AN: So this story is a bit of a funny one. It is a retooling of a story I started on my Seagate profile a few years back called 'A Light In The Dark'. Suffice to say I quite liked the story at the time, but ended up being put off of it as I made it a Naruto/ Percy Jackson crossover, and… well let's just say some members of the Naruto fandom can be a bit… opinionated when you have opinions or ideas that they don't agree with.
Either way I ended up dropping that story as the comments I was receiving kind of sucked all the pleasure out of writing the story for me. That said I dusted it off on a whim today as I had a spare hour or two, and then edited it. Removing all the Naruto stuff from it, but keeping all the Percy Jackson stuff, as I retooled the plot and my ideas. I have to admit it was fun. Especially since it meant looking back at some of my early work and seeing how I've changed.
Either way, I hope you enjoy, the first pure Percy Jackson story I've written. Again just on a whim, but depending on a response, if it is good, I will continue. After all I've already got nearly a dozen stories on the go already, what's one more! I'm not as bad as some, as there are some authors who have literal over one hundred!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.
Betaed by Arch_Angel in December 2022
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Chapter 1
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(Manhattan)
"I don't mind spending everyday..." A taller than average, dark haired teen, with broad shoulders, muttered to himself as he casually walked across the rooftop of one of the high-rise buildings in Manhattan. Smiling, he absentmindedly trailed his hand along the cement balustrade beside him, even as he hummed along to the music coming out of his earphones.
"Out on your corner in the pouring rain..." The teen hummed to himself under his breath, as he came to a sudden halt and set the case he was carrying down on the roof of the building. His dark brown, almost black eyes gleamed as he opened the case he was holding and began to unfold the weapon within, his hands moving the components of his weapon to their proper place with practiced ease.
"Look for the girl with the broken smile..." The teen continued, even as he finished assembling his weapon and then lifted it up, revealing it to be a sleek, compound bow, which was made entirely out of Stygian Iron.
Swinging his weapon up, and after giving it a testing draw, he then took a half dozen Stygian Iron tipped arrows out of the case and leant most of them against the railing, even as he nocked one of the arrows and then drew it back, the bodkin point nearly touching his hand as he narrowed his eyes and began searching for his target.
"Ask her if she wants to stay awhile..." The dark-haired teen continued to murmur, even as he scanned the streets of Manhattan below him, the wind ruffling his hair as he continued to search the quiet streets below.
Fortunately, it did not take him too long to lock onto his target, or rather targets. They were there below him, just as he had been told they would be.
A group of four demigods were making their way through one of the back alleys of Manhattan. And they were Roman demigods too, a Son of Mars, a Daughter of Apollo and two Sons of Mercury.
A small squad of demigods from Camp Jupiter; all of whom had been recently sent out on a quest by the Senate of New Rome. They were a prime target, one that he would no doubt of targeted anyway, even if he had not been contracted to assassinate them.
"And she will be loved..." The teen whispered again, drawing his bow back even further as he locked in on his main mark, the Son of Mars, who was walking slight ahead of his comrades.
The boy was a stocky lad, who was roughly sixteen or seventeen years old, and was noticeably wearing an Imperial Gold breastplate over the top of his purple Camp Jupiter shirt. His three comrades were all dressed similar, each of them wearing some form of light armor over the top of their purple camp shirts.
Their armour aside the only noticeable weapons the group were carrying was an Imperial Gold crossbow, which was in possession of the daughter of Apollo, and a spear which was being held by one of the Sons of Mercury. That said, he didn't believe for a second that the other two wouldn't be packing while in the middle of a quest.
"And she will be loved..." He muttered again, one last time, focusing in on his target, a frown of concentration on his face, even as he loosed his arrow.
The black tipped arrow leapt from the bow with immense force as it hurtled through the air, and down at the squad of four demigods.
A few moments later and the arrow struck home, the Stygian Iron tip driving itself through the Son of Mars' eye socket and out the other side of his skull. A spray of blood spattered the three other demigods behind him, each of whom only looked at the falling body of their comrade in absolute shock as he collapsed to the ground in front of them.
He, however, was not distracted by the now dead Son of Mars. Instead, he just picked up another arrow, smoothly nocked it and drew back his bow with practiced ease. One of his eyes closing, even as he took aim again, quickly locking in on the Daughter of Apollo, before with a soft exhale he released yet another arrow.
Unfortunately though, the element of surprise was now lost, and the Daughter of Apollo had already pulled herself together enough to react to the ambush.
As he loosed his arrow he could see her eyes widening in realisation, even as she suddenly hurled herself to the side and towards the nearest cover. Which was annoying, as her swift response meant the Stygian Iron arrow struck the concrete floor instead of her, the bodkin point shattering a large chunk out of the tarmac below.
