's something I've never bothered to try. Even if I did, would you be willing to be patient zero as I stretch and morph the very fiber of your being into something else, without possibility of going back?"
Percy narrowed his eyes as he took a nice long look at his soul. "No. No I don't think I would. So what do you have in mind then?"
The Creator of the Universe set his free hand on the table, just as he had with the one to remove Percy's own soul. This time a swirling black portal appeared above his hand and down floated a mysterious ball of white like the petals of a dandelion floating lazily in the breeze.
The portal snapped shut, its mission complete and Percy analyzed the new object, tracing the similarities between it and his own soul.
"Another soul." Percy guessed. "Did you just rip this out of somebody?"
Chaos looked appalled. "What? No! I just created this in Remnant."
"Okay… but why?" Percy asked.
"Why?" Chaos tilted his head, confused, like he couldn't believe that the son of Poseidon didn't get it. "It's your very own aura capable soul!"
"I'd rather stick with my own thank you very much." Percy said at last as he leaned forward and tried to grab for the swirling mass of sea green.
Chaos stopped him, pulling Percy's soul and 'his new one' out of grasp.
"Think of this empty one as a blank slate. There is no essence inside of it whatsoever, and you will have complete control over your own body. The essence of this new soul would be created by the experience of your old soul." At these words his soul morphed on command, taking the shape of a tall glass of mystery liquid of the same color.
"Baja Blast." Percy supplied.
"Sure." Chaos said, taking his outburst in stride, he began to pour some of the 'soda' into the empty new soul cup. "As you explore Remnant, you will undoubtedly draw conclusions and make decisions based on the experiences you've had here on Earth."
He stopped pouring once the glasses were at equal size. And out of nowhere a new glass appeared, this one filled with red liquid.
"Code Red."
The First Being nodded, filling up his new soul and old soul cups with the red. "And as you come across new challenges and wonders, your experience will grow as well, until eventually you are left with two souls, one of which comes back here after you die, and another which passes on to the world of Remnant's afterlife."
Both glasses had taken on a slightly different color, the light green base was still there for both of them but it was still very evident that it had been muddled by Remnant's experience.
"Not muddled, enhanced." Chaos corrected with a smile.
Percy stared at the two glasses thinking long and hard about what Chaos was saying.
"This is great and all." The son of Poseidon spoke up at last. "But I have a feeling that we've avoided the topic of why you're doing all this."
The smile melted off the Creator of the Universe's face. "What do you mean?"
"You're like, the most powerful being in the world. If you were helping me out for the sake of being nice, you could probably just drop me off for free in the Isles of the Blest right now. But instead you do all this-" Percy waved his hands. "You pull out all the stops in hopes of convincing me to be reborn somewhere else, and the only reason I can think of is that there's some Kronos or Gaia level bad guy there that you need me to do the dirty work for, and considering you're giving me all theses niceties so I can go there, it makes me believe that this is a threat that no one on Remnant is prepared for." The son of Poseidon leaned back in his chair. "Give me a hint. Am I hot or cold?"
Chaos sighed. "Never let it be said that you aren't more perceptive than you usually let on Perseus Jackson."
"Thanks." The ghostly demigod snorted. "So what am I up against?"
"Gaia and her siblings were not my first children. With every new planet came the creation of new beings to rule in my stead. Remnant is governed by deities of light and dark simply known as The Brothers. They are some of my earliest children, and me being a new father and all, I had issues raising them, so I gave them a world, their own little sandbox to play over and left them be, hoping that they would learn to create just as I had. Things however, did not go as planned, and after the first humans-"
Chaos was interrupted with the left half of his suit bursting into flames, the right half instantly encased in ever creeping ice.
"Oh dear." Chaos cursed, although he didn't seem that worried.
"What's going on?" Percy asked, jumping out of his chair. He wasn't sure what he could do in this situation though. He was a ghost and Chaos was… well… Chaos.
The First Being sighed like it was no big deal he was being roasted alive. "Non-Disclosure Agreement." He explained.
"An NDA?" The son of Poseidon asked, shocked. "You're the Creator of the Universe, can't you just break out of it. Who the Hades would even force you to sign a contract like that in the first place?"
"I could break out right now if I wanted to." Chaos admitted, he tapped his chin with an icy finger, the solid water making a thunking sound against the bone. "But I won't, this NDA was created by The Brothers themselves, while too stubborn to change, I guess they were a little embarrassed about their failure on Remnant."
"Why would you let them have that kind of control over you?"
The Creator of the Universe gave the son of Poseidon a sad smile. "To become God is the loneliest achievement of all Perseus Jackson, you of all people should know that."
