Chapter, 7 Understanding Power
Percy felt cold. It wasn't because he almost died. And not just because he just took off his hoodie. It was because his friend was just claimed by a Fate. It shouldn't be possible for him to be the son of Atropos, Percy had met Tom's mom before she left for Egypt. He knew that Tom's Godly parent was his father. Tom had even told him that Grandpa Rami said that Tom's Godly parent was his father.
And how had he killed Medusa just by holding his hand up towards her? Nothing was making any sense. What powers would a son of the Fate of Death even have?
Percy let out a sigh at how complicated the whole situation was.
"Hey Percy, come over here and help me lift Tom up, he's out cold." Luke requested as he reached the collapsed body of their friend. Percy shook himself out of his funk as he bundled up Medusa's head with his hoodie, making sure not to look into its dead eyes, and put the hidden head upon the bench before helping lift Tom up onto one of the chairs near where they ate.
As Percy was helping Luke he noticed that Grover had frozen at the sight of the symbol that appeared when Tom was claimed and had not moved since.
"Grover! Snap out of it dude." Percy spoke with a smile as he slapped Grover upside the back of his head.
"Ow!" Grover exclaimed as he spun around and looked at his friends. Percy saw something in Grovers eyes when they landed upon Tom's sleeping form.
It looked like mistrust.
This frustrated Percy as someone who also has been viewed with distrust by others due to his parentage. However Percy knew that Tom would rather settle any problems others had with him by himself then allow others to do it for him.
Percy turned to Luke, "Has there ever been another Demigod claimed by Atropos or is Tom the first?" He asked curiously. Luke adopted a raised eyebrow as he pondered the question.
"There was one that I know of, about 30 something years ago, a Demigoddess of Atropos by the name of Samantha Lee." Luke started, "I'm not sure what happened to her though, she left camp one day and Chiron said he ever saw her again."
Percy hid his look of recognition at the name and started putting two and two together to get 4.
Tom's mothers name is Samantha Lee-Badawi as he had refused to give up her old name but accepted the last name Tom's father had given himself.
Tom wasn't the son of Atropos, he was the grandson of Atropos.
Deciding to bring this up with Tom when he wakes up, Percy and Luke started to set up camp in the warehouse and search it for supplies.
Throne Room, Olympus ~
Apollo was shocked. The Fates had hidden this boy from his sight for far too long, only for them to reveal him as a son of the Fate of Death herself. The strongest Fate had only had one one other child nearly 30 years ago. Apollo quickly spun from watching the Iris Message following the quest of Poseidon's son to watch his fathers face slowly redden with rage and paranoia.
Thunder rumbled in the Heavens as its Lord grew angry and raised his hand. Apollo jumped to his feet having foreseen what his father was about to do.
"Stop Zeus! You cannot strike this boy down! I will not allow it!" Apollo exclaimed as he summoned his Sacred Weapon into his hands and started to glow with the power of the Sun itself. Zeus paused as the rest of the council swiveled to stare at him as well.
"And why not Apollo? Why should I not smite the son of Destined Death right now? He is dangerous, if he gains power he could even kill us!" The Lord of Thunder, well, thundered at the God of Medicine. Apollo responded as the heat in the room started to rise with his anger.
"Do you remember what happened when you threatened Samantha Lee Zeus? If you continue down this path of endangerment to Thomas Badawi then the Fates will come for you!" Apollo yelled out at his father as Aphrodite and Dionysus were forced to shrink in their thrones by the power being outputted by the raging God of the Sun.
Before Zeus could retort the Throne Room started to shake as shadows drew short and the large solid Celestial Bronze doors were thrown open. In walked a single elderly woman. Standing at about 5'4 with unsettlingly gray hair and eyes and looking to be in her late 50s, early 60s, was the strongest Fate herself, Atropos the Fate of Death.
"What's this I hear of the Almighty Thunder God threatening my grandson?" The Fate of Death hissed out in anger, her gray eyes never leaving the form of the King of Olympus even as whispers spread about that fact of Thomas Badawi being the grandson of Destined Death.
"Grandson?!" Zeus yelled out in shock, in an obvious attempt to change the topic as a light fear spread into his eyes. Artopos stalked forwards as a gray mist surrounded her right hand, slowly forming the Sacred Shears of Fate.
"That is what I said Thunder God, now are you threatening my grandson!" The Inflexible One asked yet again as her grip on the Shears of Fate grew tighter. Zeus gulped as he realized the extent of what his paranoia could have caused. In an effort to backpedal out of what his paranoia put him head first into, Zeus spoke.
"I am merely worried he may realize his power and turn against our reign." Zeus responded with confidence to which Apollo snorted at having detected the lie. Atropos dismissed her Symbol of Power and folded her arm behind her as she eyed Zeus with disdain, to Apollo it seemed like she was weighing the odds of cutting his Life String then and there.
