Questions of Identity and Biology

As promised, the next chapter of Assassin's Creed: Transcendence. We left off with the end of the Second Life arc, in which Percy has woken up from a fifty-yearlong dream, with all the memories and experiences of Virgil Cavaliere, husband of Maria, father of Giovanni, Christina, and Maria, Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood.

So, this chapter will of course feature Percy trying to figure himself out…again. Like he had to do with Faris.

I've also been getting numerous reviews saying Percy should have his water powers in all his past lives, so I'll be addressing my own theories on how half-blood powers work in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Assassin's Creed

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June 2006

Camp Half-Blood

Big House attic

Early morning

Percy stared at the dusty ceiling for a while longer, his mind blank in an attempt to stave off the encroaching turmoil that comes with identity crisis and questions of purpose and reality. Finally, he sighed to himself. He needed to think, and being in thus stuffy attic was not the place to have a journey of re-self-discovery.

For a reason he didn't quite understand himself, maybe it was just out of the simple need to hold something, Percy grabbed the Sword, holding it in reverse grip, and he exited the attic. He soon arrived down stairs, at the living room, where he found Chiron reading a book in wheelchair form, reading glasses on.

The sound of steps on the stairs drew Chiron's attention to the demigod.

"Percy? What are you doing in here? How did you even get in here? And why do you have the Sword?"

The old teacher was ignored in favor of trudging to the door. Before he exited, he looked over his shoulder at Chiron. "It didn't end with Faris, old friend."

Percy was about to leave for the woods, when another thought popped into his head.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about the Roman gods, would you?"

"I know many things about the Roman gods. I was your Latin teacher."

"Funny, it's just in the next guy's life, he was taught by Lupa…I wondered if you knew anything."

Percy left the Big House. Before the door shut, he heard Chiron's book clatter to the ground. Outside, it was not so early in the morning that most of the camp was still asleep. In fact, it looked more like most of the camp was awake. Campers milled about, hanging in groups, sitting on the porches, walking about. The ringing of metal echoed from the forges.

Percy headed for the woods, and if the quick movement of campers away from him was any indication, the darkness he felt welling up inside him showed on his face. Then again, he pretty sure the ground was frosting over at his feet, so that was a clear indication of unapproachabiliality…Percy just made a new word.

However, it seems not everyone got the message.

"Hey, Prissy! I want a remat—" Percy looked at her— "Never mind."

Clarisse did a 180 and marched back to her cabin, not that Percy saw or cared. He was focused on keeping himself together until he got deep enough into the woods to let some stuff out. In his fast walk and dead-set focus on the forward, he didn't see the look Beckendorf shared with Silena, which meant he also missed the silent message between the budding lovers.

'Go find out what's wrong with him.'

'I will when he doesn't look ready to kill the first thing that breathes wrong.'

'Charlie!'

'What? I'll go find out what's wrong when he's cooled off a bit.'

'Charles Beckendorf, he is freezing right now. That's about as 'cooled off' as you're gonna get.'

'Fine. I'll go talk to him when he's reverted to a normal state of human being.'

'Ugh, fine. You just better make sure you do talk to him, or you're sleeping on the couch for the first year we're married!'

'Y-Yes, dear…wait. Married!?'

Silena had already disappeared into her cabin.

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After walking for a good ten minutes into the woods, Percy felt he was far enough away to vent without having to worry about a battalion coming after him. Then again, maybe not, but he didn't care, his damn was bursting, and he opened the floodgates.

Percy threw his back and roared with all he had. He roared for his wife, he roared for his son, his daughters. He roared for his mother, his father, and his sister. He roared for his brother, Ezio, and his friends within the Order, all dust now. He roared for what had been, and for what was now.

He ran out of breath and fell to his knees. He punched the soft ground, wet with dew and groundwater.

Percy leaned himself back against a nearby tree, and stabbed the Sword into the ground next to him. He needed to talk this out, verbally get these things off his mind and chest, but seeing as there was no one around but him, he would have to settle for talking to himself. And so he began to monologue.

