Prelude to the Fourth Life
The good news is that calculus will be coming to and end on Dec. 11, 2019, so that leaves roughly two weeks of no school, meaning no homework, meaning the potential for daily updates before my hiatus to finish my novel.
So let's get to the chapter!
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 on the stone floor of the Gateway, still stuck in a shell-shocked daze.
A Bible specifically for the people of the earth, and a Bible specifically for the angels and demons?
Him, a demi-human wracked with sin and inequity, the Final Prophet (something that didn't make sense as Jesus was supposed to be the last prophet), supposed to be the one to herald the beginning of the Revelation?
Both preposterous!
And the whole conundrum between the Isu, the pagan gods, and God, all of it boiling down to Chaos just messing with some heads?
What was up with Chaos, anyway? From what Lupa had taught him 500 hundred years ago regarding the pantheon, Chaos was just supposed to be what amounted to an energy soup, and the Primordials were large bits of that energy that eventually broke away and formed their own consciousnesses, personalities, and took up domains for themselves, effectively becoming the sentient personifications of the very forces of nature and the fabric of space/time.
Chaos wasn't supposed to be a sentient, active being, and it was all getting to Percy's head.
What was true?
What wasn't true?
What was to be believed, and what was to be considered false?
A year ago, on the Santa Monica beach, had that really been God that possessed him to destroy Ares, or had it been Chaos pretended to be God? The Trial of Job that he went through, had that really been Satan, or was it just Chaos playing tricks? Was there actually a demon inside his body right now-?
"Abso-fucking-lutely."
Unbidden, Percy found himself gone from the Gateway, and instead inside the church. Leaning against one of the pillars was Amon himself, the tall, muscular, red-skinned, black-furred, bat-winged-eared, yellow-eyed, pointed-teeth, claw-adorned demon was smirking, his big arms crossed over his humongous chest.
"And the picture gets even muddier. Didn't know about Hellish and Heavenly Bibles, did you? Just another of the many secrets your impudent god keeps from you and the rest of the earthly denizens. The other things he's hiding would make you rebel too, believe me."
Percy ticked slightly. "Believe you? You, who lies and deceives for his own benefit? You, who has told me to my face that your purpose is to corrupt me from the inside out, following along as I taint myself with sin after sin, until I'm so filthy that you attain enough power to break out and destroy me, and then the world thereafter? Why would I believe you?"
Amon smiled. "Because I have no reason to lie or deceive. You are a flawed and imperfect being, designed and built to fail. All humans are, as are all angels. The two are created with the specific need for Adonai's hand in their life, but not those you call demons. We are perfect beings, in that we are imperfect. We know where we stand, and we know what the truth is, and we know it to be so ugly and horrible that there is no need for deception or trickery. All we must do is reveal the true nature of Adonai, and the humans and angels are perfected.
"That is another secret Adonai wants hidden. Humans and angels giving themselves to the 'Dark Side' doesn't mean they fall and become corrupted, but instead are enlightened. They become free of the god-made shackles placed on them, and are then able to finally walk upright, knowing the difference between what is good and what is not."
"What's good and evil are outlined in the Bible, and then bolstered by common sense," Percy said pointedly. "One doesn't need to become a demon to know the difference."
"But don't you? Can you truly say you understand something unless you've looked at it and seen it from all angles and sides? Can you really claim to understand the struggle between Heaven and Hell unless you've seen the demonic side?"
Percy snorted. "The struggle between Heaven and Hell? Don't make me laugh, serpent. There is no struggle between Heaven and Hell, just as there's no struggle between Lucifer and God. When the time comes, as spoke of in the Book of Revelations, Satan will be destroyed. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it."
"According to your Bible," Amon said warningly, as if correcting a dangerous ideology or someone preaching false knowledge. "But as stated, the Bible for the humans and the Bible for the spirits are two very different texts. In my Bible, Revelations goes much differently. In it-"
"Silence!" Percy barked. "I will not listen to your lies any longer, Amon!"
And through force of will, Percy tore himself from this place and back to his location before the Gateway. He sucked down a breath as if he had been holding it for several minutes, and then two more after that to get himself focused in on the here and now.
Quick recap: Chaos is a thing, Kassandra was alive but now isn't, the Isu have been duped for several thousand years, believing things to have happened that either didn't or happened differently than what they remember, he was apparently caught in the middle of some higher bullshit, and his inner Faris and Virgil were going up against his inner Jake in how to view this situation, he was now in possession of a Piece of Eden that was magically forged by Chaos himself from the Spear of Leonidas, the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, and the Sword of Baron von Wolff, making it quite possibly the most powerful weapon on the planet, and Lou Ellen was passed out a few feet away, Kira napping on the girl's stomach, after over-exerting herself on a magical teleportation, making her so exhausted that she had no reservation about peeing her pants on the spot, and admitting to doing it in his arms.
