For a brief moment, he had forgotten one of the firsts things he had been told when he arrived at Camp Half-Blood when he was only twelve years old.
Camp is the only safe place for demigods.
And you know, for a time it seemed logical. He got used to near experiences with death in his first years of his life as a hero, and wondered if he was just that lucky that he averted his demise so many times. Turns out, he was destined to reach at least sixteen, but from there he did not really know what would come next.
But the answer would come pretty soon. Arguably his greatest trials would come after his supposedly greatest of them all happened. Falling into the pit made an impression on him that he knew that he would never recover from. Because he had discovered a way to help others, to stop conflicts before they claimed the lives of those that didn't deserve to die, but he respected her's wishes when she had said that "some things aren't meant to be controlled." For him, that was a lie. If he already could, he should, but not in an urge to kill, maim, hurt, but simply of the desire to help others.
Perhaps this was why his fatal flaw is loyalty. It almost broke him to see Leo, Piper and Jason flying off to kill Gaea, and worst of all, for Leo to sacrifice himself. Sure, a few days later they got the confirmation that Leo was in fact alive, but the point remains. In the days between the 1st of August and Leo's message, he had to really control himself for him to not shatter again. To not be swallowed by the guilt.
And this shattering was something that he had to really deal with since that wonderful time with Misery near the abyss under Tartarus. When he first controlled the poison, he felt something inside of him break into millions of pieces, urging him to destroy that stupid goddess and make her suffocate in her own tears. It was only her pleading for him to stop that glued the pieces together, but he knew that this was the best that it could ever be done. Never again would the pieces be fully connected, no matter how hard he tried.
For the next months, he tried to help people the best he could while also heavily pursuing his goals of trying to live a normal life, even if a little voice inside his head told him every day that he would never accomplish this. If this was another evil deity or just his subconscious, he never knew, but it made him nervous nonetheless. Finding a chalice to enter college. Bringing a god and its master to camp. Defeating another metal giant. Training a Norse demigod. Average stuff for him, considering what he had to go through earlier in his life.
But it could never be this easy, could it?
Death by childbirth. Estelle lived. Paul was still here. She consoled him. Sally did not make it. How such a strong woman was claimed by Thanatos, he thought about it every single day. The cracks got worse, but he took a deep breath. There still was much to be done. His mother would not want him to be grieving forever. He knew that when death claimed her, she would accept it. For Estelle and Paul, he tried to keep the pieces together. Looking up to the future. Most parents died before their children, it was natural. But for him, he thought he would die first. Not that he wanted it, but it seemed inevitable. The Fates laughed at that.
Traveling west was always dangerous. He straight up refused to use the newly reformed Labyrinth, so the journey out west to get to Camp Jupiter had to happen by foot, of course. Like the old days. It went okay for the most part, even meeting up with Grover again. That truly felt like the old days. But of course, something was bound to happen, right after they separated from Grover.
He never asked for the monsters' names. Some in fact did have names. The Furies, Kelli, Mrs. O'Leary, kind of. But this had one exception.
He never knew where did they come from. They were making camp for the night, and the beasts burst out of nowhere. Maybe some deity summoned them, he, as said previously, never knew. It could just be a coincidence, it could be a build up to another war, it didn't matter. They were there. Demigods versus monsters, a tale as old as time. They both drew their swords; drakon-bone, Celestial Bronze. Their sinergy was astounding. They read each other's minds, knew what the other would do. But they could never predict their enemies.
She was smiling. It only took one hit for the smile to fade. One arrow, a single arrow to the heart. She fell. He turned around and his own heart stopped. Blood was everywhere. The scene made his entire vision to go red. He destroyed every single monster in sight and ran to her. Her eyes were distant. Like Zöe's eyes were. She coughed blood.
"P-percy..." she muttered. "Do not be your own demise. P-promise me..."
Through tears, he nodded. She managed to pull him for a last kiss. He felt her last breath.
Think of that something inside of him like a plate. It shattered before, but it was fixable.
The moment she left for Erebus, the plate fell to the ground into a billion pieces, like it never existed in the first place.
