Day four is Disney day.
"Those bastards!" Percy punched a hole in the apartment wall, "How can they suspend me?"
"They clearly thought that everything with Kira was an elaborate prank," Artemis said calmly.
"Suspension isn't even the worst part! How can they ban me from performing? After I worked so hard on it?"
"Percy," Paul tried to calm Percy down, "you know the school board has a tendency to overreact. This will all blow over."
"When? When will it blow over? Now I can't help my club because the school board thinks my daughter was pranking them! How is that supposed to be fair?"
"Humans have never been fair!" Khel snapped, "I ought to go over there and roast those uptight pinheads right now!"
Percy paced for a few seconds before punching another hole in the wall, right next to the first one. He pulled his hand back in and started rubbing out the pain. He heard a faint wimper and turned around. Kira stood outside the hallway, staring at him in fear.
"Are you mad at me?" The tone of her voice brought Percy's heart to the brink of breaking. She was so afraid of him that she flinched when he took a step towards her.
"No." He said softly, "Kira, I could never be mad at you. I couldn't be prouder of what you did today. It's just... mortals can't really bring themselves to accept that there are beings more powerful than them in the world. They blame others when they're afraid. They punished me because they're scared of you. I'm mad at them, not you. Never you."
"But I don't want you to be mad," Kira's voice started breaking as tears escaped her eyes, "I don't like it when you're mad."
Percy ran over to her and hugged her tightly as she cried.
"I want you to be happy daddy."
"Kira... I'll always be happy when I'm with you."
Kira continued to cry into Percy's shoulder. He looked up and saw Selene and Kai peaking out of the bedroom. He motioned for them to come over and help comfort their sister. When they came out, Percy was surprised to see that his two eldest daughters only came up to their baby sister's chest in height, a sign of how quickly his youngest could grow.
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Since he couldn't help the drama club, Percy decided to check out the international culture club. He looked at the schedule outside the big tent behind the school. There was a big header reading "International Culture Club", then two columns labeled "Mornings" and "Afternoons". Apparently, the afternoons had them put on traditional shows in the style of the day's country, while the mornings were just presentations of the different cultures. Monday was Greece, which Percy was only slightly depressed about missing, Tuesday was China, yesterday was Brazil, tomorrow would be France, and today was Japan, which was coincidental because tomorrow's performance would be anime themed. Percy shrugged and entered the tent. He was immediately met with the smile of a young Japanese girl in a kimono.
"Irasshaimase." She said with a bow.
"She said "welcome" just so you know," a Hispanic boy behind a folding table informed him, "and the polite thing to do would be to bow back."
Percy quickly returned the bow and the girl gestured for him to follow along.
"I can speak English, by the way," she explained, "it's just nice to have an excuse to speak my natural language without getting strange looks."
"I can imagine." Percy said.
"Percy?" Someone asked, causing Percy to look over to a food stand.
"Allianna? What are you doing here?"
"Did you already forget me telling you about my time in my previous school, especially with the second language I learned?"
"Uh?"
"Of course you did. Remember when you gave Selene her name? I was there, I offered a name, you made it her middle name. Her middle name is?"
"Yuki."
"You gave someone a middle name that translates to "snow"?" The guide asked.
"Trust me, it fits." Allianna stated.
Before anything else could be said, everyone stopped what they were doing when chanting was heard outside.
"What is that?" Percy asked, heading for the tent's exit.
Percy followed the changing to the front of the school. Before rounding the corner, he was stopped by Grady, who put his finger to his lips to tell Percy to be quiet. The two looked around the corner to see the drama club, glee club, Hunters, demigods of Athena's school and the rest of the usual audience from the shows. They were being led, surprisingly, by Jimmy, Percy's understudy.
"Bring back Percy!" They all chanted in unison.
Apparently they had been doing this longer than Percy thought, because the front doors of the school slammed open in the way specifically meant to convey annoyance. Percy tightened his grip on the wall when he saw the school board walk out and face the crowd.
"What's going on?" The school principal came out asking.
"How can you kick Percy out of the show?" Jimmy asked, "Especially for something that a little girl did?"
"Perhaps you should ask him why he has two children?" A senior member of the school board responded.
The wall cracked under the pressure of Percy's grip, before he let go, getting an idea after spotting the P.A. speakers by the doors. He turned to Grady.
"Follow me," he said, "I have an idea."
"What do you need me to do?" Grady asked.
"Have you ever hacked a P.A. system?" Percy asked.
"I learned how, but never actually did it." He explained.
"Well now's the time to do it. Let's go."
The two ran through the halls. Percy gestured for Grady to continue to the auditorium while he split off to go to his locker. Grady's help was only a small part of his plan. For the rest, he needed someone else.