Percy looked around and examined the Gateway.
The holographic Earth and all the additives around it were gone, and the whole place seemed to be turned off, no doubt due to the Isu AI, Aletheia, shorting out after Chaos arrived and told her that everything she knew about the universe was false. Percy had no idea if the AI would ever be back, but he really didn't care.
After what Chaos said, operating on the idea that he wasn't lying, then the Isu weren't near as ancient or powerful as they thought themselves to be, and with their skewed perceptions of themselves thanks to Chaos' power working on their minds, anything they said was most likely an unintentional lie that stemmed from egregious disinformation.
In Layman's terms, the Isu couldn't be believed anymore.
Meaning all Assassin and Templar endeavors to understand more about the Precursor race were pointless.
That didn't bother Percy in the slightest. The state of things during Faris' time, the Precursors were mostly unknown, with only the Apple that Al Mualim used being the only known artifact of their existence. It was during the Renaissance that things really kicked off, with the Staff, the other Apple, the Vault underneath the Vatican, and Minerva's message to Ezio regarding Desmond. Virgil hadn't like the concept of the Precursors, seeing them as no better or different than the pagans of Olympus, and Jake definitely hated the Precursors, since it was one their Apples that had sent him hurdling two thousand years into the past, effectively fucking his life up nearly beyond repair.
So, no. Percy had zero qualms about the mystery and majesty of the Precursors instantly evaporating under the revelation that it was just another pagan god messing with their heads. Nor did he have any problems with destroying every last Piece of Eden on the planet.
Damned things were seemingly the root cause behind every Assassin/Templar problem since the 16th century.
Speaking of Pieces of Eden, Percy reached over grabbed his new sword, the "Sword of Destiny," Chaos called it, deriving the name from the Spear of Destiny, the fabled weapon that pierced the side of Jesus while on the cross. The Sword was an admittedly beautiful gladius, the grip being made of polished black pearl, grooved to fit his hand. The pommel and the guard were both gold, and carved with sleek, streamlined patterns, and the blade itself was a work of art. Perfectly flat and aligned, with no bumps, smudges, or deformities; polished to the point of viably doubling as a mirror, and extended a few inches longer than what the average gladius typically was.
The Sword rippled with power.
Holding it in his hand, Percy could feel energy trickling through him, empowering him, filling his head with phantasms of glory and honor: a world of prosperity and peace, in which all adhered to the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, himself, holding Lou Ellen's waist, gently caressing her swollen belly while Hylla, Reyna, and Giovanni, all children again, stood around with sparkling eyes at the prospect of a new sibling. Around Percy stood Ezio, Altaїr, Connor, Edward, Blackbeard, Faris' parents, Umar and Maud, and Virgil's family, Virile, Aquila, and Anita.
The Assassins and the Templars made peace and pooled all of their resources, bringing about a new age to the world in which all governments were restructured and organized to truly be of the people, by the people, and for the people, and the corporations of the world were regulated and more closely watched, so that they could no longer exploit their workers. Wealth was redistributed in such a way that the rich remained totally rich, but the poor and homeless were no longer so.
Education was meaningful, college degrees in all subjects were worth something, and all the people of the world functioned, were capable, and whenever something didn't go their way, instead of complaining about it and demanding help from others, they instead buckled down, focused in, and solved their problems.
These and more were all the things the Sword of Destiny was showing Percy what he could do with its power, and the transcendent Assassin had only ever been more horrified when he came back to his family villa to find his father, mother, and sister horribly mutilated.
Taking a deep breath and steeling his nerves, Percy put the Sword away, and pulled out his Bible.
Obviously, he was going to be here a while, with Lou Ellen resting, and even after she woke up, he was loathe to immediately tell her to teleport them back to the States, primarily Camp Half-Blood, for reasons, so what better opportunity was there to resume his studies than this?
And so Percy studied for several hours, a testament to the power of the Word for being able to keep an ADHD demigod engrossed for so long. Lou Ellen woke up and was very glad to discover that her pants were still totally dry, and by the time Percy finished telling her about his conversation with Chaos, and all the questions and theorizing that followed, Lou Ellen had all the nectar, ambrosia, and time needed to recuperate for another teleport, and so away they went.
And then the plot happened.
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Teleporting to places she knew and was intimately familiar with, like her private forest cabin at Camp Half-Blood, was a whole lot easier than teleporting to places she had never been before, operating on the memories of someone else. Still, even with the easier commute, there was a bit of a tax to the effort, but Lou Ellen was certain that it wasn't really so taxing as to make her feel like her cabin was freezing, and to see snow on the ground out of her window in the middle of the summer.
