Title: Percy Jackson and the Titans
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan fro creating the Percy Jackson-verse. Some credit should also go to fellow FF writer Takara Phoenix as the basic plot was inspired by one of the alternate universes breifly glimpsed in her fic "All the Percybilities", and certain other details were inspired by details from her other fics such as Percy's foster brother and a few pairings I've come to like purely because she portrays them in her fics).
Warnings: Because I'm not entirely sure the way the entire plot is going to unfold myself, I can't give a comprehensive list just yet. But I can pretty much guarantee shounen-ai, and state that shoujo-ai and character death are high in probability.
Main Parings: Undecided. The major focused pairings will be who Percy and Leo end up with, but just who that is has yet to be decided. Voting is currently being held on my profile.
Side Pairings: Same applies to side pairings as main pairings. Voting is also held on my profile.
Summary: Ten-year-old Percy Jackson and his younger foster brother run away from home in the hopes of keeping their mother safe from the monsters that have begun stalking them since they've begun to exhibit weird powers Fending for themselves on the streets for two years, they are eventually lead by a blond young man to a place that is a safe haven for those like themselves: Camp Half Blood. But this is not the happy ending we epect Feeling abandoned by his father and shunned by the other campers, a heavy decision will sway a different way than fated predicted..
Percy Jackson and the Titans
A single choice shall end his days
Olympus to preserve or raze
Chapter Two: My Brother is My Cousin?
xXxLukexXx
"Halfbloods flee from a fate most dire
Child of sea and child of fire
Now approaches the fated time
Bring to light an innocent crime
The search shall keep you close to home
Crowds of mortals children roam
Time shall test the child of rain
Saved or cursed by all his pain
Heart filled both with love and hate
While in his hands is held all's fate."
Luke tried to wrap his head around the meaning of the prophecy he had just heard as the sickly green mist faded and the 'container' of the Oracle slumped once more in its seat. He wanted to figure out as much of it as he could on his own before descending down to talk to Chiron and his 'siblings'.
When he'd asked for a second chance to go on a quest- the scar on his left cheek throbbed slightly at the though of his first quest- he hadn't expected it to basically amount to the job satyrs were normally sent out on. But the details were intriguing enough that the mild annoyance this brought was pushed to the back of his mind. 'Child of sea'... there was only one thing he could think of that could possibly mean.
A child of Poseidon. One of the Big Three. Another break in the pact between the eldest gods. Just like Thalia had been. Apparently swearing on the River Styx wasn't so binding for the immortals. But the phrasing of the prophecy made it clear there were two demigods he would be hunting down. 'Child of fire' didn't narrow it down quite as much as 'child of sea' did, but it did narrow it to either a child of Ares, Hephaestus, or Hestia. Though Hestia was doubtful. She was one of the virginal goddesses, would never have children by conventional methods. There had been some curious discussion amongst campers that Hestia and Artemis may have some 'alternate methods' of having children like Athena did, but there was no confirmation to these theories, no children of either goddess to vouch for the possibility.
It was the last few lines of the prophecy that really got Luke thinking. They had seemed to take on a different tone from the first part, almost as if they were a second prophecy entirely. Luke wasn't really sure what the words meant, but maybe...
Chiron didn't need to know about that part of the prophecy, he decided. The first lines told them all they really needed to know for their quest. The rest would be Luke's own business to be adressed later.
Decision made, Luke descended from the attic, making his way out onto the porch surrounding the Big House. Annabeth eagerly looked up at him once he stepped out, now completely ignoring the lesson she had only been half paying attention to of Nico trying to teach her how to play Mythomagic. One would think a kid who knew his father must be one of the gods and lived with a bunch of kids of other gods wouldn't be interested in such a thing, but Nico was unique Luke supposed. Bianca and Chiron were standing a little ways away from the house as they waited for his return.
"I take it things went... well?"the centaur questioned.
"As well as ever going up there is."Luke said, running his fingers back through his blond hair.
"So you got a prophecy?"Nico asked, standing up from his chair to approach his 'brother'. Luke nodded, before reciting the part of the prophecy he'd chosen to share.
"Halfbloods flee from a fate most dire
Child of sea and child of fire
Now approaches the fated time
Bring to light an innocent crime
The search shall keep you close to home
Crowds of mortals children roam."
