A/N: Hey guys! Welcome to the revised version of this story, I was re-reading it, and decided that I could do better. So that's what I'll try to do in this version!
The second purpose of rewriting this story is so I can mold it into the start of all of my other works. I have a scheme that I'm enacting where this story will be the main plot-line, but my other crossover works (Which you guys may have read) will branch off of them as it goes, so you guys can choose to read those as well as time goes by, or just stick with this one.
Sorry about my prolonged absence, but hopefully this new plan makes up for it!
Enjoy the story,
-Me
Frantic footsteps rhythmically echoed down the paved street, off the looming buildings, and into the inky night. They followed a young girl, sprinting away from what had been an apartment building, behind her orange streaks of flame licked the star-studded sky as rubble and dust plummeted back down to earth.
Despite the sobs threatening to wrack her frail body and the pure anguish burning in her mind, the norepinephrine kept pumping through her veins, propelling her faster and faster away from what had been her life.
She had only seconds warning, barely enough to clamber down the fire escape at her mother's frantic urging before a massive explosion had shook the apartment complex.
She faintly understood that she should have been vaporized, the flames had shot out and surrounded her, the metal ladder buckled beneath her and she had fallen twenty feet to the ground.
But she felt no pain, a shimmering bubble of green light had surrounded her, barely perceptible to any normal child, but Persephone was no normal child.
Named after the destroyer, she had already lived up to her name, if not in the way that anyone but the king of the skies would have preferred.
The shield had flickered away as she had gotten to her feet, but before she could look back up at the apartment that held her mother a voice had echoed through her mind; "Run." It commanded, and Persephone had obeyed, the girl took off, down the streets and alleys, eventually finding herself in central park.
A dangerous place to be for a demi-god, especially one who had not yet reached eight years old.
The absolute darkness of the night struck the girl. For the first time so far, her path was not illuminated by street lamps, and it was now only illuminated by the silvery beams of the moon.
Persephone could barely see anything besides the branches of the pines on either side of the path, their spindly limbs seemed to reach out to her and she shrunk away, slowing to a walk to cautiously eye the thick woods on either side of the narrow path.
The girl was exhausted, he had run just under a mile continuously and quickly, no unimpressive feat for a child, even a demi-god- even if Persephone did not know that she was one.
What she did know though, was that the owner of the bright red eyes that had appeared a couple meters down the path was not someone she had a hankering to encounter.
Seeing no other choice, she instinctively ducked off of the path, sprinting through the creeping pine.
Sprigs lashed her face as she staggered through the threatening forest, brush dragged at her heels threatening to drag her to her knees, and behind her, the omni-present growling of whatever he was being chased by.
Just as she thought she could run no more, that her strength was utterly spent, a clearing appeared through the last ominous stretch of woods.
Maybe there were people there, people who could save her from whatever was chasing her- who could explain what had happened tonight.
The moon shined brighter, seemingly urging the young girl on, and with the last vestige of energy in her body, she hurtled through the few remaining feet and crumpled on the ground, she could run no more.
In the corner of her fading vision, she saw a roaring campfire surrounded by log benches with a woman seated upon one of them.
She felt oddly comforted, and she released herself to the exhaustion; her eyes fluttering closed and the last bits of fight draining out of her limbs.
Hestia shot up, she had been enjoying a quiet fire in Central Park, one of her favorite places to escape the general chaos of Olympus. Of course, it seemed that chaos had managed to find her nonetheless. The small girl who had just tumbled violently out of the bushes appeared to be running from something dangerous.
The goddess jumped into action, placing herself between the girl and whatever would be undoubtedly coming out of the woods.
Her prediction came true, a massive black hellhound leaped from the forest, quickly closing the gap between itself and the goddess. Unfortunately for the monster, Hestia had long ago sworn an oath to protect anyone who happened upon her hearth.
The hellhound was midway through its leap before it was hit with an intense blast of fire, sending it back to tartarus.
She knelt, placing a hand on the girl's radial artery, her heart was still beating normally, odd for a child who had just exerted herself so much.
Hellhounds did not usually hunt mortal children except for extreme circumstances, so why was this child being pursued by one?
She moved her hand to their forehead and immediately knew why, this child was a demi-god, and an exceptionally powerful one.
Her aura was masked by something, or perhaps someone initially, but now she could feel it, rolling off the girl like a sea under storm- a child of Poseidon.
Hestia sat stunned for a few moments; the oath had been broken for the second time.
