Disclaimer: Tis be a fine specimen that hither not own upon thyself. Ok I don't even know what i said either... I don't own Percy Jackson etcetera and certainly don't own myths (but that'd be AWESOME!).
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Ah... Wow. I was out shopping today and saw the funniest thing in the history of life. I was looking at cereal and this old woman walked past me with a cane - looking about 100 years old at LEAST - and she bumped into another old woman, about the same age, but holding a basket. Said basket was dropped and I expected to hear they typical old woman talk about 'Sorry' and 'Back in my day' but what actually happened was she started screaming at the one with the cane, her precise words being "What the f**k are you doing? Are you senile, old woman?" Yes, she said 'senile' and 'old woman'. The response she got was "You want me to shove this up your arse after I knock your teeth in?". They both had to be calmed down by staff, and there I was, cracking up and practically dying, holding a box of Shreddies. Yum.
Thought I'd share that. It made my day - hell, it made my MONTH.
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So... Thanks for the responses!
Striking-Thunderbolt: Sorry about that! I just write as I go, half of it was sitting there for about a month, so I lost the flow I had... I'll try to do better!
Avardsin: Why thank you! Have another one!
SONxOFxCHAOS: Sorry about any confusion. I like the Percy x Hestia stuff, but I feel like this is a Percy x Zoë fic. Here's another chapter, which will hopefully stop any more confusion (hopefully).
PJandLGequalsLove: Thank you... Wow, thank you!
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Now onwards to the chapter!
~Nom Nom :3
PS: I do not condone old lady fights. I do not, however, condemn them either.
PSS: Ok, there is some male/male reference in this (not Percy!) so if that bothers you (why it would I'd never know), meh, suck it up.
Bane of Khaos
Chapter 1 - The Legend of Heracles
Perseus sat on the white floor, his chlorophyll-green eyes closed. He legs were crossed, and he was wearing the same black shorts he had always worn - a gift from his father - and his breathing was calm and relaxed.
He was meditating, as advised by the two serpents Ananke and Chronos, trying to control his power. As the world grew, as more mortals and immortals were born, so did his powers. Every bond of love and hate, every creation and every destruction of anything and everything added to his power. He now knew why Khaos would not allow him to exist. He would just grow to powerful.
He knew everything that was happening in the outside world. He saw his family - the ones he cared about - in their unique prisons. His mother, chained beneath the earth in a deep slumber; his father, forced to remain bodiless and trapped in Tartarus; the Titans, under every punishment imaginable from being scattered in tiny prices in Tartarus, being chained to stone and even holding up the whole sky for all eternity. Hell, even Calypso was trapped on Ogygia.
Yet, as Ananke predicted, he was useless. Yes, if he focused hard enough and used lots of energy, he could do very small alterations, but usually his power couldn't reach out, so all he could do was watch their suffering, and wait. He watched as the Gods abused their power, monument erected for miles dedicated to them. He watched how the Gods descended to the mortal world from their palaces on Mount Olympus, creating many demigods which they used for their amusement. He watched Greece grow and thrive, yet bound to the Gods themselves.
Currently Perseus was watching a hero - Heracles or something like that - through his life. It was a prime example of the egotistical Gods and their offspring. In his early life he was harassed by Hera herself for his mere parentage, being the illegitimate son of Zeus, and everything from being trapped in the womb to sending snakes into his cot to strangle him.
Yet, Heracles followed in his father's footsteps. Because of bing gifted at a young age by Hera's divine milk, he became cocky in power, in lust for more. He killed his own music teacher, Linus, with a lyre after being reprimanded for a mere mistake Heracles himself caused.
Later in his life, Heracles murdered his six sons in cold blood. The world believed that it was a curse of madness from Hera, but Perseus knew what really happened. The divine milk which gave him his strength protected him from the curse, but he used it as an excuse to murder his own children. The love he once had for them changed to fear, fear of them challenging him, fear of them refusing his orders, fear of them besting him... So he killed them.
Then his father offered him a way of redemption, and even a reward of immortality for assisting his cousin Eurystheus. This was a way for Heracles to escape death itself, to escape judgement, just because of the Gods interference.