Undeterred, he picked up another arrow and took aim at one of the demigods still in the open, drawing the bow back once again he loosed another arrow. This one struck one of the Sons of Mercury in the chest. The arrow taking him through the heart at the same time as he was unsheathing an Imperial Gold gladius from under his coat, the arrow tore through his leather armor as if it was not even there.
The Son of Mercury was dead before he even hit the floor.
Taking the initiative, the Daughter of Apollo surged to her feet as her companion fell, her crossbow already loaded and ready to fire.
Scowling, the girl swiftly found his location on the roof, her crossbow already moving to point at his position.
Without a hint of hesitation she shot a gold tipped bolt in his direction, the bolt tearing through the air as it shot towards him, only for him to casually sidestep it.
Raising his bow once more, he targeted the girl, drew and released swiftly with practiced ease.
His next arrow caught the girl through the throat, even as she once again tried to duck behind cover.
Searching around he tried to take aim at the last remaining demigod, the spear wielding Son of Mercury. This one was the smartest of the bunch. After all, the moment the ambush had started, he had had dived behind a nearby bin and stayed there.
Narrowing his eyes, he drew another arrow and leveled at the bin, his gaze picking up a part of the boy's heaving chest, which he could just about see poking out slightly from behind his cover.
Once more drawing his bow, taking a breath as he did so, the assassin then released the final arrow, this one tearing through the air and impacting the part of the boy's body that was visible.
Collapsing sideways the Son of Mercury's body fell to the floor without a sound.
Rolling his shoulders, Percy Jackson allowed his bow to hang loosely by his side, even as slight smile tugged at his lips.
Another successful mission.
With that thought, Percy calmly began to collapse his bow. Carefully unscrewing the reenforcing bolts, and packing it all into his case, along with his single spare arrow, before he then closed it with a snapping sound.
With that done, he then walked to the edge of the building, before, with a deep breath, he jumped.
In response, he felt a tugging in his gut, even as he drew on one of his own, natural born abilities. His entire body became surrounded in a golden glowing light, as he used the ability he called 'Meteor' to shoot through the sky like a bullet, heading down to where the recent massacre had just occurred.
Yeah, he had magic/ superpowers, or demigod abilities as he now knew them to be.
With 'Meteor' just being one facet of these abilities, as well as being the one he enjoyed using the most.
In truth, he had had these abilities ever since he was born, which had been over fifteen years ago now, to a kind, if slightly gullible, woman named Sally Jackson, and a deadbeat god, whose name and identify he didn't even know.
Not only had he been born with these abilities though, but he also had to learn how to use them quickly too. Especially after a second unknown god had taken an unhealthy interest in his Clear Sighted mother back when he was just three. Enough of an interest in fact, that he had wanted to court her, even if that meant using magic to forcibly get rid of the baggage, i.e., Percy, in the process.
Exactly what the god had done, Percy didn't know, even now. All he did know, was that suddenly his mother didn't know who he was, this being despite her supposed Clear Sightedness, which in theory should have allowed her to see through any divine or magical illusion.
Either way, for reasons unbeknown to him, from one moment to the next she completely ignored/ forgot about his existence, which eventually led to him being taken away and put in the system.
All this he had learned later in life, when he was about twelve, and he had a run in with a satyr, a Greek monster, or nature spirit, he wasn't sure which one really, that found him whilst he was in the midst of fleeing from his most recent, and still shitty foster home in Canada. Only for said satyr to then let him in on the big secret that the gods were real, and that the reason for his abilities was because one of the fuckers had knocked up his mum, and then done a runner.
The satyr, unfortunately, died soon later, killed off by a Hellhound that mistook him for lunch. But he did still serve a purpose, after all he had let Percy in on one of the big secrets of this world, as well as providing a good distraction for him to leg it and escape.
Three years later, and after a lot of soul searching and introspection, especially on just how shit the gods were, and how much they had screwed up his life, and here he was, thriving in life, as both a magical mercenary for hire, or a scavenger, depending on ones point of view.
Descending to the ground a few moments later, the golden glow around his body soon vanished as he released his hold on his Meteor ability, his booted feet landing once more back on solid ground.
Smiling, and rolling his shoulders, he took a moment to scan his surroundings for danger, before with a slight skip in his step he headed over to where the dead demigods were still lying, the case that was holding his bow was now clasped in his left hand as he walked.
