"They Will Never Care About Us"
(Disclaimer: This story takes place within the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series specifically taking place after the events of the "The Last Olympian" and contains a few spoilers. A few characters, plot, and the Riordanuniverse is owned by none other than Rick Riordan aka Uncle Rick himself. I own a few OC as well as this event in which you are about to read. )
I wish I can explain everything that's been going on the past couple of days, but I don't have enough time. I'm currently being tracked down by mercenaries and bounty hunters who have accepted Zeus' call to eliminate every last member of Kronos' Army. The next group of enemies should be making their way to me as we speak. Like I said before, I can't give out full details on the last couple of days, but I can at least relay what happened tonight. Unfortunately, tonight was the most tragic of them all. I'm making my way to the secret hideout, code Voodoo. If this message gets into the wrong hands, then what I'm saying right now is pointless. But for all demigod refugees who are reading this, assuming that I'm still alive by the time you receive this, you know where to find me. I'll be waiting. This is Captain Greyson, Leader of the Elite Special Forces of Kronos' Army.
We've been on the move for several days now. Ever since Kronos was defeated, hordes of monsters and bounty hunters were attacking us almost every day. Curse Zeus and the rest of the gods. Even though that so-called "hero" , Percy Jackson, made a deal with the gods to promise that they would spare the lives of the demigod traitors and show more respect to the minor gods; he was too naive to believe that the gods would actually keep their promise... entirely that is.
After the war, we were given the option to either start a new life at Camp Half-blood or choose to be exiled. Our head commander, Alabaster C. Torrington, the son of Hecate, was not given a choice by the gods because they were afraid that he would brainwash the campers and lead another revolt against them. He was immediately exiled. Some members of Kronos' Army chose a new life and thanked the gods for being merciful. Me and a handful of others rejected that offer. Our feelings were hurt, and pride was destroyed. The gods were the reasons why we acted this way to begin with. They will never care about us. We could never forgive them. Because of our decision, we were forced out of Olympus and Zeus demanded us to go as far away as possible. No gods/goddesses, even our parents, were able to save us.
A few days later, we found out on the news that a school bus travelling towards Long Island Beach was struck by lightning, killing all of its passengers. The odd part was that there were no signs of rain or thunderstorms that day. We soon found out that the passengers traveling on the bus were our old comrades, the same group of demigods who chose to start a new life at Camp Half-blood. Long story short, the following night, we were ambushed and were forced to split up and go our separate ways. Most of us escaped, but at the cost of a lot of friends who sacrificed their lives for us to successfully departure. We found out that the gods were punishing us for being ungrateful and rejecting their offer. To put it simple, our penance was death. A bounty was placed on our heads. Now, monsters and bandits around the country were tracking us down.
A month passed since that event occurred. We were refugees, fleeing from the gods. We were all spread throughout the globe. Sadly, I was only able to keep in touch with a few of them. Yesterday, I received an Iris message from one of my lieutenants. She and a few other demigods were fighting off an anonymous enemy at the underground tunnel in Mobile, Alabama. She mentioned something about pirates and trying to prevent them from taking over their hideout in the battleship. Next, the sound of an explosion occurred, and the Iris message went blank.
Tonight, I felt the same way as the day we were ambushed. Anger.
It was late at night. We've just defeated a horde of Telkhines (sea demons, head of a wolf and body like a human, sometimes with fish flippers for hands) near the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. At this point, we pretty much lived a nomadic lifestyle. Since monsters were always after us, we were constantly on the move. On this particular evening, one of our comrades was badly hurt.
"Ahh, I'll be alright, just patch me up. A little scratch won't kill me." Lance said. He was breathing heavily, clenching his teeth.
The son of Ares was sitting down with his back against the wall, teeth clenched and clutching his gut. His face was as pale as the moon and sweat covered his entire body. He looked drowsy, like a baby about to knock out from listening to a lullaby after drinking a full bottle of milk. That "little" scratch wasn't so little.
In the recent battle, a Telkhine's spear grazed Lance and penetrated through his armored breastplate. Unfortunately, the tip of the spear was poisoned. We were trying to make our way to the nearest hideout but Lance said his body was becoming numb so we stopped by a random alley way downtown near the French Quarter. We fed him the last bit of ambrosia, but it wasn't enough to cure his wound.
