A/N: Hooray, a new chapter and only one week since the first chapter.

Chapter Two: Travelling.

As I stared at the slowly fading golden dust, the only thing that remained of the monster who had stolen any semblance of normality that I may have had in this new life of mine, I thought about everything that I had learned in the past few minutes.

I was a Demigod, but not just any regular Demigod I was born to the God of the Underworld, Hades. It was clear to me that the Cyclops had been attracted to my scent, something every Demigod gives off, what's more, is the fact that as I was a son of one of the Big Three, my scent was stronger than most Demigods, this was the reason the Cyclops had found me now as opposed to in a few years.

Annoyingly, from what I remember from the books, a Demigod's scent drastically increased when they find out what they are, which was not great for me. Brian, while from everything that I had seen of him was a wanker, he was nowhere near the level of Smelly Gabe, being able to hide Percy with his scent.

Although the question of what to do now was a tough one, Obviously the simple answer would be 'Get to Camp' the only possible safe place for Demigods barring Olympus itself. However, the simple answer was also maddeningly complex for three simple reasons.

The first is that I live in London, somewhere that is on a completely separate continent from the Camp. Second, I am a son of Hades and so absolutely MUST NEVER fly. Lastly, as the son of Hades, I absolutely MUST NEVER cross the ocean.

In the original books, Percy was only allowed to fly under extreme circumstances, while doing tasks for the gods. Percy was the son of Poseidon, and if you think Zeus hated Poseidon that's nothing compared to his hate boner for my new father. While Poseidon might be slightly more friendly and "may", and I cannot stress those air quotes hard enough, allow me to pass over the sea unscathed.

There is only one downside to that option but it is a very big downside, in the books it was often stated that Poseidon was like the ocean personified, it would be very easy for him to change his decision on a dime and drown me, and it was that very unpredictability that prevented me from seeking him out in the first place.

There were of course two other options, the first being Shadow Travel, and the second being Daedelus's Labyrinth, a place that I would rather die the most painful death imaginable than step foot in.

It was clear to me that as a young Demigod. I HAD to reach Camp, not only did I not have any semblance of control over my abilities, but I also did not have a weapon that was capable of killing the creatures that would come after me, the spear that had stabbed the Cyclops had also disappeared, having completed its job. Thus the only way forward that is safe would be to Shadow Travel, the ability that Nico, the other Son of Hades had shown.

But of course, nothing is ever as easy as it seems, the first time Nico even showed the ability to use Shadow travel was in the last book of the First series. It would take me months, if not years of Dedicated training to be capable of the ability, time in which I would be alone, an easy kill for the monsters that chased after Demigods, the only thing I am thankful for is that most of the monsters should be in America.

What was clear, is the fact that no matter how I got to the Camp, I needed to leave, now. Not only did the house look like a sadistic murder scene but also because of the Neighbours, the Mist would have ensured that the truth of what happened here would be kept, but the gods only know what they heard instead, but I imagine it wasn't too far off what I just described.

So, knowing I probably did not have long before the police arrived, I rushed upstairs and grabbed the biggest suitcase I could find and stuffed about a week's worth of clothing into it. I rushed back downstairs and emptied the pantry and fridge of any non-perishables, knowing that it would be a very long time indeed, before I would be capable of Shadow Travel.

The last thing I do is walk up to the counter where both Brian and my mother had placed their wallets. I had no idea as to what any of the PIN numbers for their cards would be, so I only took any cash I could find, totalling up to around 400 pounds, not a lot, but certainly enough to help me survive, with nothing left to do I grabbed my suitcase and tiptoed around the bodies of Brian and my mother.

It might be cold-hearted of me to not offer a prayer to my father, the Lord of the Dead, for their souls. But I was almost certain that my mother would not need it, she had been loved by the man after all, and as for Brian, well he was a stranger to me. And so I was out of the door and up the street in seconds, hoping that no one had seen me leave and that if they had, then all they saw was a shadowy figure escaping the scene.

One might wonder as to why I did not take the car, it would certainly be faster and although I did not have any form of driving licence in this life, as certainly still knew how to do it. The answer to that is twofold, the first being that any police arriving at the scene would see the bodies and stolen cash and assume a break-in gone wrong, Add in a missing car and the police would certainly do anything in their power to track it down.

The second is more practical, that I was an eight-year-old kid and even if I was somehow tall enough to reach the pedals, I would almost certainly be pulled over within minutes of entering traffic.