"Wait, the Oracle's sending you to collect demigods?"Bianca frowned. "Isn't that normally a satyr's job?"
"Well, maybe there's something special about these ones that a satyr isn't good enough."Annabeth volunteered.
"Child of sea..."Chiron murmured with a thoughful expression. The centaur was clearly thinking the same thing as Luke had.
"It has to be a child of Poseidon, right?"Luke said. Chiron nodded solemnly.
"Yes. No doubt he will be drawing a great many monsters to him. That must be why the Oracle would send heroes for him rather than a satyr."
"The search shall keep you close to home. Crowds of mortals children roam." Annabeth repeated the last two lines. "That probably means they're in a mortal city. And close to home... close to Camp then? Putting those together, they're probably in New York?"
"Well then this is a pretty simple prophecy, ain't it?"Nico laughed.
"It's that middle part I'm having trouble deciphering."Bianca frowned. "Now approaches the fated time. Bring to light an innocent crime. What could that mean?"
"Oftentimes parts of a prophecy don't make sense until after they have already come to pass."Chiron said with a shake of his head. "Thinking too hard on it doesn't give you any progress."
"He's right."Luke sighed. "If we spend all our time trying to figure out what it could mean, we'll never actually get what me need to done."
"Remember, Luke."Chiron spoke up once more. "Only three may go."
Luke frowned as he looked between the three demigods that were like siblings to him. None of them had gone with him on his first quest. They'd all been too young at the time, not that they had been reasonable enough back then to realize that. All three of them had refused to talk to him in the short time before he left. That had been quick to change when he had returned to camp, failed and injured...
Luke shook his head, not wanting to dwell on that. All three of them were older now, better trained. Still young and rusty, but not so badly as they had been back then. And based on the prophecy alone, he was sure this quest wouldn't be as dangerous as the last one.
"We already know how this is going to go."Nico said, mock sulking. "Same reasoning as last time, yeah? I'm the youngest, so I gotta stay behind." He smiled softly to the older male. "I get it. I'm not gonna be a brat about it like last time. Don't get me wrong, I do wanna go. Like REALLY bad. But I get it. Annie and Bianca are the better choices. As long as you all come back safe, I can live with that."
Luke smiled lightly, glad to see the Italian boy being mature about this. Most eleven-year-olds would surely be sulking in his position. He affectionately ruffled the black hair.
"Don't worry, Nico. We'll all make it back. I swear."he said before turning to the female demigods. "We're leaving right after dinner. Make sure you're ready."
Both girls nodded, a slight gleam in both their eyes. This would be the first quest for the both of them, and Luke could tell they were both excited.
xXxPercyxXx
It had been a long, hard two years. Percy had known living on the streets would be tough. He'd never had any illusions to the contrary. But he hadn't expected the monsters to be appearing more and more frequently the longer they were out here. If he were honest, he was pretty sure they would have been dead by now if not for Leo's power.
The Latino had more or less mastered the flames at this point. Sure, there were still the occasional lapses, such as his ears catching fire whenever he was embarrassed about something, but overall he seemed to know what he was doing. Percy was glad for that, particularly since mastering the flames had seemed to be good for Leo's coping, not just with the fact that they were on the streets, but with all the events that had led to that being the case. Leo was clearly just as ragged from life on the streets- and being attacked by monsters- as Percy was, but the younger boy was surprisingly upbeat about life in general, cracking silly jokes and being overall bouncy and energetic. Percy had to admit that having Leo with him did keep his own spirits up. If he'd been alone, he probably would have sunk into depression a long time ago.
It had been another long day when Percy sat at one of the benches in a small park, watching Leo play alone on the play equipment. He'd been playing with some other kids his age earlier, but they had all since returned home for dinner. Percy and Leo would be sleeping here for the night. It was the tail end of spring right now, so fairly warm. They didn't need to worry about huddling together somewhere where no cold breezes could reach them.
"Hey, Perce!"Leo called over to his brother, hanging upside down from his knees on a set of monkey bars. "This'd all be a lot less depressing if it wasn't just the two of us, y'know? Don't get me wrong, I love you! But it does get kinda... lonely sometimes."
