Rise, Assassin
Yes, I am back, not that I left in the first place.
Anyway, the plan for the coming weeks is to steamroll this story to the end of the Fourth Life arc, and then go from there. I might pick back up on some other story, like Sea Devil, bring it to at least the end of the Lightning Thief, or do something different with it, or start the Blood War.
Like I said: not sure yet.
Of course, coupled with work, time spent with friends, preparations for college—I've officially graduated high school, by the way—and the fact that I'm splitting my writing time between my novel and my fanfiction…updates are going to be wonky.
Also: /F3g8qTx
That is the link to a Discord server teeming with just about everything imaginable. Renowned fanfic author nutsofthechest is part of this server, as are many others looking for betas, and offering writing advice. Go join so KryptertJ will stop bugging me.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or Assassin's Creed
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Inspired by historical events and an over-active imagination, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a single-cultural team of one religious faith and belief, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
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"Impressive," Shin'en intoned as the spiritual manifestation of himself stood in front of Percy's mental barrier to his mind. Said barrier took the form of the massive walls of San Gimignano back during the late 1400s. At the top of the walls was a glimmering white shield, so one couldn't simply "hop" over the wall.
"If any other twelve-year-old had a defense like this, I might've been slightly concerned. As it is, however…"
Shin'en from placing a hand upon the smooth surface, causing an opening to appear. He stepped through, the wall closing behind him, and he beheld the sight before him.
"Most impressive…but there is still much to be done."
The anti-shinobi saw memories, or at least, friezes of memories. A massive cathedral with its expansive walls covered in frozen images of the most important and memorable events that Percy had stored in his head. However, the friezes were cracked and peeling. The floors of the cathedral were dirty, the gold that adorned the pillars and candelabras tarnished, the pews covered in dust, the windows boarded up, the sun outside hidden behind dreary clouds, casting a gloom about the cathedral.
At the front, the big cross was bent, the Bible upon the pulpit opened to the Book of John, Chapter Eleven, Verse Thirty-Five, but the pages were old, crumbling at the edges, and stained with something that perhaps had been red at one time, but was now dull in the dreariness of the cathedral.
At the foremost pew sat a lone figure, still and unmoving.
Shin'en went to this figure, and sat down next to him. It was Percy, of course, younger, dressed in a black hoodie and black sweatpants. His knees were pulled to his chest, and his chin resting in the groove. If Sally were to have seen him like this, she would've immediately pulled him into a hug and asked him what was wrong.
Shin'en did no such thing.
"Hello, Percy."
"Per…Per…cy…?" the boy said slowly, confused and dazed. He shook his head slightly. "No…Percy…name is…Priscilla…"
He pointed forward at something, and Shin'en followed that finger. There was a full-body mirror no more than ten feet away. In that mirror, from the angle at which he was sitting, Shin'en saw the reflection of a small girl in a lovely dress, or at least, someone with the appearance of a small girl in a dress.
Shin'en looked back at Percy, and saw Priscilla in the place of where he was just sitting. She lowered her finger, and Shin'en caught out the corner of his eye the absence of the mirror. He frowned.
"Am I girl?"
His eyes drifted back to his companion for the moment. Priscilla worked herself to where she was holding her dress up to her chin, exposing her body. Her ribs poked from her skin and her stomach was sunk in slightly. Across her chest was a bra filled by mammaries, and covering her groin was a pair of pastel pink underwear, a quaint little bow along the waist at the front. The underwear was bulging, and not from clitoromegaly.
"I'm told I'm a girl, and I'm going to be married to my husband soon, though we've already had sex." Priscilla let her dress down, stating all this like it was everyday fact. "But it hurts and I don't like it. He doesn't put it where a girl should get it, and I don't have where a girl should get it."
Shin'en's face never changed once during Priscilla's entire dialogue, and when she was done speaking he said seriously, "You are not a girl. You are not even real. You are a collection of memories brought together in a mental manifestation by a damaged psyche. Tell me where Percy is, and begone. I have work to attend to."
Priscilla pointed to the other side of Shin'en. "He's right there."
The anti-shinobi turned and looked, and found himself looking at another mirror, this time of his reflection, and his reflection was that of a twelve-year-old boy in jeans and a modified hoodie. Shin'en exhaled a jet of air from his nose.
"These mind games grow tiresome." His eyes glowed like exploding red giants, and the mirror erupted into scarlet dust. "Amon! Enough playing."
Inhuman laughter echoed through the empty cathedral, and the sound of huge whooshing wings was loud as something big descended from above. Shin'en watched impassively as the Demon Hero lit upon the broken cross, making the metal grown in protest. Amon grinned savagely, his pointed teeth gleaming as his leathery wings folded into his back. His tail slithered around behind him, and his arms hung loosely at his sides.