There was one point where he became a man. Just a man, no fear, no hate, not even a demigod, just a man. It was when he was with Hylas. Perseus felt the bonds of love between them grow, overcoming the lust for power. Hylas had the power to remove Heracles from the Gods' grasp forever, and almost did so before Zeus interfered. Hylas was kidnapped by nymphs and murdered by Zeus himself, Heracles being lead to believe that he left because he loved one. After this, he never loved another again. Yet, Hylas had changed him for the better.
Perseus watched as Heracles began his eleventh labour, without a word of complaint. Apparently two were forfeit as he had help or was paid, so he was 'required' to do two more. The first was to steal a golden apple of immortality from the Garden of Hesperides, the second to subdue and retrieve Cerberus.
He watched as Heracles interacted with the youngest of the eight Hesperides sisters Zoë. She was the most adventurous, the one who had the biggest desire to explore the world, but she was trapped in her prison. Her brown eyes were shining with excitement, and she was fumbling with a small hairpin in her long black hair. Heracles talked with a straight face, his electric blue eyes showing no emotion and his short black hair moving slightly in the wind.
"What are they saying?" Perseus' companion asked, looking over his shoulder. His eyes shot open and he turned his head to look at his companion.
He was about twenty years old, with short blond hair and big green eyes. He was short, around five and a half foot tall, with small muscles on his body. He was wearing hunter furs, ranging from greys to blacks to browns, and had a large celestial bronze knife on his belt, and a grey metal one directly next to it.
"Hush, Hylas, I am trying to see." He said back, before closing his eyes again, attempting to focus.
Hylas pouted. "Sorry Perseus..." He muttered, before looking back to the talking figures. Looking at Heracles again brought back all his memories with him, both good and bad.
The time he spent with him, even though it was short and they hunted monsters... It wad the best time his life. He remembered, it was after Heracles' first or second labour, and they were together until just after the seventh when it happened...
Hylas was out in the woods, searching for berries. It was early in the morning, a crisp breeze blowing though the forest. The sun had risen only a little, creating the perfect light to hunt for edible fruits and plants.
Foraging was his speciality. While Heracles had the ability to crush the throat of a bear with his pinky, he didn't have the patience to look for edible plants. Also, he had a bad habit of grabbing fruit too hard, making it burst in his hands. It was then that they decided that while Heracles would be responsible for meat, he himself would gather the herbs and vegetables.
He had been out for about three hours, wandered about two miles away from the camp when he began to feel uneasy. The shadows in the forest became more prominent, the leaves and stray twigs became sharper and more dangerous, the sky darker, even though it was in the middle of the day.
Hylas decided to quickly head back. Usually, severe changes in the environment like that was usually the fault of divine presence, and most of the Gods didn't like him. Doubling back seemed like the smartest thing to do.
It took another ten minutes for Hylas to confirm the fact that it was divine presence. He was completely and utterly lost, the forest shifting around him, removing any familiar landmark.
"Mortal."
The voice came from behind him, making him jump and spin around, to see a man he recognised. His blood turned cold at the all-too familiar God in front of him. Zeus.
He took a hesitant step back - or he tried to anyway, only to discover his path to be blocked by a mesh of foliage that had the strength of a stone wall.
"Handy, isn't it?" Zeus said, Hylas looking in every direction for an escape route, only to discover that there was none.
He was trapped in an arena with a pissed off King of Gods.
He had no chance.
"What... What do you want?" Hylas said, his voice small and feeble even to his own ears.
"When I'm the presence of a God, you should bow!" Zeus shouted. On the last word, the roots and plants forced Hylas down onto his knees, dragging his head down. It was done with so much force, he could feel it tremble up his spine, making a sicken crunch that made him shout in pain.
"Nifty the power the nymphs own, isn't it?" Zeus smirked. "Robbing your food, leading you hear with the forest..." He started to slowly pace. "You do know why I'm here, right?"
"N-No... I-"
"SILENCE MORTAL!" He shouted again, making the vines that held Hylas in place shoot up, wrapping his mouth closed. "You dare talk in my presence, you dirty half-nymph!"
The plants hummed in protest, but did nothing.