"Yeah, I know..."Percy said with a wistful smile. He had to admit that as much as he still acted it sometimes, Leo wasn't the same innocent child he had been when they'd met. Leo was the same age now as Percy had been when they'd first run away, and as childish as he acted a lot of the time, he still had more maturity than someone his age should really have to develop.
"Here comes another one."Leo's voice interrupted Percy's thoughts again. He glanced at Leo for a moment, then followed the Latino's gaze to find that, yes, there was another monster approaching. At first it had just seemed like a bird approaching in the distance, but as it grew closer Percy recognized it as one of those weird bird women they'd faced before. He honestly had no idea what they were actually called, he didn't know what most of the monsters he and Leo had seen over the past two years were called, but this was a regular occurance. Ever since their encounter with 'Miss Drake', it had been like they had a target on their backs that monsters were following. At first it hadn't been too often. Once every two weeks or so. But lately, they were lucky if they could go three days without being attacked by something.
Percy stood from the bench as Leo dropped down from the monkey bars. He didn't like doing this at all, but it was this or death. Not exactly a hard choice.
Leo had just summoned fire to his hands and was preparing to attack when suddenly the winged woman was struck by an arrow. Percy blinked in surprise as the monster gave a pained cry and came down to the ground. But it wasn't dead. Percy had learned enough about these things to know that they turned into dust when they died. Which also had explained why there had been no body left when they'd killed 'Miss Drake' two years ago. Sea green eyes drifted in the direction the arrow had come from, growing more confused by the second.
The first one that caught his attention was the one who must have attacked the monster. She held an archery bow in her hands, clearly poised in position that told Percy she had just loosed an arrow. She looked a little older than Percy himself, but only by about a year or so. Her skin had a distinct olive tone to it, and her hair was mostly black, falling around her shoulders and down her back to nearly her waist, a noticable curl on the last few inches of the otherwise straight locks. But there were sections that Percy supposed must have been bleached, as he couldn't tell if they were just a really pale blonde or completely white, and these sections were braided. How she managed to perfectly braid the white/blonde sections without accidentally catching some black strands, or conversely accidentally leaving some pale strands loose with the black, Percy couldn't even begin to guess. She was wearing black jeans and combat boots, accompanied by an orange hoodie that Percy honestly thought looked a bit heavy for the warm weather. There was something written on the hoodie, but Percy couldn't make it out from here.
The second was a girl he was fairly sure was his own age. Her blond hair was definitely curly all the way up, even pulled into a ponytail he was sure of that. She held what looked from here like a knife in her hands, but the color was a little odd. Sort of a coppery color. She was wearing rather plain jeans and sneakers, and her t-shirt was the same orange as the older girl's hoodie.
The last among them was the only male in the group. There was no question in Percy's mind that he was definitely older than him by several years, in high school at the very least. He held a sword in one hand, the same coppery color as the dagger the blonde girl was carrying. His sandy blond hair was cut short, and just like both girls, the shirt he wore under a denim jacket was orange. Percy was seriously starting to question the signifigance of that color to the three...
"Child of fire the prophecy said."stated the dark-haired girl, her eyes leveled on Leo. Percy could barely detect the slightest hint of an accent, but he wasn't sure what kind. He guessed she must have originally been born somewhere else, but judging by how subtle the accent was she'd likely been away from 'home' for a very long time. "I'd say a kid with flames in his hands qualifies, right, Luke?"
The male of the group nodded. "The prophecy didn't really specifically say that they'd be together... but seems too much of a coincidence to me. Plus, the other one clearly sees the harpy. So he's either the other one, or a mortal who can see through the Mist."
Percy's head was spinning trying to figure out what they were talking about. Prophecy? Mist? What was going on...?
"Percy, look out!"he heard Leo yell.
xXxBiancaxXx
Bianca wouldn't lie, it was damn satisfying seeing her arrow striking a monster and not just a stationary wooden target in the middle of camp. It hadn't taken them long after they'd arrived at camp years ago for Bianca to figure out that, quite honestly, she sucked with a sword. She didn't deny it, she wasn't ashamed of it. It was just a fact of life. But she'd been just as quick to realize that she was really good with a bow and arrow. Some of the campers had theorized that maybe that meant she was a daughter of Apollo. Bianca had answered this with an evasive 'maybe', but she knew full well that wasn't the case.
