Penny Jackson

Only one person guessed on who Chaos was talking to, and none of them were correct.

Pjo crossovers, my dude, you've got to enable that PM feature. I read all your Reviews, but I can't ever talk to you.

These next few chapters will lay the groundwork for how Marina fits into the PJO world as Percy, and how she will fit for the Giant War. Friendly reminder that the main meat of this story is the Shattering, meaning the whole of PJO will be covered in exposition here.

But we've got to get back around to that.

So, here we go!

There will be a little bit of silliness going on here, if you couldn't tell by the title.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or ER

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Chaos, quite literally, could've done anything to Marina. Since she had fallen into his realm because of the plot, she fell under his divine jurisdiction as overseer of his corner of Creation, meaning she was his to decide what to do with. If you could think it up, it could've been done. Anything from wholesome stuff like simply dropping her off somewhere and giving her a loving family and a happy life, to something absolutely horrific like being turned into a chihuahua and raped by gorillas.

Luckily, the DI iteration of Chaos was not a sexual fiend.

He was just malicious in other ways.

But in all seriousness, Chaos could've dropped Marina anywhere, and made her anything. Any time period of any dimension, such as ancient times, modern times, future times, or specific periods like the American Revolution, Civil War, the World Wars, or somewhere during a Titan War, Giant War, Imperial War, or in the time not yet written. Chaos could've made Marina into the daughter of any god of his choosing. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Athena, Apollo, and so on, and also any Titan, or he could've made her his direct grandchild by making her the daughter of any of his children. Chaos could've even made Marina into a goddess if he wanted. He could've even turned her into a boy and then applied any of the above.

However, he did none of these things. Instead, he went almost straight vanilla: daughter of Poseidon.

Or at least something similar. Chaos did not imbue Marina with any amazing or awesome powers that she didn't already have. He didn't give her any additional magic companions, or special weapons, or unique armor. Nor did Chaos take anything away from Marina—in a sense. He did take all her years and make her a baby again, and he did restrict her magic to just storm and lightning spells, and he did lock away her memories during her childhood until a certain event.

In all honesty, that was a mercy. It was better for Marina to grow up happy with no memory of her other life, because if she remembered the Lands Between she'd be forever anxious to return home, unable to ever focus on her current life. Ignorance is bliss and all that.

Now, as for the life that Chaos inserted Marina into, as stated, it was a happy one.

Chaos made a world in which Sally Jackson was already a successful author, with several best-sellers that had been adapted into movies, and so she was quite financially stable. She still enjoyed the beaches and oceans, and that was how she met Poseidon. Nine months later, enter little Penelope Jackson, so named because in the version of the story that Sally liked, Penelope was the loyal, cunning, clever wife of Odysseus that remained faithful to him for 20 years, successfully staving off the advances of 108 suitors that wanted to marry her.

Sally wanted her daughter to grow into a strong, resilient, determined, faithful, resourceful, intelligent, loyal woman, which was easy because that was everything that Marina already was. Chaos might've locked away her memories for a time, but not her personality.

Which made for a very humorous and slightly concerning childhood because young Penny insisted that turtles were dogs, cats were also dogs, and that dogs were also dogs. No one could ever figure out why Penny insisted on misnaming animals, just like no one could ever figure out why she refused to refer to her underwear as anything but her "smalls." Not once had Penny ever referred to her underwear as underwear, or panties, or underpants, or unmentionables, or any other colloquialism for a person's underclothes.

Always her smalls.

Obviously, a whole story could be made about this alternate universe, this other life in which Sally was already a rich author with a large house situated on a generous amount of land in the New York countryside, with a female Percy Jackson that had the personality of a demigod from another world, whose powers as a daughter of Poseidon manifested strongly in the Stormbringer category instead of the God of the Seas category, meaning Penny was more adept with wind, lightning, and making storms than she was with controlling water or generating earthquakes.

The story got even more interesting because Sally was still a clear-sighted mortal, one that was well aware of gods, demigods, and the unending danger that demigods lived in because of monsters, and had her house strategically placed to be a great resting point for satyrs trying to ferry half-bloods across the country. On top of offering her home as a temporary refuge from monsters, Sally also used her money to fund specialized education programs for kids struggling with ADHD and/or dyslexia.