So my only option was to leave the area as quickly as possible and get on board some sort of public transportation system, thankfully it appeared that the train station was quite close to my house. I would board a train going as far from London as I could, out into the British countryside.

My current plan was to get out into the countryside and the. Even further into some of the more wild forests. What I needed was a safe place I could freely practice my powers and a way to keep myself fed and watered, while 400 pounds was decent, I knew that both the food I had taken and the money I had would be nowhere near enough to last me until I managed to Lear how to Shadow Travel.

Thus there were two options presented to me, first that I would wander the countryside and steal from local grocery shops and the like, or I could live off of the land, hunting wild animals and eating fruit that I would find.

While the first option appeared safer, it truly wasn't, not only was there a possibility of getting caught but also any amount of food that I needed to steal would eventually get the police's attention, which was truly the worst possibility. I hadn't simply popped out of the air, this body of mine had existed long before I took over, there would be records of me, and I really didn't want to answer any of the polices questions about what happened to mum and Brian, and why I ran away.

It didn't take me long to get to the train station, a little more than 10 minutes, thankfully I had not seen a single patrol vehicle and neither was I stopped by any well-meaning passerbys. There wasn't much to say about the station, it was nowhere near as big or grand as Kings Cross and nowhere near as clean, despite living in a nice part of London it appeared that train station litter existed everywhere.

Walking up to the ticket master, I asked, "One ticket to Avebury, please", Surprisingly without batting an eye the man hands me a ticket and I am allowed to move onwards. Not that k don't appreciate the promptness, but I was rather surprised at his lack of questions, it made me wonder how many other 8-year-olds had managed to run away from home due to the lack of care that man showed.

It only took another 5 minutes before I was on the train and leaving the station, London and my past behind me.

It would only be another minute or so before I too left the train and entered the realm of Morpheus.

I woke to the shaking of my shoulder, it took me a minute to properly acclimate to my surroundings and when I did, I was not happy. I knew that this might possibly happen, I could tell just by looking outside that I had made it, something that I was glad about however the reason that despite that, I was unhappy, was due to the young policeman standing above me.

"Hello there little boy, may I ask where your parents are?" he questioned me.

Internally I groaned, this was a question that I was probably going to get a lot and it was not one that I particularly wanted to answer, especially not to a Cop. I was just thankful for the fact that I was a small child as opposed to a hardened criminal as the Cop, obviously not scared of a child, had not blocked my escape. I knew that I could not let him catch me, there would be too many questions and far too few answers.

So I did the most obvious thing and booked it out of the exit, now obviously there were two problems with this. The first being that I was a small child and would not be able to outrun a fully grown adult, The second being that the moment that I did run I had no idea of where to go.

So the moment I got out of the train station and fresh air and daylight hit my face, I chose a random direction and sprinted towards it as quick as I could. I could hear the policeman chasing after me, but it was too late. I had already made several turns and had in fact made it back towards the train station, a direction that I knew he would not think to look until it was too late.

So with no cop on my heels and a new town to explore I chose a random direction that went in the opposite direction of the one that I had led the cop on, I started moving forward.

The town was actually quite a bit bigger than I had originally thought when I wanted to escape London and go to a small town. I was originally picturing something that would be so small that I would be able to stand on a hill and see the entirety of it, end to end. But no the town was much larger than that, of course nowhere near even half the size of London. But it was still big enough to have its own CBD, several schools for different ages and several emergency services such as Hospital, Fire Station and Police Office, obviously, I stayed away from the Police Office.

As I was roaming around, I stopped at a lot of local places to get food or a drink, Some would like I had believed, asked me where my parents were, while others didn't seem to care much about a lone 8 year old, something I was infinitely thankful for. Eventually, I reached the CBD and looked around at all of the shops, looking for one that would suit my needs, it wasn't long before I found one.

Outside the store, I saw the words B.F.C, Boating, Fishing, Camping. Perfect, just the kind of store I was looking for, I knew that if I had any hope in surviving in the Wilderness then I would need some essential equipment, like a tent or a gas cooker, things that would make my life a lot easier in the wild.

Entering the shop, I take a look around. All around me is camping gear, ranging from Tents to Fishing poles, some of the equipment here was pretty expensive, and it made me worried if my 400 pounds would even be enough.

Of all the things that I was thankful for, being 8 years old was not one that I thought that I would be grateful for, looking at some of the pricier tents with their larger space. Certainly, I wanted to camp in style and comfort and the biggest tent would be nice, but the biggest tent was also way over my total, and that was just the tent.