Out of the four of us, Indigo was the medic. The daughter of Iris is one of the best, if not THE best combat medics I've ever been around. Her swordsmanship is as good as any fighter and strapped around her ankle is where she keeps her sharp dagger. Although she seems intimidating, she is actually a calm and gentle person. Someone who is reliable and can be dependable. But still, this was a different case. There was little she could do; she was no child of Apollo or Asclepius. We had to try our best to stall the poison from spreading throughout the rest of his body. We HAD to get to the secret hideout.
"Indigo, tend to Lance's wound. See what else you could do." I commanded.
I turned over to face T.J. He was a bulky African American kid who was so ripped, he could probably enter any NPC bodybuilding competition and take first place. It's pretty ironic. Despite his good looks and aesthetics, he was the son of Hephaestus; the god of fire, blacksmiths, and well.. ugliness. Sorry, but not so sorry Hephaestus. Just please don't send a horde of angry automated statues after us again… Anyways, He was leaning against a large commercial garbage bin tinkering with his rubik's cube. The rubik's cube was a gift from his father back before he ran away from Camp Half-blood to join Kronos' army. Yes, just because we fought against the gods doesn't mean we never had prayed for their guidance. Most of the gods loved their children, they understand that demigods chose their own paths and they knew best not to interfere. That's the Fates' job, not theirs. Back to the rubik's cube, if you alter different combinations, the tool can create many things: weapons, traps, porta-potties… Don't ask, let's just say red bean Mondays don't often end so well for T.J.…
"T.J., go scout the other end of this alley and set up some booby traps just in case something comes up. Be creative and use whatever combinations you have left." I ordered. "We'll hold this position down until I get back with the supplies for Lance."
As soon as we broke the huddle, Indigo stood up holding her backpack.
"Wait." She interrupted.
She searched through her backpack and finally pulled out two clear orbs the size of mini bouncy balls.
"Take these."
Indigo handed us each an orb.
"Remember, my mother gave me these as a gift. Everyone knows the signals. We'll use it to communicate." said Indigo.
Indigo's mom was Iris, the goddess of rainbows and messenger of the gods. I remember her explaining how you can send a message and command the orb to change into any specific color on the rainbow, ROYGBIV (everyone knows the acronym). Each color meant a specific situation. Warm colors being safe and cool colors meaning danger.
Even though I could spend hours fooling with the fascinating orb, I nodded my head and slipped it into my pocket.
"Good idea, thanks." I said. "I'll go to the nearby convenience store and grab some supplies. Everyone knows the plan."
Lance groaned.
I crouched next to him.
"Hang in their bud, we'll make this out alive." I promised.
"Yeah, I'm counting on you." Lance said. He attempted a weak grin, but he had no energy. He looked horrible. His condition was getting worse. His skin was slowly becoming paler and his eyes were slowly drooping.
I patted him on the shoulder and stood up. I gave Indigo and T.J. a nod and ran off.
"Shoot!"
I placed the medicine in my bag and dashed out of the convenience store and ran toward the direction where we had positioned.
I was only gone for a few minutes. Thoughts were piling up in my end. What was happening? How did they find us? Could it be a false alarm? Most importantly, are my friends okay?
Running down the sidewalk, I glanced down at my hand. In the palm of my hand, the orb was glowing violently violet. ROYGBIV. Cool colors meant danger and violet was the worst of them.
About a block away, I saw someone slowly limping towards my direction. It was probably just some random drunk girl, but then I realized a violet glow radiating from the person's right hand. I didn't notice at first, but now slowly approaching, I immediately made out who the person was. Indigo.
"Hey! What in Hades is going on!?" I yelled.
Indigo halted to a stop in front of me. Her hands were covered in blood. The hoodie cape she wore was cut up and her dagger was gone. Her right eye was swollen shut and a streak of blood was slowly tracing down her face from her forehead. Her purple eyes came back into focus and stared directly at me. A tear trickled down her cheek.
"I couldn't…" She painfully coughed out some blood. Her eyes rolled towards the back of her head and closed shut. Everything happened so fast.