Amon's pure yellow eyes, eyes lacking pupil and sclera and iris, stared maliciously at Shin'en. "So, it's the Dragon Ghost of the Abyss, in the head of my host."
"Show me where Percy's mental form is so I can get him back on his feet. I've got other things to do."
"So demanding. Why should I obey you? You who is more damaged than little Percy here, more in need of a hug? For that matter, why should I bother with the boy when I have you here before me?" Amon licked his lips with his long, red tongue. "Your soul is blacker than my own, stained with brief instances of joy but forever marred by unspeakable acts of sin. You'd make for a much better companion."
"I once had an annoying partner that floated around beside me. He didn't last very long."
"Do not presume me to be as pathetically weak as Ryuk, demigod."
"Do not presume that I want you around me any longer than necessary."
"Awe, not even the promise of ultimate power can sway you? The power to protect your big sister and her lover at all times? The power to accomplish your life's ambition, and bring peace to your world through the eradication of the ninja? The power to be with Naruko against all adversity?"
If Shin'en cared about any of what was said, he didn't show it, though he did say this, "And where do you get the idea that I want to be with Naruko?"
"Oh, come now. There's no need to play coy and act like you are in denial. She's quite the woman. The polar opposite of you, happy, smiley, an adorable ray of naïve sunshine in a filthy world of darkness. You were attracted to her the moment you met her…and she you. She was everything you wanted, and you are everything she needed. And after your little playground fight before the both of you even had your first wet dream, you two knew each other on a level beyond words.
"The connecting of chakra. The sharing of memories. The reliving of experiences. All of it bonded between you two. And then she was out in the world, exposing herself to its horrors. She saw humans treated like less than animals, pressed into servitude to clean the house, work the fields, and satisfy their masters. She found people chained up in basements, tortured for no other reason than because their captors wanted to. She bore witness to parents selling away their children for coin, and children murdering their parents for the same reason. She saw incest, corruption, and she's killed many people."
Amon smiled gruesomely. "Congratulations, Shin'en. You successfully brought one of the happiest, most innocent souls down to our level. That's something even Satan would have trouble accomplishing."
Shin'en did not break eye contact with the demon. "As much merit as there is in your words, we're not here to talk about me. This is the last time I'll ask: where is Percy?"
"Oh, fine then. I suppose a host I can talk to is better than one that needs asleep all the time. He's through that door there."
"If you are lying to me, you will not like the outcome."
"An adorable threat coming from the little pagan boy."
Amon's wings snapped out, and with a single flap, he disappeared into the rotunda.
Shin'en blew a sharp blast of air from his nose, then spun on his heel, heading for the door indicated by the demon. He didn't knock or gently open the door, but neither did he break it off its hinges. Inside was not what he expected. Shin'en fully expected something like another wing of this abandoned cathedral, but he instead found a bedroom, one very much like the one his sister used to reside in before she killed Gabe and the life insurance enabled her and Sally to move into the penthouse.
On the bed was Percy, fully clothed and sleeping soundly. He didn't have a peaceful look on his face. Instead, he looked fierce. His mouth was set in a displeased frown. His eyes were closed yet creased. And his posture was rigid, even in sleep. If he had been awake right now, he would've been listening to a Novice give him a displeasing report.
Shin'en's lips quirked slightly at the thought, and he felt better with his line of thinking being that it wouldn't be difficult to get Percy back on his feet in spite of his trials. He walked forward until he was next to the boy.
"Get up, Percy."
No response.
"Get up. Now."
He remained silent and sleeping.
Shin'en tilted his head to the side, his long hair swaying with the motion. 'He retreated into himself to escape the torment, but he went so far down that I can't get him back up. Not with words anyway.'
The shinobi's hand crackled with lightning, bathing the bedroom in emerald light. "You've had three days to sort yourself out, Percy. Three days to mope and mourn. While your circumstances were grim, you'll find no sympathy from me. Time to wake up."
Shin'en thrust his hand forward, ripping right into Percy's chest. The boy's eyes popped wide open, and he started screaming. The shinobi remained undeterred, and increased the chakra. The lightning screeched louder, the color brighter, the thrashing greater.
With a final surge of chakra, everything erupted in light.
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Back in Percy's room, Asclepius and Poseidon were still under the Mist-laden genjutsu.
Shin'en's Mangekyou lost their luminance, and Percy gasped awake, eyes wide and pupils dilated to the size of needle heads. He panted as he tried to catch his breath, and when he did, his eyes rolled towards Shin'en, and he became lucid. His eyes darkened and his body settled. A shadow crossed his face, and he spoke, "It wasn't dream, any of it."
"All real," Shin'en confirmed.
Percy looked up at the ceiling. "Leave me alone. I need some time to think." He heard a verbal hum, the shuffling of footsteps, and then an iron grip descended on his mouth. His eyes widened and he didn't have time to react before he was hauled out of the bed and thrown into the wall, the IV being ripped out of his arm.
