Deciphering Jake: Pt. 1

Y'all've got me till New Years.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or AC

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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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Percy sat alone in the middle of cabin, legs crossed and back straight, hands cupped at his stomach. His eyes were closed as he meditated, going through Jake's life piece by piece.

Firstly, he had never known who his parents were, only that his mother had been white, and his father black, which was how he got his mixed skin. He had been born a slave to a staunch Christian owner who obeyed the obsolete slavery laws outlined in the Old Testament, in the Books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Numbers.

After seven years of servitude, the slave goes free, but if the slave wishes to stay, then his ear would be pierced and be a slave forever. If harm befell the slave at the hands of the master, then the master would be punished, and if there was sufficient damage, the slave would be freed. There was a day of rest each week for the slaves. Slaves brought from foreign lands, which was all the slaves on the plantation, were to be treated with the same care and respect shown to Hebrew slaves, specifically in that they were not inferior in any way, and were to be treated as hired workers.

So if anyone wants to bring up the point of how the Bible condones slavery, make sure to educate them on all the laws regarding the treatment of those slaves, and also make sure they know they're talking about times when the wheel is still considered to be a landmark invention.

That was environment Jake had lived in for the first seven years of life. Under a master that preached the Bible, owned slaves and a plantation, and was not afraid to grab a whip if needed. This master also had the whipping scars on his back as proof of his adherence to the principle of "stripe for stripe." Then, after those seven years, in accordance to the law, Jake was set free, and into the world he went.

Percy couldn't safely recall that time. He knew there were ships, learning how to sail, an eventual turn to piracy, and the tutelage of sword/gunplay, but it was all mostly indistinct blurs, or nothing at all. Going forward, Percy eventually got to all the meetings with the significant people, and each encounter brought a fond smile to his face, and a pain in his heart.

Mary dead.

Hornigold a Templar and also dead.

Edward dead.

Thatch had managed to cheat death and was now currently teaching nautical class, if ever there should arise a need for Camp Half-Blood to operate sailing ships.

Thinking of Mary got Percy thinking about his threat to Captain Davis, and where her soul was at.

'Oh, Uncle Hades~.'

A piece of paper popped out of the shadows, with the word What written on it.

'Where is Mary Read, the pirate—where's her soul at?'

Another bit of paper popped out of the shadows, saying Not in the Underworld, so I don't know.

Percy's heart lurched in his chest as the implications of what that meant hit him like a fastball. Was she in Hell? Purgatory? Some other afterlife staging area? Or, dare he hope, in Heaven? Did she convert before she died in Kingston?

Or…or was she like Christina and Maria, alive again, elsewhere?

Percy decided to think positive, and to think with hope, and go with that option. This thought process brought with it a surge of excitement, the possibility of seeing Mary again driving Percy's heartbeat up, but he focused back in and started meditating again on Jake's life.

Going by chronological scale, he reached some real meat in Jake's life, and that was the philosophy he had shared with Edward and Adéwalé regarding the Assassin/Templar struggle, and the problem with unity regarding big populations.

Jake's stances were hardly revolutionary. Virgil had these same thoughts regarding the Templars and Assassins many times, and had freely engaged in debate with his students and peers regarding the merits of either side. Indeed, allowing men to act as they pleased was call for calamity, evidenced countless time across all of history, but the world that the Templars sought was a calamity against men in and of itself.

What Jake didn't realize throughout his whole life was that the Templars were so very shortsighted. They thought of only the immediate world and how to warp it, how to control it. The Assassins, at least under the minds of Altaїr, Ezio, Virgil, and possibly Connor (Percy was going to have to do more research on his young friend to get an accurate opinion on his leadership) thought of the future, of the possibilities. They thought of the endless struggle of man's evil side and resolved to combat it always.

In essence, the Templars had given up hope for mankind's brighter future, where the Assassins fought to keep the flame alive.

Of course there were casualties, innocents caught in the crosshairs, unnecessary damages caused, and in accordance to the Creed, the aforementioned Mentors were very, very unhappy when these things happened. That's what made them good men; they didn't receive reports of broken tenants and shrug, "Oh, well, that's war," and go back to what they were doing. No, they came down on the tenant breaker like the wrath of God Almighty, doling out judgement as required.

The Mentors had regrettably slain their fair share of Assassins in making sure the tenants of the Creed remained clad in iron, especially the one regarding the slaying of innocents.

That was Ezio and Virgil's biggest one. Altaїr had been more about the compromisation of the Brotherhood. Hiding in plain sight was kinda meh on account of everyone wearing very distinguishing white robes while walking around with an armory on their person.

