Chapter One: Saber kills the Math Teacher

Saber groaned in exasperation. Child Services had finally caught up with her after seven years on her own. The girl had beaten several of the officers black and blue before they managed to pin her in the warehouse where she'd been staying while she took care of her business. Now she was being forced to go to Yancy Academy, some private school for troubled youths in upstate New York. She hated New York. Too close to Olympus for her liking. But at least there was usually plenty of monsters to kill. Sure, she could've fought back hard enough to get loose and make a runner, but she had decided to go along with it, thinking she might actually enjoy school.

At thirteen years of age, she looked as though she were fifteen. Her shaggy black hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, not unlike the Silver-Red armored woman's hairstyle from LA. Nowadays she wore dark blue jeans over black combat boots with a black jacket over a red tank-top, with an angular w-like symbol in black high on the chest. Hell, she didn't even use her birth name anymore, instead going by 'Saber' most days when dealing with monsters or mortal bounties. Thirteen years old and the best damn bounty hunter in the USA. Most of the students assumed she was Goth. She wasn't, but she let them have their delusions. Better than them knowing she hunted monsters every day. Yeah, that'll go over well.

It wasn't all bad, she knew that. Ever since LA, she'd been on her own. No real education, just enough to get by pretty well. Most of the teachers were alright, though she had an itching feeling her Latin teacher Mr. Brunner was a mythical creature or Mythos, as she called them. The man was just too odd not to be. She loved his class, but it was the truth. The Mist seemed to curl around him in ways she hadn't seen very often. That and he had a collection of Roman and Greek armor and weapons he used for what he called Tournament Day, weapons that were very much real and had a real enough history for her to store in what she had come to call her Unlimited Blade Works.

Not that she cared. She had long since learned that not all the creatures hidden by the Mist were monsters wanting to kill her. Hell, one of her closest friends was a Dryad. That was the other good thing about being in New York, she could visit Kalie whenever she wanted. Most of the time. Her dorm mate, a scraggly kid called Grover Underwood with some kind of muscular disease in his legs, had a bad habit of sticking to her like glue. She didn't really blame him. He was a skinny, sick kid that everyone liked picking on. When she had arrived, she hadn't been able to help her Hero instinct and had sucker punched a girl named Nancy Bobofit into a wall to get her to leave him alone. Of course, she had had to hold back to keep from killing the bully of a girl. They been kinda-sorta friends ever since.

After about six months of attendance at YA, she was kind of liking the semi-normal life she currently had. Going to school and protecting Grover during the day, hunting and killing monsters during the night, while visiting Kalie on the side. A pretty good life. Most monsters went out of their ways to avoid her, and the more intelligent ones made deals with her. Information on the nasty monsters and good behavior to guarantee their safety. So, no Big Bads as she called them breaking into her school to attack her. Much better than when she was a toddler. She was kind of worried that it had made her weak. She hadn't dealt with any big-time monsters since then, so she was a bit worried about what would happen if one showed up.

Today, they were heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Considering the history of the weapons she had stored up, she would do just fine if she decided to speak up. Anyways, they were on the bus about twenty blocks from the Museum and Nancy was testing her patience. Most of the kids had long since learned not to mess with Sera Jackson's friend. Not Nancy. The girl had no survival instincts at all. Even after Saber punching the girl in the face hard enough to send her flying a good ten meters and breaking the girl's nose, the freckly, redheaded Kleptomaniac girl was currently throwing peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich at Grover's head. Saber was currently gritting her teeth, her right eye twitching as she restrained herself from strangling the annoying girl. Everyone on the bus but Nancy noticed Saber's anger and was not so subtly scooting as far away as they could from the monster of a girl.

The girl was apparently under the impression that Saber wouldn't do anything since she was on probation. The headmaster or principle or whatever the prick was called had threaten her with death by ISS if she put so much as one toe out of line. After facing down armies of mythical monsters and Roman demigods in California, ISS was at the very bottom of her worry list.

"I'm going to kill her," Saber growled as yet another piece of sandwich hit Grover in the head.

"It's alright," Grover said as he tried to calm his rather violent friend. "I like peanut butter."

He ducked as another piece flew by his head.