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Annabeth came out of the bathroom, wiping her mouth, and found Light waiting for her outside, completely undisguised.
"It's funny," Light began without waiting for Annabeth to acknowledge her, "my sole purpose for coming here was to have a child with the strongest man in this world, and now, it has become something more. Something that cannot be put into words. Though my original goal still remains, I can't help but to be happy seeing all of you have his children. In return for granting me a happiness that I never knew existed, I would like to give you a gift."
Annabeth flinched as Light stepped towards her, but regained her composure as the angel stopped no more than an inch away. Light placed her hand on Annabeth's stomach, in the approximate location that a child would grow. Annabeth was glad that there was no one else in the hall as Light's hand let off a bright blue glow.
"This is what is known as the "Angel's Blessing"," Light explained, "it latches onto the nearest soul to the entry point on the recipient's body. The short way of saying it is that I have blessed your daughter with beauty that may very well rival a goddess from my own world."
"I didn't ask for that," Annabeth said.
"I was under the impression that that was the definition of a gift. A good thing given to someone by a friend that wasn't asked for."
Before Annabeth could respond, the P.A. system turned on, letting out the sound of microphone feedback.
"I've heard the pleas of my fans," Percy's voice sounded throughout the school, causing both girls to stare at the little speaker above the lockers, "and you can bet I'm going to heed them."
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Selene burst through the door on the roof and grabbed her sisters, pulling them inside as music played over every speaker in the building. The last remnant of Kai's morning snack flopped around her lips as she was pulled along by Selene. Kira wondered why Selene was being so rough, and why she had such a big smile on her face, but it made sense as soon as words, sung by their father, joined the music.
"I am a question to the world, not an answer to be heard, or a moment that's held in your arms. And what do you think you'd ever say? I won't listen anyway. You don't know me, and I'll never be what you want me to be."
Hearing these words caused Kira to break her disguise and fly through the school at breakneck speed, dragging her big sisters with her. She burst into the auditorium as the break ended, watching her father in awe as he stood in the center of the stage.
"And what do you think you'd understand? I'm a boy, no, I'm a man. You can't take me and throw me away. And how can you learn what's never shown? Yeah yo stand here on your own. They don't know me, 'cause I'm not here.
And I want a moment to be real, wanna touch things I don't feel, wanna hold on, and feel I belong. And how can the world want me to change? They're the ones that stay the same. They don't know me, 'cause I'm not here."
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Apollo stood backstage with Grady, watching Percy belt out what he considered to be a better start to a Disney themed performance than any children's show theme.
"You gotta admit," Apollo nudged Grady, "he's good."
"Never said he wasn't. But why are you here?"
"Because as good as he is, even he can't carry this performance himself. He isn't a professional, but I am."
"And have you ever had this many people in the audience before?" Grady gestured to the now packed seating area.
Apollo looked out at the crowd.
"Geez, even when I praise him, I underestimate him," Apollo said, gawking at the sheer size of the crowd, "ok, I can do this."
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Since this performance was improvised Disney rather than Disney shows, Percy had to find help on short hand. Luckily, his extended family had his back. Apollo did Stand Out from a Goofy Movie, Thalia sang a punk rock version of When Will My Life Begin from Tangled, Percy's niece, to Triton's dismay, helped out by singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, Percy even convinced Grady to join the fun, and he sang Son of Man from Tarzan. Percy thought Aurora's reaction to her brothers performance was priceless. Annabeth surprised Percy by pulling him on stage to sing Whole New World with her. But the most surprising moment was when Artemis decided to sing Let It Go from Frozen. Percy and Apollo ended the performance with a bang by singing a duet version of Eye to Eye from a Goofy Movie. After all was said and done, Percy stepped out and addressed the audience.
"Thank you all for believing in me, and let this be a sign that no matter what the school board does, I will always find a way to get our covers to you. I promise, I will be back to give you a special performance on Saturday, the morning of the dance, so stick with the clubs, and be ready for a hell of a final show!"
The audience erupted in cheers as Percy gave a bow and walked off backstage. Everyone who helped with the day's performance was waiting for him.
"You're leaving the show in good hands Percy," Annabeth told him.
"Huh?" Was Percy's only response.
"I wanted to surprise you at tomorrow's performance, but I'm going to be in it."
"Oh my Gods, that explains everything!" Percy exclaimed, "Seriously!"
"Good luck Annabeth," Artemis said in a much calmer tone than Percy.
"This was really fun," Percy's niece wrapped him in a hug, "we should do it again sometime soon uncle."
"Quick question," Percy looked at her, confused about something, "is your name Ariel?"
"Uh..." She looked away.
"Well that answers that," Percy looked over to see Triton waiting by the door, "Way to Disney it up bro!"
Probably going to skip straight to Saturday next chapter. Or maybe not, who knows?