It was then that a voice interrupted my thoughts with a question that I had long since grown to hate, "Hello there young man, where are your parents?"

I turned to face the voice, standing there before me with an inquisitive look on her face was a young woman, obviously an employee of the store that I was in judging by its logo on the front of her shirt. Trying to project as much childlike innocence as I could, something that was far harder to do when on the inside you are a cynical 25-year-old man, I said "They will be along, they sent me here to get some things for them". Reaching out my hand to show her the money that I had, hoping that she would believe me.

"I see ..." she said, making it quite clear that while she may, believe me, there was no way in hell that she was going to let me- "Well, why don't we just wait for your parents here then?"

Yup, I knew that was coming.

Now then, this was a problem that I hadn't considered in my rush to leave, no one was going to sell a little kid any camping equipment, at least nothing a parent behind them. From a logical point of view, It made perfect sense: why would anyone would sell an 8-year-old kid a fuel-based cooktop. But right now I cursed people's common sense, why in the hell could they not just simply mind their own business, it certainly wasn't their problem.

At this point, the only thing that my money could get me was some food, and even then I couldn't just walk into a grocery store and walk out with a trolley's worth of supplies without anyone asking any questions, ones I did not have a proper answer to.

It appeared that I sadly had to do the one thing I did not want to do, steal, what's even worse is the fact that the total amount of money, in goods that I would need to steal would almost certainly catch the polices eye. Shit. With time and practice, my powers could replace my need for a few of these things, but I had neither, the only way this could get worse was if I had a monster chasing me.

Seeing no way that this could work. Before the lady could even object, I had already booked it out of the store and around the street.

I hated the fact that the Cyclops had reduced me to this, a little kid forced to run from the world itself because no one would ever possibly believe me. In order to survive, I had to steal and despite my dislike of thieves, I would do whatever it took to survive.

I had never stolen anything before. I had never needed to steal, something that I had been thankful for before but now I cursed my past self. I was quite lucky, from what I had seen in the store, there were no security cameras at all. The store was very old school, I guess it makes sense, a small town in the middle of nowhere likely doesn't get many thieves.

With nothing left to do, I decided that I would wander about until the moon rose, I knew that in order for this to ever work, I would need to be shrouded in darkness. I could not risk getting caught by being cocky. So I waited, I watched as the sun went down behind the hills, I watched as the moon rose, shining everything in its otherworldly light, and at last as the moon rose to its apex I made my way back to the store.

Now, I wasn't a master thief back in my previous life, in fact, the closest I had gotten to it was looking up how to pick a lock on YouTube the one time I had forgotten my keys, not that it had worked. But if there was something I was thankful for it would be the fact that I was in 2002. Very few businesses had the level of security that they would in the distant future.

Something I was even more thankful for was my enhanced Demigod physique, because of it I was able to simply break the lock by pulling on the door. Of course, my feats didn't even come close to what the legendary Demigod Heracles could do, but it was enough to get in.

I entered the shop, it now looked vastly different in the night, I had no idea if the police did regular checks or if the owner would come back later on in the night. So I decided that I would need to be quick, get in, get the equipment I needed and go.

It did not take long for me to consider that as I was stealing equipment from this store anyway, I decided to ditch my original Idea of only getting what I needed and instead stealing what looked like the most expensive and best version of the items that I needed.

Setting the tent that I was originally considering down, I instead decided to pick an absolute monstrosity of a tent. This one had four separate bedrooms and a hallway, what was even better was the fact that when it was all compacted down and rolled up, it really wasn't that much bigger or heavier than the tent that I had been thinking about.

Likewise, I decided to do the same for every other piece of equipment that I needed, a little gas stove was switched for one that would last five times as long, and the little flashlight that I had in my hand was swapped for one that was much more powerful and would last far longer. Not only did I decide to go bigger and better, but I had also decided to include some things that would have been outside of my original budget of 400 pounds, like a blow-up mattress or a fishing rod, hooks and bait.

After packing up everything I needed and some things that would be nice to have, I quietly left through the entrance and by the time anyone would realise what had happened I would be gone.

Knowing that I needed to leave sooner rather than later, I turned to face the road leading me further from London and proceeded to start walking down it.