"Um, Lou? You didn't mess something up, did you?"
"If I did, it was by complete and total accident."
Percy was just as confused as she was, and a little bit more concerned about the state of things, as in what day, month, and year it was. He had time-traveled once—well, twice, but it was a round trip—and he was not keen on repeating the event because it seriously screwed up his calendar.
And his life.
Past life, but still.
Percy and Lou Ellen shared a look, both just as nervous and apprehensive as the other about what had happened for there to be snow in the middle of the summer. Before they went trudging out into the cold, both of them put on some more appropriate gear, with Percy exchanging his sneakers for waterproof boots and that was it, and Lou Ellen did a complete wardrobe change, tossing away her denim shorts and orange camp t-shirt and putting on some waterproof sweatpants, a long-sleeve camp t-shirt, and a black hoodie with a design on the front depicting the silhouette of a witch flying in front of a full moon.
And Kira got a doggy scarf.
"Alright," Lou Ellen chirped. "Let's go see if we're in a nuclear winter."
The trio left the cabin and entered the chilling weather. Nuclear or not, it was definitely the winter months. They trudged through the snow, ears alert for any sound, monster or otherwise, but all they heard were the usual sounds of a forest. They exited the woods and were faced with the camp. Luckily, it was all intact, nothing out of place or any different than the last time they both saw the place, only, strangely enough, there were lights on in Cabin Eight.
Percy tilted his head. "Who's in the Artemis cabin?"
"The only ones ever allowed in there are the Hunters of Artemis."
A boulder settled in Percy's stomach. "Oh."
"Oh" was right. He knew about the lieutenant of the Hunters, Zoё Nightshade, primarily how she was his ex(?)-fiancé, and he knew that whenever she came up, it seemed like Cheyenne was trying break her way back to his soul. The celestial bronze sword he had, Riptide, he couldn't uncap it without being assaulted by a rapid flash-show of memories that he could barely decipher, and so he was justifiably worried that actual contact with Zoё was going to send him right into another memory coma.
He was still feeling phantom pains in his back from being Old Man Jake, he was not keen on feeling phantom pains in his nonexistent ovaries.
But most importantly he really didn't want to deal with the emotional trauma that came with being Cheyenne. From what he had seen, and from what history he had read, that was a very tumultuous life, even more so than Virgil's or Jake's.
There was also Lou Ellen to consider. Cheyenne and Zoё had apparently fallen so deep in love that they were going to get married, but that didn't happen on account of Cheyenne's premature death. Zoё could still feel very much in love with the girl, and remembering that life could send Percy back head over heals for the Huntress, which was completely and totally unfair to Lou Ellen…but it was also totally unfair to Zoё to remember the life he had lived as her fiancé, and then try to ignore that it happened.
Percy felt a hand slip into his, and he turned his head to look at Lou Ellen. She was staring at him meaningfully, her eyes wet as she understood everything running through his head. She leaned over and gave him a kiss.
"Whatever happens, I love you, Percy Jackson."
His heart lurched in his chest at that, having not heard words similar since his beloved Claudia.
"I…I love you…" the lump in his throat impeded his speech, and it was hard to swallow it, but he managed. "I love you too, Lou Ellen."
She gave his hand a squeeze. "Come on, let's go see if Chiron's in."
On the way to the Big House, Percy felt a pair of eyes on him, but every time he looked, he only saw the movement of a shadow.
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Chiron's eyes popped out of his skull when he saw the demigods just casually walk into the Big House.
"Percy! Lou Ellen! Where have you two been!?"
Dionysus sipped his Diet Coke. "Oh, good. They are alive."
"Well," Percy started, "Lou Ellen and I went to the Library of Congress and we did some reading on Jake Swallow-"
"Yes, ever since it's been revealed that you're the reincarnation of Jake Swallow, Athena's feathers have been ruffled since she hasn't had the chance to chat with you yet," Dionysus drawled.
"-did some reading on Jake Swallow, checked back in with some relatives, and then Lou and I took a vacation to Greece, all of this back in July, and apparently a whole lot of time has passed since we left."
Chiron slowly nodded his head. "Yes…we're ten days away from the winter solstice…of the same year," he added the last part hastily to clarify that question.
"Oh," Percy said. "That's not too bad. Any important developments since July?"
"Yes. You're cousin, who also claims to be your older sister, was revived by the Fleece's magic about a day after you left."
A slightly smaller boulder settled in his stomach. "Thalia…? Which big sister is she claiming to be…?"
