AN 12/14/15: The long awaited next chapter revamp is finally here. I have had this, along with other chapters already written, but I have gone over this story, especially the first chapters so many times by now I was slightly burned out. I am still working on the second story - that hasn't changed, do not fear. I have not spent all this time idle and not writing. I have been working on that and a special project of mine, which is partly writing practice for something to do with this story. Anyway, enjoy the chapter - you will be able to see where this story is going after this chapter. I will say though, I got some activity on this story and it has made my day, also adding more fuel to my writing. As always, enjoy your week, and if you find any typos just shoot me a message and I will fix it.
I wouldn't be able to tell you with certainty about what happened next, but I knew for a fact that I was not aboard Charon's ferry on its way to the Underworld. It was as if I was asleep for the longest time. I had no sense of time or my surroundings. Everything was quiet, everything was numb, everything was dark. Memories came and went. I was just left to think about all of what had transpired in my short life.
Eventually I started to regain my senses. As I said, I wasn't able to tell how much time I had been in my previous state, but long enough to know I was over with the silence. There was something soft under my head and a slight bobbing feeling, as if someone was walking, and my face was cold. Scratch that, everything was cold. I had tried to move but I couldn't. My eyelids wouldn't open either, it felt as if they weighed a million pounds.
I felt a short sense of descent, then it stopped. I managed to force my eyes open a crack and saw what I thought could be streetlight and snow. There was a quiet chime and the sound of retreating steps. I saw a flicker of movement and a door opened to reveal a woman with brown hair and sparkling blue eyes who stepped into the light. She glanced around for a moment, then her eyes drifted down. We made eye contact and she took a sharp intake of breath. Is this giant land? I felt so low to the ground. The woman hurriedly crouched down to my level and scooped me up, quietly looking around for traces of what I assumed to be people in the area. I wasn't sure what to think of this - my mind was still foggy.
"Who left you here, sweetie?" She mumbled half to herself. "What am I going to do with you? I can't just leave you out here in the cold." Even through my clouded thoughts I knew I didn't know this woman or whether or not she was a monster. Even if that seemed unlikely, you never know. I tried to move free but that accomplished nothing.
"Shh, don't worry. I promise I will keep you safe." She said to me as she cradled me against her, her warmth radiating. "I have a son you know, I think you two would get along, become friends maybe." She soothed and I felt a wave of calmness wash over me. My senses were still slowly coming back, so everything was dulled, even if the cold was evident. I relished in the warmth this woman gave off though, it encompassed me like a blanket as she held me. I knew there was some part in the back of my mind saying how off this whole thing was, but I wasn't able to focus on that. I did know that it was a pleasant change from nothingness and the dark for so long.
She brought me back through the door from which she came and up a set of stairs. We entered what I assumed to be her living room given what was visible from my point of view, and sat down. A part of me registered that I felt like a little kid again. My body felt so tiny compared to this woman's frame. It was bizarre, especially after my most recent memories. I briefly wondered if this was a dream but shook away the thought. This felt too real to be a dream, even a demigod one. There was no better explanation for it though.
Drowsiness quickly started pulling on my mind but I was wary about going back to sleep. I didn't want to go back to the maddening silence.
The woman propped me up and I realized I was wrapped in a blanket. Something must have caught her eye because she took something that I realized was poking out of the confines of the fabric. It was a note of some kind. She read it for a few moments, then looked to me.
"Well then, Allison, it looks as if we will be spending a good amount of time together from now on. I'm Sally Jackson." The feeling she was giving off was one of caring and compassion - so drastically different from the feelings surrounding that last fight. She seems nice. But I wondered what the card read. I tried to keep my eyes open longer but the draw to sleep again was becoming too much. The woman-Sally-pulled me in closer and rubbed my back a bit.
"Don't you look adorable." Was all I could remember her saying before I was out.
When I woke I finally felt more awake and aware of everything. I was able to move around fairly regularly, albeit it was odd in such a small body. Wait a minute, why am I so tiny? I looked down at myself in shocked amazement, a tiny yelp escaping me. I look like a toddler! My hands were so tiny too, not what I was expecting to see. I forced myself to breathe. Okay, new environment, unknown situation. Assess any dangers and gather information. That was what Chiron always told us to do when we were in an unknown place.
I made myself look away from my hands to take in my surroundings, which I probably should have done in the first place, but I had been too shocked by my apparent shrinkage. I was in a moderately sized blue room that had a comfortable looking chair in one corner, a play area for a young child with some odd and brightly colored toys. There was a dresser and a closet too. I looked to where I was and realized I was in a light brown wooden frame bed. Blue blankets were scattered across its surface, the one that had been covering me fallen away. It was a lot warmer than what I assumed was the night before.