"Leave us," Shin'en intoned. Poseidon and Asclepius rose in tandem, and left the room.
Percy growled. Shin'en stared unblinkingly at him, Sharingan put away for now.
"The time for thinking is over. The time for processing had ended. You've had three days to get yourself sorted, and when you couldn't do that yourself, I was brought in to help you. Congratulations, I'm helping you get over yourself."
Percy's eyes flashed pure yellow, his face temporarily contorting into a demonic visage. "Get over myself? I WAS RAPED!"
"Boo-hoo."
"BRAINWASHED!"
"No one cares."
"HYPNOTIZED TO CALL NERO 'DADDY'!"
"And?"
"FEMINIZED!"
"You and a bunch of others."
This time, Percy's eyes did turn pure yellow, his incisors falling from his mouth as four much bigger ones slid into place with spurts of blood. "AND MY MOTHER WAS KILLED IN FRONT OF ME! HER BODY DESICRATED BY BEING TORN IN TWO AND THROWN AT ME!"
The Abyss stared at him flatly. "Cry me a river."
Percy gaped at him, before he attacked in fury. He sprinted forward, cracking the tiles beneath him. He performed a front flip, wheeling his leg around in a 360-axe kick. Shin'en just turned ninety degrees, the offending leg hurtling past him. The impact collapsed the bed. Shin'en brought his hand down on Percy's chest, gripping the medical gown. With a yank, he threw the boy into the ceiling, braking it. Percy came down in a heap of debris, bespeckled with dust.
Shin'en picked him up and slammed him into the wall. "Listen to me, and listen well, kid: As tragic and painful as your story is, it's but one of billions. No one but a few thousand even know it happened, and there's nothing any of them can do about it besides send their regards. What happened between you and Nero doesn't even matter anymore; it's done, it's happened, it's over, and it's time to pick up and move on. You have work to do."
Percy's eyes still swam with defiance, glistening with the human desire to plead his case for pity. He was vulnerable right now, exposed. He was experiencing the human limitation of handling stress by himself, and it was hindering him from getting his feet back under him and standing without aid.
Shin'en snarled at this show of weakness, reminded all too well of himself.
How he hated it when he himself was vulnerable like this.
He peeled Percy from the wall and planted him into the floor, practically hissing through his teeth. Shin'en had to compose himself before he next spoke, and when he did, his voice was even and level.
"There were two children that I loved very much. They were twins, an older sister and a younger brother, and one day their life took the turn for one of the worst outcomes any child could ever experience. Their mother lost herself to the bottle and the blunt, and their stepfather took full advantage of that fact. He pulled the twins from school and threw out the boy's clothes, leaving only his sisters to wear, least he go naked.
"The stepfather starved the twins, feeding them only so they wouldn't die, and he kept them locked in their room, not even letting them out for trips to the bathroom to relive themselves and bathe. After about a week of this isolation, the stepfather began to sexually abuse the little brother, raping him almost nightly as he wore his sister's clothes. The big sister tried to fight back of course, but she was savagely beaten almost to death on every occasion.
"I rescued them both after six months of their mistreatment, and I spent another six months working them back to a social level. The sister was mistrustful, overprotective, paranoid, and refused to be any more than five feet away from her brother, and the brother was shy, timid, jittery, clingy, and after six months of wearing his sister's clothes, flat refused to wear anything but.
"They had physical problems as well, on top of their psychological ones. The sister pissed more blood than piss for almost a month, as her kidneys were severely damaged. She had trouble eating because her teeth were broken. Her spine was beginning to show signs of scoliosis, and her breathing was often labored because her ribs had been pressed inward enough to brush against her lungs from time to time. The brother had problems walking, and he periodically bled from his ass since his muscles were torn, and because his sphincter had been so stretched out he had problems knowing when he had to shit. It was a messy nightmare to deal with for two months, but we all managed."
Percy listened with morbidly rapt attention, neither struggling nor interrupting. Shin'en continued.
"You however were only raped or beaten whenever you decided to mouth off. Beyond that, your every need was catered to. You were fed when hungry, cleaned when needed, and treated with tender care from the handmaidens. Yes, the brainwashing and hypnosis you were subject to was disturbing, but hardly worth crying over. You fought against it and overcame it. Compared to the twins, I dare say your experience was like a fucking resort vacation."
Shin'en hauled Percy to his feet and stood him up. "The next time you want to complain about how bad you have it, or how bad it was, bear in mind that someone, somewhere, has it much worse, had it much worse. Your story is but one of billions, and like I told the twins: the world doesn't care, and your life for the past months will become naught but distant memories and bad dreams, so suck it up and move on now."