"That's it," Saber started to get up, but Grover pulled her back down.

"You're still on probation," he reminded her, earning a scoff from the girl-warrior. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."

"Like I give a damn about getting ISS," she snapped, causing most of the bus to flinch at the ice and steel in her tone. "I'm about to knock her right out the back of the bus." She moved to get up again, only for Grover to pull her back down. The skinny boy was deceptively strong.

"You may not but I do," he said with conviction in his voice, so much that it actually shocked Saber. Grover almost never acted like that, he was a coward. Not to speak ill of him, but he really was. She grumbled as she crossed her arms across her chest, blocking out everything for the rest of the ride.

Before long, they reached the Museum and Saber helped Grover clean his curly brown hair of peanut butter-ketchup sandwich, glaring at Bobofit as she walked passed laughing. One of these days I'm going to show why you don't mess with my friends, she grumbled in her mind. Once Grover's hair was clear of food, they followed the group in, ending up at the Greco-Roman section of the museum, Mr. Brunner at the front of the group. Like the Red Sea, the group parted to let Saber and Grover through. Despite what she'd been through over the years, it still blew her mind at how artifacts like the pots, marble statues and murals survived after two-three thousand years.

Mr. Brunner gathered the class around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a sphinx on top, and started explaining about how it was a grave marker for a girl about their age. At 'grave marker', a memory slipped uninvited to the front of her mind.

Sobbing as she placed the stone cross on Mommy's grave. In ragged writing, the words carved in stone read: Sally Jackson, Mother and hero. The best person in the whole wide world. 'If you help someone, you help everyone.' Sobbing as she slipped her mother's locket over her head. Making the promise to make sure no one ever suffered like she did ever again. Her wish to force the monsters back into the pit from whence they came for the rest of eternity.

She shook her head to clear it as her hand rose to touch the locket resting against her chest under her tank-top. She tried listening, but most of the kids were running their mouths, which only increased her bad mood. She continuously told them to shut up, but it seemed as though the class had temporarily taken on Nancy's non-existent survival instinct. Every time she hissed for them to be quiet, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds would give her the evil eye.

That one, Saber was one hundred percent sure was some form of monster straight out of the Underworld. The woman had shown up half-way through the year after Saber and Nancy had given the last teacher a nervous breakdown. The twig of a woman claimed to have come from Georgia, but Saber had never heard of a Math teacher that wore biker-grade leather jackets. Like Mr. Brunner, the Mist swirled around the woman, but not in the smooth, warm way the Latin teacher did. The Mist around Mrs. Dodds felt wrong, almost as though the magical veil was in pain. The woman had walked in one day and decided that Nancy was an angel and Saber was devil spawn. While Saber took offense at that, she knew she wasn't the best thirteen-year-old around. Anytime Saber got into any kind of trouble, no matter how small, Mrs. Dodds would point a finger at her and say in a sickeningly sweet voice "Now Honey," and boom. Detention after-school for a month. Once she had dropped a hint to Grover that she was sure Dodds wasn't human and he had blinked and said ever so calmly that she was absolutely right. She had figured he was being an average student hating a pain in the ass teacher.

Anyways, Mr. Brunner was discussing Greek funeral art when Nancy snickered at the naked guy on the stele. Saber didn't hesitate. She snapped around. "Will you please just shut up!?" she snarled, causing several other students to back up fast.

Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Ms. Jackson, do you have a comment."

Saber winced at her name. She hated people calling her that. Sure, it was her mom's name, but all it did for her was remind her of that night. She shook her head. "No, sir. Just telling Nancy here to shut up so that those of us who actually find this interesting could hear what was being said." Nancy paled as Saber called her out, going nearly bone-white when Mr. Brunner pinned her with his gaze.

"Is that so?" he mused before looking to Saber. "Well, perhaps you could explain to Ms. Bobofit what this picture explains, since she seems to be quite distracted."

Saber looked to the stele and smirked. She knew that one. She'd read up on it a few times after she had found out where those monsters that had always been hunting her had come from. She nodded to Mr. Brunner. "No problem sir. That's the Titan Kronos eating his children, the Gods of Olympus."