But that did not answer why the girl was running through the woods late at night with a monster in pursuit.
She concentrated, pulling the memories of the past few hours from the child's mind. Her picture was not complete, she did not wish to damage her mind after such a strenuous night, but she saw enough to make her recoil in horror, her hand slipping away from the child's head, losing the connection.
The voice of her brother emanated through the small apartment; "Sally, you must take Percy and leave now!"
Her brother's lover nodding and swiftly giving her child a kiss on the forehead with a rushed "I love you." before quickly ushering him out the back door and onto the fire escape.
She remained behind however, and Hestia realized what Sally had done, and what was coming.
A flash of light blinded the girl accompanied by a thunderous explosion and flames whipping around him.
Her mother had sacrificed herself so her daughter could escape, Zeus would have noticed both of them leaving and even Poseidon couldn't stop a direct strike from the master bolt.
Hestia was disgusted by what she had seen, her youngest brother had attempted to kill more innocent children, thankfully this time he had not succeeded, but his actions still cost this girl her mother.
Hestia figured the least she could do was give her a safe space to spend the night. She waved her hand over her- masking her aura even more, and gently picked her up before disappearing in a flash of warm golden light.
I felt itchy? My skin was alight with tiny little pinpricks, not painful, slightly annoying yes, but it certainly wasn't what I thought the after-life would be.
Maybe a bit of fire, or alternatively; some clouds and people with glowing hats. Either way, I could bear the itching any longer, I had to move. My eyelids felt heavy, like there were lead fishing weights attached to their lashes.
I had always loved fishing, well not really, I liked being by the ocean, but I would try to not catch the fish; what did they do to deserve the pain and annoyance?
Actually; any time that I spent at Montauk with my mom comprised some of my favorite memories. Wait.. mom?
A streak of fire raced through my cranium as the memories flooded back. I shot up, and screamed, screamed like never had before.
Hestia wasn't really accustomed to hearing screaming in her home, much less bloodcurdling, absolutely heartbreaking screams.
She knew immediately, both who was in such a state, and exactly why. The small girl had woken up.
She was grieving as only an orphan could, an orphan who had watched her mom be vaporized before her very eyes, an orphan who had been chased by something she had no conception of, and an orphan who had stumbled into her hands.
Hestia stood still for a moment, she wasn't a mom, she had no idea what to do in this situation.
She had comforted her fair share of children and adults alike over the millennia that they had been coming to her hearth for advice and warmth- but this was a whole new situation, one so egregious, one so terrible, that even she had never handled before.
She snapped out of her reservations and practically ran to the room where the girl was previously asleep.
Bringing her to her temple would be much too risky, Hestia doubted that even Zeus would try to harm the girl while she was under her protection; but it would simply be easier if he didnt know.
Bringing the child onto Olympus would have immediately tipped off the king of the gods, her aura was hard to miss, very hard to miss.
Hestia turned down the hallway that led to her bedroom; as well as a couple smaller rooms for guests.
Curiously enough, the screaming had stopped, but as the goddess approached the door to the room that she had put the girl to bed in, she heard that it had been replaced by heart wrenching sobs.
The goddess slowly opened the door, careful not to startle the young demi-god.
"Hello child." The Goddess nearly whispered as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
The cozy chamber was furnished by a burnt orange armchair and a twin sized bed accented with a headboard of deep walnut.
Upon the bed was seated a small girl, the woolen blankets wrinkled around her and her head deep in her hands.
At the sound of the door closing and Hestia's statement, the demigod looked up, tearful green eyes staring mournfully at the goddess. Hestia couldn't take it anymore, caution and introductions be damned.
She stepped over to the edge of the bed and swiftly sat beside the slightly scared girl. Hestia warped her arms around the girl's small frame and pulled her into a loose hug.
As soon as Hestia touched the child, all of the tension released from the demigod's shoulders and the sobbing continued, even stronger this time.
Hestia just sat there, pouring calming and healing power into the emotionally torn apart girl as she rubbed circles on the girl's back.
Hestia was rarely mad, it was even more uncommon for her to be furious, but the ugly heat that pooled deep in her core and begged to be released was nearly stronger than it had ever been.
She couldn't even imagine the emotional trauma that Poseidon's daughter had gone through that would make her cry into the goddess' chest for hours, only stopping once she had collapsed back into bed from exhaustion.
Just thinking about it made the goddess even more incensed, she had half a mind to go to Zeus right now and give him a piece of her mind, and a taste of her power.