"I had a father, and a mother, and a younger sister. I had a wife, was married to her for over twenty years, and I had three children with her. I led an organization—no, an army. An underground army of shadows that operated across the whole of Europe—I even helped supervise the Istanbul Brotherhood after Ezio retired. And now what do I have? A twelve year old's body, and everything that comes with it.

"Are you kidding me? Are you freaking kidding me? I go from being a well-respected man of a decent age, a man that had children of his own, a loving wife, and was the leader of an army the world will never know about, to a child? A child that has to deal with idiotic sheep, adults that think they know better—news flash cracker barrel: I was once older than you are, and school.

"Seriously!? Middle school, high school, college—why!? Why would I waste my time with those things!? Why should I waste my time with those things!? Clearly, a normal life isn't anywhere near what you have planned for me, is it! IS IT!?"

Percy took several deep breaths, and changed his path of thinking.

"And my mother," he snorted, "I just had one—and a father, and a little sister, and a wife, and a son, and daughter…I can still feel it, my love for them, all of them…I was 51 years old, and before that was I was 23. That's a combined age of 74, on top of how old I am now which technically makes me 86. And what do I have to look forward to? Wet dreams, hormones, rich kids with silver spoons in their rectums, and rude adults who get on my back for being dyslexic.

"Tch, I had a wife…how do you move on from that? I had a son…how do you move on from that? I had daughters…how do you move from that? I taught hundreds of men and women how to be professional killers…how do you move on from that? I led an army…and now I'm a young boy!? I know people keep saying how they wish they could go back in time and do things differently, and I guess this is the closest anyone has come to actually doing that, and I gotta say…it fucking sucks."

You know Percy Jackson, devout Christian and twelve year old, was furious when he starts cursing.

"All the memories and experiences of an adult, one that has lived for fifty years, all crammed into the head of a child, and that's supposed to be a good thing? The chance to relive life and correct past mistakes? Why anyone thinks that's a good idea is beyond me. Why would you want up to put up with your asshole teachers, all of whom you have outlived? Ugh, if was smarter than everyone else around me before, then I certainly am now…being old sucks."

Percy looked at the sky, the cloudy grey sky.

"Is this it, then? Is this what you meant by 'work'? Am I supposed to live my life, burdened by the memories and experiences of grown men, men who lived centuries past, and use that knowledge for something? What, are the Templars still around? Are the Assassins gone, or in dwindling numbers? Is it because these skills are going to help get through this pagan nightmare? How many more are there, anyway? How many more lives have I lived past Faris and Virgil? What did they do that will bring me further torment?"

Of course, the sky didn't answer.

Percy sighed. Being angry and bitter wouldn't solve anything. Besides, none of his past loved ones would stand to him moping like this. He had the memories of a fifty year old man; while they brought with them painful reminders of dead people, they also brought with them wisdom and experience.

Percy stared at the ground. He was done venting; he had gotten everything on his chest off his chest, and now there was a void there, and it needed to be filled. Mourning, perhaps, would have been the logical option; mourn for the deaths of his wife and children.

Percy wondered how his girls passed. He knew how his son died, right next to him as they fought off swarms of enemy soldiers, but his girls? Hopefully Claudia was able to move on and live out the rest of her days, then again, she was 61 during the Sack of Rome—a full ten years older than Virgil had been, but anyway—so perhaps the end of her days wasn't more than a few years. Percy hoped she died peacefully.

He wondered how his baby girls fared in life after his death. Did they continue with their studies, Christina becoming a scholar, Maria becoming a scientist, one that preached the Word and performed experiments in equal measure? Or were they caught in the attack? Lord forbid, did they join the Brotherhood, and if so, what happened to them after that?

…

Oh, great, now Percy was channeling his inner Daddy, and panicking over something that happened literal centuries ago. Oh man, he had lived longer than his own mother, because Sally was in her 30s, and Virgil had died at 51. Crap, he literally knew more about life than in his mom…that was going to make arguments really, really interesting. And then there's Gabe…yeah, Percy was already smarter than that walrus, so no worries there.

And Claudia—'till death do us part' is what they had said so long ago. Well, to put it bluntly, death had done them apart, but still. Marriage. Sex. Children. Percy knew what that was like, he recalled vividly what that was like, to be inside a woman…both places, of a woman. Claudia wanted to do things differently one night, and who was Virgil to say no to his wife's request? The problem was, despite running a whore house and having zero anal experience, Claudia neglected to confer with her girls about what to expect and how to prepare.