Jake's philosophy regarding unity and big populations was more like common sense to Percy than a world-altering perspective. No shit that if you got too many different people together that their ideals, ethics, morals, and principles were all going to clash and result in a nightmare. The entirety of Europe at the time was proof enough of that. Hell, the West Indies weren't at all peaceful and unified themselves; looking left and right, you'd see Spanish engaged with English for no other reason than because their flags were different.

It made Percy more than a little worried about the state of the American government given how big the country had become since the days of the Thirteen Colonies.

During the quest for the Master Bolt, Percy had been focused on completing the mission, not worried about the country around him. During those nine months training the fledgling Assassins in South Dakota, he had focused on teaching and studying the Bible. During his youth, in which he literally didn't have a soul, he couldn't have been bothered to care about anything, let alone the intricacies of government and politics.

He only had the memories of Faris and Virgil, only their worries and concerns regarding things, and on that list, the state of America was not present.

Now though, with Jake's investment and involvement with the country, like a deposit in the bank, Percy wanted to know what was what nowadays, and given the idea Jake had about things getting messy when they got too big, his hopes weren't high for good news.

Obviously, the country had yet to become so bad that a revolt was needed, but that didn't mean things were fine and dandy.

Anyway, back to Jake.

After the talks with Edward and Adéwalé came the trips with the Welsh pirate about the West Indies, assisting the various Assassins scattered throughout the islands, teaching the man about the responsibility that came with freedom. Percy didn't have any higher thoughts or reflections on those episodes other than that Jake was right.

The next thing to happen was Jake sailing off to Greece just because, and the first thing of note was Hercules, and the returning feeling that the hero was personally important to him somehow. Percy chalked the feeling up to the fact that in the coming experiences of more past lives, Hercules was going to pop up.

Percy noted how the god seemed strange and socially inept.

He moved forward along the memory train and got to the battle with Chrysaor, his half-brother through Poseidon. It brought a smirk to Percy's face remembering how he beat the ancient pirate, climbing up the mast and then running Chrysaor through from above in the split second he had looked down to investigate the sudden commotion between the two crews below.

After that mess was mopped up, Chrysaor's ship was plundered for every thing on it, as well as a Piece of Eden, an Apple, that apparently had the power to send people back in time, which raised a lot more questions about the First Civilization than there were answers for.

From Jake's experiences, it appeared that the Isu had no knowledge of the gods, seeing as how they were worshipped as the gods themselves, which meant the gods had no knowledge of the Isu, seeing as how prideful they were; they wouldn't let other beings go around being worshipped in their stead.

However, Percy remembered the rather important conversation with Aletheia, speaking directly of him to Jake. The island of Thera, then. He needed to go there sometime in the near future.

And there was Kassandra.

Percy's heart tightened at the thought of the Spartan mercenary. He didn't have a clue as to how Jake had fallen for her so hard and fast, but he did, and it wasn't a puppy love crush, either, but true, full-on affection. And they had sex, he came inside her, and without a doubt impregnated her.

Then he left.

A child he would never know, the sibling to his children Hylla, Reyna, and Giovanni, had died in the neighborhood of 2300 years ago, and he didn't even know if was his son or his daughter. An ocean of guilt and self-loathing washed over Percy in that moment.

His mind got to work on rationalizing things: he needed to get back to his own time, he needed to get his crew back, they didn't belong then and were risking a lot of things by lingering, Mary's sake, Edward's, etc., but his spirit, the Faris and the Virgil in him, worked against his mind. He was the father of that child, and he needed to take responsibility for his actions.

He should've stayed in the past to marry Kassandra and officially accept his role.

He should've brought Kassandra back with him to the future.

He should've done a lot of things as required by scripture, but he didn't.

In running from the child and his new duties, regardless of the reason, Percy felt like he had dishonored his fathers, Umar and Virile, his mothers Maud and Aquila, his family of Claudia, Christina, Maria, and Giovanni, and his Order, for going against the principles he taught that were taught to him from the Word.

Unreasonable, really, as he had departed from Kassandra on the basis of responsibility to his crew and the families thereof, so he had not left for his own sake, out of selfishness or cowardice, and for the rest of his 70 years that decision had haunted him, so he did feel guilt and shame for what he had done, recognizing how much of a betrayal and failure it wa s.

But he had still left Kassandra and their child, and that was the bottom line.

Moving forward through Ancient Greece, Percy only found more guilt awaiting him at the destruction of Kingston by his vengeful hand, and the subsequent sinking of the Running Frenchman, the deaths and scattering of her crew due to his folly.