Immediately after, the orb dropped out of her hand and she fell forward into my arms. I caught her and noticed five arrows sticking out from behind her back.
I stood there stunned for a split second. My mouth hung open in disbelief. I was speechless. I slowly fell to my knees with her head resting against my chest. I checked her pulse. Nothing.
My hands were shaking. I was shocked. I closed my eyes and held back a sob.
I said a short prayer and laid her lifeless body down gently on the sidewalk. I have to go see if the others were still alive. I got up and hurried down the block and turned the corner.
"T.J! Lance!" I called out.
In the distance, a body was lying face up in the middle of the dark alley. A piece of a celestial bronze sword was broken in half next to the body. The other half was sticking out of the body.
"Lance!" I screamed.
I sprinted towards the fallen demigod. I stopped and fell to my knees. Right in front of me, I stared at Lance's body.
His facial expression showed pain and shock. At the same exact spot where his poison wound was located, the other half of the blade was sticking out of his gut. A puddle of blood covered his body. His poisoned filled purple shaded veins outlining through his pale skin.
Somehow, he was still breathing, but very weakly.
"C-c-capt. is that you?" He managed to spit out.
I tried to stay calm. I unslung my bag and got onto one knee near him gently cupping one side of his face with my hand.
"I'm here Lance.." I managed to say.
"It's cold, capt." He coughed. The night was humid and warm, but his body was shivering as if he was freezing to death.
I began to realize that Lance was going into a shock and having a seizure.
"Wait, hang in there, I got some medicine for you"
I turned towards my bag and took out a bottle of pills and ointment, I turned back towards him, but I was too late. Stunned, my hand lost its grip on the bottle and it fell to the ground spilling everywhere.
In front of me was Lance's lifeless body, foam slowly traveling down from his mouth. His eyes stared up toward the night sky.
I pressed my head against his forehead and let out a large cry. I looked up at the cloudy sky.
"Why! What do you want from us!" I screamed.
Suddenly, a small chuckle came from the other end of the alley.
Stepping forward from the shadows was a tall man dressed in full Greek combat armor with a Greek sword made out of Imperial Gold on his waist. He wore a golden Gorgon mask on his face, with curved tusks, horrible features, and had curly golden snake hair.
He spoke with an exotic Middle Eastern accent
"He wants you dead of course." The man stated. "Just like your pathetic friend over there."
Underneath his mask, he was probably smiling.
I folded Lance's arms and closed his eyes. Next, I stood up and faced my enemy.
"Ahh... scar on his right eye and hair as white as snow, just like how they described him. Greyson isn't it? Child of the North Wind, Boreas. Leader of the Special Forces of Kronos' Army" he mocked. "By the way, sorry about your friends. They didn't put up much of a fight. I've heard many stories about you and was looking forward to meeting you. I heard you are as strong as your half siblings, the Boreads. Maybe I'll test your strength to see if you are worthy of me killing you. But if you are as weak as these worthless demigods, then you and your so-called special force must be quite the joke. Even the last group that we fought in Alabama put up much a better fight. That daughter of Nemesis was quite the opponent. Unfortunately, she and her friends had to learn the hard way."
I stood there speechless. I clenched my fists and tried to control my anger.
"Do you even know who I am?" He asked. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Chrysaor, son of Poseidon and Medusa. Ruler of the seas. I travel everywhere across the globe, taking whatever I want."
"I care about who you are or who you might be." I scowled. "I'm going to end you!"
"Angry fella ehh?" He tilted his head sideways. "Now, now, let's not get too mad. I'm just following orders and doing the gods a favor. We can make it easier for both of our lives… uhm, well, my life considering that you are about to die." He laughed, uninterested in paying attention to me and instead checking out his nails as if he'd just gotten a manicure.
"Hah! Maybe after this job is done, the gods will praise me and make me a god. Maybe even, give me my own throne up in Olympus" Chrysaor cried arrogantly.
"Where's my other friend?" I demanded.
"Who?" Chrysaor questioned. He thought to himself for a second then snapped his fingers. "Oh! You mean him?"
Behind Chrysaor, a group of armed pirates emerged from the shadows. Two of them held on to T.J.'s arms as they dragged him forward. The son of Hephaestus looked rough.
