The War

Percy wasn't sure what was happening. A minute ago he was having the best day of his life. His mother had finally divorced the douche known as Gabe 'Smelly Gabe' Ugliano. His mother didn't need to worry much about money as Gabe had been forced to pay alimony. The alimony along with his mother's salary was more than enough to sustain them.

It was his tenth birthday and they were going to celebrate his birthday with a small feast at a local cafe. So there he was, sitting across his mother, eating a blue cheese sandwich with blue cookies - obviously not as tasty as his mother's - which they had ordered specially for his birthday along with the 'Finding Nemo' themed cake.

Then, disaster struck.

Suddenly, as he was about to cut into his cake, an explosion in the sky shook the entire city and the backlash was so strong that the almost everyone in the city who were in the open had to grab onto something. The shockwave reached him and his mother covered him with her body as the glass exploded into a thousand little blades that pierced everything they could reach. Thankfully, they had avoided most of the flying debris from the cafe because they were sitting in the far corner.

However, just as fast he felt relief after not feeling anything more than a few scratches, that relief turned into horror at the thought of what might have happened to his mother after shielding him. He heard a soft groan reach his ears just in time to see his mother retreat back onto her chair with signs of immense pain clear on her face. It was obvious to Percy that his mother had taken the full brunt of the exploding glass.

"I'll be fine. Just go and check where the blast came from. Lay low, alright?" Percy heard her mutter, her voice clearly strained and thin due to the pain of the glass shards sticking out of her back.

Hesitant at going away from his injured mother, he started walking after she shot him a light glare. He moved slowly towards the opening in the shop where the panels of glass had once been. Creeping his head out to see what had happened, his eyes widened at the sight of devastation that had been caused by the explosion.

Where the Empire State Building had once stood proudly had now been reduced to flimsy structure which was barely standing. The top of the building was blown of with cracks going throught its now weak structure. He had suspected that it was the source of the explosion but seeing it now his doubts were confirmed. Starting from the Empire State Building, the damage spread throughout the city with the intensity of the damage decreasing the farther it got from the source. The sky had turned red with some sort of gold rain pouring down. The streets were a mess, the cars thrown about, the food carts lying in the middle of the roads, millions of shards of glass lying on the streets and -

'What the hell !?'

Percy flinched at the harsh site that met his eyes. Hundreds of people layed there. Dead. There bodies lying in a puddle of their own blood. Some were stabbed, others were killed by being thrown into the walls but the ones that disgusted him the most were the ones whom had fallen from higher floors with their bodies twisted in an inhuman manner.

As soon as he saw the scene, his mind had been imprinted with it. He couldn't stop the image from flashing in front of his eyes as he clenched his eyes shut. The image was still fresh and as soon as his brain processed what he had seen, he bent over and threw up. Loud, sickening and disgusting sounds of him throwing up his guts could be heard. As Percy sat there to let the image fade, he slowly got up and used the napkin from a nearby table in the cafe to clean his mouth.

However, just as he was walking back towards the direction of his mother, he heard a low growl. Turning his head to peak at whatever was making the noise, he almost took a step back at the view.

A rather large and imposing figure which he had somehow missed before was looking straight at him. And as the blood red light from the sky fell on the figure his identity was revealed.

It was the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was seven feet tall, his arms and legs were like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine, his skin was vein-webbed. He wore no clothes except bright white Fruit of the Looms underwear. His top half was of coarse brown hair that started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as Percy's arm, he had snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and enormous black and white horns with points someone couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

Percy's breath was caught in his lung as he saw the amusement in the monster's cruel onyx eyes turn into rage as it saw him. Percy forced his panic stricken body to move as the entire battalion started to race towards him. Fast.

Percy ran as fast as he could towards his mother, ignoring any pain he felt from the scrapes on arms and legs. However, the Minotaur was surprisingly fast for its size and had already reached the opening of the cafe. Percy's blood ran cold as he held up his mother on his shoulders just in time to turn around and see that the Minotaur had come.

Percy felt the very earth shake as the Minotaur walked in his direction. He felt the monster's unnatural strength simmering below the surface of its skin. But above all, he felt the pure unaltered Fury in its eyes, as if he had in some way wronged this abomination of a being.

He propped up his mother a bit on his shoulders and ran like a madman. Or, at least he tried. As he was about to run away, suddenly he felt an object crash into him and knock him down - knock his mother down - onto the cold floor of the cafe.

Ignoring any and all signs of pain he ran towards his mother. Stuck under the table the Minotaur had thrown at him his mother was only a few feet away. And so, he crawled like he hadn't crawled in his life and just as he clawed his way out of the table that had been thrown at him, he ran towards his mother once more with renewed vigour and just as he was about to reach something stopped him once more.

He realised his mistake faster than the object smashed into him.

The Minotaur had grown angry at being ignored. After all it was one of the strongest and the most revered monsters out there. How dare this puny demigod of all creatures dare ignore its presence. So, in a fit of rage he picked up a nearby table and threw it onto the demigod and his mother. Still, the puny thing persevered and it tried to get out of the table. Somehow, it ran out from under the table and approached its mother. The anger - no - the Fury of the Minotaur only grew. Then, it understood. The motivation of this little demigod was saving his mother and just like the Minotaur let loose a maniacal grin at its own brilliant idea.