Casually strolling across the silent street, Percy approached the dead bodies of the four fallen demigods. Taking in the sight of the massacre, he sighed as he pulled out his eight inch long, hunting knife from where it was strapped on the small of his back. Idly flipping it in his hand, he walked across the street.
His dark eyes flicking over to look into a large puddle on the ground as he passed. His crooked smile widened as he took a moment to check out his reflection in the puddle.
He was still as handsome and dashing as ever.
After all, in his humble opinion, he did cut a striking figure. What with his broad shoulders, and stocky, muscled frame, his black, fur lined parka coat, and Stygian Iron breastplate just added to his stature. On top of that his short, thick, yet somehow still messy black hair, and dark brown almost black, almond shaped eyes, along with his naturally tanned skin tone, all gave him a somewhat exotic look.
Turning away from his reflection, Percy finally approached the dead bodies in the alleyway. With him walking up to the Son of Mars, his main target, first. Absentmindedly hooking his foot beneath his body as he did so, before without a second though he kicked him over so he was facing upwards.
With that done, Percy crouched down slightly and began to run his hands over the dead boy's body, checking for any potential loot.
Fortunately, it did not take him long to find something, as within a few seconds he came across an Imperial Gold ring on the boy's hand, a nifty little item that when pulled off the finger turned into a golden gladius.
Twirling the short sword around in his hand, Percy, checked the balance of the blade, giving it a few test swings as he did so.
Satisfied he then willed it back into the form of a ring before slipping it onto the forefinger of his left hand. After which he went back to sifting through the rest of the boy's belongings, with him quickly pocketing a bottle of nectar and a bag of ambrosia.
Next, he began to unbuckle the Imperial Gold armor the boy was wearing, already making plans for what to do with the rare, and valuable chunk of divine golden metal. Stripping the corpse of armor, he quickly wiped it clean of blood an sweat, and sequestered it in his magically expanded satchel - the satchel was one of his most treasured item, with it having been a gift he'd received from Mercury for services rendered.
Finishing with the Son of Mars, he quickly moved onto the other bodies, looting them without a care for deference or respect for the dead, as he instead dug about in their pockets and stripped them of any magical items he could find.
A couple of minutes later though, after he had bagged up the Daughter of Apollo's crossbow, he was attacked.
The Son of Mercury, the one who he had shot last, it appeared was faking his death, because, when he approached the boy's body to loot it, he was suddenly forced to dodge to the side as the blonde Son of Mercury lunged forward, his spear aimed at Percy's heart.
Not that it did much good though, as Percy had been ready for it. Which is why, as the boy thrust his spear forward, Percy shifted to the side with practiced ease, his mundane knife falling to the floor as he grabbed the shaft of the Roman Demigod's spear with one hand. His hand twisting as he did so, even as he gripped it with the other hand and then wrenched the weapon out of the boy's grasp.
With that done, Percy threw the spear to one side, and instead brought his hand up to one of the necklaces that were around his neck. The necklace in question being one with a bronze chain, which in turn had a charm on it that was in the shape of a Khopesh, a curved Egyptian blade that he had acquired from another of his fallen marks.
Pulling the charm off his necklace it soon expanded to form a two-foot-long blade made of Celestial Bronze. Twirling it in his hand, Percy took a step forward, batting the Son of Mercury's perfunctory swipe of dagger aside as he instead slashed downwards, the curved blade slicing through the boy's Imperial Gold chain mail, and traveling up as he disemboweled him.
Stepping back, twirling his blade once again and flicking the blood off it as he did so, he took a moment to look down at the deceased boy before him. Only this time, Percy couldn't help but feel a hollow feeling in his stomach at the sight of scared expression forever plastered on the dead boy's face.
He should feel bad about killing like this, but honestly, he didn't. This was a kill or be killed world. Those who were weak died, while the strong thrived, this he knew, he had lived it after all, for years now.
But even so, surely, he should still feel something, anything?
Yet for some reason he didn't.
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(A few minutes later)
As he walked away from the four deceased Roman demigods, he heard an unexpected ringing sound emanating from his coat pocket.
Reaching into said pocket, he hooked out a mobile phone he had acquired.
Recognising the number, he brought it to his ear and answered.
"Is it done?" Came a distorted voice from the phone. "Is the Centurion of the first Cohort and his supporters dead?"
"Yeah, yeah, all four of them have been taken care of. Have you dropped off my money at the designated point?" Percy said into the phone, even as he exited the back alley, and easily slipped into the crowd on the street, a slight smile shifting across his face, as he made eye contact with some of the people he passed. All whom, he noticed, didn't even seem to see fully him as he passed them by.
"It has been dropped off, five thousand aurei. Our business is finished." The voice continued smugly.