She did not die in a blaze of glory, she didn't die in a sacrifice for the fate of the world. But she did die in battle.
He felt the presence of the one that shattered him. Lurking nearby. An arrow drawn into its bow.
With a thought, the monster stopped in its tracks.
Not because of the monster's own free will. But because of the beast close to it.
He walked to the monster. A lone dracaena. He kept her blood in place and stood right in front of her. He knew that he could control blood if he wanted it. It made more sense than poison, after all. It took a lot of him, even when he tried on small beings, but always releasing them right after. This time, he was focused.
"What is your name?" he asked.
No answer.
"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" he repeated in a loud growl, like a feral animal.
"J-Jane..." was all that the monster could spit out.
He nodded. He brought his hand right in front of Jane's reptilian face. He opened it.
And then he closed it.
The screams were agonizing. The blood of the monster boiled. She did not last long.
It wasn't fair for her to have such a quick death.
He called Frederick Chase. Her father quickly burst out into tears, but acted quickly. He couldn't believe how close they were to arriving in San Francisco. They would have been safe. Frederick arrived shortly and called an ambulance. He wasn't injured, but they took her body way. Frederick assured him that he would be there for him, if necessary, but he did not want it. He only pleaded that if someone asked, he was also dead. Dr. Chase agreed without hesitation.
There was a funeral. He did not attend it. He did not know if someone else from Camp, both of them, did. Hell, he did not even know if Athena showed up or any god for that matter.
He called Paul. His former stepfather and father of his sister understood the tragedy but also assured him that if needed, Percy could always show up. But Percy also pleaded for Paul to make the same promise as Dr. Chase. However, he assured Paul that if Estelle needed, Paul could call him. His former teacher agreed.
But for all intensives purposes, Percy Jackson died alongside Annabeth Chase on that night.
Monsters versus demigods. A tale as old as time.
Natalie Lawrence wasn't unaware of the Greek world.
She did not now her godly ancestry. But she knew the basics.
She met someone in Nevada, her home state. He explained everything. He said he was a son of a Greek God. It made sense. The monsters, they came throughout Natalie's life.
Matthew was his name. They departed shortly. The monsters soon piled up. They always attacked in groups, for some reason. She assumed it was to attack their prey more efficiently.
Matthew was a formidable fighter, but he perished when they were in Iowa.
Natalie still mourned her friend.
She was in Ohio now. A pack of monsters were on her tail. Snake-women, giant hellish dogs, cyclops. She had been running for months now, and they kept arriving. It was like she was the main course.
She ran through a forest. It was night time. Natalie tried to set camp up, but they showed up, destroying her tent. She managed to kill two monsters with Matthew's bronze dagger. She quickly found out that only this special type of bronze could harm or kill the monsters. The wind was cold, and made her lungs burn while she ran at full sprint. Natalie could hear the monsters growling behind her, eager to claim her flesh and her blood.
She tripped. Not in a tree, or a rock, but because of a cyclops. He had appeared out of nowhere. Natalie rolled to avoid being smashed by the cyclops foot and tried to get up, just in time for a hellhound to tackle her. Maybe this was it, she thought. She would join Matthew pretty soon, if the Underworld in fact existed. The hellhound barked and bit the air, trying to maul Natalie's face off. She managed to land one hit with a knife. The hound yelped in pained and turned into golden dust.
She quickly got up and saw the horde approaching. Nothing good could come out of this. The snake-women, dracaena, as Matthew called them, had swords and bows. They were the only monsters with weapons at this moment. Some cyclops had giant hammers, but the ones present were bare handed, not that it made them any weaker. Hellhounds lurked with caution, trying to find the best opening to attack.
And then, a whistle. A human whistle.
Natalie dared to looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, and instantly cursed herself. She glanced over to the horde of monsters, but their faces had one emotion that she knew far too well. Fear. Natalie was sure that she heard one dracaena hissing to another "it's him."
A figure fell from the sky in front of Natalie and the monsters. Both the demigod and the monsters backed off in terror, but the monsters were clearly the target of the figure. He did not have any weapons on his hand. Nor he did insane movements.