Yet even more interesting stuff to this whole alternate universe was that since Sally's books were adapted into movies, she got to meet several actors as she was often present on the set. One of those actors was one Tristan McLean, and in this largely wholesome universe, instead of keeping young Piper at arm's length and finding her a babysitter whenever he had to be away for filming on location, he brought his daughter with him.

Piper and Penny were fast friends, to the point they had sleepovers whenever it was possible, and became pen pals thanks to the United States Postal Service.

Thanks to Penny's support, and this world where Tristan didn't keep Piper out his Hollywood life—but was still uber-diligent in making sure the sexual predators stayed away from his daughter—Piper didn't have to resort to thievery in order to get her father's attention. As such, she wouldn't have to be shipped off to the Wilderness School, which was only going to be important later on.

All in all, Penny had a very happy childhood.

Then the Master Bolt was stolen, and a whole other story could've been written about Penny Jackson's adventures in the world of gods and monsters as she trekked across the continental United States—twice—braved the Sea of Monsters, held up the sky, traversed the Labyrinth, and didn't have to worry about school practically at all thanks to the education systems her mom funded. Especially since Penny had storm powers instead of sea powers.

There was a minor stink in which everyone thought she was the daughter of Zeus when she zapped Clarisse with lightning, but things calmed when Poseidon claimed her. Of course, Zeus still wasn't too happy about his niece having lightning powers, as lightning was his thing, but Poseidon was the Stormbringer, and lightning was part of a storm, so…yeah.

That stink returned when Thalia was brought back, and Penny's lightning powers were better than hers, and that fatal flaw of Thalia's kicked in, but a firm kick in the butt set her straight. She still joined the Hunters, though not as the lieutenant right off the bat because that was stupid.

Bianca didn't join the Hunters because Penny punched her in the face when she so much as entertained the idea of dumping her little brother on a bunch of complete strangers, washing her hands of him and kicking him out of her life all so she could run from responsibility. However, she still died in the desert because plot.

But Nico didn't become a little emo edgelord; Penny didn't let him, because she didn't let him run away. After some paperwork and a little bit of Mist to explain how a boy from the 1940s was somehow alive and well, Nico's official last name was now Jackson, and his adoptive mother was now Sally.

As for Luke and the Titan War, Penny honestly fully supported Luke's position. The Olympians sucked and had no real redeeming qualities—that didn't necessarily mean they were evil and needed to be sentenced to Tartarus, but they certainly shouldn't have been in positions of authority. They were complacent, lazy, and spent their endless time and seemingly endless power screwing off and letting people suffer needlessly, including their own children. Changes needed to be made, but Penny didn't trust the Titans.

That was the only reason she hadn't signed up with Luke.

As for how she was going to bring about the changes she thought were needed, Penny didn't know. It was rather difficult to oppose beings that could turn you into vapor with a snap of their fingers.

Now, at this point, with over 1500 words of exposition, you probably have at least four questions:

If Penny and Piper are friends, where is Piper at in the Titan War?

What happened to Penny/Marina's swords and armor?

What happened to Marsinax and Morgen?

And perhaps most poignantly, what is Annabeth's role in this story—if Percy's a girl, is she still a girl? Are they gay like in Backup Plan? Is Annabeth a boy? Did Penny and male-Annabeth become a couple?

In order:

Piper is still unaware that she's a demigod, and Penny is also unaware that Piper is a demigod. Penny just hopes that her friend is safe and sound.

Soon to follow. Keep reading.

Also soon to follow.

All of that actually has yet to be determined and will be addressed next chapter.

Time for that spoken-of even to take place that finally kicks this story off for real.

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Kronos's soul-damaging scythe barely landed more than a papercut on Penny's cheek, but it was enough for its spell to take hold. She felt herself dying second after second, and it was only Beckendorf's bomb exploding that saved her. She was tossed into the water where she passed out from the scythe, and in her state of unconscious was when Chaos finally let her full memories and abilities return.

Deep under the sea, where Poseidon waged war with Oceanus, Marina woke up for the first time in nearly sixteen years.