"Now speak-" The plants removed themselves from around Hylas' mouth. "-and tell me how you did it."
"D-Did what... Sir?" He said tentatively.
"Playing the fool will get you nowhere!" Zeus yelled. "How did you seduce my son?"
Hylas opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He couldn't produce any noise from the shock coursing though his system.
"One last chance." Zeus hissed. "How. Did. You. Seduce. My. SON!"
"I... I..." Hylas stuttered.
"What? Spit it out!"
"I... Didn't?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Zeus roared at him, from pure fury, and thrusted his hand up to the sky. A large lightning bolt shot down to him, flashing once before disappearing, leaving behind Zeus in full battle armour, holding his master bolt. Before Hylas' mind could even contemplate what was happening, Zeus threw the glowing cylinder at him.
Perseus watched the interaction, anger bubbling deep inside him. It was his mother and father all over again, but this time the one hit by the lightning would die. He had kept a close eye on Heracles, and an even closer eye on the bond between them. It was one of the strongest he had seen, and he certainly would not let it die.
Focusing, he drew upon all the power he could muster. True as it was that he had gained power over the years, to breech the barrier between the dimensions was another thing entirely. So he drew upon two other things: the power of the bond, and the power of the godly weapon.
Even though Zeus thought that by sorting out the 'Hylas problem' himself would ensure the death of him, it was actually the exact opposite that resulted from it. Because of his involvement, it gave Perseus the opportunity to save him. And he took it.
It was a taxing effort. Even with all the extra power from both the bond and the godly weapon, he was just able to save him. To pierce through the dimensional walls was an almost impossible task, never mind doing something while keeping the rip open. But he succeeded, and saved Hylas.
Hylas was... Completely confused, no doubt about it. One moment the King of Gods was personally getting ready to kill him, the next he was in a completely white room, with a twelve year old boy watching him tiredly, like he had just ran a marathon. Not only that, he could feel the power radiating off him through his half-nymph side, something that never happened before, not even with Zeus. So he followed his instincts.
He ran.
Not that he got far. It only took three steps for him to run straight into the twelve year old. He just literally appeared in front of him, wearing a confused expression, like he couldn't understand why Hylas was running. And it was true, he really couldn't. He had saved him, right? So why was he wary?
"Who... Who are you?" He whispered.
"I am Perseus."
Heracles was running away, with an golden apple in one hand and a sword in the other, Zoë running close behind. Behind them were the Hesperides, Atlas and the fallen dragon Ladon. While Ladon was regenerating and Atlas was suffering under the weight of the world, the seven remaining Hesperides sisters were chasing the duo.
"You are not a daughter of mine!" Bellowed Atlas, from far behind the two running people. A glow engulfed Zoë as she lost her immortality and became mortal, also inadvertently removing her from the prison.
They continued to run until they could no longer see her sisters before stopping, Zoë gasping for breath. She felt like she was going to collapse, especially since her mortality returned.
"Thank you..." She sighed, collapsing on the ground. He said nothing, but offered her sword back to her, but she shook her head. "No, keep it. You deserve it. After everything we've both been through, I just hope..."
She stopped, her words falling short. She knew his plan, probably one of the only people in the world who did, and even though she respected his decision, she wished he would change his mind.
"If you change your mind..." She whispered. "Please tell me."
With that, she hugged him before running off, looking back only once.
Heracles mulled over what she had said. He had decided long ago that after freeing his soul of the sin he had acquired though his past, he would kill himself. He regretted his actions on his children, but he blamed his father. It was in his blood to be scared of being overthrown, to lust for power... His own curses to bare.
Thinking of his father made him mad. He knew what had happened that day, when Hylas went missing... He knew what his father did, what he did to Hylas. He knew his love was dead, so he planned to join him.
After delivering the proof to his cousin Eurystheus (who had long ago stopped bothering him) he accepted his twelfth and hopefully final labour: subdue and capture Cerberus.
Finding a way to the Underworld was more difficult then he thought. It took research, time and effort to find it, and physically getting there was another matter entirely. Athena and Hermes assisted him to reach the far shores of the Underworld, presumably forced by his father - who wanted Heracles to reach immortality as soon as possible.