He stretched one hand forward, and the monsters stopped. The pain was visible in their faces. What was he doing to them?
The answer would come soon. Out of their mouths, eyes, ears, and noses, blood came out in waves. It was a horrific scene. The monsters roared in pain, many faliing to the ground. Their pain wouldn't last long. After a few seconds, the entire horde was no more. A pile of dust stood in their place. He had controlled the blood of the monsters. Natalie almost felt pity for them, if they weren't trying to kill her previously.
The figure turned around to Natalie, who staggered her way far from him. He wore a mask that did not reveal any features of him, covering his entire head. He was clearly very fit, with a longsleeved gray shirt and black jeans. The figure raised two hands in the air as a surrender gesture.
"I will not hurt you." he said in a muffled voice.
Natalie was not convinced, to say the least. The figure approached and brought one hand to the side of his head, apparently pressing a button.
The mask backed off like it was nano tech, or something that futuristic. The man's face was visible, and Natalie could see that he was handsome. Very handsome in fact. He had a messy black hair that althought looked like it needed a cut, was still very attractive. His jaw was incredibly sharp and defined. But the most astounding features were his bright sea green eyes. Natalie felt like she could get lost in them.
"What is your name?" he asked. His voice was not one would assume that the man who brutally destroyed a horde of monsters would have.
"N-Natalie. Natalie Lawrence."
The man smiled softly.
"Pleasure to meet you, Natalie. Again, not gonna hurt you, don't worry."
"Are you a god?"
The man blinked.
"What?"
Natalie blushed slightly, although it wasn't very visible in the darkness of the night.
"I mean... you looked pretty powerful."
He chuckled. "No, I'm not a god, thank the... me, actually. I'm just a humble demigod as you are. I believe we can reach New York in a few days. Also, I'm sorry that you had to witness..." he suddenly interrupted himself.
"What's wrong?" Natalie asked.
He didn't answer it outright. He kept looking at their surroundings and grabbed a small flask containing a white liquid.
"Drink it. It will make it not possible for you to say how my face is to them."
Natalie looked back and forth to the flask and the man, who had put the mask back on.
"Who is them?"
"No time! Just drink it!"
Out of fear, Natalie swallowed the liquid. It didn't taste like anything, but the effect was immediate. The memories of the man's attractive face evaporated from her mind. Her only memory was about how astounding his eyes were. But she couldn't even remember what color they were.
"What was it?" Natalie questioned. But before the man could answer, a loud voice bellowed near them.
"Away from her, NOW!"
Natalie was sure that he heard the man sigh, and he backed off away from her. Soon a group of more than twenty girls appeared from the woods, almost all of them wearing the same outfit, as in, silver jackets, jeans and having bows drawed with sharp silver arrows pointed straight at the man's head.
"On your knees." the same person demanded. The voice belonged to a girl with electric blue eyes and spiky black hair, who also had the most different outfit, wearing black clothes that gave her a punk style. The man, to her shock, obliged without hesitation. "Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?"
Natalie just noticed that the girl was talking to her.
She nodded. "Yes, yes, I'm okay, and no, he didn't, he saved me from a horde of monsters!" Natalie did not want to yell at a group of people armed to the teeth, but she did not want the one that saved her to be blamed. The girl did not look convinced, but nodded.
"Reyna, would you take off his mask?"
The newly named Reyna, a girl with mixed skin and piercing black eyes, nodded and tried to repeat what the man had done before to open his mask. Instead of seeing the man's face, she instead was shocked.
"OW! What the..." Reyna yelled.
"Back off, I will do it." the punk girl tried to take his mask off, but was herself greeted with electricity. "Oh, come on!" she complained. "I'm the daughter of the god of lightning, I should be immune to it!"
"Enough." another voice proclaimed, calmly.
A girl that definitely seemed younger than Natalie stepped forward. She had a stunning auburn hair that went to her shoulders, and incredible silver eyes. Despite her age, the other girls obeyed her. She had the aura of a leader.
