I accidentally uploaded the none spellchecked draft Sorry about that THX Firetrial and Cristian Heath80.
Holy crap, this blew up! Thank you all so much for reading and your patience. At the time of writing, my replacement meds are working a lot better, and my headache has stopped. I'm in a hotel in Nottingham right now, researching folklore for my original work, and I'm doing well.
Now, for the comments:
Crazytonny, 80, Fatbastard & Exodus12345: All of you, thank you for your kind words about my health.
Also, Crazytonny, I'm happy to see you like it. I hope I can keep it good.
Whatif-inator: Well, things will be quite different, but no spoilers. What I can say is that the first part of the story will mostly focus on the gathering of the kids. Then we will move towards some formative chapters in different times of the kids' lives, showing them becoming stronger and closer. Later, we will move towards what resembles the PJO-HOO canon.
A good thing to add is that there are third-party kids, as stated in chapter 1. I will probably write their personal stories in spin-off works to keep this fic more manageable in readability, adding enough so that they fit in with the narrative and write their own adventures in other smaller fics.
Jesus DJ dejesus: Oh, Ares will be involved, and things will go pear, apple, melon, and dragonfruit-shaped. In what way? Well, we will see. As for surprise, Athena was surprised to see him smile, but it's not all that strange. Some gods, like Zeus, like taking a more aged form, and it makes sense for Kratos to be like that. In Sparta, surviving to be considered old was a massive achievement, and the elders were highly respected.
And now, THOTHSLAYER9000: You disappoint me. You left me my first rude comment, and it was bland. I mean, "Shit premise"? Come on, man! If you are going to criticize my story in a way that does not offer any constructive criticism (which is your right, within reason), have the decency to make it funny, at the very least.
Lastly, do you guys want a list of the kids? If so, please let me know, and I will upload one as soon as I can.
See y'all later,
Striking twice.
The rain trickled into the crashed car as Thalia woke up in the passenger seat. She felt blood run down her forehead, and shards of broken glass were flung all over the car. Her electric blue eyes scanned the car. She hesitated for a second before looking at the driver's seat. She should have realized that her mother had not been sober when they got into the car. The ride had been bumpy, and her mother had not been able to keep the car steady. Then the monster had shown up. Whether the monster had aimed to make them crash in some crazed suicide charge or if it had aimed to pull Thalia out from the window, Thalia couldn't say. She chanced a quick look and felt her breakfast make a comeback. The steering wheel was smeared with blood, and a branch from the tree the car had crashed into had shot through the windshield, striking her mother in the chest.
"Mom?" Thalia knew there was no way her mother would answer. She would never hear her voice again. It had been years since her mother's voice had brought her any sense of comfort, yet Thalia felt her stomach turn at the memory of a lullaby about storm clouds and eagles. Thalia took her mother's purse and grabbed her wallet, pulling out what had been a keepsake: 2 golden drachma that Zeus had given her. Thalia clutched the coins in her hands and whispered a prayer. "Uncle, please be fair to her." Thunder roared in the distance.
"Mom, I... I don't know what to say. We were never close, and ever since Jason... I'm sorry that we never got to kiss and make up." She took her mother's hand, pushed the coins in, closed it into a fist, and kissed the hand before placing it in the woman's lap. "Goodbye, Mom," she said, tears starting to sting her eyes. "Give Jason a kiss for me." Someone opened the door of the car wreck and helped her undo the seatbelt and get to her unsteady feet. The New York streets looked dark in the rain, with only streetlights and windows to light up the falling night. Thalia looked up at the person helping her. The woman smelled like candy, which matched her cinnamon-brown hair. A kind, worried look sat in her blue eyes. Thalia, at first, thought that the water drops on her face were raindrops, then she heard the tears in the woman's voice.
"Calliope?" The woman called her with an accent that Thalia recognized as Greek, and she felt a pressure in her mind. It was as if a dam broke in Thalia's mind. Memories from millennia ago flooded her brain. From playing the flute in the Agora to riding on her father's shoulders, then that night in the temple. She looked up, and the woman who held her hands was the very same soul looking down on her now. Tearing up, Thalia found herself speaking ancient Greek.
"Τί ἕνεκεν οἱ θεοὶ ἡμᾶς μισοῦσι; Ἐθεάσθην ἁ μητέρα μου τελευτῶσαν καὶ νῦν σὺ παρεῖς. Καὶ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ὁρᾶν σε, π
ῶς σε προσκαλεῖσθαι ἢ τί λέγειν." (Why do the gods hate us? I just saw my mother die, and now you are here. And I am not sure how to see you, how to call you, or what to say.) Thalia said, hoarsely shivering as the rain stole the warmth from her body.