"Ah, she claims to be Evie Frye, the big sister of Peter Frye."
"Oh. That'll be awkward, then."
"How so, old friend?"
"I don't remember being Peter Frye, yet."
"Yes, that would make things a bit awkward."
"Where is she now?"
"Zeus cabin, Cabin 1. It's almost time for dinner."
"…I see. Any other developments?"
"Thalia, Grover, and Beckendorf recently returned from Maine by way of the Sun Chariot after rescuing two half-bloods from a manticore. Annabeth is currently MIA after this semi-quest."
A little bit of worry bubbled up in Percy's chest. "Any leads or ideas on what happened to her?"
Chiron shook his head. "There was a battle on a cliff during the quest, and the manticore went over the edge, taking Annabeth with him. It was reported by Thalia that Lady Artemis sensed magical interference, so it is known that Annabeth didn't die in the fall. Currently, however…"
"I see," Percy said grimly. "These other two half-bloods?"
"Children of Hades," Dionysus said, studying a wine magazine. "But they don't feel recent. There's a hint of time magic around them, like they've been somewhere that's altered their aging. Other than that, nothing too noteworthy."
"How do you know they're children of Hades?"
"They're about to come out of the shadows behind you."
Percy whipped around and true enough, a boy and girl sibling pair came melting from the darkness, the girl obviously being the elder. There was about two seconds before they rushed and both wrapped their arms around him, but it was enough time for Percy to examine them.
The girl was his physical age, of Italian descent, with olive skin, dark eyes and hair. There was a smattering of freckles across her nose. She was wearing dark-themed winter clothes, and, oddly enough, she had a floppy green hat sitting haphazardly on her head. The boy was shorter and younger by about four years, putting him at either nine, ten, or eleven. He was also wearing dark-themed clothes, only he had an over-sized aviator jacket on.
Sensing no ill-intent in their actions, Percy let the siblings hug him, albeit he was confused as to why.
"Um, hello?"
The girl looked at him with a proud smile. "I knew you'd be able to turn yourself around after Kingston."
The breath was ripped from Percy's lungs. "M-Mary?"
"It's Bianca di Angelo now, but aye."
Knowing that some of his loved one's from his pasts had found there way to this time, knowing that Christina and Maria were now Hylla and Reyna, Percy looked down at the boy, daring not to hope.
The boy looked up at him, tears marring his face, and in as serious a voice as he could manage, he said the last words Giovanni shared with Virgil before he died in battle.
"Combattiamo insieme, Padre."
Percy completely lost it and crushed his son, sobbing in joy.
"My boy…my boy…"
Nico had his face buried in Percy's chest, his shoulders rocking.
The last time they had made eye contact, Giovanni was being skewered from multiple sides, and then his head had been unceremoniously lopped off and allowed to roll away like refuse, and his body then left to stink up the streets with the rest of the corpses. Saying Virgil hadn't been pleased didn't qualify as being classified as a massive understatement, because the Assassin had subsequently gone into a blind rage, unknowingly being empowered by Lupa herself (which will be a plot point later on), and proceeded to slaughter no less than a thousand men.
Then his body completely ran out of steam and he literally died standing.
While it had been traumatizing enough to wake back up in his body after witnessing that, after looking very strongly forward to seeing his boy in Heaven only to be told by the man in the robe that there was more to be done and so was therefore denied peace, the pain was made all the worse by living another whole 80 years after the fact, so for Percy to be holding his son in his arms again, alive and well and not dead…it was almost more than having his daughters back.
It was honestly very difficult for Percy to determine if holding Giovanni again after his brutal end was more…more…than holding Christina and Maria after seeing them safely off down the Tiber.
As the father and son were reunited across centuries, Lou Ellen wiped a few tears from her eyes alongside Bianca, who was also choking on emotion.
"S-So, um…Mary Read…"
"A-Aye?"
"Were you and Anne Bonny…?" Lou made a pair of scissors out of her fingers, and put them together.
"Is that supposed to mean we were romantically involved?"
"…yes."
"No." Had she not been currently watching the reincarnation of her adopted little brother hugging and crying it out with her current-day biological little brother (who was the reincarnation of her adopted little brother's son), Bianca would've raised a brow and asked why it was thought that two women being friends automatically made them gay for each other.
Chiron kept his silence out of respect, and Dionysus, for his part, wasn't moving.
At all.
His purple eyes weren't even skimming the page of his magazine, as his mind was plagued by other thoughts that were spurned by what was happening at the edge of his peripheral vision.
Percy pulled away so he could his son in the face, and he tried to form words, but all he managed was a warbly smile before he went back in and got another hug.
It was too much for words right now, and he hadn't even gotten to Mary yet.
