Since I am not really at my computer for this upload and I'm short on time to address the problem that is my consistency, I'll be saving that for the next chapter. Consider this a part one, and the next part two, which I'll either make its own chapter or just edit and add onto this, and with it will come my statement on the future of this and my other stories for those who care.
J watched from his perch as the monsters passed him. He was lucky enough to know a few things, along with a method to mask his scent from monsters entirely. It was a method that took years, but he was patient enough to get it done.
The pack of Hellhounds was small, but it was just what he was looking for. This pack had places to be, and J was going to stop them during their travels.
Slowly, he stood on his branch, careful not to make a sound. He unsheathed his sword cautiously, and held the blade in front of him. Taking a moment to breathe, J jumped into the air, spinning forward as he did so, before landing beside a Hellhound and chopping down through it's neck. The rest of the pack jumped and barked and growled at him and began to circle him as the two pieces of their member collapsed to the ground and dissolved into a fine golden dust. J himself stood slowly, keeping his sword pointing forward from his waist. One of the Hellhounds pawed at the ground before charging the Hakama-clad man.
J did not flinch. He did not jump back. He did not step back. He stood his ground. He turned on the balls of his feet and thrusters his sword through the approaching Hellhound's skull before it could jump him. That beast, too, drifted away in the wind as a breeze of gold dust.
The rest of the pack attacked together, charging J from every direction, but he took it with a grain smaller than their brains. Each monster went down from a slice, swing, or stab of the man's blade, until all that was left was him and a ring of golden sand.
J didn't know what he felt of his work. He didn't feel sad or glad with each monster he killed. He didn't think what he was doing was wrong, but he felt no thrill from the fighting as the warriors around him did. He thought of himself as something of an assassin, although a lot livelier and not for hire.
J made his way back to the camp Percy had told him so much about during their travels. They never had enough time to go and visit, in both of their opinions, but J never complained about missing the opportunity every passing down.
The two fighters had been relaxing at the beachside of the camp, where surprisingly to Percy, no one was at during their visit. Save the two of them, the shoreline was bare down to its natural resources. Percy used the water to relax and meditate, and J was doing the same before Percy felt the presence of the monsters and gave J the green light to eliminate them. As J returned to the beach, he could see Percy had yet to move from where he was last left.
J did not call out to Percy to tell him the job was done. If he could sense the monsters' presence, then he could sense their absence too. Instead, J went back to where he was meditating, out on the beach several feet away from the shore, directly behind the even further Percy. J watched his leader look out into the vast waters and guessed the demigod was thinking of how to reintroduce himself.
"You could always blow up a cabin," J yelled out to Percy, who in response turned to raise an eyebrow at the other fighter. "Maybe it would impress them and get the newer ones to admire you."
"The newer ones would think I'm attacking the camp and the ones I do know would attack me in response," Percy called back. "I'm not that big of an idiot."
"Define big."
"Shut up."
J always knew what to say, though his tone didn't express that he felt connected to his words. J lost a lot of expressions aside from anger and mild surprise. The latter was the one he used the most and that people took him for. J once smacked Percy upside the head for referring to his as Spock because of his expression, but all it got was a breath of a laugh out of J following Percy's over dramatic reaction to the hit.
"When do you plan on presenting yourself?"
"Dinner, whenever that comes around. I know we still have some time. What do you think their reactions will be?"
"Vast, expected, and completely justified."
Percy chuckled and took control of the water to push himself back to shore. "It's been 10 years, and I still get the feeling you don't like talking with me."
"I don't like talking in general. Fighting with and beside you is much better."
"What about eating?"
"Debatable."
Percy laughed louder than either of the two were expecting him to. "You say that like a debate is ever something you'd partake in." J just shrugged back.
"I could try. I always find my actions to be louder than my words."
"Says the should-be-a-ninja-instead-of-the-samurai-he-is-now." Percy sat himself down beside his companion.
"Wow. How original."
"I new you always liked my work."
"It gets stale after 10 tries to be funny."
"Fuck you too."
The distant sound of a horn caught the attention of both swordsman, turning their heads around towards the main campgrounds. "That would be dinner, J. Let's properly introduce ourselves, shall we?"
"At least one of us will."