Mr. Brunner nodded before motioning with his hand. "Yes. And he devoured his children because…"

Saber continued. "He ate them because he was the King of the Titans, but he had killed his own father Ouranos to get there. He was afraid that his kids would rise up and do the same to him, so he ate them to keep that from happening. But his wife hid Zeus, the youngest, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. After Zeus was full grown, he tricked Kronos into drinking some kind of mustard-wine or something to get him to throw up his children. Hera, Hestia, Poseidon and Hades all came out and they teamed up to beat Kronos and the rest of the Titans." She finished, smirking at a very red Nancy, since the girl obviously didn't know that. "After they beat the Titans they split up the territory. Hades got the Underworld, Poseidon got the Ocean, Zeus got the Sky with Hera and Hestia got the Hearth."

Mr. Brunner nodded as Nancy mumble to a friend behind Saber. "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to ask on our resume, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his Kids.'"

"And why, Ms. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

Grover snickered as Nancy reddened again at being caught. Saber thought carefully. She hadn't really thought that much about it before. She shrugged. "I don't know sir. Maybe it's supposed to be a lesson about paranoia?"

Mr. Brunner looked a bit disappointed. "I see. Well, half credit, Ms. Jackson."

Mr. Brunner went on to explain that yes, Zeus had given Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine to free the other gods from the Titan's stomach. How they proceeded to defeat their father and the other Titans, trapping them in various prisons while cutting Kronos himself up into a thousand pieces with his own scythe and scattered his remains throughout the Pit of Tartarus. They then proceeded to head outside for lunch. One thing that Saber had made sure to do while she was on her own was learn how to cook. Once she'd taken on bounty hunting for both Mortals and the Roman demigods after they worked out that fiasco with the pack of Hellhounds, she had made sure to keep plenty of food stuffs stocked wherever she stayed. She'd packed such a lunch for herself and Grover. Hand-cooked General Tsao's chicken and Lou Mien for her and a mega cheese burrito for Grover, all made from scratch. She prided herself in her cooking almost as much as she prided herself for her combat skill.

However, as she handed Grover his food, Mr. Brunner called her. She cursed under her breath. All she wanted to do was get through eat her food and the field trip. But it seemed like everyone wanted to test her. She walked over to stand beside Mr. Brunner's wheelchair. She refused to look him in the eyes.

"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner said.

"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."

"Oh, joy. Yeah I'll get right on that once I'm out of here." She snapped. Mr. Brunner frowned at her.

"What you learn from me," he said, "is very important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Sera Jackson"

Saber couldn't stop herself from snarling. The man was aware of the official story of what had happened in LA. He knew she had been on her own since then and hadn't gotten a proper education. Not to mention her ADHD and aggravating dyslexia. But nope, he kept poking and prodding her, expecting her to do as good or better than the normal kids.

"No offense sir," she said with steely eyes. "I don't see how learning why a Titan ate his kids is going to help me in the long run. It's not important. Interesting, yes. But not important." She didn't wait for him to respond and spun on her heel, heading for the fountain at the bottom of the stairs where Grover was sitting with his burrito. She sat down next to her friend and opened her food pack, grabbing her chopsticks and chowing down as she let to sensation of the water behind her wash over her, soothing her nerves and letting her drift away in the river of her thoughts. As much as she hated Poseidon, she loved her connection to water, how free it made her feel.

Overhead, a massive storm was brewing, with clouds darker than she'd seen in a long time. Nobody else seemed to notice, so she figured it was Zeus throwing a fit over something again. That guy should've been the God of Drama rather than Thunder. She snorted to herself in her food at the idea of Zeus on Broadway. He would've been pretty good with that as his occupation.

She looked up from her food to look at the bustling city around them. They weren't too far from where her mother had once told her about the apartment she meant to buy and the sweets shop she meant to open. They also weren't too far from the park where Kalie hung out with her Dryad friends. On the mortal side, some of the idiotic guys were pelting birds with crackers, Nancy was trying to pickpocket passing civilians and Mrs. Dodds was just standing there, watching Saber like a hawk.

She was about to open her homemade triple chocolate chip cookie, when surprise surprise, Nancy Bobofit came over with her group of equally ugly friends. Apparently, she'd gotten bored of stealing from tourists. She grinned at Saber in a smug way and dumped her half-eaten lunch onto Grover's lap.