Silence engulfed the room, Shin'en staring at Percy, and Percy trying to hold that powerful gaze as he digested the information given to him, tried to make sense of it as his head swam. As he ran through everything, he picked up some things: the seriousness in this lookalike's eyes, the emotion in his voice, the detail of the recollection….
"Those twins you spoke of…how you look like me…those twins were you and I presume your sister, weren't they?"
"Correct."
"And the stepfather was Gabe."
"He was."
"All he ever was to me was a bully. He took my money and moved my stuff and wasn't nice, but he never hit me, he never even touched me, besides grabbing the front of my shirt from time to time, and he never hit my mother, either."
"Some worlds are that lucky, other not so much. Now, are you done pitying yourself, Faris Ibn-La'Ahad? Are you ready to stand on your feet once more, Vergil Cavaliere? Are you prepared to continue the fight against the Templar once again, Assassin?"
Percy stood a little straighter, his shoulder a little wider, his eyes harder. "I am."
Shin'en stepped aside, revealing a nightstand behind him. On top of it were clothes and weapons. "Then arm yourself. You are three months late for a meeting."
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Manhattan
They stood atop an unfinished skyscraper being built along the Hudson. Ironically, or perhaps symbolically, it was the same skyscraper that Percy had climbed a year ago, the one he had taken his first Leap of Faith from. Rather concerning, really, that the structure hadn't been completed in that amount of time.
"What are you of now, Percy Jackson?"
The boy was silent for a time. His leather coat flapped quietly in the wind. His hood had been pulled up, hiding the upper half of his face. His Hidden Blades were secured around his arms, the magic ring that was his crossbow adorned his finger, and the Minotaur horns were strapped to his back, Lou Ellen's magic still working to keep the coat from looking awkward.
"An old Creed," he answered at last. "My mother is God's arms now, at peace. I have no mortal family to worry for, no mortal friends to hold me back. The future is mine now, and if those people were Assassins, and the Templars still live, then I have a duty to perform, and a Brotherhood to seek out."
"Do you know where you'll start looking?"
"No, but I have faith the answer will come in due time."
"You…fascinate me," Shin'en said after a pause. "You are not the first I've met from across realities, but you are certainly the most unique. I've met a generic godlike monster, a female transformation turned into a goddess, a psychopath with an abusive childhood that's left him psychologically damaged, and a kid with an extra organ. Amongst all of them, you stand out. A devout Christian with unshakeable faith, even in the face of literal gods and crimes against humanity….I once had two friends that I loved very much. They liked to debate God's place in the world, how He fit into all the pain and suffering. Maybe one day, I'll be able to introduce you to them."
"I would very much like for that to happen."
A pillar of light descended from the dark sky, and the shinobi stepped towards it. Before he entered, he was stopped by the voice of Percy.
"What are we to each other? I…feel something in regards to you. A kind of bond that I can't make sense of."
"I believe that's a sin according to your religion."
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
A ghost of a smirk crossed Shin'en's face before it was exorcised. He turned his head just enough to where a little bit of his face could be seen, his Sharingan glowing against the light of the pillar.
"We are kindred spirits."
He stepped into the light and vanished, the pillar blinking out.
"Kindred spirits…" Percy repeated. "I look forward to the day we meet again, Shin'en."
Now alone, the Assassin focused in. He stepped to the edge of the skyscraper, and overlooked the city. As much as there was to be done in a place like this, with its gangs, and drugs, and murderers, and corruption, there was a larger enemy at work. He could feel it, the shadow of the Dark Cross looming over the world.
He had a Brotherhood to find, but first he had friends to see, friends that needed to know he was alive and well.
Percy locked his body and spread his arms, but before he leapt, a ghostly figure in a white cloak appeared next to him.
"It is a good life we lead, brother."
The Assassin's eyes misted slightly at hearing that voice, that voice that he last heard a lifetime ago. "T-The best…"
"May it never change."
"And may it never change us."
That cloaked man leapt from the edge and vanished.
"We'll see each other again, fratello mio, but not yet. There is work to be done here on Earth."
A distant eagle cried loudly as the Assassin descended out of view into the water below.
On the other side of the skyscraper, the building's owners had already put up their logo. A yellow, blue, and red line all almost connecting, making a vague "A" shape. Beneath the sigil was the name:
Abstergo Industries.
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That might have felt rushed and unrealistic, but for the life of me, I couldn't see this Percy waking up from any kind of traumatic experience and being mopey and self-pitying and pathetic, especially not after living two lives that were chock-full of traumatic experiences.
All I could see was Percy needing a little pick-me-up to get him back on his feet, because we all need a little help sometimes, and then he'd take it from there.
Like it or not, Percy's back in action. Next chapter is his reuniting with Camp Half-Blood, and him finding the Assassins…subsequently discovering how horrendous his Brotherhood became since the Sack of Rome.
I've also got to say that my favorite part of this chapter was Shin'en's talk with Amon. I found it enlightening.
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