As Percy approached his mother all he heard was a long inhalation from something that had to have a snout - the Minotaur, he thought in horror - before his entire vision was painted black.

All Percy felt was unending pain, as the war hammer of the Minotaur hit him with a rather high velocity. Percy felt his body being flung away by the sheer force of the Minotaur's blow as his already broken bones hurt even more after crashing into one of the cafe's walls. The blow was so strong that Percy had thought for a moment that he had died.

They said that there was no pain after death. So, he wasn't dead.

He was sure that at this point that his body was nothing more than a mangled mess of flesh and bones. He could feel the blood leaking out of various parts in his body, he could feel the bones that were protruding out of his body and he could feel the absolute agony that he was in, both mentally and physically.

He saw, as the Minotaur watched him writhe in pain with cruel fascination and pure glee. It was what came next however, that forever changed Percy.

The Minotaur's face broke into an ugly grin as it grabbed onto Sally Jackson. All Percy could do was watch as it held up his mother by its hands and tried to squeeze the life out of her. His mother suddenly woke up from what he could only assume was horrifying pain. As her eyes widened at the situation all she could say was -

"Percy ?" It was all she could say before Percy saw in horror as the Minotaur grabbed onto his mother with both hands, only to rip her into two pieces like she was some worthless piece of meat that it had come across.

"Mom, nooo !!" Percy screamed as he witnessed the gruesome scene of his mother being torn apart in a literal sense. He saw, as he sat there, her guts and blood fall out of both of her halves. She didn't even have time to shed tears much less say goodbye to her son.

The Minotaur threw away the woman's body on opposite sides and approached the - what he thought to be - frightened demigod, with its war hammer still in its hand. It almost looked like it was about to deliver the hammer of justice.

However, Percy was far from frightened. In fact if anything he was livid. He had just seen his mother - his ever loving and always sweet mother - being torn into pieces and then being thrown away like she was worthless trash. No, Percy felt no fear. He felt anger, he felt rage, he felt sadness and many other things but he did not feel scared. Oh no, he wasn't scared of this monster.

He was happy. Happy that it was here - in front of him - because otherwise how would he get his revenge. How would he tear this utter abomination from limb to limb before it was begging for mercy and how would he have been able to see the despair in its eyes before he snuffed out the creature's life in the most cruel and heartless way imaginable.

For a moment Percy closed his eyes and he saw the mental image of a water drop appearing in his mind and he let it fall. Fall towards the water of an endless ocean beneath it, igniting his body - his soul - with power. His body felt alive almost like it was about to burst open with the barely suppressed power just simmering below the thin layer of his skin.

He felt empowered by it. He felt the water around him in a 50 meter radius around him almost begging for him to let go.

So, he did.

Suddenly, every water pipe in his vicinity burst open with vengeance. His vengeance. As he stood there, he saw the Minotaur's onyx eyes widen in fear at what he had done. Feeling satisfaction at its expression, he still felt as if the water was trying to tell him something.

And then, he understood.

This water wasn't just to scare the Minotaur, it was his. It was his to do with as he fits and it was his to command. So knowing that the water would listen to its master's will, he smiled.

Faster than the Minotaur could even blink he had willed the water around him to turn into blades. Blades of water that were floating in the air, aimed at the Minotaur, ready to end it at any moment.

The Minotaur in its arrogance thought it was an empty threat. It charged forward, war hammer above its head, ready to descend upon Percy and end him.

Percy only smirked.

All the water blades shot towards the enemy at record speeds. Every single of the hundreds of blades that had been formed all started attacking the Minotaur. All the blades stabbed the Minotaur while some completely pierced through it. As it met its end at the hands of the young and inexperienced demigod, it lets out a cry of defiance, as if telling him that it would return.

Almost instantly, Percy's raised arms fall at his side as fatigue of using his powers at a large scale while his body was underdeveloped catches up to him. As he lays there, thinking of what happened, the sadness of his mother's death return. He still feels empty.

That's when he realises that no amount of revenge would ever fill the gap that his mother had left. Closing his eyes to think about it, he slowly let himself drift into a short nap.

~

Opening his eyes, he realises he is no longer in the broken cafe.

He is now stranded on Montauk Beach with no people nearby. That is until he notices the man standing ahead of him letting the cool water from the sea touch his feet.

This man was over 6 feet tall and stood like a brick wall. He had jet black hair that was messy and sea green eyes both of which were akin to Percy's own. He also had a neatly trimmed black beard and there were sun crinkles right below his eyes, showing that he was prone to smiling, his hands were scarred like a fisherman's and he wore what seemed to be leather sandals, Bermuda shorts, a Tommy Bahama shirt which had coconuts and parrots and a hat which had "Neptune's lucky fishing hat" written on it.

As the man turned around, Percy took in his full appearance and let out a gasp. The man looked the same as the man his mother had described to be his father.

"Dad... ?"

The man only smiled at him, which confirmed Percy's suspicions.

"Come along son, we have lots to discuss."

Said, his Father.