"Oops," she said as she grinned with her crooked teeth. Saber growled, trying to stay calm. Many a counselor had told her to control her anger, as if she didn't know to do that already. But she didn't want to be calm. However, she didn't want to punch her either. So, she did the next best thing. With the familiar roar of water and a pull in her gut, Nancy was sitting in the fountain, soaking wet.

Saber chuckled lightly. "Wow, Nancy. If you wanted a bath, you could've just waited till we got back to the school," she quipped as the girl's face turned red. She knew what was coming. She had planned it out.

"Sera pushed me!" the freckled girl screamed at the top of her lungs. Mrs. Dodds poofed into existence next to them, a hungry look in her eye. Gotcha, Saber thought with a small grin.

She could hear the students surrounding her whispering about how the water had grabbed her, and her grin widened ever so slightly. She loved showing off just a bit.

Mrs. Dodds turned to Saber and told her to follow, Grover trying to take the blame for Nancy being in the fountain. Saber was impressed with the scraggly boy. Two times in one day, he'd been more than the coward she though he was. As she followed Mrs. Dodds up the steps, Nancy smirked triumphantly, only to cry out as Saber kicked her in the face. She smirked mockingly at the girl on the ground as she turned and followed the monster-in-disguise.

Before long, they were back in the Greco-Roman section, which was abandoned. Good, thought Saber. No civilians means I can let loose a bit. Monster-Dodds stood in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was growling deep in her throat, which was a dead giveaway to her true nature. The woman turned to her.

"You've been –"

"Stop a minute," Saber interrupted. The monster in disguise stared incredulously. "Before we get started, let it be known that whatever the gods are pissed about, I had nothing to do with it."

The woman was surprised at how calm the girl was. Apparently, she decided to try and scare her. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched into long, razor talons. Her jacket melted into a pair of large, leathery wings. She looked now like a hag, and Saber couldn't help but gulp in apprehension. A Fury. Shit, she cursed. I hate being right sometimes. She hadn't face any of the Big Bad monsters in years, she wasn't sure how to go up against this one. Most she knew was that it would be in her best interest to ground her.

"So, you're a Fury," said Saber nonchalantly. "Well, you just made my day. There's a quite a hefty bounty out for any of the three Furies." The Fury's eyes widened as red energy flowed from the girl's hand and materialized into a familiar weapon. Clarent, The Radiant and Brilliant Royal sword that the fallen Knight Mordred wielded against her mother, Arturia Pendragon during her rebellion. The blade had long since become her go-to weapon. Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory, she only ever used when fighting unholy monsters. Unfortunately, a Fury didn't actually classify as a demon, despite their temperament and appearances.

The Fury backpedaled. "S-S-Saber!?" she hissed in fear. Saber's face split into a feral grin.

"You should really do some research before you attack someone." She said with a smirk as she charged, closing the distance in an instant. The Fury didn't stand a chance. Clarent's silver blade sliced through the demon with ease and the creature exploded into dust, leaving only a single talon behind. A trophy and proof of the kill. Saber sighed in relief as she let Clarent fade away. Okay so maybe I haven't lost my touch for the big-league monsters, she thought with a grin as she picked the talon off the ground. The Romans will pay big money for this. She looked around to see if anyone had spotted her. She highly doubted it but better safe than sorry. She spotted a single camera up in the corner of the ceiling. She shook her head. The amount of power she had let loose when she called up Clarent will have fried the circuits so she didn't need to warry about that. Discretion was a bounty hunter's best friend. She wasn't the best in the US for nothing.

She arrived outside a few minutes later. It was starting to rain. Grover was still at the fountain with a museum map over his head. She started to head over to him, but was immediately confronted by Nancy. "I hope Mrs. Kerr kicked your butt."

Saber grimaced for a moment. Of course, the Mist would make them think the Fury was never here. Damned mortals. She shook her head. "Nope. She just wanted me to get you a shirt from the gift shop. Too bad for you." She smirked as the freckled girl's face fell. She tossed the museum shirt she had picked up on the way out at Nancy, smirking the whole while. "Do try and be a bit less clumsy in the future.