"Well yes, we are almost finished. But one more thing, just a little warning in case anything goes wrong." Percy replied cheerfully, a smile still on his face as he waited to cross the road. "Let me just say, I know who you are, and I know where you live."
"What?" The voice replied with a slight note of panic in it now.
"Yes, Octavian, the Legacy of Apollo and the Augur of Camp Jupiter. I know who you are. So don't fuck with me." Percy continued; his voice still genial. He had dealt with people like this before and he knew that there was only one way to keep them in line. He would never break a promise once he had made it, and as such he expected those he dealt with to do likewise. Oaths and promises were important to him. "So, I trust all the money will be in the designated spot, as if it is not..."
"The money will be there." The voice replied slightly shakily, before without another with they hung up the phone.
"Ha, idiot." Percy laughed, as he put away his phone, and it was true, after all the only reason he knew that the person on the phone was, Octavian, was because he had not withheld his number when he rang him. So honestly, all it took for him to find out who the caller was, was to redial and listen to their voice mail... so yeah, he was an idiot. Or at least someone who didn't have that much of a clue about technology.
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(The Next Day)
Lying down on the uncomfortable, lumpy bed, in his rented room just outside of New York City, Percy couldn't keep a smile off his face.
He had just returned minutes early from the predesignated drop off point, a large bag containing five thousand gold aurei now in hand.
It had been a good payday all things considered. After all, he earned a shit ton of gold, and collected a few cool new trophies too, all for a job that hadn't even taken him an hour to setup and pull off.
Hell, he hadn't even needed to track his targets, after all Octavian had done all the hard work for him. In fact, in the end all he had needed to do was pull the trigger.
His smile widened at that thought.
It had indeed been a good day.
Or at least it had been, up until the cold chill that he could suddenly feel running down his spine.
Tensing up, he turned his head slightly to the side and watched as the shadows in the corner of the room thickened and deformed, until soon enough another figure appeared in the room.
The person in question was a tall, skinny woman, with a thin, stern looking face. She was clad in a black, leather biker jacket, and seemed to ooze menace as the shadows around her faded and she stepped out of them and into the room.
Percy knew who this was, it was, Alecto, one of Hades' Furies/ minions, and a 'friendly' monster that he had dealt with several times before on behalf of her Master.
"Ahh Alecto, how good to see you again! Having a good day?" Percy said sarcastically, as he looked up at the woman from where he was still lying on the bed.
"Jackson." The woman said, a frown now on her face, as she looked down at the boy on the bed before her. "Still as obnoxious as ever I see!"
"You know it." Percy replied cheerfully, answering her statement as if it were a question, "Now, what do you want?"
"I have a job for you, from my Master." Alecto said, as she took a step closer to his bed, a cruel glint in her eyes as she looked down at the dark-haired teen.
"Oh really! and what does cold, dark and miserable want with me this time? Tell me, does he need me to walk his pet dog, Cerberus or something?" Percy replied glibly, his lips twitched into a slight smile as he saw a flash of anger cross Alecto's face at his words.
She really didn't like him.
"He has a mission for you, and this one is of absolute importance!" Alecto replied bluntly, her face still twisted into an expression of intense dislike, even as she swallowed her distaste for him and got on with the job at hand.
"Oh, well now I am really intrigued! So, tell me, what's the job?" Percy replied, pushing himself up from the bed as he did so.
"You are to retrieve two of my Master's children from Westover Academy, a military school in Maine. Their names are Nico and Bianca di Angelo, and since they are the only living demigod children of my Master it is crucial that they are recovered quickly, and alive, and then delivered to their father with all haste." Alecto replied with deadly seriousness.
As he heard the job, Percy raised his eyebrows in surprise, this really was a big job. Probably his biggest one yet, after all his usual jobs just involved simple kill missions, either demigod or monsters, or protection gigs for a favored child or trinket.
With that in mind, Percy decided to ask something that suddenly occurred to him. "So why me then? Old doom and gloom has the full power of the Underworld behind him, surely he has a lot of other options than a humble, lowly demigod like me?"
"He wants this kept low key, as he does not want his brothers to know. After all, they do have a habit of actively trying to murder his children." Alecto replied bluntly, not even batting an eye at the way he addressed her Master, or at his description of himself. Clearly this matter was pretty damn important. "For all that you are little more than feckless, bottom feeding scavenger, you are at least subtle, and efficient."
Well maybe not that important, after all she did just get a few good digs in at him.
"Fair enough, so what's the pay?" Percy said agreeably, pushing himself off his lumpy mattress as he began to move around his room packing up his belongings as he did so. "After all, even 'feckless, bottom feeding scavengers' don't work for free!"