Bottom line was that night was one of pain and slow going.

The bottom bottom line was that Percy wasn't a virgin, and he knew how to both deliver and raise children.

So yeah, there's that.

Footsteps alerted Percy to someone approaching. He quickly scrambled up the tree he was leaning against, using the branches as foot/handholds for his ascent. Activating Eagle Vision, the world went blue. There, walking through the trees, was a figure highlighted in the aura of a child of Hephaestus, and the blue of an ally.

Beckendorf. Most likely to make sure he (Percy) was alright.

Percy dropped down right in front of the son of the Forge God.

"Holy-"

"Do not use the Lord's name in vain, thank you."

Beckendorf coughed. "Uh, right, sorry. Um, you okay man? I saw you earlier, and you looked ready to kill something."

"Had a bad dream. Needed to sort myself out a little. I'm mostly okay now."

"Mostly?"

"I've been trying to think of something to distract myself…been drawing a blank lately." Then Percy's face scrunched up. "Actually, no. That's perfect. Where's Annabeth?"

"Uh…" Beckendorf looked at the watch-like mechanism on his wrist. "Breakfast is over, and today's Wednesday…she should be teaching Ancient Greek literature at the amphitheater right now, with the Apollo Cabin."

"Excellent."

Percy walked back over to the Sword and plucked it from the earth, and then made for the camp.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I want to ask her something."

"What?"

"Why am I not a girl?"

Beckendorf tripped on a tree root. His muscle-bound arms shot forward, propelling himself back into a standing position with ease.

"Excuse me?"

"I am not going to repeat my inquiry twice. Just follow me if you're curious."

"Oh, I'm curious. Normal people don't question why they aren't the opposite gender."

"Normal people…because everyone here qualifies as normal."

"Okay, fair enough, but still. Why do you ask this?"

"Follow, and you'll find out."

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Percy strolled into the amphitheater with the gait of a man with a purpose, Beckendorf behind him. Annabeth was indeed teaching the blonde-haired children of the Sun God literature, and all of them were paying surprisingly rapt attention.

"…here, Apollodorus and Homer differ in their interpretations of—"

"This is all truly fascinating stuff," Percy interjected, "but I have a serious question to ask you, and I promise it'll intrigue you."

"Dude! You can't just walk in our activity time!"

Percy raised his hands to the sky and closed his eyes. "O Lord, I pray to thee. Strike down these errant pagan children of Apollo for their—"

Percy didn't get to finish before all children of the Sun God dropped their stuff and went clambering for the exits.

"—amazing archery skills. Anyway."

Annabeth stared at the empty seats. "Wow…just a few words and they run for the hills."

"Yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Now, that question."

"This had better be good. I was having fun."

Beckendorf snorted. "Only a child of Athena would have fun giving a lecture."

Annabeth stuck her tongue out at the black demigod. He just grinned.

Percy used an eraser to clear the whiteboard of everything Annabeth had written on it. When he was done, he grabbed two expo markers, one pink, the other a convenient shade of green. He looked at Annabeth and said, with utter seriousness, "Why am I not a girl?"

The daughter of Athena blinked. "Genetics? Although, if you pray to Artemis enough, she'll probably fix that for you. Where are you going with this?"

Percy began drawing on the white board, using the pink marker to draw the Venus symbol.

"Gods do not have DNA, yes?"

"Correct."

"Which means the only genetic material we have is from our mortal parents, yes?"

"I was born from my mother's head, but other than that, correct."

"Okay, not counting that." Percy took the green marker, and drew a cloud of squiggly lines, then he drew a slanted line down from there. Then he took the pink marker again, and drew a slanted line from there, almost touching the green line. Beneath where the lines almost met, Percy took a blue expo marker, and drew the Mars symbol.

"Gods don't have DNA, which means the only genetic material we have in our bodies is passed down from our mortal parents, which means the only sex genes I have in me should be coming only from my mother…why am I not a girl?"

…

Annabeth and Beckendorf stared at Percy, then at the board, then back at Percy, then back at the board again. Finally, Annabeth was the first to speak…somewhat.