Bianca turned her dark eyes to the two children the Harpy had been preparing to attack. They looked about Annabeth's and Nico's age, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the poor kids lived on the streets. That explained the part of the propechy about 'roaming'. She wondered how long they'd been on their own. But that wasn't the only thing that drew her attention.
"Child of fire the prophecy said."she said to Luke, seeing that the younger boy's hands were burning. "I'd say a kid with flames in his hands qualifies, right, Luke?"
Luke nodded beside her. "The prophecy didn't really specifically say that they'd be together... but seems too much of a coincidence to me. Plus, the other one clearly sees the harpy. So he's either the other one, or a mortal who can see through the Mist."
Bianca was about to respond, when the harpy suddenly twitchd up, flying toward the older boy with a sharp burst of speed.
"Percy, look out!"the Latino boy yelled, flinging the fireball in his hands at the monster, but missing as it was moving too fast. Bianca cursed, pulling another arrow from the quiver across her back, but she knew she wouldn't be quick enough. The kid was going to be jerky...
Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she was sure the saw a faint blue glow in the boy's eyes just as the water from the nearby fountain crashed over the harpy in a hard wave, smacking her down into the gravel and pushing her back several feet. She heard Annabeth beside her give an awed gasp, none of them having ever seen such a thing from a demigod before. The boy's partner seemed pretty unfased, however, as a mere few seconds later he was tossing the fireball held in his other hand. Somehow the flames were strong enough to catch the monster aburst despite the fact that she was soaked, and the creature's pained screams filled the air as she burned, breaking down into ash and the supernatural dust that all monsters became on their defeat.
"Di immortales..."Luke muttered. "To have that much power so young... and to control it without any trainng..."
The two older demigods stood together as Annabeth approached the two strangers. The younger boy was checking to make sure the older truly hadn't been injured by the harpy, but all the while chattering about how cool it was about how they apparently weren't the only ones who had actually seen it this time. Bianca figured it would be best to let Annabeth talk to them first. She was about their age, and would be easier for them to relate to. True Bianca wasn't exactly old, she was only a year older than Annabeth... well, that depended on how technical you wanted to be, she supposed. Based on year of birth...
She shook her head. No one else knew about that, and she wanted to keep it that way. Nico had been young enough during those times that she was even able to get away with convincing him there was nothing out of the ordinary. She supposed sooner or later she should tell at least Nico if no one else, but for now, she would bear that knowledge on her own.
"So you guys can see the monsters too?!"the Latino was saying excitedly to Annabeth. "That's awesome! No one else can ever see them! They act like we're going crazy! Our first monster, that snake lady-!"
"Leo, breathe."the other boy stated, sea green eyes leveled on the blonde girl. "I'm glad we finally met someone else who sees them... but why can you? And why can't anyone else?"
"That's really a pretty long story."Annabeth explained, placing her dagger in the sheathe at her hip. "But the short version is, with only a few exceptions, regular humans just can't see the monsters for what they are. The Mist hides their true form. And for the most part that's fine, because monsters don't attack normal humans."
"That's not true."the Latino frowned. "They attack us all the time."
"But you're not exactly normal humans."Bianca spoke up, approaching the group of younger children with Luke at her side. "I think that should be pretty obvious, even if you don't really know what you are."
The two boys looked at her in confusion, then exchanged glances. They seemed to be holding a silent conversation before the older one finally sighed and said,
"Okay. So what are we?"
xXxLeoxXx
Leo could tell Percy had been reluctant to trust the three strangers. But when they'd offered to feed them... well, that was about all it took to win Leo over. Percy had done his best to keep them fed, but ever since spending the last of the money they had taken from Sally, which had only lasted a couple of months, it had been tough going.
Leo managed to listen to the three explain things even as he wolfed down the McDonald's the eldest, Luke as he'd been introduced, had bought for them. If these three were to be believed, they were demigods, children of the Greek gods of the old myths. Luke claimed to be a son of Hermes, while the blonde girl, Annabeth, was a daughter of Athena. The black-and-white-haired girl, Bianca, said she didn't know who her father was, but the fact that she drew monsters was all the proof their guardian needed that she and her younger brother were demigods.