"What do you want?" Alecto replied with a sigh.
"Oooh, exciting." Percy replied, a bright grin on his face. "So I don't need any more money, I am all good for it at the moment. What I would like though is a Blessing, Hades' will do!"
"Out of the question." Alecto shot back bluntly, her pinched face twisting into an expression of disgust at the thought of someone like Percy bearing her Master's Blessing. "Ask for something else!"
"Well, it was worth a try." Percy shrugged unperturbed; he had asked for Hades' Blessing before, only for him to be rebuffed every time.
Turns out most gods were surprisingly stingy when it came to giving out portions of their power in the form of a Blessing. Who knew!?
"Fine, I want a new weapon."
"Was the Stygian Iron bow the smiths of the Underworld crafted for you not enough?" Alecto asked curiously.
"No, no, it is useful. Though it would be handy if it had one of those cool little enchantments which made it shrink into something smaller, and innocuous, you know like a charm I could stick on a necklace. But no, this is a different weapon." Percy replied with a shrug, packing the last of his belongings into his satchel as he did so.
"And what kind of weapon?" Alecto asked tiredly.
"I'm thinking an axe! Something that can cut through mail, and crack armor plate, if you know what I mean?" Percy replied with a smile on his face, only to pause as he saw Alecto's cocked eyebrow. "What can I say, I ran into this Norse demigod a few weeks back. A proper big bastard too, I reckon he was a son of one of their war gods. Either way, I managed to take the bastard down, but not before he landed a nasty blow on me. He nearly killed me too, I mean seriously, it cracked my Celestial Bronze cuirass, broke a couple of ribs and knocked all the air out of my lungs, and left a bruise on my side, the size of a basketball!"
Alecto continued to send him a dry look at this explanation, though her lips did twitch upwards in pleasure as Percy described his injury.
Something which he definitely noticed, the spiteful cow.
"But yeah, like I said I want one! I would have taken the Norse guy's one, had one of those Valkyrie tarts not taken it first. It was a really nice one too." Percy pouted, it had been a few weeks ago now and he was fully recovered, but even so he was still a bit put out by his misfortune.
"Fine, I will pass on your request." Alecto sighed, rubbing at her temples.
"Great! That'll pay for one of the brats, also give it one of those enchantments which can turn it into a charm or something too, oh and make it Stygian Iron as well!" Percy replied, a grin on his face as he saw the irritation on Alecto's face. "As for the other brat, well you can take my bow back and stick an enchantment on it too so that it turns into a small charm as well. I'm getting sick and tired of carrying it about in a case and assembling it!"
With that said he dug about in his satchel and pulled out the case containing his bow.
Smiling, he then threw it over to the unamused Alecto.
"Get it back to me as soon as possible."
"Do the job first and then you will get your reward, both your axe, and the charm on your bow." Alecto replied harshly, though she did catch the case and hold it down at her side.
"See you when the job is done then." Percy replied with a slight laugh, even as he saw Alecto fade into the shadows.
He really did enjoy messing with Hades' Furies.
Though that said, he did have to ensure he didn't go too far, after all, Hades was one of his most frequent and generous employers.
Turning back to his bed, he quickly gave it a once over to make sure he had collected up all of his stuff, only to pause as noticed a file waiting innocuously for him on his pillow.
Sighing at the sight of the file, he scooped it up and opened it, and then began to read the short profile he had received on both of Hades' children. As he continued reading the file a smile slowly crept onto his face. "So Maine then... sounds fun!"
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AN: So what do you all think? Did you enjoy the chapter? I will say though that is feelings towards the gods, and lack of empathy for his fellow Demigods will be explained as the story progresses. Though it won't be in an over the top, angsty, edgy manner that I know some authors enjoy doing.
On top of that we'll get more of Percy's back story, and his new abilities, because I will say right now, this is a story where Poseidon is not his father! Although I do love the abilities associated with Poseidon, I fancied trying something new. On top of that this Percy is slightly old than canon one. Think of it like an AU Percy, there will be some similarities with his canon counterpart, but also a lot of differences. After all we are very much shaped by our experiences and by the places and people we grow up with and around. And suffice to say, Percy has had a rough childhood.
On top of that a warning. Percy is not a flawless character, he will draw incorrect conclusion and stick to flawed opinions. On top of which he will occasionally act like a shitheel at times, and not be entirely likeable. Then again at other times he will be likeable, and will do decent things. Which is to say, in spite of the whole godly thing, he is still very much human. So therefore a contradictory being capable of both great good and great evil.
So yep, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and leave a review.
Thanks for reading.
Greed720.