Before he reached Charon, he met yet another Goddess.
"Lady Hestia." He bowed, making the small eight year old smile.
"Heracles." She smiled to the demigod.
"Why are you here?"
"I am here to help you cross the river Styx." She looked him in the eyes. "Charon is one who is not easy to convince."
He nodded stiffly. No doubt that this was his father - yet again. It made him mad, but he skilfully hid it. No use riling up the Gods when he was close to his goal. He started to walk to the black boat.
"He is not where you seek."
He froze. Eyes wide, he turned to the former Olympian Goddess who had changed her form to make it one of a twenty year old.
"He is not in the land of the dead, nor is he in the land of the living."
Heracles, for the first time in a long time, felt his mask slip. "B-B... H-How...?"
She smiled mischievously. "It's as they say: Home is where the heart is."
With that she vanished into a column of flames, shooting Chiron a look that gave no room to disagree.
Heracles was in a daze. He walked through the Underworld without a though, not registering the ghosts of the dead around him. He thought quickly, a new plan forming in his mind. Hades would be able to confirm what Hestia said, but he felt like she was telling the truth.
If Hylas wasn't dead, nor was he alive, did that make him immortal?
Everything else was a blur. Before he knew it, he was on Olympus celebrating with all the other Gods about his new status as Heracles: Gatekeeper of Olympus
God of heroes, sports, athletes, health, agriculture, fertility, trade, oracles and divine protector of mankind. Quite a mouthful. He guessed that his father had a hand in what became his sphere of activity.
It wasn't hard for him to slip away from the party. Apart from his father, Apollo and Hebe (who was very clingy to him for some reason) no one approached him. He guessed Hera had a hand in that, and for the first time in his life, he was grateful towards her.
It was slightly confusing. Because if the 'divine protector of mankind' but in his titles, be knew where any and every mortal was, what they were wearing and when they breathed. It didn't overload him, but he merely sifted through the masses to find the one he wanted. It only took him about two seconds to find Zoë and flash to her.
She was sitting by the sea, her feet dangling in the water, eating some red berries. She had lost weight, but he knew that it was from not being used to foraging for her own food. She looked at him and smiled, relief evident in her features.
"I'm guessing something changed." She mused. He nodded and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened.
Once he was done, her eyebrows were raised. "It's almost poetic, isn't it? The God of Heroes on a quest to find his true love, who is beyond the land of the dead."
He smiled sadly. Ever since his small talk with Hestia, his mask had never really reformed. "Ah, but this is the price I pay for my sins. There's nothing I can do but wait. One day we will meet again, and I will wait, even if it takes a thousand years."
"I wonder what love is like." Zoë sighed wistfully. "My father loved my mother. You love Hylas. Heck, even Lord Zeus loves Lady Hera!" She sighed again. "I just want to find it."
Heracles was silent for a moment before he smiled suddenly, looking very pleased with himself. "Zoë, I still owe you for helping me. And I was thinking, if I'm the 'divine protector of mankind', I'm still just one man. One man cannot protect the world but..."
"...an army can!" She finished, looking amused.
He nodded. "I'll have to clear it with my father first - if I don't want him to kill anyone who joins - but I'm sure it will be accepted. And, of course, every leader needs a lieutenant to keep order in the ranks." He looked her directly in the eyes. "I was thinking you for that position."
She smiled. "I would love to. Wouldn't want to loose the first friend I've had in centuries."
He nodded and looked out to the sea. Heracles was one step closer to being reunited to his lover, and Zoë was one step closer to finding hers.
Yay, chapter 1 is done~!
Ok, it's still a Percy x Zoë fic, but there will be Heracles x Hylas in there too. Heracles and Zoë have a siblingish bond with one another, not a romantic one.
So review, please! I wrote this in a day because I was on FIRE with the story! Do you like the direction it is going in?
By the way, I had a truck load of research done to find out the historical background, and lots of it is accurate I think. Hylas was a real person, with the same relationship with Heracles but was kidnapped and seduced by nymphs. I don't know when they were actually together, so I made it up.
Thanks!
~Nom Nom :3