The woman looked down at her, wiping away her tears with a gentle hand and pulling the teen into her arms. Thalia could not help but clench at who at one point had been her mother.
"Συγνώμη, τέκνον μου. Ειλικρινά, δεν ξέρω τι να σκεφτώ κι εγώ, αλλά δεν θα σε αφήσω να κοιμάσαι στον δρόμο. Έλα, έλα, μένω σε ένα διαμέρισμα κοντά. Θα δούμε τι μπορούμε να κάνουμε στο μέλλον. Έλα, με την αυγή θα δούμε..." (I'm sorry, my child. Honestly, I don't know what to think either, but I won't let you sleep on the street. Come, come, I live in an apartment nearby. We'll see what we can do in the long run. Come morning.)
They walked through the alleyways. The rain was inescapable, but it hid them from the biting winds. "Thalia," Thalia said, breaking the silence. The woman nodded. "Sally," the woman said, the kind smile still on her lips.
"Good, I get to lord your new name over the ghost's head before I kill him," a gruff voice said from the opening of the apartment building. A bald, fat man walked out into the alleyway. In one of his hands, he held a struggling boy of about 7 years old with ocean green eyes and black hair by the neck. "Mom!" the boy screamed in fear as the man grew into a muscle-bound giant with a thick, wild mane of hair. His skin, which once had been tanned, was now a vile, rotten pale. Glowing red lines ran across his body, and his veins were pitch black.
"Gabe, you are the Barbarian King Kratos faced?" Sally narrowed her eyes as her voice became dangerously low. Sally had taken a step back; these were the words of a Spartan. Lysandra was not all gone. "Listen and listen close, if you don't want to die again, you put my son down."
The man smirked. "As you wish." He threw the screaming boy to the ground. Thalia winced as she heard the hollow plop Percy made as he landed. The giant of a man raised his feet, and the fear was replaced with a burst of rage. Lightning raced over her arms as, on nothing but instinct, she made a sweeping motion. Cold metal chains manifested around her arms, and a pair of wicked weapons—three daggers at the ends of the chains—blazed with teal electricity and raced towards the Barbarian, slashing his torso and zapping him backward. Thalia did not end it there; burying the blades of the weapons in the man, she launched herself forward. She used all her weight as she buried her shoulder in his stomach as hard as she could, earning a burst of pained coughing. Victory was not yet theirs, though, as the barbarian grabbed her by the head and slammed her into the pavement three times before burying his fist in her midriff. Thalia felt the iron taste of blood fill her mouth as she was smacked down a final time. With a single kick, Thalia was launched into Sally, who was running to her aid. Both women fell over as the man slowly walked up, raising his great hands as a large spiked hammer formed in them.
"Not bad, kid. Don't worry, I'll make sure the Ghost of Sparta sees your corpse, like how I saw my father's."
Thalia braced for the hit, but it never came. Instead, Thalia felt a jet of warm blood hit her face as the air filled with a loud scream. When Thalia looked up, the enormous man gaped down at a glowing blade sticking out of his stomach. Percy held onto the heft of the weapon—a enormous blade surrounded by blue fire, its hilt sculpted from gold into humanoid figures. With a yell that made the sky and earth shake, the boy pulled the blade out. The Barbarian King coughed in pain as he sank to his knees, the great hammer falling sideways and burying itself into the concrete.
Thalia spat a splat of blood and saliva on the street as she got up, grabbing her blades. She hewed at the dying barbarian's neck, severing his massive head that fell to the ground with a wet thud and rolled away. Percy walked up as the body dissolved into golden dust, which
was washed away by the rain. Thalia smiled down at him.
"Good job, kid. You saved our bacon back there."
Sally got to her feet, her arm held at a strange angle. "Are you okay?" Sally asked, looking between the two. Thalia swayed on her feet. "Nope, I have a concussion and I think at least one rib is bruised." She looked down at Percy. "How about you, buddy?"
"Uhm, my arm hurts. A lot. And I'm hungry," Percy said as he tried to keep the sword upright, but in a flash of blue light, it vanished. "Uhmm, did I break it?" Percy asked, looking apologetically at the two women.
"I doubt it. Whatever that was, I don't think a magic sword will break easily," Thalia laughed.
"I don't know," the boy said, "I'm really good at breaking things. Especially when they should not be able to break easily." Sally sighed and nodded, knowing her son was right. A part of her was also worried about the fact that her boy was in possession of a magical sword nearly twice his size.