Fires of rage and justification attempted to roar up inside him, but they didn't get any further than a few sparks due to the fact that these fires were coming from a few hours of emotion, and were up against decades of reflection and shame. Percy didn't dwell on these memories too long, his heart already feeling heavy enough.

The next few decades leading up to the American Revolution were filled with Jake winding his way through the wilderness of America, getting lost and ending up almost in Texas before turning around and going back North, occasionally running into some native tribes, most of whom were very passionate about trying to kill him. Obviously, they failed.

Of course, also in the middle of that was his helping Haytham, Shay, and the Templars route the Assassin presence in the Colonies due to the gross violations of the Creed.

Here, Percy audibly growled, all that guilt he had been feeling just seconds ago now finally being burned away by a slow, hot fire that was kindled from decades of discipline, teaching, and principle. From the perspectives of Faris, and most strongly, Virgil, Percy felt a tremendous ire towards Achilles and his branch of the Brotherhood. They had shamelessly broken all three tenant of the Creed with their activities, and the hard truth of it was, if Faris, Virgil, and himself were yanked from their times and put into the Colonial Brotherhood, all three of them would've done what Jake did, and eradicate them.

Granted, putting the Templars into power wasn't going to be part of the operation but the main idea was the same.

Honestly, fucking with First Civ artifacts—the first one could almost be forgiven, as it was unknown what the artifact would do, which was why almost because there was this thing called research, and caution, but the second time, after the devastation of the first? Forget it, death for all of you—operating using gang tactics, flying the Assassin symbol high in the air, emblazoned on a flag, and of course, with these prior failures, the Colonial Brotherhood compromised themselves by ousting Shay and drawing Jake's attention, and their combined efforts resulted in the deaths of dozens of Assassins, if not a few hundred.

It's not like Haytham, Shay, or Jake were keeping track of how many they killed.

And then Haytham and Shay killed Adéwalé, and Jake proceeded to kick both of their asses like redheaded stepchildren, but also spare them, and then end their little alliance. The Templars fully took over the Colonies, and a few more years down the line, Jake met one Ratonhnhaké:ton, aka Connor Kenway, and immediately latched onto the boy, seeing him as a proxy for Edward, and a chance for that precious redemption he had been seeking for decades, ever since the Kingston debacle.

Percy felt contentment in thinking of Connor. He felt proud in what he did to help the young man grow, but that pride soured a bit as he recalled that Jake had seen Connor not just as a proxy for Edward, but a proxy for that lost child back in Greece. A bit unfair, but it had eased Jake's mind, bringing a sense of peace to him in thinking that he hadn't entirely skipped out on being a father.

Did that imply that Jake hadn't slept with any woman besides Kassandra and therefore created no other children?

Absolutely. Jake had sex with one woman, and no one else.

He felt too guilty thinking about what he had done to Kassandra to even fathom loving another woman, and so he didn't. He didn't even buy a night with a whore.

Percy soldiered forward from Kassandra once again to reflect on other things.

Like how he had mentored George-fucking-Washington, the first president of the United States, and the Commander-in-Chief.

Like how he had mentored Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson, was a friend of Benjamin Franklin's, and had nearly been appointed an admiral in the American navy, but declined of his own volition.

Like how he had signed the Declaration of Independence.

How he had been the one to start the American Revolution at Lexington.

And how there was evidently a museum and a college named after him.

Nevermind his aiding of John Paul Jones in sinking the Son of Neptune, and his actions at West Point, where he defended the fort and killed traitor Benedict Arnold.

There were also the facts that Washington had been the son of Athena, Jones the son of Poseidon, and Davis the son of Neptune, and so he had a mythological connection as well.

He had done a lot of things as Jake Swallow, and while he wasn't necessarily excited to examine America's history since his death, given the views he had of governments over time and the hope he had for the country, he was ready for it. At the moment, he had gone through all of Jake's life that his brain could recall, all the details considered important enough to be reviewed.

Percy did not want to dwell on Cheyenne yet, because for whatever reason, whenever he stopped down to think about her, his head started to hurt as flashes and sensations began to assault him. The best way he could describe it was that she was pushing into him from beyond, not wanting to wait her turn.

Or whatever it was called with Faris, Virgil, and Jake's memories coming to him when they did.

Anyway, Percy got up from his cabin, and went to go get Lou Ellen.

It was time to examine some history.

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This chapter has no dialogue.

Also, really sorry about how long this took. Got wrapped up in playing Odyssey again, and of course, work and school.

Sorry it's short and lacking in meat, but this is Percy's reflections regarding his past life. The next chapter's a little more interesting, I promise.

We also went over 1600 Reviews since last chapter, so YAY!

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