It was an odd feeling, walking down the road with nothing to illuminate my way than the light of the moon, though she probably hates my guts for being male. It was not the first time I had ever been to the great outdoors, but it was perhaps the most jarring transition I had ever had, I had never been on the run before, from either the cops or from monsters who should have faded Millenia ago.

While I walked, placing one foot in front of the other, I realised that it was only now that I was allowed the peace to truly take in everything that had happened to me. The moment that the Cyclops had entered the room, my Demigod instincts had taken over and from then on I was in a near-constant state of fight or flight, from having to escape the police to planning and executing a heist.

In fact, it was as I was contemplating this, that I realised why I was feeling peaceful now and not early in the town, when I was alone, it was the darkness. It made sense, of course, one of my father's many abilities was control over shadows and darkness. Truly, I was in my element, however, it also gave me an idea, that with my connection to my father's realms seemingly heightened in the darkness, might my control over my powers also be heightened.

Not only that, but despite it being at least 10 PM, I did not feel the slightest bit tired. More than likely because being in my father's domains energised me in much the same way as when Percy is dipped in water, though likely without the healing factor.

If so, then it seemed that I was destined to become a nocturnal creature. Something that suited me just fine, even when I wasn't a Demigod as I had always preferred the night, there was something so ... loud about the day, though that is probably not a thought I should have in a world where the sun is literally a personified god capable of roasting me alive with but a thought.

Thinking about the gods I wondered if any of them knew who or what I even was, I had certainly had a few thoughts about them, though I was not so brazen as to speak those aloud, names had power after all. I hoped that my thoughts had not reached them, I was however quite thankful to them however if it turned out my thoughts had reached them and they had not chosen to inform my uncle. It was a beautifully clear night tonight, and if my uncle had been informed of my existence then I knew that his rage would shatter this quiet serenity of mine.

However that also brought me to something else that had been nagging at me, my father would have known the moment my mother had died, yet it was also clear that somehow whatever had brought me here was far more powerful than the gods. If Hades even suspected that I had replaced his son, I knew that I would likely be already dead by now.

By now, my father would have known that I had amnesia and would not remember a thing, but also that I was facing a Cyclops and as he had not received my soul, he would assume, rightly, that I had won.

Thinking on my mother, it was only now, so far away from the battle that I realised the tragedy of it all, almost as if Shakespeare himself had written it. A mother of a Demigod who loved her son very much said son gets into an accident and loses all of his memories, on the very same day a total stranger walks in the body of her son, only to look on in horror as she is killed right before his eyes.

Shaking my head to try and get out of the melancholic mood I had created for myself, I turn my thoughts more towards the universe. This thought had been going through my mind for a while now, but it was clear to me that this was not the main timeline of Percy Jackson. There was a simple reason as to why I thought this, Me.

In the original canon, I had not existed. In fact, one of the things that I had liked about the Hades of canon, was the fact that despite being characterised by others as evil or power-hungry, he was the only one who kept to his oath. Even now I wonder what it was that caused my father to have a Demigod child, one who he knew may be subjected to the great prophecy.

When I get to the camp I have a feeling that even if I managed to make it there until Percy had returned the Master Bolt to my uncle and informed him of our Grandfathers plans, I would remain unclaimed, Being forced to take refuge in cabin eleven with every other Unclaimed Demigod. Something I knew would grate on me, especially with having to keep my own stuff safe in a cabin of thieves, yet if it spared me from being struck down by my uncle in a fit of rage at having broken the vow that he had already broken earlier.

I don't know how long I had been walking with nothing to accompany me but my thoughts and the moonlight, but by the time I took my first break my feet were aching. It was an annoyance, in my previous life I had never been that athletic, but I knew that this was good for me, In this new world of mine complacency would get me killed.

Even if I focused all of my training on Magic or ranged weaponry there would always come a situation where I needed to get physical, being fit and prepared would keep me alive.

Stepping off of the road and reaching a lone tree standing in an empty field, I lay my back against the tree and simply relaxed, allowing myself to catch a break. I decided that while I was stationary now might be a good time to practice with my powers.

Closing my eyes and focusing on my powers, I tried to reach for that primal feeling that I had felt when I fought the Cyclops. I felt it, it was an odd feeling like there was a burning in my chest and a rush of power sweeping through my body.

Keeping my eyes closed, I raised my hands and concentrated on what I wanted to happen. Imagining the spear of bone that I had managed to create in my desperation to survive, appearing without my grasp. Suddenly, I felt a large draw on the energy that permeated my body, my body started shaking as I felt weak, I was glad that I was sitting down already as I imagine that I would have fallen to the ground anyway.