A loud bang and a flash of light came from the building as smoke rose from the windows. "Oooooh, that's not good." Thalia looked at Sally. "Is that smoke coming from your apartment?" The sound of sirens suddenly blared.
"Yup," Sally sighed. "Are those sirens coming from the crash zone?"
"I think they are," Thalia nodded. "At least Mom won't be left to..." Thalia shook her head.
"Sooooo, run?" Percy asked, pointing at an alleyway.
"Running sounds good," Thalia agreed.
"Running sounds perfect," Sally nodded.
They took off into the night as the rain cleared. The three walked over the Queensboro Bridge, wandering the darkening streets until they reached Central Park, where they found a bench. Percy quickly fell asleep against Thalia, who had also slumped into uneasy sleep. Sally rested her head on Thalia's neck and let out a sigh.
"Okay, what to do now?" Sally looked around and saw the shadow of a church down Fifth Avenue. Sally shook her head. "Well, it's not the craziest thing that would happen tonight."
Sally fished out a handful of sweets from her pocket and grabbed a metal shawarma box from the ground, as well as some runaway paper that had been covered by the stone bench, just enough to be dry. She waved over a man and asked the stranger for a light. The man, looking at the kids snoring on the couch with sympathy, gave Sally a lighter as well as 5 dollars. With a nod of his head, the stranger disappeared. Sally kneeled down and lit her small fire, tossing in the sweets. "Anyone, please. I could use some help."
"Well, well, well, what have we here? Two demigods and their mommy."
A figure as solid as a brick house emerged from the shadows, staring down at Sally with a single large eye. His massive hands gripped a mailbox like a weapon. Sally jumped up and positioned herself between the children and the Cyclops.
"Oh, I know you. Dad used to gush about you," the Cyclops said, his breath so foul that Sally could smell it from a distance. "Before that ash ass got his hands on you. I wonder, would he be happy if I took you home?"
Sally gulped and stepped back, but then a burst of flames erupted from the burning trash, revealing a red-headed woman in Spartan armor. She stepped out of the flames, a blade extended toward the now visibly scared Cyclops. The woman's flaming locks waved in the wind as her voice, seething with rage, filled the night. "You are about to get the Hades away from these three, or you will regret it."
The Cyclops dropped his weapon. "H…Hestia."
"That is Lady Hestia, Cyclops, and if you ever wish to have a place to call home in any form ever again, then start walking. Or I will show you just how terrible it is to truly belong nowhere."
The Cyclops nodded and walked away with shaky steps, sulking like a scolded child, dragging the mailbox behind him and leaving a trench in the wet dirt.
The Goddess turned around and smiled, almost awestruck, at Sally. "Oh my stars, I hoped I would meet you one day! Your home is one of the warmest I have ever seen. It's inspiring, truly." Sally blinked sheepishly as the goddess shook her hand. "Uhm, I, uh... Thank you, my Lady." The goddess continued to smile as she looked at the now wide-awake and terrified children.
"Oh boy, the two of you have been through it, haven't you? Well, I'm no Apollo, but I do have this." She pulled out two cubes of fudge-like food. "Ambrosia should heal up those wounds in a jiffy. Oh, and let me warm you all up."
The two hesitantly bit into the cubes before sighing with satisfaction. As the pain subsided and a warm glow emanated from the goddess, the wetness and coldness were banished.
"Ohhh, that hits all kinds of spots," Thalia said, and Percy nodded, holding out a piece of ambrosia to his mother. However, Hestia shook her head. "I'm sorry, little one, but if your mother ate that, she would die." Percy looked at the small clump in his hand as if it would explode at any moment. Sally looked hopefully at the goddess, who nodded.
"Yes, Sally Jackson, I have a place where you three can stay. Come, follow me."
Hestia waved her hand, and in the air, a golden flame sprang to life, forming a circle of flames crackling peacefully like a campfire. Within the circle, Percy saw a hallway of clean white stones. The boy looked over at his mother, who gazed at the gateway with a mix of fear and anticipation, as if she was afraid to enter the portal yet also eager to step through it. Sally looked at the goddess, who nodded, understanding the unspoken question.
"You will see him again soon, Sally Jackson."
Percy looked at his mother curiously. "What's going on, Mom?"
"I'll tell you later, Percy. It has to do with your father," she said absentmindedly as she stared at the portal and began walking through it. The seven-year-old frowned, and Thalia squeezed his shoulder in solidarity. "It's tough when strange things start happening, huh?"
"I've never met Dad before. What does he have to do with all this weird stuff? Why didn't he show up before, and now everything is getting weird because of him?"