Hestia calmed herself, that would not do anything good for anyone, Zeus was extremely powerful, and if he knew that Poseidon's daughter was still alive, he would make life very difficult for her. On the topic of Poseidon, they needed to have a chat.
The goddess flashed back to the house that she was currently staying at, just to make sure that the girl was still soundly asleep.
She poked her head into the bedroom, her gaze swooping over the girl's sleeping form.
Hestia quietly walked fully into the darkened chamber. The girl looked so peaceful, her raven hair was strewn around her head like a halo and her cute face wasnt contorted into the painful vice of grief.
The goddess, barely aware of what she was doing, reached down and gently stroked the cheek of the sleeping demigod.
Hestia pulled back a smile upon her face before pulling the blankets a little further up the girl's chin.
"Her name is Persephone?" Hestia asked, concern in her voice, she really hated potential foreshadowing.
"Yes, her mother named her." Poseidon sighed, the sea god looked as if he had a long couple of days, more gray was in his hair than usual, and the lines around his eyes looked more pronounced than they usually did.
The god grimaced, as if the thought of Persephone's mother still pained him. "I just wish I could have saved them both." The gods' composure nearly broke, his chin trembled slightly before he regained control of his expression.
This didn't go unnoticed by Hestia, unlike some gods, Poseidon cared very deeply about all his children and their mothers, to lose one so suddenly must have hit the god hard.
That was part of the reason that Hestia had agreed to keep Persephone safe, at least for the moment. It would be too risky to try to bring her down to Atlantis and there was no reason to seek another arrangement, if one had already been found.
The other reason was that Hestia had grown a slight attachment to Persephone, she didn't want to send her full-tumble into the world.
The girl needed a motherly figure, especially if she might be one of the demigods to fulfill the prophecy- and Hestia would be happy to provide.
A small smile crept onto her face, despite the tragic situation, she felt as if some good, maybe lots of good could come out of this.
~~~Five Years Later~~~
Tap… the targeted strike of the pencil upon the desk rang out across the boisterous room, thankfully muffled and blended into any manner of other noises before it reached the teachers ears.
Tap… another hit, the math problem stared back at the stumped student defiantly; numbers swam and dove across the paper like joyous dolphins as the parentheses indulged in a hearty jig.
Tap… immense frustration carefully channeled into precise, timed strikes. Tap… another one, fingers flexed around the thin round wood, threatening to snap the pencil straight into tw- CRACK!
The once sturdy writing utensil was, much like the student's focus, reduced into splinters and scattered across the desk. A head of raven-black hair shot up, unreasonably surprised by her own actions.
The young girl surveyed the chaotic room carefully, ensuring that none of her classmates had noticed the commotion.
Fortunately for Persephone, the majority of the class was not even at their seats, and were instead strewn around the room like dirty laundry, engaged in varying levels of studying or casual conversation.
She sighed in relief, the last thing on her to-do list was to have to deal with some of her more annoying peers asking why she had just sent her pencil to the metaphorical underworld.
Her emerald green eyes' sharp gaze found itself on the paper before her once more, the algebra now firmly back into its proper position.
Unbeknownst to the young demi-god, a keen eye had indeed caught her unfortunate circumstance.
Mr. Blofis was just about finishing the day's agenda on the whiteboard when he had swiftly turned to tell the class to control their volume.
He instead watched a poor pencil explode in Persephone's uncommonly strong grip, the teacher slowly turned back around, all thoughts of silencing the room suddenly displaced. "No handshakes, noted." Mr. Blofis muttered, before raising his marker to finish outlining the day's lecture.
Persephone stood up as soon as it was socially acceptable, right about five minutes before the bell. She usually didn't lurk around the door waiting for the class to officially end like most of her classmates, but today she felt a weird urge to do so.
It was probably rooted in the deep unsettlement caused by her teacher giving her subtle inquiring glances.
There was also practically nobody that she liked in this class, all her friends were placed in other subjects during this block. Worst of all, Nancy Bobofit. Persephone very much disliked Nancy, she had an exceptionally rude habit of trying to throw peanut butter at Percy's good friend Grover.
The bell finally rang and the growing group of young adults practically shoved their way out into the narrow hallway.
Persephone, like most normal people, was a big fan of a noble concept called personal space, so at the first opportunity she separated herself from the crowd and found an open space by the side of the hall.
She never understood why people were in such a rush, they had at least five minutes to get to their next class which was only a couple hundred feet down the building at the very most.