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Things did eventually cool down, and Percy was able to get the backstory of his family, how they were now Bianca and Nico di Angelo, children of Hades, born from Maria di Angelo back in 1928 and '32 respectively, but after a failed assassination attempt by Zeus, their godly father hid them away in the Lotus Hotel, which left Percy to be kicking himself in his rear.
He had been to the Lotus Hotel, and he had used Eagle Vision to scour the floors in his search for Lou Ellen, Annabeth, Beckendorf, and Grover, and he had seen a handful of colored lights that indicated other half-bloods, among which he noted two black auras, the same color aura that Bianca and Nico now had that overlaid their blue aura, meaning he had seen them already, and not acted on it.
The same old, same old followed, with Percy blaming himself for his failure and the others reassuring him that there was no fault or blame and that he didn't know, etc., etc.
After their story, Percy told his, how he was also Faris Ibn-La'Ahad, Captain Jake Swallow, the state of the Brotherhood today in comparison to the state of the Templars, and how he was also the reincarnation of Cheyenne Cormac and Peter Frye, two names that had no meaning to Bianca or Nico because they belonged to Assassins far beyond their time, but they quickly understood the problem when they were informed that Thalia was the reincarnation of Evie Frye, Peter's big sister, and that the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, Zoё Nightshade, who was currently less than two football fields away, was Cheyenne's fiancé, and most likely was looking to pick up where things left off.
"You know," Bianca said, "I noticed Thalia and Zoё were both antsy before Apollo came and brought us here from Maine, like they were both looking forward to something, but were anxious and nervous about how it was going to go down."
"Yeah, now we know why: Dad was a girl and his girlfriend want to hook back up," Nico grinned.
Percy was less than amused, and it showed on his face, and was felt in the sudden chill in the air. "Boy, do not think yourself above a trip over my knee. I have already reintroduced your little sisters to my discipline, and I will do the same to you."
Nico's eyes lit up. "Christina and Maria are here too? Where?"
"California."
Nico deflated. "Oh."
"But we can go see them shortly enough."
Nico brightened back up.
"Yeah, about that discipline thing," Bianca grinned, "you'll have to get through Big Sis first. Can't have my little brothers hurting each other."
It was in total jest, of course, but Bianca knew the life of Mary Read, who knew only Captain Swallow from ages seven to fifteen. She did not know Virgil Cavaliere, husband, father, and devout Christian, who took his Biblically assigned duties as head of house, protector of family, and chief disciplinarian of his children to ensure respect and an upright life. Bianca trying to intercede the authority he had over his firstborn son was not at all appreciated, and Bianca squirmed under the dead serious look Percy was giving her.
"I love you," he said, voice hard as steel and nearly as cold, "but I only knew you for eight years, and that was a far different life than the one I lived as this one's father for twenty-three years. Do not even joke about my responsibility and authority over him."
What Bianca also didn't know was how much guilt Jake had possessed over not being there for the son he never knew he had and so all that was mixing rather well into a cauldron of not-playing-around-when-it-came-to-Percy's-kids.
"Right," Bianca said quietly, completely and totally caught off-guard. Just because she had died and was more or less watching over Jake for most of the rest of his life, did not mean she had encyclopedic knowledge of Jake. "Sorry."
A conch shell sounded, and Chiron coughed.
"And that would be dinner."
He looked at Percy, eyes full of meaning, asking if he was going to be joining dinner tonight in the face of the others that were present, and Percy honestly wasn't sure he was going to. A small hand touched his knee, and he looked into the eyes of his Nico.
"We're here for you, Dad."
"Well then. Let's go meet your aunt, and someone who was almost your stepmother."
"Yeah, about that: how are you so okay with being a girl and almost getting married to another girl?"
"Son, if you stop and deeply examine our lives right now, you might find being homosexual to be at the bottom of my list of things to have problems with."
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"Goodness, Zoё," Lucy said. "I can feel your heartbeat through the floor."
The daughter of Atlas leveled a scowl at the ancient daughter of Hecate, the whole of Cabin 8 silent and everyone that had been a member of the Hunt before the French Revolution, and even those thereafter that had been told the story, were almost as on-edge as their lieutenant.
Zoё had been fully prepared to leave the Hunt, after 4,000 years of devoted servitude to Artemis, for Cheyenne. That was how much she had fallen in love with the girl, to leave behind an immortal life centuries' long, one full of adventure and merriment, for one of marriage and mortality. Zoё was going to say goodbye probably forever to all of her friends and sisters for Cheyenne, even her goddess, so if that wasn't a testament to Zoё's and Cheyenne's love for each other…
And now, it was apparent that Cheyenne was back, her soul lingering in the body of a fourteen-year-old boy named Percy Jackson, who was within the immediate vicinity.