I opened my eyes and there it was, the same spear that I had used to slay the Cyclops in the palm of my hand. Using my other hand I wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on my brow, that certainly took more out of me than I was expecting.

While I didn't know the exact reason as to why I hypothesised that the reason that it took so little the first time that I had done so was due to the battle instincts ingrained in my blood. It was not that when I fought the cyclops, summoning the spear was easier, but rather that I had done it more efficiently. When I summoned the spear now, I could feel a massive loss of energy in trying to summon it, as opposed to when I faced the Cyclops where in that state of hyper-awareness there was almost none.

As I slowly felt the weapon made of bone that I had managed to summon for a second time, it was easy even to the untrained eye that there were also many physical differences. It felt brittle as if a single blow would shatter it into pieces, the head was also nowhere near as sharp and the most notable of all was the colouring. The previous Spear that I had summoned was an almost pristine white, more along the lines of marble than actual bone, this one however had none of its lustre.

Knowing now that while I had intended to recreate the weapon that had granted me victory over the Cyclops, the one that I had created could only be called a pale imitation, I allowed the weapon to slip from my grasp and almost silently be absorbed by the earth.

Wanting to get some of the energy that I had expended back, I took out a can of cola and some snacks. I had had enough practice for now and I would do exactly what I had wanted to do when I first stopped and took a small rest, one that I knew would not last.

About 20 minutes later I knew that sadly while not being back at 100%, I knew I had to keep moving, if I stayed sitting here then there was a genuine chance that I would fall asleep here. Not something I wanted when I was trying my best to evade local law enforcement and anyone else. So with a curse I got back on my feet and started to slowly trudge forward.

I just wish that it wasn't so boring, or that at least Bluetooth headphones had been invented and I had some decent music.

After countless hours I eventually came to a place where the road turned in order to avoid going through a large forest. I had no idea how big it was but from what little I could see the forest encompassed nearly my entire vision. With the only other thing being the road veering off in another direction.

I knew that the forest was the kind of place I was looking for, divorced from any form of civilization. But I also knew that I needed someplace to rest as despite the boundless energy the darkness was filling me with, I knew that the moment the sunlight hit me I would be in for a world of pain, and so I entered the forest.

Almost immediately I was taken aback as it was a lot darker in the forest, the moonlight being forcefully scattered by the leaves on the trees surrounding me. It took all of my concentration to not trip over a root or be hit by a branch as I continued forward, one foot in front of the other, heading deeper and deeper into the forest, sadly it appeared that even though I was strengthened in the darkness, Night vision was not one of the powers that I would inherit from my father.

I continued on for what felt like hours until I could see with my limited vision that the tree line was breaking, as I took that last step forward and moved past the last tree I was greeted by a sight that stopped me in my tracks. The most majestic sight stood proudly before me.

A massive clearing in front of me, completely hidden by all of the trees and foliage. The clearing ended at an embankment where a decently sized waterfall hit a river that split the clearing in half. Spread throughout the clearing, dotted around were massive trees, larger than any I had seen in either of my lives and all of it bathed in the cool moonlight, giving it an otherworldly ethereal beauty.

I don't know quite what it was but everything seemed to have this energy about it, everything here was just so alive, even during the cold night. Despite the fact that it was night, there were still a lot of critters scurrying about the forest, some drinking from the ever-flowing river, it was honestly one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. As if God himself had ripped a part of the Garden of Eden and transplanted it onto Earth.

Which, while a crazy thought and something that was almost certainly not true, was not something that was impossible in this world, though It did make me wonder exactly which god it was that appeared to have my back. Surprising as I was the son of the god of Death, but then I suppose that nature was the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

But this, this was exactly what I needed a place where I would leave civilization behind, where I would spend the rest of my time growing stronger, the place where I could use my powers free from the constraints of civilization.

It was here that I would be free, that I would grow stronger and it was here that my legend began.

A/N:

Well now, our new Demigod is certainly in a pickle.

Trapped on a separate continent from the Camp, Can't fly, because Zeus would strike him down, Can't take a boat because Poseidon would drag it down into the deep dark depths of the ocean.

Dearie Dearie me, this is certainly a pickle, oh well at least he has found a new place to call home, my what a journey that was getting here.

Don't expect the next chapter to happen anytime soon, These two chapters were the only ones that I had planned out properly before starting the story.