"This," she nodded in the direction of the kneeling man. "will be dealt in time. I believe we have another pressing issue." She turned to Natalie, who was surprised to see just how beautiful her eyes were. "What is your name, young maiden?"
"N-Natalie Lawrence." Natalie found it weird for a girl that looked like she was twelve to be calling her "young", but she answered without questioning it. The girl nodded.
"I am Artemis, goddess of the Hunt. These are my hunters. Not all of them, of course."
Natalie was dumbfounded. A goddess? Like an actual goddess? This day couldn't get any weirder.
"I-I... I'm honored to meet you, Lady Artemis." she decided that treating this goddess with respect was most likely a wise decision.
Artemis nodded to her and turned to the punk girl.
"Thalia, wouldn't you mind introducing Natalie to the Hunt."
Thalia semblant changed from one of annoyance to one of neutrality and she extended her hand to Natalie.
"It will be a pleasure, milady. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and your tour guide." she greeted with a smile. Natalie shook her hand and followed Thalia to see what awaited her. While they were walking, she glanced over her shoulder to take a last look at her saviour.
Percy's day was not going okay.
He always deemed that helping people was necessary. But what he did not like was when while he was helping an innocent demigod, the Hunt showed up pointing arrows at his face. They had been... well... hunting him for a while now. Maybe they wanted to wipe out competition, who knew.
Luckily, no one seemed to have seen his face. He liked the secrecy.
Thalia soon left with poor Natalie, who Percy couldn't really say whose parent was hers. She did not look a child of the Olympians. Maybe a minor god. He was not pleased to see her in that situation, unclaimed and a buffet for hellhounds and cyclops had he not saved her, all the while she easily looked fifteen. He guessed some things never changed with those damn deities.
Artemis approached him slowly. Reyna was still by his side, taking care of the injury that she received on her hand. It was still weird to see Reyna as a hunter. Maybe he always saw the Hunt as Greek, or it was just Reyna that felt out of place here. Undoubtedly she joined the Hunt because of Aphrodite's words, about not finding love where she would expect. He couldn't blame his old friend.
"So. We finally meet, Butcher." Artemis said.
Underneath the mask, Percy smiled. He had never chosen this name. The monsters gave it to him just by how brutal he was. The fear on their ugly faces when they saw him was priceless. He did not care for their pleading, they wouldn't have mercy on him if it was the opposite way.
"It is an honor." he simply said.
Artemis narrowed her eyes.
"What is your real name?" she asked.
The Butcher chuckled.
"That, dear goddess, I shall not reveal."
She once again narrowed her eyes.
"I will not hesitate to take this information from you by all means necessary." the goddess warned.
Percy was not shocked by that.
"Nothing you can do will break me enough for me to spit out that information."
"She could always kill you." Reyna commented.
"If that's her wish, then fire the arrow already." Percy simply said.
It is true that he did not want to die. But this isn't about what he wants. If death is to claim him, he will accept it with open arms.
Artemis still had her eyes narrowed at him. He couldn't contain the smirk that wanted to take over his lips, not that she could see it. For the best, probably.
"I will take you to Olympus then."
For the first time, Percy felt like he did have the upper hand here and his smirk faded. Sure, it would be easier for him to get blasted by Zeus, but he did not want to die.
"I am a hunter." he argued. "I fall under your jurisdiction. If you disapprove of my actions, you are the judge, not the Council."
Now it was the time for Artemis to smile mischievously.
"My father is the god of justice. Plus, this is not the only reason. You controlled the blood of the monsters, I have seen it with my own eyes before and I'm sure you did it once more just a few minutes ago. The Olympian Council will judge over your power."
Percy sighed and got up, earning arrows being once again pointed at his head.
"Let us go, then." he said to Artemis, who raised one eyebrow, intrigued with his acceptance of his potential doom. She grabbed his arm and the both of them flashed to the top of the Empire State Building.
I've not yet decided what shipp will happen, if this will be a God!Percy story or a "Guardian!Percy" story, although if it is it won't be that cliche. Only thing to be sure is that Artemis will be very present. Open to suggestions, and thank you for reading this first chapter.