All of a sudden, my heart felt like it weighed a ton.
T.J. had a swollen eye, bloody nose, and cuts all over his body. His head was hanging face down, but I could tell that he was still alive. For some odd reason, I noticed one hand was still holding onto something but it was too dark to tell.
Chrysaor walked over to T.J. One of the pirates handed him the violet orb that was glowing vibrantly.
"Interesting device. This may probably be worth a couple thousands of dollars" He claimed. "Too bad it isn't gold." He tossed the orb back to one of the pirates and gave T.J. a pat on the cheek. He faced back toward me.
"Let him go. It's me that you want, leave him out of this" I said.
Chrysaor unsheathed his imperial gold sword and studied it.
"Oh, well you see, I can't really do that." He claimed. "If I really want to impress the almighty Zeus, then I must make sure that he approves of my work and eliminate every last one of you."
"Don't.. listen… Ru.." T.J. tried to yell out, but his voice was cut short.
In a flash, Chrysaor had swung his blade down T.J.'s neck, instantly chopping off his head. One clean cut.
Blood squirted out from where the cut was made. His head rolled against the pavement and the pirates dropped his body.
"Nooooo!" I roared.
"Oops, where are my manners?" He asked sarcastically. Chrysaor took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off of his gold sword. "I should've let you say your final goodbyes to him. Don't worry, you'll get to meet him as well as the others soon in the Underworld."
"Not if I send you there first!" I countered in rage.
"Let's see what you can do Son of Boreas." Chrysoar then signaled his crew to attack. Immediately, a dozen pirates positioned in front of him. "Get him."
Three of the pirates set their bows and shot a volley of arrows.
Being the son of Boreas, I had the ability of Aerokinesis.
I stretched out my right arm and controlled the air currents to alter the directions of the arrows back towards the enemy. Bullseye. In an instant, the arrows made contact with all three of the pirates' foreheads. They dropped to the floor.
"Ahh, one of those types of fighters", Chrysaor said in disgust as if he had watched this many times. He studied me and ordered his crew to use close combat fighting since a long-distance tactic wouldn't work. All at once, they charged me.
I picked up the broken shard of celestial bronze near Lance's body and threw it at the closest enemy. I willed the wind to increase the object's velocity and it connected right in the middle of one pirate's neck. He coughed out blood, grabbed his neck and collapsed. The others were still charging and closing in fast. I controlled the air to lift the next pirate up and threw him headfirst towards the side of the building with brute force. Next, one of the pirates swung his sword downward on me but I quickly blocked and maneuvered around him, snatching his sword and slashing his chest in the process. He crumbled and fell to the ground. Half of them were down, now the enemies began to take caution and play more defensively.
"Well, well, this is quite the treat!" Chrysaor said in excitement. "I'm impressed. You are indeed an exceptionable fighter, but I still don't see how you were chosen by Kronos to lead his forces. A lot of demigods these days have superpowers. But everyone has their flaws. I don't see what makes you special."
Chrysaor ordered two of his pirates to get the nets. I was too busy to understand what it meant. I lunged at the nearest attacker and stabbed him with my sword. Next I turned and threw my sword like it was a javelin at the next enemy. With the wind increasing its speed, it made contact and stabbed his heart.
I was about to lift my hands to control the winds when all of a sudden both of my hands were covered in fishing nets. These were not your ordinary nets, they were retes (a weighted net used to trap opponents. Used by a Retiarius which are a class of gladiators who fought using weapons styled on the tools of a fisherman.) I was now surrounded by the four remaining pirates. This is what Chrysaor meant when he mentioned that every ability had a flaw. He knew that if my hands were trapped, I couldn't control the air anymore.
"Ahh, so much trouble." Chrysoar said. He slowly walked forward. "I probably should've taken care of this matter by myself from the beginning. The truth is Son of Boreas, I never really wanted to do another person's dirty work, especially the gods. But, we live in a cruel and unusual world. Business is business."
He continued on and on. Anger spread throughout my body. All the hatred built up. I thought about the recent war, the god's injustice, being exiled, and each one of my friends who died. Now, I was at the hands of some ancient pirate. But, I actually had one more trick up my sleeve. A secret that almost no one, not even my deceased squad mates knew about. There was a reason why I was appointed the Leader of the Elite Special Forces. Kronos knew that I possessed more power than any ordinary demigod. I had not one, but TWO abilities. I haven't used this power in a long time, ever since… ever since the night my mother died.