"It is nearly impossible for the boy to inherit that much of my power, his fathers blood won't allow it." Destined Death let that statement sink in before continuing, "You should be more worried about my daughter if she hears that you would dare even think about harming her precious son."
"His father? He's not just a legacy?!" Athena chimed in, desperate for knowledge on a Demigod she knew nothing about. "Who is his father?"
"I will not tell you." Atropos said simply, "However, I will leave you with a warning. Do not anger Thomas' father. In his rage he would crush Olympus into sand and bathe in the golden ichor of the Gods and only grow stronger for it."
The Fate of Death left with one last ominous statement, "My grandson's father is already stronger than the Big Three combined." Then she vanished, as if she was a ghost or rather she was simply never there.
Apollo took advantage of the sudden silence in the room.
"I am placing the boy under my protection, if any harm befalls him from any God in this world the rage of the Sun will follow the rage of his father." Apollo stated before disappearing in a bright yellow flash of Sunlight.
The Mindscape of Thomas Badawi, Grandson of Destined Death ~
Tom appeared as the same muscled donkey-like ghost form as he was in his last dream. However, he was in a totally different location now. He was standing in an elegant Stygian Iron gazebo looking out over what he could only assume was the Underworld.
As Tom looked around his eyes fell upon an older woman resting in a wooden rocking chair, and she happened to look awfully similar to his own mother. This woman held the same intense gray eyes of his other, and her short height. She was staring out at the endless caverns of Hades before seemingly sensing his presence. Probably having heard the soft clip clop of his hooves as he moved.
"I see that your soul shares many things with your fathers, mainly its chosen appearance of a donkey." The old woman began as Tom realized who this was, Atropos the Inflexible One, "I also see that you recognize me from the fruit stand my boy."
"You're Atropos." Tom brayed simply. Atropos nodded before speaking.
"Yes, I am also the one who claimed you." This news shocked Tom but she continued speaking. "However, I am not your mother. I am your grandmother." The Fate of Death said as she stood from her chair.
Tom sat down, as best as he could as a Donkey, to better process this information. His beloved mother was a Demigoddess, a daughter of the Inflexible One at that, which makes him a legacy of Destined Death. But what does that make him when he also has an unknown Godly father?
"You will be much stronger than any other Demigod with your mixed blood, my boy." Atropos spoke as she kneeled by him and enveloped him in a grandmotherly hug, wrapping her arms around his muscled donkey neck and resting his head on her shoulder. She was just short enough for this to work.
"Although, very rarely will you be able to tap into the power granted to you by my blood. Your father's blood is much stronger than mine, I invaded your consciousness and allowed you to forcefully cut the Gorgon's Life String in order to save the son of the sea. It is not his time to die." Atropos lectured, pausing to start running her hands through the bristled mane his form held, "I do not believe you will be able to do this again. However, you should be able to sense when those around you are near death. The blade I gave you will act as a focus for the few powers my blood grants as long as you keep it on you, be it sword or charm form."
"So your blood doesn't grant me much power, does it? At least compared to my father's power?" Tom questioned as he leaned into the gentle combing motions of his grandmother, only now noticing how sore his body felt.
"Exactly, you're very quick witted aren't you my boy? That's good, it will keep you alive." His grandmother said softly, "Wear the scarf I gave you, it'll protect you and remember this. You will need to use Red Desert at the end of this quest, if not you will die."
Tom woke up with a start.
The Next Day, Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium ~
Percy heard Tom wake up with a sharp gasp then heard a thump from where Luke left him last night. Snickering to himself, Percy walked over there to speak with his friend.
"Sleep well, Tom?" Percy laughed as he approached the grandson of Destined Death.
"Just peachy." Tom remarked dryly, "What'd I miss?" He asked as he stood up and stretched, trying to hide a grimace of pain, then pulling the intricate red scarf he received from those 3 old ladies at the fruit stand out and wrapping it around his neck.
"Well you were claimed after you force choked Medusa to death and passed out." Percy started before breaking out what he discovered last night, "Also you got claimed by the Fate of Death but I found out by Luke that you're most likely her grandson."
Tom let out a deep sigh, as if he had already known this, "Yeah, I know. The Inflexible One visited me in my dreams. Turns out my mom is her daughter and I inherited some of their blood's power, I won't be able to do what I did last night ever again though."
Oh. He did already know.
"So no more force choke?" Percy asked with a laugh as Luke joined them, obviously having just woken up as well.
"No more force choke, all I can do is sense when people are close to death." Tom explained, "Whoever my dad is, his blood apparently overpowers my grandma's blood, thus not allowing me to gain that many abilities from my grandmother."
Luke seemed to pick up on what they were talking about pretty quick, since the 17 year old nodded along with what Tom had explained.
"So you're a legacy of the Fate of Death, huh?" Luke summed up as he started to pack up his bag, "That's cool and all but you should know that the other campers will start to fear you. They fear things related to the Fates and death in general."