"Huh…uh…um…" he Athena-given mind was working hard at coming up with a theory. Eventually, she found one. "Maybe your gender is determined by the form your godly parent is taking during sex."

"I can see that for the sons of male gods, but what of the daughters?"

Beckendorf answered. "Maybe Dad had a different kind of itch that needed scratching, and that's how Nyssa and Clarisse were created?"

"Yes, because the God of War is going to switch plumbing and allow a mortal man to thrust into him and knock him up."

"Okay, good point."

"There's also Thalia," Annabeth said. "I know for a fact that it was Zeus that slept with her mother, in a male form."

Percy stroked his chin. "Okay…so we've ruled out godly form…what of thoughts during intercourse? For example, Ares thought of a daughter when Clarisse was conceived, Hephaestus was thinking of a son when you were conceived, and likewise with Poseidon for me."

"Well, that's how my siblings and I are conceived. Mom finds a man that she takes a liking to, and if there's love there, we're…I really don't know how we're born, but we make it down to earth due Zephyros. Mom thinks of what sex we are, and poof. We are."

"Okay," Percy nodded. "Currently, the leading theory on gender determination is that our godly parent thinks it up."

Beckendorf coughed off to the side. "That's pretty good, but uh…um…there's the one case that might throw a monkey wrench into that theory."

Annabeth went still, picking up on what Charles was about to go with, while Percy raised a brow, "Well, go on then."

"Kind of hesitant to, you know, because of your faith. Haven't read the Bible much, but uh, I know it's not too big on same-sex relations."

Percy just slowly blinked. "You are correct, it does not. Moving on. Monkey wrench idea. Go for it."

Beckendorf coughed. "Okay, you asked for it…right then. You remember that one girl from the Apollo cabin, the one you beat up a few days ago?"

"Kayla, yes?"

"Yeah, her. Well, you see…she has two dads. Apollo, and a Canadian archery instructor."

Percy stared at Beckendorf for a bit, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he sighed. "And you're expecting me to lead a mob to her doorstep and burn her at the stake for having two dads?"

"Well, nothing that extreme, but…"

"Charles," Percy said. "If I would go out of my way for something like that, then I should also be wasting my time preaching at everyone in the camp for being children of pagan gods. Do I preach at anyone?"

"No."

"Do I quote scripture at every opportunity I get to remind everyone that they're heretics or sinners?"

"No."

"Then why would I care for Kayla?"

"So, you aren't bothered by her having two dads?"

"I'm horrified that she has two dads."

"Oh."

"Do you two not see what I'm seeing here? Two males had a daughter. Not by adoption. Two males procreated. I don't care if it was Apollo that took it or the mortal that took it, because someone ended up with a baby. This isn't even my faith speaking; this is my inner scientist. Mpreg…that is not okay. Males do not get pregnant. On a list of things that are not okay, that is very close to the top…unless we're looking at this all wrong.

"Did Kayla say whether or not Apollo was in a male form, or a female form? Did her mortal father tell her that Apollo was a man when they copulated, or a woman? Or did he say at all? Because it sounds like she's just assuming that Apollo is her father, and not in fact her mother."

Annabeth and Beckendorf shared a look. They hadn't thought that was a possibly. Actually, they never thought about either of Kayla's fathers being pregnant, and now that Percy had given them that image, they couldn't get it out of their heads. That didn't mean they were about to go give Kayla hell, though.

That would have been rude.

"Anyway, back on topic. So we all agree that gender is determined by the thoughts of the god or goddess engaging in intercourse?"

Beckendorf and Annabeth nodded.

"Okay, I have another question: where do our powers come from?"

Percy erased his previous doodle, and instead drew a vertical wavy line, colored red, and then another vertical wavy line in blue, next to the red. Then he took four more markers, each a different color, and proceeded to finish drawing the standard double helix. Not yet done, he took the red marker and drew another wavy line, then he took a gold expo marker, and completed that helix. Using the red, he drew the first half of the nitrogenous bases, then he took the gold marker again and finished them.

Two sets of double helixes.