She straightened her blouse before taking a deep breath and plunging back into the throng.
After a couple more more unfortunate seconds of being accidentally pushed and practically carried, she arrived on the other side of the locker-lined hallway.
Grover was facing the wall, fumbling with his lock, what else was new? Persephone smoothly slid next to him just in time to witness perhaps the greatest accomplishment of grover-kind- the lock popping open.
"Oh! Hey Percy, did you already get your book?"
She smiled slightly. "Yup, figured it would be easier to just take it to english instead of struggling with those infernal devices more than I have too." She said, gesturing towards the locks hanging from the row of red steel cabinets.
"Oh man, I should start doing that. Anyway, we should probably get going, wouldn't want to be late for latin."
Persephone nodded in agreement and the duo started down the now significantly less congested hallway.
It was only a few moments before they reached the Latin classroom. Unlike some of the other classes in the building, this one was very orderly and respectful.
All of the pupils were seated and quietly chatting despite the lesson beginning some time from now. Mr. Brunner just seemed to command that respect, he would never ask for his student to be silent, a cursory glance would bring them all back to rapt attention.
Maybe it also had a little bit to do with the swords that he would pull out every once in a while; but that was just a theory.
Latin was one of the few subjects that came to Persephone naturally, she could read almost any latin in front of her.
This was partially because of her Aunt's fantastic tutelage, but also because Mr. Brunner was an amazing teacher.
Due to aforementioned tutelage, she also had a few suspicions about Mr. Brunner, some of the swords and armor that he showed off had a gleam a little too similar to celestial bronze.
Considering that he had also timed his arrival with Grover's only a few months ago, and Persephone had some solid evidence that they weren't exactly who they said they were.
I had never really liked the subway, it was dirty, smelly, and worst of all: inhabited by some of New York City's strangest characters.
Of course, this occasionally resulted in an entertaining sight, like musicians meeting by chance and playing an improvised duet, but also the one time that a man covered himself in fruit loops and milk before offering passengers spoons, it was really a mixed bag.
Fortunately for me, it was only around a ten minute ride from my school to Aunt Hestia's apartment, so at least my exposure was limited.
The train slowed suddenly- knocking my shoulder into the barrier next to the door- before shuddering to a halt and emitted some noises that I would rather not hear from a machine in which I was entrusting my life. I was pleasantly surprised there wasn't any accompanying smoke spewing from some essential component.
The familiar robotic voice announced "Parkchester." and the doors opened with a mechanical hiss.
I grabbed my backpack from under the seat and stepped out of the metro car into the poorly lit metro station. Dodging mysterious stains and fresh gum on the floor, my feet carried me up the stairs and into the bright sunshine of the world above.
It was a beautiful day, I couldn't wait to see more days like these, summer was approaching and school was nearly finished. I had to do all I could to stop myself from skipping down the street because of such pleasant thoughts of relaxing at Montauk with friends and no homework.
I looked both ways, then quickly walked across the crosswalk, not bothering to press the button. The traffic light turned green a few seconds after I had crossed and I savored the cooling breeze of cars whipping by at unreasonable speeds for such a narrow road.
After a couple more minutes of brisk walking, dodging pedestrians, and crossing busy streets, I finally arrived at my destination.
The large brick house towered above me, casting a slight shadow almost as far as the other side of the road.
The thin tall house looked like it was ripped straight from Rotterdam, from the Dutch windows to the façade obscuring the slate roof from the front. I cheerfully hopped up the front steps and punched the code to get inside.
The buttons on the keypad twinkled knowingly as the ivy green door swung open and I stepped inside. I popped off my shoes and placed them upon the mat next to the door before running up the stairs to the right.
As soon as I had reached the second landing the door to my apartment opened, I never knew how Hestia had such impeccable timing, although I guess that came with being a god and stuff.
She immediately pulled me inside and I barely had time to drop my bag before she pulled me into a warm hug.
"How was your day Percy?" She asked, as enthused to hear about the relatively dull happenings as ever.
I unwrapped my arms from around her torso and stepped back slightly. "It was good! Nothing really eventful though.." I trailed off, considering whether or not to tell her about my suspicions, oh why not?
"Actually, come to think of it, I think my Latin teacher is Chiron."
A/N: So hopefully you guys enjoyed that, I'm going to be doing larger chapters for this story- or at least trying to. If you're liking this new direction definitely let me know in the reviews! Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next time!