Tom simply nodded in reply while Percy went to wake up Grover so that they could hit the road. Once they were all packed up they used some cash they found in Medusa's office to catch a cab to head west.
The ride further west was relatively quiet with only Tom filling Grover in on what had happened, though Percy could still see some distrust in the satyr's eyes. Eventually Luke saw a sign for The Gateway Arch and asked if he could take some pictures for Annabeth. Which everyone said sure to.
As they approached the entrance Percy turned to Grover.
"Smell any kind of monsters, G-man?" The son of the Sea asked while glancing around, something was putting him on edge. The satyr sniffed the air once or twice before responding.
"Not that I can tell, but there is a lot of pollution in the air and it's making it harder to pick monster scents up." Grover responded as he looked at the city around them.
"That would be because the Mississippi River is right there and polluted as all hell." Tom pointed out as they walked into the Gateway Arch. Percy agreed with Tom as he could feel how polluted the water was from here. The group of four ate a late lunch in the snack bar before taking the elevator to the top. Once there Luke took some pictures of the interior and exterior of the building before the tour group was shepherded back towards the elevator.
However, there was not enough space for everyone to fit in one trip so Percy stayed back and let his friends go down first, even if the height was secretly messing with him. There was a family with their daughter and a fat lady with a chihuahua that stayed behind with him.
A feeling of intense dread tingled the back of Percy's neck before he noticed something odd about both the fat lady and her dog. The fat lady had a forked tongue and the little chihuahua kept burping fire.
'I see what's going on here' Percy thought to himself as he pulled out riptide and uncapped it. Just in time too as the chihuahua started to grow, first to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. It's bark became a roar.
There stood the form of the Chimera. The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar it wore in it's illusioned form still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954.
The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. 'Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my own brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"
Percy stared at her. "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"
She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"
The Chimera roared before charging Percy, its massive size tearing through the roof of the Arch as it ran. WIth the sky open to them, a heavy rain that Percy had unconsciously pulled to him started pouring into the room. As the Chimera lunged to bite Percy in half, he dodged to the left and brought the fight away from the family huddled by the emergency exit doors.
All the while the rain is feeding him strength. Just not to his knowledge. Yet.
The Chimera chased after him as he ran to the other end of the Arch, its massive size still tearing open the roof and letting more rain in. Upon reaching the other end, Percy spun around and faced the Chimera with Riptide uncapped and he fell into his battle stance, really wishing he remembered to bring a shield on this quest.
He felt uncomfortable fighting without one.
The Chimera finally reached him only to stop abou 6-7 feet in front of Percy and open its mouth as fire started to build in the back of its throat. Thinking fast, Percy stepped forward and swung Riptide vertically up with the flat of the blade and slammed it into the bottom jaw of the beast. Violently forcing it to bite its own tongue then instantly reopen its mouth letting out a torrent of flames into the air, evaporating some rain in the breath attack's path.
In his slight act towards victory, Percy forgot about the snake.
On instinct, Percy raised his shield arm to block the snake head from biting him. Oh, how he missed having a shield.
The snake head buried its venom injecting fangs into his left forearm and as they withdrew Percy swung his sword and cut the snake headed tail off forcing another roar of pain out of the Chimera.
As the poison seeped through his body, Percy performed one act of desperation to end the fight. He waited for the Chimera to lunge at him again so Percy copied what he did to the hellhound, just without a shield this time. Percy dropped to his knees at the last second, rammed his sword into the base of the Chimera's neck and using Riptide's handle and grabbing hold of the blood soaked mane of the beast, flipped the Chimera over him and through the glass walls of the hallway.
The slowly dissolving body of the Chimera broke through the glass wall and turned to dust as it fell towards the Mississippi River.
Percy heard a bellow of rage behind him but before he could spin around and even try to fight Echidna, she bitch smacked him through the hole in the hallway with her tail, sending him falling towards the polluted river below.
The heavy rain continued as the howling wind increased in strength, at this moment Percy could feel the rain trying to fix his bruised and poisoned body and realized that the rain strengthened him.
Then he noticed he was falling over 500 ft down to a river. Shit.
The rain was trying to stop the spread of burning poison coursing through his veins but it was moving too quickly in his system.
Double shit.
Then he hit the surface of the river and slowly started to sink. The water had cushioned his fall and immediately started healing him. The poison was rejected out of the bite mark and the bruises around his torso faded away.
"Hello young hero, your father sent me to help explain things to you." A feminine voice rang out in the water, "All water is your ally, no matter the form it takes."
Percy finally noticed who was speaking, and recognized her as an Ocean Nymph. She continued speaking before he could say anything.
"I cannot stay in this polluted water any longer, it sickens me." The Nymph said as her form flickered, "Your father has a message, Beware the gifts!" Her form flickered out of existence and he was left alone at the bottom of the Mississippi.
- Ye-Olde-Erebus, signing off