The door to the hall was open and I heard some noise from beyond it. I tried standing but stumbled, putting my hand against the wall to steady myself. My feet sunk lightly into the blanket, but it hardly made an indent. Wait, that wasn't a dream? I felt more panic rise up in me. I was supposed to be in the Underworld, I had died. If this was rebirth I shouldn't be able to remember my previous life. I would have been given a choice for that matter too. Somehow I knew I hadn't at all been to the Underworld. I couldn't think of any logical reason to my being here, and things looked so... different. I couldn't quite place what exactly it was though.
If I wanted answers I needed to find that lady Sally again. I figured she was probably nearby so I just started making some noise to alert her that I was awake. After a few seconds I heard a voice say something and footsteps quickly approaching, then Sally walked in. Her hair was tied back and she had a relaxed sort of shirt on and what I assumed to be pajama pants. They had little snowflake designs on them, which was very odd compared to what I was used to seeing on clothes. She leaned over and picked me up. A smile was on her face. She seems.. legitimately caring.
"Hey there, sleepy head. Did you just get up? I'll take you to see Percy, you two can play. How does that sound?" She brought me back out of the room, into the hallway, and into the room from before. It was weird, being carried so much, but I didn't know how I would do if I had to walk just then. She probably thought me to be like any other child my size. When in doubt, play along until you know the full extent of your situation. That was another thing Chiron always said. It had helped me blend into places on multiple occasions. Now that I got a better look around I noticed the different things in the room - the dark carpet, a couch, coffee table, and a really fancy looking futuristic television. Things have changed so much, where am I and how long was I out for? There was a small pine tree in the corner of the room that had a few ordainments on its branches. Christmas?
Playing on the carpet was a little boy, a bit younger than two years if I had to guess, playing with some stuffed animals. The boy, Percy I assumed, had black hair, and once he saw his mother come into the room he turned.
"Mama!" He cried, his face beaming. Sally walked over to him, me in tow, and sat down next to him.
"I wasn't gone for long Percy, but I have a friend for you to meet. This is Allison." She said while readjusting me on her lap to face the boy. Percy scooted forward, looking at me. His eyes were a bright, happy green, the toddler's eyes like the sea. He gently reached his hand out and put it on my bare foot. He smiled and looked up at his mother for reassurance. He seems really attached to her, his father probably works a lot. That or he is a mama's boy.
"Go on, Percy. She might be uneasy because this is a new place for her, but she is about your age. I'm sure she would love to play with you. Isn't that right, Allison?" Sally said gently, not taking her eyes off of us. I was still not used to my new body but I was determined to stand. The only problem was that it was so small and not very well coordinated, so when I tried I had to use Sally's arm to keep me up.
Percy picked up a stuffed bunny with his tiny hands and held it out to me, a goofy toddler smile on his face. I eyed the bunny, then accepted his gift, smiling for him. We ended up spending most of the day in their living room, our interactions on my part becoming slowly easier. Sally would smile at me every now and then, as if at a thought in her head, and played along with Percy, but she gave me space when needed.
It was surreal for me. For the past number of years in my life I had been helping fight a war, then I got a sword ran through me. Now I was a toddler. It didn't make any sense whatsoever, but I just kind of went with it and played along. I had always liked kids, they were so sweet and innocent, especially at this age. They reminded me of simpler times. I was soon able to move around with minimal trouble, but I made sure to not look too coordinated. I was apparently a two year old in the eyes of Sally after all.
The day went like how one would expect with a toddler, or two for that matter. Percy babbled happily, playing with his toys and we ate snacks occasionally. I played with him too, even if I was still weirded out by this whole experience.
I caught myself more than just a few times zoning out throughout the day, trying to solve the puzzle as to why I was here, and how. If I was indeed in the future-if that is what you would call it-then what worried me was what had become of Nick and my mother? Were they still out there, and how long had it actually been, if they were even still alive? Oh gods, Nick would have had to go to a funeral for his best friend. I left him on his own.
That thought especially hit me really hard. Ever since we found out we were demigods we just grew even closer. We anchored each other throughout all the madness, but I left him.
Sally noticed my quietness when that realization came about, the upset look I was sure my face held.
"What's the matter, honey?" She asked, putting down a toy. I was at a loss as to how to answer that, or if I even could. After all, it would be pretty scary to have a supposed toddler speaking in fully constructed sentences and ask question like the ones that were pressing on my mind.
I frowned and went for the easiest response. "Nick." I didn't know what exactly made me say even that much, but it just felt right. I felt so alone in that moment, so horrible to have done that to my best friend that I needed to let it out of my head, even slightly. As it was, Sally's brow creased and she looked to be wrapped up in thoughts.
Eventually she announced it was time for bed and picked both Percy and I up, one of us in each arm. She took us to the room I had woken up in, which I assumed to be Percy's room, and she set us down. Percy looked even more tired and I felt when Sally tucked us in. It was a bit odd, sharing a bed with a toddler, but who was I kidding? This whole thing was weird. There were more pressing things than where I slept, and Percy was just a kid.