"Dads are strange. Even when they try to do good, things can get messy. Trust me, I know. But chin up, kiddo."
"Why? Should I be proud?" Percy asked, surprised to see Thalia give him a mischievous grin. "No, because then you can see his face when you call him out on his BS."
Percy looked at her, curiosity evident in his green eyes. "You know my dad, don't you?" Thalia's expression fell. "I thought I knew him. A very, very long time ago. But I'm not sure how much of that was actually him."
Thalia looked at the swirling fire. It wasn't the burning rim or the mysterious hallway in the middle that scared her; it was the memories of Caliope. The possibility of what would happen if she crossed paths with the man she had once called Father again. Thalia felt the small hand of Percy take her own and lead her through the fire. As it dimmed, Thalia walked the final steps of the hallway before stopping in a circular room. The open double doors leading to a balcony allowed her to see a lush green countryside and azure seas under a starlit sky.
"Where are we?" Percy asked, marveling at the scenery.
"Do you like it?" Hestia asked, a hint of pride in her voice. The goddess conjured up a plate of food, which Thalia and Percy gladly took.
"I call it the Golden Isle. When Kratos destroyed Olympus, I used the last of my power to create this sanctuary for the surviving mortals."
"Kratos? Olympus? What?" Percy asked, his confusion growing. Sally sighed, realizing she could no longer keep her son's heritage a secret.
"Sweetheart, I haven't been honest with you. Remember that show you like about Someone who gets reborn?" Percy nodded. "Well, I was reborn as well. I used to live in Sparta, and I had a husband and a daughter." Thalia waved. "Nice to meet you, little half-brother," she said. "Your father, Percy, is my husband from back then. Kratos, the God of War."
The goddess smiled melancholiously. "I, young Percy, am Hestia. I hail from Olympus, home of the Greek gods. Once, your father served us. Sadly, evil overtook us, and your father was forced to kill most of us. Afterwards, I moved the survivors here and went to sleep, letting my power slowly feed this world. But times have changed. Olympus is back, and I had to return home. Sadly, my split attention would mean the end of this world. Unless someone is willing to take over."
Hestia's fiery eyes looked over to a corridor that led out of the room. From the shadows, a massive figure with ashen white skin stepped forward. The Ghost of Sparta walked into the lit room and scanned the faces before his eyes rested on Hestia.
"What about Valhalla? I cannot abandon them."
Hestia held up a hand, and a sapphire-blue flame blazed to life.
"I have enough power left to bring your people home."
The great man kneeled on the balcony and held out an axe as if offering it to the world.
"By the innocent blood on my hands, I swear on the River Styx that I will rule and defend this land and its people as best I can."
Thunder rumbled as the fire shot forward, encircling the god before shooting outwards into the night sky and exploding into a many-colored blaze, much like a firework. When it died down, an island floated high above the meadow, and a rainbow shone into the night, connecting to the balcony.
"All hail you, Kratos. Father of this realm's pantheon. May you rule in long glory," Hestia said, her form flickering like a candle in the wind.
"I have to go for now. Tell her. Tell the girl I will return. I will see her one day... my little Fynex," the goddess disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kratos turned to the others in the room. He looked at Sally and took a step towards her.
"Kratos," Sally whispered to her old lover.
"Lysandera, Sally. I remember you now. Aphrodite's spell is fading."
Kratos's eyes met his son's, who looked up, having to crane his neck to look him in the eyes.
"My son, I owe you much. Is there something I can do?"
The boy looked at his father long and hard before speaking.
"I always wanted to go on a fishing trip."
"A fishing trip?" Kratos asked, nodding. "Very well, in the morning I was planning on searching for one of your sisters."
"One of? How many kids do you have?"
"Many. I will explain all in due time, Percy. For now, please be patient with me."
The god's eyes went to Thalia. "My daughter. Words don't capture what is between us." Kratos's voice was filled with sorrow.
"I'm not your…" Thalia's voice choked as the lie died in her mouth. That warm and familiar coziness, that traitorous feeling of safety, that warmth in his eyes that so few others would ever receive from the Ghost of Sparta. There was even that almost imperceptible twitch of his lips, his version of a smile, when he saw her, when he came home. There was no way this was not her father.
"How cruel are you?" Thalia asked, her eyes filling with tears. "You kill me, leave me in Elysium, you left me... and now you won't let me go. It's too much for one night."
Kratos stretched his arm as if to touch her, then slowly lowered it before speaking, his strong voice shaking. "Take your time. But if you have no place to go, I would have you stay here," the god said. "Maybe one day we can talk about what is between us." His eyes closed. "Calliope, I missed her every day since her passing. I would like to get to know you, Thalia. If only to see how much of her survives in you."