"And of course, some demigods even have special powers inherited from their godly parents."Luke was now explaining. "Which would explain your... fire and water abilities."
Leo looked to Percy to see how he was taking this all. When they'd first run away, the only thing odd about Percy, other than that the monsters seemed just as eager to get to him as they were to get to Leo, had been that he could talk to fish. But within that first year, Percy had stumbled on the greater power he had exhibited in his last fight. They'd been fighting against some weird female monster with mismatched legs, one who had controlled fire herself. Leo's flames had no effect. He'd thought for sure they were doomed. To this day they weren't sure if it had been pure desperation or something else, but Percy had managed to cause a burst of water to explode from a nearby fire hydrant and attack the creature. It wasn't enough to defeat her, but enough to keep her down long enough for the two boys to run.
Percy hadn't really understood how he'd made it hapen at first. But over the time since then, he had slowly been working to understand and control it, just as Leo had done with his flames. In a way, Leo had been glad when Percy had discovered the strange power. It was just one more way in which they were the same, yet different from everyone else.
"So if we were to believe you, and I'm not saying yet that we do,"Percy said, sea green eyes looking between the three across the table from them. "Then who are our godly parents supposedly?"
"Well, there are a couple possibilities for Leo."Annabeth said calmly. "Ares or Hephaestus. Hestia has power over fire too, but she's one of the virginal goddesses so that rule her out."
"If I am a demigod, it's definitely on my dad's side, so yeah, not Hestia."Leo said around a mouthful of cheeseburger.
Annabeth nodded before continuing her thought. "But as far a our records state, only children of Hephaestus have ever been given the gift of controlling fire. And even among them it's incredibly rare."
"As for you..."Bianca spoke up, dark eyes settled on Percy. Bianca's eyes sort of creeped Leo out. She was nice enough, but that look in her eyes... he couldn't put his finger on it, but something just wasn't quite normal about them. "Unless we look at minor sea and river gods, none of which have ever had demigod children before and are unlikely to have suddenly started now, there's really only one option. Poseidon."
Percy laughed, though Leo wasn't sure if it was in amusement or denial.
"You expect me to believe that I'm the son of one of the oldest, most powerful gods?"he said.
"So you would believe us if we said you were the son of a weaker god?"Luke asked with an arched eyebrow.
"This entire thing is unbelievable!"Percy countered. "But that's the straw that broke the camel's back."
"How else do you explain your powers, then?"Bianca questioned calmly.
"I... I dunno..."Percy finally confessed.
"Look, you'll just have to trust us."Luke said. "I mean look at the alternative. Living on the street, eating what little scraps you can find, constantly being attacked by monsters. Can trusting in us really be any worse than that?"
Leo anxiously waited for Percy to make a decision. He could tell his brother was thinking hard about his decision, looking at all the options objectively. Finally, Percy looked at Luke and said.
"Alright. But if it turns out you're lying to us, luring us into something... You'll regret it."
xXxXxXx
Author's Note: Yeah, I know my prophecy isn't exactly... good. Maybe it even outright sucks. I originally wasn't going to bother introducing a full prophecy for finding Percy and Leo, just offhandedly mention in the narrative that Luke received one before leaving. Then I decided doing so would be a good opportunity for a prophecy more closely related to the central point of the story: what better time for Luke to hear it than as part of a joint prophecy already related to Percy?
The voting is still being held on my profile for deciding the couples (or in some options, threesomes) portrayed in the story. So far I've only had one person vote, and I don't want to base my decisions on a single opinion. If I don't get more people, I'll just go with the pairings I'd been leaning toward without taking any input into consideration...
Since Fanfiction only lets you have one poll at a time active on your profile page, I'm using a separate site to host another poll related to the story: I'm considering adding some OC demigods to the story (whether they'll be simply as campers or as members of the Titan Army, I'm not yet certain), and would like some feedback on this decision as well. Please vote, even if it's just to vote that I DON'T include any of them. Note that I don't really have plans for any of these OCs to be romantic interests of any canon characters should they be included, but they MAY end up being so depending on how I pair up canon characters.
poll pollcode com/4684558 (replace spaces with dots)