Saber was used to getting attacked by monsters and Mortals not noticing it. However, Grover seemed to be more than just a Mortal. She had let the name Mrs. Dodds slip out while they were sitting down to eat and the scraggly boy had flinched, hesitated and claimed that there had never been a Mrs. Dodds. He was lying to her. Just as he'd always been a coward, he was also a terrible liar.

As per usual for demigods, her dreams began to change to visions of two men fighting on a stormy beach, arguing over something. She couldn't tell who they were, but she had called for them to stop, only to wake up in a cold sweat. After that, it became impossible for her to sleep. She became crankier than usual, grades failing and getting into more fights with Nancy and her posse. Thankfully she had been able to control herself just enough to keep from killing them, which would've been a simple thing considering what she'd been through. Her English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked her why she was too lazy to study for a spelling test and she snapped as he was grabbing her arm in what he assumed was a strong grip. She had called him a – well it wasn't very nice as she broke his wrist for touching her.

The headmaster had sent a letter to the lady responsible for getting her into Yancy Academy. She wouldn't be invited back for another year, which was fine by her. She had been planning to leave New York behind for a few months or so anyways. There were only a few things she'd miss about staying in New York. Being able visit Kalie for one. Mr. Brunner's class for another. If Grover hadn't been lying to her, she'd miss him too. But she'd been betrayed and lied to a few too many times over the last seven years to forgive lies very easily.

The night before her final, she'd been studying for several hours. Grover had gone off to do something or another a few minutes before, so he didn't see her lose her temper and throw her book against the wall in frustration. Her dyslexia was acting up again. She decided to go for a walk, get her head on straight, maybe tire herself out enough to sleep without nightmares. She had been headed passed some of the classes when she noticed that Mr. Brunner's office door was ajar and Grover's voice was leaking out.

She pressed herself to the wall as she listened in.

"…worried about Sera, sir." He was saying. She grimaced at her first name. Still hated how weak it made her feel. It was stupid, she knew, but you try watching your mom get killed by a giant cat and not feel weak about such a wimpy name.

"… alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the School! Sure, she killed it, but still. Now we know for sure that they know too—"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need her to mature more. The way she is now, she has skill yes, but she's nowhere near ready."

She bristled at that. Not ready for what? She was getting sick and tired at people hiding things from her. She did it to protect mortals from the truth and to keep Kalie from worrying about her too much.

"But she may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line—"

"Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her have a bit of ignorance while she still can."

"But she saw her… she knew what she was"

"Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted, making Saber snarl. Imagination!? Try seeing them hurt innocent people and taking my family from me! "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that." She scoffed. Obviously, the man hadn't been paying attention.

"Sir, I … I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice trembled with emotion. Duties? What is he talking about…don't tell me he's another Mythos!? How did I miss that? "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Sera alive until next fall—"

The water bottle in her hand fell to the ground with a clack. Saber cursed, she'd been standing there long enough for her hand to fall asleep. She scooped it up as she slipped into the nearest door, falling silent as she called up Jack the Ripper's daggers, just in case. The serrated crimson blades rested easily in her hands, waiting for something to happen. Mr. Brunner's door opened and light spilled out, the shadow of something much taller than the wheelchair-bound teacher. The shadow appeared to be holding an archer's bow. She held her breath as the slow clop-clop-clop of hooves stopped right outside her door. She cursed to herself. Mr. Brunner was a centaur; the wheelchair was a disguise. She'd been right about him not being human. She raised her blades in case he decided to attack.

Out in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he muttered, "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could've sworn…"

"Go back to the dorms," Brunner said to him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me."

The lights went out and Saber could hear the centaur's footsteps retreating as the clack of Grover's crutches as he moved back to the dorm. She cursed to herself as she released the daggers, letting them fade away as they fell. Saber stepped out and headed back to the dorm, mind racing. She didn't acknowledge Grover as she laid down on her bed, not bothering to change her clothes. Brunner and Grover were under the impression that she was in danger. More so than usual. What was that about the solstice? She knew that that time of year was important in Greek Mythology, but what did it have to do with her? She shook her head and went to sleep.