*flash back*
-A dark winter evening outside of a mansion in Quebec-
"No! Please!" a young woman cried. "Don't take my baby away from me! Kronos promised me he wouldn't take him until he was turns 10 years old!"
7 years old Greyson cried as he was being dragged away by mysterious men dressed in long trench coats, fedora hats and black glasses.
"Circumstances have changed." mystery man claimed, "Don't you worry, the master will take very much care of him."
The young woman attempted to fight past the man. At first, she succeeded, then all of a sudden, she was hit in the back of the head with a wooden plank. She collapsed to the ground, twitching. A puddle of blood surrounded her head where she was laying. The man tossed the piece of wood and walked over her.
"Should've just stayed put." said the mystery man.
7 year old Greyson stared at his mother. Tears streamed down his face. Emotions crashed over his body like a tsunami. He closed his eyes shut and screamed even louder. Suddenly, all around him the wind started to become stronger. He opened his eyes. The pupils were now an unusual dark shade of grey. A tornado began to form. Next, the temperature began to drop and then icicles began to form. At this point, the mysterious men were panicking and decided to abandon him and make a run for it, but it was too late. They were trapped in the vortex. He created a snowstorm. Piles of snow stacked on top of each other and was now up to his knees. Everything around him froze. The man who attacked his mother turned into solid ice. All Greyson thought about was his mother who was nowhere to be seen. Next, he went blank.
"Alright, I think I spared you enough." Chrysaor added. "Your time has run out."
As he turned and walked away, he gave his remaining crew the signal to end me.
That's when things started to become… cold.
While two of the pirates held on to the retes, the other two pirates charged me. I closed my eyes and the last thing I saw were two swords swinging down on me.
"What are yer doin?" asked one of the pirates holding the rete. "Kill him already!"
Both of the pirate's swords were literally an inch away from making contact with my body.
"Don't you think we're trying!" scowled one of the attackers. He looked over to the other attacker. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah!" the other pirate struggled. "Why can't we follow through?!"
All around, the wind began to pick up. I opened my eyes and my pupils were now a dark shade of grey. The nets around my hand slowly began to freeze into ice. With one look, the two enemies in front of me began to freeze and were flown backwards pass Chrysaor towards the back end of the dark alley. All you heard was a huge crash. Chrysaor turned back towards my direction. The wind was so strong that it began to keep him off his balance.
At this moment, one of the pirate's hands began to freeze so he was stuck holding on to the rete. In seconds, his entire body turned into a large solid ice sculpture. The other pirate was smart enough to quickly let go of the rete but he fell backwards onto his butt. He backed up against the wall, his face full of fear and terror. The ice around my hand broke off. I flicked my fingers and pointed a finger gun towards the pirate. Behind me, the large ice sculpture crumbled and began to take shape into icicle spears floating in the air around me.
"Please! I'm sorry!" the pirate begged. "I'll do anything! Don't kill me!"
Next, I brought down my thumb acting as if I was pulling the trigger on my finger gun. Instantly, all of the icicle spears shot straight pass me towards the pirate. Icicle spears stuck out of the pirate's body like a thousand daggers were thrown at him. The front of his body was covered like spikes on a porcupine. So that must be how Leonidas looked after all of those arrows showered him in the movie, 3000.
Around me, a miniature blizzard began to form.
I turned and faced Chrysaor. A wild grin covered my face.
"Time for you to pay"
The blizzard grew and blasted through the alley.
Next, everything became black.
THE END
Character Glossary:
Main Character:
Greyson, son of Boreas, Leader of Kronos' Special Forces(Original)
Minor Characters:(Original or Copyright by Rick RIordan)
Indigo, daughter of Iris (Original)
Lance, son of Ares (Original)
TJ, son of Hephaestus (Original)
Unknown lieutenant, daughter of Nemesis (Original)
Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon (Copyright)
Alabaster C. Torrington, son of Hecate (Copyright)
Chrysaor, Pirate, son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa (Copyright)