As time passed, days turned into weeks, weeks into months. I still hadn't figured out any concrete answers by this point. There was a small part of me that thought this might not turn out so bad - when one door closes another one opens, right?
I wanted to be able to see my family again though. I kept reminding myself of the solid things I knew to be true: I had died on that mission - the pain had been too real to be fake, and I still had the scars from that battle alongside that. The entry wound on my stomach was now just a slightly red mark and a similar one was on my back at the exit point of the sword. A scar on my arm marked where Chester had slashed me. When Sally first saw them the next morning, let's just say she was taken by surprise. She probably thought that wherever I had come to them from had something to do with it. She was right in a way, I had to have gotten them from somewhere.
Good things had come out of this whole situation, whatever this classified as, at least. I had gotten to meet Sally Jackson: a woman who cared for her son, and even me a lot. She was such a sweet person, and Percy in turn was such a sweet little kid. It made things easier than it could have been had I been left somewhere else.
I discovered that Percy loved this fuzzy seal stuffed animal. He carried that thing everywhere. When we were at the kitchen table, his toy was there. Napping? He had that thing wrapped in his pudgy arms. The seal's name was Flappy, but he pronounced it "Fwappy".
Often times when Percy and I got tired, Sally would just hold us and sit on the couch, letting us enjoy each other's company. It was odd, being a young kid again, or at least in the body of my old self from when I was little. I had grown used to doing everything for myself back then, such as that of the life of a demigod, even more so for a child of Hades. Despite that, it was nice to just focus on enjoying myself for once. To not worry about war, monsters, or impending doom. Life was simple again in a strange way, and I relished in it. I did have many times of worry and distress - those were not completely gone, but the good helped counter that.
One of the major things I noticed in the world around me was the new tech. Over time I grew to learn through watching Sally do things what some of the things were. There were now things like computers, cell phones, color television, and newer cars. The view of the city outside was so much more grand and complex too. At first, the big changes really blew my mind, but I quickly grew to appreciate them. It was a bit of a melancholy feeling though - the whole world was so different from when I left it, and I could never go back.
Cars had adapted to be sleeker and more compact; very different from the big and bulky cars I had known. They were much more colorful now too, and radios were more common additions in vehicles. Sometimes I would be able to hear people blaring music all the way from the street into the house. Music was another thing too, it was more wild in a sense. I was used to artists like Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and Bing Crosby. It was a whole new world out there. Heck, I still remembered when The Wizard of Oz came out.
One of the things I really liked was the way people dressed - for the most part. Women and girls did not have to wear dresses all the time to fit with the norms of society. I used to break that norm frequently anyway. I always preferred to wear pants with a casual shirt, nothing restricting. I do admit though, I did like some of the dresses I had and wore them sometimes back then. I always had to wear one for school too.
That was one of the things that came in handy in life for mobility while fighting. One of the most important things of being a demigod was to always be ready for a fight. Having the right clothes was a big part of that, aside from basic training and weapons of course. You don't want to die because you couldn't move around properly to defend yourself. You would be a laughing-stock.
One of the things I did manage to answer happened in my first week with the Jacksons, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Percy and I were at the kitchen table as Sally cleaned up breakfast and I saw a newspaper on her seat. I remember thinking that this would be my chance to see exactly how much time had passed, even if I was apprehensive to know for sure. I pulled down the paper for a better look and what I saw devastated me.
The year, it was roughly fifty years from when I had left my old life. Then I realized with a start that this was January. I did a mental count of the days I had been here and it felt like ice rolled down my spine. I came here on my birthday - January fourth. Wrong year, but correct date. My mother would be an old woman by now, if not dead. Nick, being a demigod and a son of Zeus, he would be long gone. That was only magnified by the World War I left behind - a child of the Big Three's chances were slim to none to still be around at this time.
Before I saw the paper I still held onto the hope that somehow I might be able to see them again, but this changed everything. By the time I would be physically old enough to search for them, they would be far from my reach.
Sally noticed my silence by that point and walked over, drying her hands on a towel. She crouched down next to me.
"What's the matter, Ally? Did you get a paper cut?" She took a hold of my hands and gently looked them over. When I looked up at her, my exterior walls that I always kept firm crumbled and tears spilled down my face. Sally quickly picked me up, trying to sooth me. I looked back at the paper, having to double check the date.
Everything I once valued was gone and I was here, stuck in the body of toddler me fifty years later. I was not dead like my instincts screamed at me that I should be, my very existence just felt so wrong. That was made doubly worse by my heritage.
In the end I was quiet for a number of days after the fact. I still get waves of that same feeling of not belonging to this date. The feeling that my existence was overall wrong and that I wasn't where I was supposed to be - when I was supposed to be. Torn from where I belonged.