"I mean, it's like you haven't seen your girlfriend in two hundred years."
"You knew this would happen," Zoё sneered. "You knew I would meet Cheyenne, that we would fall in love and aim for marriage, only for her to die prematurely and then reincarnate decades later as someone almost completely different, and you did nothing to prevent it, you, with all your limitless power."
"You are completely correct," Lucy grinned, purple eyes gleaming manically. "I enjoy some drama, and tonight is certainly going to be dramatic. I strongly advise rushing straight to Percy and shoving your tongue down his throat."
With a growl befitting a grizzly bear, Zoё spun on her heel and stormed from the cabin, her eyes still red from all the crying she had already done.
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Evie Frye, now Thalia Grace, brother of Jason Grace, now Jacob Frye—which they both knew about, but not about Percy being Faris, Virgil, Jake, or Cheyenne, or that Percy didn't remember being Peter yet—wasted no time in sprinting to the reincarnation of her littlest brother as soon as she saw him at the dining pavilion, completely ignoring everything and everyone else.
"Peter!"
With the British accent that came from remembering a lifetime of over 60 years as a Brit, it sounded much less like Thalia had said "Peter," and more like "Petah." However, since I will not be putting forth the effort to accurately write a British accent, you have the distinct pleasure of applying it yourself as you read from this point forward. Enjoy.
Thalia threw her arms around Percy, hugging him almost as tightly as he had hugged Nico minutes previous, and Thalia pretended not to notice Bianca's derisive sniff. The daughter of Zeus pulled back to look Percy in the face, and her she started to feel wrong when she didn't see any kind of recognition or joy in his green eyes.
Only sympathy, embarrassment, and understanding.
"Hello…Evie. Um, this will be awkward, but…I don't have any doubt I'm your brother, but…I don't remember that life yet."
"Oh, well…this is right embarrassing, yeah."
"Little bit, aye."
Now Thalia didn't know what to do with herself. With the way she and Jacob had treated Peter, the way they had used him as an outlet for their frustrations at each other, as a tool for their amusement, ostracizing him to the point that he went running to the welcoming arms of that Ned Wynert and became a totally different person, and the way he had died….Oh, the way he had died…Thalia had a whole speech prepared, was ready to get down on her knees and beg forgiveness and offer up anything in atonement for what she had done.
But if Peter didn't remember anything, then not only would it not be appropriate, but it wouldn't make any sense to him what she was doing, and apologizing preliminarily would totally destroy the meaning behind her actions.
You didn't apologize for something before you did it, which was what Thalia would essentially be doing before Percy remembered being Peter, so she just settled for a thing smile and tried to move on.
"It's fantastic to see you again, Peter."
"Likewise, ah, Evie. Is the new life treating you well?"
"Not really."
"Well, let's discuss it over dinner. We have much to talk about."
And during the whole course of dinner, in which Table 3 was occupied by Percy, Lou Ellen, Kira, Bianca, Nico, and Thalia, which drew the attention of all the dining pavilion, Percy was acutely aware of the Huntress staring intently at him the whole time, and he knew that their own time was fast approaching.
Chiron eventually called for the honorary CTF game between the camp and the Hunt, and during all the ensuing hullabaloo, Percy and Zoё were able to finally meet face to face in a small clearing, the full moon slightly obscured by clouds.
"Zoё Nightshade," Percy greeted.
He could practically feel Cheyenne clawing away at his memory at the very moment. His mind was being filled with the desire to go running into the immortal's arms, kiss her until he couldn't breathe, and go running away with her to the horizon.
Strangely enough, he also wanted to drink from Zoё's breast, which definitely merited some questions.
"Chey…ercy Jackson," Zoё said, almost saying "Cheyenne" but catching herself midway to lamely transition into the back half of "Percy."
Zoё had been restraining herself ever since she had been shown the magic video from the St. Louis Arch to not go running to the boy before and make sure for herself that he wasn't the reincarnation of Cheyenne, but now she was certain of it. She could feel her girl's presence in Percy, roiling and rumbling, causing turmoil and trouble. It made her heart ache that she was doing this to Percy, her Cheyenne, and she had been following him closely as she could with various magics, and so she knew very well that he was other people, and that those other people were alive again and back in his life.
It was hurting her on the inside in more ways than words could describe how much she hated the pain her mere presence was causing her Cheyenne, but instead of leaving and letting peace return, she stayed.
She stayed because, arguably selfishly, she wanted her Cheyenne back and was willing to go to great lengths to do that.