Thalia didn't want to be touched, she didn't want to cry or let the tears leak into her voice. She wanted to scream, throw a tantrum, hurl choice words at the god's face, but she could not stop the words from being said. "I believe I would like that."
Kratos motioned for the group to follow him, but Thalia shook her head. "And that is my limit for today. I am not going up there," she said, pointing to the rainbow. "If you don't mind, I will just find the softest thing in this place to lie down on and see you guys tomorrow."
Kratos nodded. He faintly recalled Calliope not liking heights; it seemed that Thalia still suffered from it. The demigoddess walked towards the hallway, waving goodbye. Kratos, Sally, and Percy walked up the rainbow. Kratos noticed Sally looking around at the beginning of the Bifröst as if she was searching for something. "What are you looking for?" Kratos asked.
"Uhm," Sally said, rubbing the back of her head, embarrassed. "Well, there is this legend from far away. I was wondering if it was real."
"About a little man in green with pots of gold coins?" Kratos asked, recalling a rather annoying confrontation he had had with one of these so-called leprechauns.
"Yes, do you know them?"
"Yes, I would not speak of this meeting. You will not find its treasure in my realm, and if you did, the trouble would not be worth it."
"A girl may dream, Kratos. A girl may dream."
"Hmm," Kratos grunted in acknowledgement. Percy kept looking towards the ocean with a longing wonder, which made Sally wonder about some past events that she had not suspected when he had been born.
"Kratos, Percy has a strange affinity with water. He can swim way too well for his age and hold his breath almost indefinitely. How is he able to do it?"
Kratos looked at his son running along the rainbow. "After I killed the gods, I wielded some of their powers. These powers faded when Olympus fell, but now they are reawakening in my children. Percy might have inherited Poseidon's powers."
Sally bit her lip. Poseidon, the Stormbringer, the Earthshaker. Sally remembered the awestruck fear she had felt as she prayed to the god of the raging seas back in Sparta. Now that fear was for her son. As a Spartan, Lysandra would have expected any son of hers to be subjected to brutal Spartan training. And back when she was Lysandra, she had been fine with it. Yet as Sally, she feared for how her boy would be shaped by it.
"I will not make him suffer like that," Kratos said, sensing her fears. "I will train him as a man, not as a Spartan. I have found there to be a difference between being strong and being right."
"You seem happy," Sally said, baffled at the former soldier's new way of carrying himself. Still as ready and capable of taking out anyone who mistakes fighting him as a good plan, yet he was more relaxed, shoulders less tense, steps less rigid, eyes less haunted, almost peaceful.
"I believe that I am," Kratos answered.
"Are you alone?"
"No, I have remarried."
"Do I need to be afraid?" Sally asked, worried.
Kratos shook his head.
"Freya is not like Hera, and she knows the pain of losing a son. She would not hurt the boy. Outside of sword training, that is."
"She better not," Sally said, half stern but glad for Kratos' happiness.
At the end of the rainbow bridge was a gate, and a group of people waited in the opening. In front of the group was a woman and a little girl. Kratos passed them and went to stand on a rock, raising the axe high in the air, which lulled the crowd to silence.
"My followers, children of my realm. Behold the Golden Isle, a new part of my domain. We will learn about it, take from it, and give to it. And in time, we will call it home. Tomorrow, at first light, my children and I will go into it and seek its natives," the Spartan's voice took on a deadly tone. "I say this once and will not repeat it. These people are my people, and under my protection, I will not allow harm to come to them. To try is to invoke my rage."
Percy saw the woman and the little girl walk closer to them. The woman gently pushed the girl forward. The blond girl took another step forward, twirling her hair around a finger, and scanned him with her stormy gray eyes.
"H-Hello, I'm Annabeth. I think I'm your sister."
Percy blinked. "I'm Percy. Do we have to hug or something?"
Annabeth rubbed her arm and opened her arms. She and Percy shared a stiff, awkward hug, not sure about what to think about what was going on. Sally, on the other hand, had her phone out and took a picture of the two. Freya looked over her shoulder.
"We are going to tease them with this image when they are older, aren't we?" the goddess asked.
"Oh, maliciously. Any boy or girl they bring home is going to see this," Sally giggled.
Freya laughed. "I like you, mortal. While you're around, mind helping us out? I could use some help keeping an eye on the kids while Kratos seeks the others. Also, to buy one of those picture makers to capture embarrassing memories."
Sally nodded, glad to help for a while. It had been a long night, but for the first time in a long time, she wondered what would come with dawn.