"That's the spirit."
J's experience with people was near nonexistent. Aside from Percy, their daughter, and the occasional god and goddess, J didn't have people to talk to. No family waiting for him, no friends to hang out with, a boss to work for, a lover to spend his days with, and the most depressing, no pet to play with. Interactions just weren't something J did.
The single lettered man stood to the side as Percy lead and governed all meeting and conversations. He was the leader of a war, and J had no experience to counter his words. It taught Percy that which J had never experienced, but J never thought himself of lacking.
With the campers, however, neither of them seemed to have the words to speak. People had clambered to the dining hall quickly, leaving the two warriors to themselves as they made way, but left them standing out amongst the crowd at the entrance upon arrival. Most chatter stopped once people started sighting and pointing them out and whispered chatter ensued. Percy stood gazing the crowd silently, a smile on his face he usually saved for another, J noted. As for J, he took his time to gaze through them too, picking out those most interesting. By far, the centaur and god at the big table stood out them most to him, as the most recognizable from Percy's tales. Chiron and Dionysus acted like most of the crowd staring over at the two but unlike the rest showed less fear. J was genuinely surprised to see Dionysus grin, something he was told happened as often as fighting Kronos did.
In the campers, J could identify the three demigods he met earlier, each at their own table. The daughter of war and the twin thieves stood out too, alongside the power couple that Percy joked almost rivaled his old one. J looked to the rest and found no one of interest, at least for the time being.
Percy made his way over to the big table, and to Chiron most importantly. He stopped close to the ancient being and spoke in a hushed volume. Most campers had armed themselves quickly against the two newcomers but Percy's friends from earlier were doing their best to halt their assault. J stood, staring back into the eyes of many campers, waiting to see which one would snap first.
Chiron was surprised, to put it lightly, when two odd men clad in attire unlike everyone around them walked up to the dining hall and silenced the crowd of campers near entirely. Even the god of wine beside him made no comment on the strange arrivals.
The old trainer took his time analyzing the two new men. The bearded man in armor, with a sword and shield on his back caught his attention the most. His stature was balanced, his armor polished, his build noteworthy, and his expression fascinating. For a man dressed like a warrior his face was one of happiness and sadness when staring out at the tables of godlings. His eyes weren't focused on a particular person; they seemed to drift into the space beyond them, looking at or for something that wasn't there in the crowd. When he turned to face Chiron, the centaur took note of his eyes. The green of them were bright, the emotions still the same. The eyes reminded him of someone, and then the god that gave him life. And it was the smile the man gave that jolted his memory of the young boy holding a monster's horn as his friend dragged him into the camp.
Percy walked his way up to his old teacher, under the gaze of most of the campers, satyrs, and naiads that weren't eyeing J with suspicion. He stopped his motion in front of Chiron, gesturing a finger for the centaur to lean over, which he did. Percy leaned to meet him and kept his head on the opposite side of Chiron's from the tables of campers.
"It is a pleasure to see you again, Chiron," Percy spoke in a hushed voice. "Sorry I have come back so abruptly and on short notice."
"Think nothing of it," Chiron responded in equal volume. "I'll have time soon to talk with you about what you've been up to these past few years, correct?" Percy smiled and nodded.
"Tonight, after dinner and a campfire, I'll talk with you. Maybe a few of my friends if they want to join us. I don't want to interrupt a good meal."
"And what of your friend?" Chiron darted his eyes to the long haired man at the entrance, eyes glazed over as he stared at the campers.
"He can introduce himself in a bit later. His name is J. And I do mean the letter itself. He likes to go by it. You two can have a heart to heart if you so wish." Chiron chuckled under his breath at his old student.
"I'm pleased to know your still as light hearted as ever, young Perseus. Not too many others share your attitude."
"What can I say? Not too many others are me. I'm just happy to know I've burned a memory of me in your head already. It helps my ego."
Crashing, yelling, and ruckus drew the attention of the student and teacher as J now stood glaring at the campers with an arm extended in a fist, pointed at a woman knocked over into the arms and back of other campers still seated at their table. Her expression showed one of fury, and J's has one to match.
"No, Clarisse, don't do that," Percy mumbled to himself before dashing at the two to stop them.