"I…I still have our rings." Zoё reached down her parka and produced the chain that had been around her neck for two hundred years, the golden rings still on it and clinking quietly together. "I can put yours back on for you, if-if you want."
And Percy actually lurched forward, his eyes going wide and his mouth opening slightly, his hand already reaching out, but he stopped himself as consciousness came back from its temporary vacation.
"Zoё, I…I don't know how to say this but…I don't…I don't remember…all of it…our time together, I mean. Just bits and pieces, and-and I'm not just Cheyenne anymore, I'm…I'm a warrior, an Assassin, a husband, a father…what we have-had-have-has-had," Percy stumbled over the correct term, and he cleared his throat, his body trembling and practically sweating adrenaline he was so racked with nervousness and apprehension.
Zoё was much the same in the physical sense, though she could feel her heart cracking.
"I don't know…I'm not sure we can…I don't remember so….Oh, God, this is-"
Percy had never felt this way before, and he was honestly shell-shocked, and for once, after three lives of varying wit and sarcasm, didn't know what to say. Even after his tearful reunion with Maria and Giovanni, his body still had enough water in it to get tears to start leaking back down his cheeks.
Tears of frustration and sadness.
Zoё could just feel the reason behind those tears, she it was making her cry, too.
And with a heart beating to a frantic march of war, the Huntress employed her nuclear option: she strode forward and mashed her lips against Percy's, and while she didn't shove her tongue down his throat, she did certainly dominate his mouth with it, just like she did with Cheyenne many time.
And right off the bat did Zoё detect something was wrong, because Percy started to violently convulse in her arms, biting her tongue, making her recoil and firmly grab him.
"Percy? Cheyenne? Cheyenne!"
Millennia of experience suddenly went rocketing out of the window in the face of the ensuing panic that swallowed Zoё up at her lover having a seizure.
"Help!" she cried. "HELP!"
A blast of purple light struck Percy's back, and he went completely limp, eyes rolling to the back of his head, foam leaking from the corners of his mouth.
Zoё looked to the direction of the spell, and didn't know what to think of the grinning Lucy whose body was slowly fading away to the point she was no longer visible, her chuckle echoing through the woods, along with her parting words.
"Be careful what you wish for, Nightshade. You're getting it now…"
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Yep, that's how the Fourth Life begins. Zoё French-kissing Percy, the final trigger necessary for a total memory collapse, which caused Percy to completely flip out and probably break his own neck had Lucy not paralyzed, knocked-out, and stabilized him.
Now, my ultimate goal is to finish the Fourth Life before Christmas, and if there's enough time, do the Titan's Curse introducing Rachel Elizabeth Dare as the reincarnation of Arno, on top of all the madness brought along with Bianca, Nico, Thalia, and Zoё.
Will the Fourth Life be as long as the Third Life? God, I hope not. However, the Fourth Life is all about Cheyenne and Zoё falling in love, so that has to be done believably. There's also Cheyenne loving Arno, and Arno loving Elise, and that triangle of drama to cover, not to mention the relationship building, and all the rising action to Cheyenne's death and what's revealed after that sends both Arno and Zoё into such a monstrous fit that they slaughter the Parisian Brotherhood, which is directly responsible for the eventual standing of the modern-day Templars.
So, there's a lot to cover, but a big playground to utilize.
I'm talking about the co-op missions, thief missions, and murder missions, of course. There's nothing more bonding than life, death, and intrigue. The main plot of Unity's pretty good for character and relationship development too, with Arno being a rebel, and Cheyenne basically being a prisoner.
Lot's fun is coming, I know that for certain.
Until we get there: Fav, Follow, and Review please!
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Arno Dorian was a bit nervous about this, his first real field mission as an Assassin. He was told he had all the training he could be given, with his learning curve and natural ability propelling him through the programs. He had been given a basic outfit months ago, but he had long since made alterations to it that suited his style, like a sharper hood and longer coattails.
However, a sleeker outfit didn't calm his nerves.
It was October 5, 1789, and the economy of France was in such a mess that such a commodity like bread was now triple the price, and now a woman by the name of Théroigne de Méricourt was organizing a march of working women straight to Versailles in order to rectify this. Sounded easy enough, but with intel that the Templars were involved, out for royal blood, things got much more complicated.
Arno climbed to the top of the roof of the designated meeting point he and the other Assassins assigned to this mission were told to meet on, and he was confused as to why there was only one other Assassin.
It was impossible to tell what their gender was with the black, leather coat they were wearing, and the fact that their back was turned to him, but Arno took the time to take in the sight of who he was working with.
