PercyPOV

"FUCK!" I yelled as I broke the ring and pinky fingers in my left hand. In hindsight, it was probably a stupid move to punch the Nemean Lion in the face. However it proved to be useful, as the monsters head snapped back due to the force of the hit. I'd have to be smart with this one. I had to come up with a way of killing it, but I had to have time to come up with it. Which means delaying it. What better way than insulting and pissing it off.

"Are you hungry kitty? I know that last time you didn't like what I gave you but this time I promise no astronaut food." It was at that moment that I remembered something that Annabeth once told me. The lion was male, which gave me an idea.

Which of course happened to be interrupted because the Nemean lion leaped at me with its jaws wide open. I spun to my right side and brought Riptide down on the lion's nether regions. Now it didn't do any physical harm to the beast, but that didn't matter to it. The lion jumped up with a squeak and proceeded to waddle around for a half second, but that was all the time it got as I was on it in a second. I slashed and stabbed several times at the lions eyes only for his sword to do little more that piss it off. I blinked and the world tilted as I flew through the air and finally knew how Jason felt. I rebounded off of something solid and landed face first in the dirt. Next thing I knew was pain as the lion descended upon my back and visited revenge upon me.

I screamed and screamed I knew that this would be my death, 500lbs of cat on top of me. I felt something break and prayed that it wasn't my back, but I didn't feel any pain any more. I felt cold, not winter in Manhattan cold, but an empty analytical cold. Like a general sacrificing a battalion to win a war. I felt detached from the world, and nothing was precious.

I looked up and saw that the lion was standing still not two feet from my face. Not the patient waiting still, but the still of a corpse or a statue. I knew that I was doing this but it was only a small righteous part of my mind that cared. I started to contort the lion and as I did so I heard the words that I promised to abide by, as they were my Wise Girl's last ones.

"Promise me Percy, to move on. I know you're a good man, but that darkness in you scares me. Promise me you'll never fall to that darkness."

A part of me, one I would rather not be so large, was saris with how I was causing pain to the lion which had just been mauling me but the other half put in its two cents and killed the lion off mercifully quick via sword through the mouth to the brain. Just like that, all my senses came back and gods be damned it hurt.

IT. HURT.

But not as much as the feeling that I failed Annabeth and broke my promise. Atop the pile of golden dust left by the lion was a golden brown lion skin jacket.

I capped riptide and walked over to pick up the jacket in my right hand and started walking to the doors, bleeding the whole time. At the last ten steps my legs gave out as the blood loss caught up to me. When I pulled my face out of the glass like ground for the second time in 15 minutes, I saw the doors flicker and start to fade. My hammering heart skipped a beat. I had already spent longer than the two weeks I promised Nico. I can't remember how long it was, I had stopped counting after day 718.

I raced against the fading doors and the doors were nearly invisible by the time I touched the doorframe. My body screamed as I used all of my remaining strength to catapult my way through the doors.

As I tumbled and rolled through the Doors of Death, I had expected darkness and doom, maybe with a side of gloom. Instead my senses were assaulted by color and smells that I had never seen. I knew that there was something wrong but I couldn't figure out what it was. The edges of my vision began to darken and all I could think about was how the grass smelt like my moms cookies. The last thing I heard before I blacked out were footsteps.

*5hours later*

When I woke up, I noticed one thing. My head felt like it was used in a volleyball game played by the gods. The second thing I noticed was that I was in a bed wrapped head to toe in bandages. Now for most people that would be alarming but seeing as how I've spent the last 2 years of my life sleeping on rocks or glass. I took the risk that was the soft, comfy, and blue bed beneath me.

After 10 minutes I got up out of bed to the alarm of my body as it screamed out in pain. I gritted my teeth and ignored the pain as best I could and decided to look around. I was in a small hut that had only two rooms, a large albeit short bedroom which was littered with tea cups and board game pieces, and a main room that had a small corner that seemed to be dedicated as a shrine to tea. The main room was simple it had a small kitchen in one corner and a table right in the middle with a door to what I guessed to be the outside world smack in the middle of a wall.

I walked up to the door and opened it, and walked right into a short bit sturdy old man. He had long white hair even though the top of his head was bald and an even longer white beard, a wrinkled face with crows feet at the corner of his kind eyes, he was wearing a dark green and white robe with orange highlights. All in all he looked like Santa without the red. He took one look at me and his eyes widened.

"You should be in bed you were hurt badly." His voice held a tone of shock and surprise but above all there was kindness in his voice. I took in the world behind him I felt my jaw drop in shock. The trees were bright neon green and mushroom shaped even though they looked like leaves, and the grass was so green you could only find it in a children's book.

"Where am I?!" I asked the old man in an admittedly hostile voice as I recovered from the surprise of the world behind the old man. I snapped my head back towards the old man. I put hand on riptide and kept it ready. It wasn't looking like a good situation for me, a weird new place and a stranger in the form of an old man. I have met monsters that were nice but I've also met monsters that were merely hiding behind a kind face. I had spent years in Tartarus being hunted by monsters.

"You are in my home in the spirit world. You were hurt badly, so I brought you here to heal." It was then that I noticed that his voice had a gravelly tone to it. It was as if he spent a lifetime of regret and had the wisdom to back it up.

"Spirit world?" It was better to keep my questions vague and short. At least that's what Annabeth would say.

"I will answer all your questions if you lay down and rest you are hurt." He said

"Give me some water and we'll have a deal." He seemed satisfied by my answer if not a little confused. I took a seat at the table in the main room, and the old man returned with two cups. He handed me the one with water and as he did he asked

"What's your name?" all the monsters I knew, knew who I was. I decided that he was trustworthy, he had helped me when I was injured and didn't know who I was. Which ruled out him being a monster. That being said..."Percy, what do you mean by spirit world" I finally responded.

"Well Percy my name is Iroh, and the spirit world is where the spirits of our world live. It is also where I have chosen to live." The now named Iroh said.

"How do I leave?" I asked him.

"There are two portals but only one is open as of right now. They lead to the north and south poles." He answered as I drank a few gulps of water.

I felt much better as some of the more minor injuries heal and the major ones start to fix themselves.

"Hmmm how interesting." Iroh said casually.

"What?" I replied. I knew he was watching me but the mist should've covered my healing up.

"You healed your wounds with a simple drink of water. I have never met someone who could do that." I spat out the sip I was drinking in surprise. The mist wasn't working, or it wasn't there. A terrifying thought and one I hoped was wrong. "What do you mean?" I said, trying to throw him off.

"You do not look like a spirit, and yet you can do things that shouldn't be possible." He explained.

"Um..." real smart Percy... real smart.

As he noticed my discomfort he said "If you do not wish to share your secrets, than I will not force you to."

"I'll be on my way now." Figuring it's better to end the conversation than to keep making a fool of myself.

"Nonsense, you will need a guide to the portals. Stay for a day please." He said, and I silently cursed the fates.

"Fine. One day, and then I leave." As I said this his smile widened so much I thought his jaw would fall off.

"You remind me of my nephew, always somewhere to be." He said.

I got up and went to the kitchen to get more water. Then I went back to bed, and for the first time in over two years I slept peacefully.

(This is my first story and I wrote it because I seemed to be the only one who was interested in a KorraXPercy pairing and now we'll see how it works out. It was super fun to write this chapter as a beginning and I'm so excited for where this goes. We'll see more along the lines of the episodes soon.)