"Actually, I turned down immortality." Percy snapped on reflex, but he knew exactly what the Creator was referring to. The way every demigod had idolized him, new and old, and in the process kept him at arm's length, putting him on the pedestal so high they placed him out of reach.
"You have a choice to make young demigod. The deal only stands until these powers consume me completely."
The son of Poseidon growled. He hated going in blind like this, he understood why, but hated it nonetheless. The purple spectre gave one last longing look at Elysium, reminding himself why he was doing this.
For Annabeth.
Percy Jackson closed his eyes and sighed.
"I'll do it."
Without another word the flaming arm of Chaos shot forward and blasted the two souls into Percy's spectral form. The force of the impact ripped him out of his chair, as he was sent flying backwards. The son of Poseidon managed to correct his form midair, spinning so he was facing the ground.
What he saw did not make him happy.
The sloshing white waters of the River Lethe were fast approaching, and the black haired demigod only managed to get out one thing before crashing into the memory-erasing waves.
"Son of a bi-"
-X-
Simply put? Menagerie was awesome. Growing up in New York all his life, everything Percy saw was urbanized and dirty, not to mention bone-chillingly cold half of the year. Don't get him wrong, New York was his city, and even in life number two he would claim that with pride.
But if New York was home, then Menagerie was paradise. He spent most of his days relaxing on the sandy beaches, or the boardwalks criss-crossing the waterfront, enjoying the breezy air, the year round warm climate, and the absolute control over the ocean he had here.
If Percy was completely honest, he had spent the first ten years of his life trying to get himself back in the water without fear, but it took years alone before he built up the courage to take that first breath. The constant fear of not being able to breathe ever since the muskeg in Alaska, or when Polybotes had choked him half to death at the bottom of the Atlantic, his home turf, weighed on his mind like a bag of bricks. These instances coupled with the fear that his powers would not work due to the fact his father had no jurisdiction over these seas it had taken quite a while to get over that mental hump.
Which was absolutely ridiculous he'd try to convince himself. If his manipulation over water still worked, and he could still listen in on the little minnows swirling around his ankle whenever he hit the water, then he could still breathe… Right? Not to mention according to Chaos there are no aquatic deities on this planet, the only gods being The Brothers so for all intents and purposes Percy Reddick (That's what they called him nowadays) was Remnant's god of the ocean.
And it only took about ten years of self therapy to squash that fear from seconds of hesitation to a deep breath to calm himself before plunging into the waters. Look at our boy go.
"Percy." A voice called out to him. The twelve year old craned his head to the left and pushed his sunglasses further down his nose so his piercing sea green eyes were visible. A man in stained overalls and an overall greasy look about him approached the black haired demigod.
"Captain told me to find you, we depart within the hour."
Percy sighed as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. Rifling through his pockets he pulled out his wallet and dropped a couple lien on the table and slurped up the rest of his smoothie all in one go. Putting the glass down the son of Poseidon stood, and stretched his wings, an impressive 7ft (216cm) wingspan of raven black feathers.
He nodded to the sailor in thanks. "See you there."
And with a mighty flap of his wings he took to the skies, the force clearing the table of both money and empty glass, Percy suppressed the smirk as even the sailor stumbled from the force. As he soared over the port city Kuo Kuana a small feeling of melancholy rushed over him, he loved the open ocean, that's why at such a young age he had gotten a job on a shipping freighter, but this was probably the last time he was going to see his home in a couple of months.
This time they were taking a trip to Atlas in order to pick up dust for the faunus continent, so they would be gone for a while. A very long while.
… What? The wings? He said he lived on Menagerie didn't he?
-XX-
Twelve year old Blake Belladonna stared in trepidation of the man her parents were doing business with. A tall, stocky, dark skinned man with a bald head and a white beard. His smile seemed nice enough, and out of all the ships' captains her parents had approached he was the only one to promise the White Fang passage to Atlas besides being the only human crew on the port, and by extension the entire continent.
"Coin has no knowledge of race." He said with a thick accent, a charming smile and an outstretched hand. "And you have given me your word that my human crew will be treated fairly besides the rumors of growing violence within your peaceful organization."
Blake's rage grew and she wanted to yell at the man in protest, but a firm hand was placed on her shoulder, she looked up to see the withering glare of her mother and wisely kept her mouth shut.
"Of course." Her father said with a smile, handing over a briefcase filled with lien, the required compensation for their passage. "By the way, I don't ever believe we got your name?"
"Name?" The Captain laughed, a deep chuckle from the bottom of his stomach. "Brothers know, forgot it long ago. Doesn't matter, I'm the Captain. That's all you need to know and all you need to call me." Then, with a theatrical sweep of his arms the rugged sailor said. "Welcome aboard my ship Ghira Belladonna, let it be known from this day that the Captain was on the right side of history. We depart within the hour."
-XXX-