As he said, they were wearing a black coat made of leather, metal studs running along inner seem of the coattails. Arno saw the handles of two pistols that he really wanted, but didn't have the money for yet, the eight-barreled gold-plated pistols, indicating that this Assassin had some money, or had stolen them. Either was likely. Crouched as they were, Arno was able to their legs, more specifically the tough boots they had on, the left one having a flintlock tucked into an outer holster, while the inner side had a couple of pouches buckled on, and the right boot was the same. The belt on their waist also had pouches to it, larger ones.
On this Assassin's back was the shortest rifle Arno had ever seen.
The Assassin stood and turned to face Arno, and where their lower face was hidden by a bandana, their striking green eyes were quite visible. Now seeing the front, Arno saw the coat had five metal studs running down the sternum, and five buckles on either side of the ribcage. The leather hood they wore looked like an improved version Arno had taken his handmade leather hood to the tailors, and on each arm was a brown gauntlet that had a metal plate running along the top.
The fact that this Assassin had two Hidden Blades indicated they were a Master, as opposed to him, still ranked as a Novice.
"Arno Dorian?" they asked, their voice muffled by the mask.
"Yes. Where is the rest of the team."
"Just you and I today."
Arno's heart skipped a beat. "Just two Assassins for an operation this large?"
"What don't think we can handle it?"
"I don't even know you."
"Well, survive the mission, and you'll find out."
With that, the Assassin, dressed like some kind of prowler, leapt off the roof and down to the ground. With no other presented option, Arno followed, and the mission was under way.
Arno quickly learned that this Assassin took the Creed very liberally, in that they had no problems exposing themselves to engage in a fire fight against the Templar-backed Extremists, using their pistols to gun everyone down in a breath-taking display of accuracy and skill.
Arno contributed as much as he could, though with the pace his superior was setting, he was serving more as a watchman than anything else.
They eventually made their way to Parisian gates that led to the world beyond, and Arno superior gave him the task of clearing out the right tower, while they took care of the left. It took him a few minutes and most of his munitions—due to the limited space of his pouches only allowing for a few tools—but he managed, all without getting detected, too.
After the towers came probably the hardest part: disabling the cannons the Extremists had set up.
Arno and the other Assassin stood atop the roof closest to the first cannon, nestled in a yard, and surrounded by the red-clad Extremists.
"There's too many to engage in a direct fight," Arno stated. "And I'm low on smoke bombs and stun grenades, and a single-shot pistol isn't going to help much."
The Assassin snorted. "That's why I bring this."
They pulled the rifle from their back, and since it was in a holster, Arno didn't see the attachment it had mounted under the barrel until now. "What is that?"
"Grenade launcher."
The Assassin pumped the weapon and Arno just barely saw an object like a large acorn go flying up and out, and go right down in the midst of the Extremists, blowing them all to kingdom come with a crack like thunder. Arno's jaw fell open.
"When…whe-when do I get one of those…?"
"Never."
"Never?"
"Never."
"Why not?"
The Assassin shrugged. "Not enough of a badass."
"Not enough of a—I'll have you know that I'm plenty of a badass!"
The Assassin looked at him, green eyes sparkling. "Really? Here you go then."
They handed Arno the rifle, and he suddenly forgot how to function.
"Uh, let's see…"
And he promptly accidentally triggered the grenade launched, sending an explosive round into the next house, blowing it halfway up. He stared at the damage, and then winced when he heard the creaking and winced even harder when the whole structure collapsed. He promptly shoved the rifle back into the Assassin's hands.
"See? Not enough of a badass."
With that, the pair killed the rest of the Extremists and disabled the cannons they brought, thus ensuring a peaceful, Templar-free women's march.
"Well, I survived the mission," Arno said. "Do I get to know who you are now?"
"Yep."
The Assassin pulled down their hood and mask, allowing her neck-length black hair to go free. Arno was left stunned; after all he had just seen this Assassin do, shooting and killing in a manner almost as if they were enjoying the carnage, their reveal as a woman—a young woman, arguably a still a girl—was shocking. Not to mention, she was gorgeous.
Sparkling green eyes, teeth that were actually straight and white, a wonderful tan and blemishless complexion.
"My name is Cheyenne Cormac."
And unbeknownst to them, they were being watched. One party, an immortal archer on the hunt for another immortal archer, now finding herself drawn to the green-eyed girl, and the other party also an immortal archer, one with mechanical eyes and a penchant for killing women of strength.
The latter had arrived in Paris for Méricourt, but was now going to be staying for Cheyenne, and the former archer knew this as well, and so she was also going to be staying for Cheyenne.
And unbeknownst to everyone there, there was a purple-eyed witch girl grinning in anticipation at the potential Blood Goddess before her.
"And here. We. Go~."