"Gods don't pass on DNA, not in the traditional sense, anyway, yet we inherit bits of their powers, and my mother has repeatedly told me that I look like my father. So, where do we get our powers?

"The first helix is straight mortal DNA, the second is what I think our DNA looks like. The red is from our mortal parent, and the gold from our godly parent. My theory is that our powers and abilities, like our ADHD, dyslexia, heightened physical prowess, and supernatural talents, all stem from our parent's departed essence from their bodies."

Annabeth stood there, soaking in every word. And here she thought that children of Poseidon were mentally challenged. This kid was on to something. "So you're saying that our powers aren't so much spiritual, as in our soul or something, but are physical, coming from our genetic code, a genetic code that his half human, half god."

"Precisely."

"But didn't you say that gods don't pass on DNA?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," Percy answered, "but the gold half of the helix isn't DNA. It's the power given to us by our parents. Their essence. It's what they pass on to us that gives us our powers."

Beckendorf nodded. "I get it now. When you say half human, you're saying that only half our genetic code is written, our human half, while the other half of our genetic code is godly essence, but not godly DNA. And Annabeth is saying that our power is only in our body, not our soul."

Percy nodded. "Exactly. But like I said, it's only a theory. Luckily, we have a god nearby that might just be intelligent enough to help us out."

Annabeth, being the child of Athena, and being a child of Athena made her dangerously curious and famished for knowledge, had her fires of science and theory raging about. Beckendorf, while not a scientist so much as a mechanic, was also highly interested in finding out if there was any truth to Percy's theories.

Percy led the way out the amphitheater, and as soon as they exited, a female voice shouted out Percy's name. He recognized the voice of Lou Ellen, and turned to see her running at him with a newspaper. She looked panicked.

"Yes?"

Lou eased up on her personal throttle, coming to a stop in front of the trio. "I saw one of Ares' kids putting this on your porch, so I investigated because nothing a child of Ares does is ever out of the goodness of their heart. I'm glad I did, because it's about you."

Raising a brow, Percy accepted the offered newspaper.

Missing mother and son…totaled Camaro…leaving under mysterious circumstances…and a testimony from Gabe claiming that Percy was a violent, unstable, troubled child who had been kicked out of numerous boarding schools, and very recently threatened him with knives.

Percy crumpled the paper up with a neutral face, one that gave away nothing about his thoughts.

"Gabriel has chosen to ignore my warning. I will deal with him in time."

Everyone blinked at that.

Lou Ellen noticed the Sword. "Where'd you get that?"

"Found it in the woods. We're going to ask Dionysus a question about genetics and demigod powers. Want to join us?"

"Sure."

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The quartet went to the Big House and found Chiron and Mr. D playing cards…with what was most likely a couple of invisible spirits, if the floating hands were any indication.

"No, Peter Johnson, I do not know the answers to your questions. Genetics were never my forte. Annie Bell's mother is the one to ask…granted she knows the answers herself. For all we know, she's currently scrambling to find out herself. However, your arrival is most opportune. Now I don't have to seek you out myself."

"Yes, I suppose that is convenient for you. Why would you be seeking me in the first place, Mr. D?" Percy asked politely.

"Hmm, a half-blood with manners. Now that's something I haven't seen in decades. Anyway, to answer your question…Father has issued a new decree: if you do not return the Master Bolt to his hand by the summer solstice, there will be war. Oh, and you'll be turned into ashes. Can't forget that."

Lou Ellen, Beckendorf, and Annabeth paled, while Percy raised a brow.

"Well that's just annoying."

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And there's the next chapter of Assassin's Creed: Transcendence. Hoped you liked it, because it's right back to Backup Plan after this…however, the next chapter of that probably won't be out till next Friday. The reason is because from Sunday to Thursday, I will be aboard the U.S.S. Lexington in Corpus Christi for the Youth Leadership Conference held by the Military Order of the World Wars.

They emailed a detailed itinerary, and there's not an ounce of free time. Besides, they said no electronics beyond cell phones, so I couldn't type anything even if I wanted to.

Anyway, how was the chapter? Were Percy's questions and outlooks believable regarding the memories of Virgil? What's your opinion of how half-blood physiology works? Was that a cliffhanger just now, or can we all hold on for a bit?

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