This time, though, there was no grand crisis of identity like Percy from Assassin's Creed: Transcendence felt when coming from one of his previous lives. Chaos did that intentionally, making Penny's life so similar in ways to Marina's that there were no outstanding influences that made Penny different from Marina, and so instead it was less like living a double life, and more like Penny finally feeling complete.

Now she remembered why she always called turtles dogs, and why she always referred to her underwear as her smalls, and why she always felt comfortable holding two swords instead of a sword and a shield. It was because she'd been doing things that way for many years longer than she had actually been Penelope Jackson.

Marina sat up in the bed she had been placed in by someone, luckily still fully clothed and with clean pants (landing on Ogygia had not been as fortunate an experience).

"Penny Jackson, huh?" she said to herself.

"Yup."

Marina looked over the other corner of the room to see the being that was seemingly responsible for her new life. Her green eyes narrowed. "You."

"Me," said the deity. "Name's Chaos. I'm the father of the Primordials, and since Gaea is my daughter, and Kronos is her son, and Poseidon is Kronos's son, and you are Poseidon's daughter, that makes me your great-great-grandfather. Come over here and give your pappy a hug, kiddo."

There was definitely one difference between Penny and Marina. "Go fuck yourself!"

A lack of ladylike decorum.

Chaos smirked. "Nah. I can just bend you over the bed and put babies in you if I wanted, and there's nothing you could do to stop me."

Marina put on a glower to hide the genuine spike of fear that went through her. Yeah, she could feel all her magic again, but this was Chaos. She didn't a stand a chance, and she knew it.

"Relax, kid. I don't roll like that. Anyway, you're welcome."

"For what?" Marina demanded.

"Oh, you know…giving you a happy childhood with a loving and supporting mother that changed your diapers, fed you, bathed you, clothed you, educated you, taught you how to wipe your filthy ass after you took a dump, etc. I could've dropped you on some woman that soled your sorry baby butt into slavery, and you grew up as a little prostitute for pedophiles. I also didn't alter your anatomy or identity in any significant way, and I let you have all your magic, memories, and skills back."

"You confined me here and prevented me from getting back to my family in the Lands Between," Marina hissed.

"And gave you a new family here," Chaos said dismissively.

"Why didn't you just send me back home!?"

"Didn't want to," shrugged the almighty deity.

"What?"

"Also, that would've been very mean of me. All the effort your mommy put into sending you away and getting your little butt out of dodge…" Chaos shrugged. "Would've been a great insult and dishonor to such a dedicated mother."

Marina stared at him. "What are you talking about? Mother didn't send me away from anything. We were at peace."

Chaos grinned at her, the galaxies in his eyes glowing brighter with manic amusement. "Oh, you are in for such a great time when you return to the Lands Between. Conspiracy, intrigue, a rapidly-thickening plot—and in a little bestiality and a lecherous priest, and I'd say you have the beginnings of a beautiful novel."

Marian made a face as she leaned away from the god.

"What? You never played Assassin's Creed Unity? Marquis de Sade? The mission Le Roi Est Mort when you go to kill Roi de Thunes?"

Marian had a blank stare on her face.

"That's a trick question," Chaos said. "Being all-knowing means I know all, so I know for a fact that you haven't played that game. Oh, and you're also welcome for locking those memories away for a time that way you could have a relatively worry-free life of blissful ignorance. Now you have friends, family, and a desire to save them in this time of crisis instead of just forsaking them and leaving them to die."

"I wouldn't have forsaken them anyway!" Marina insisted. "That's not how I am."

"Absolutely true. But Zeus is a paranoid little shit and wouldn't take kindly to a nine-foot-tall demigod from another world running around with the power to crash the moon onto the planet, or knock the planet out of orbit, or pull the tectonic plates from the mantle, or potentially teleport the planet through a wormhole into the sun. Not to mention how he'd want to lay some pipe in your ass."

Marina cringed. Hard.

"Of course, he already wants to stick his turkey baster in your fudge factory, but he has enough respect for Poseidon to not just outright rape his own niece. Granted, that doesn't mean he won't try to woo you anyway, and he still might not take no for an answer. You know how he is." Chaos shrugged.

Marina was not at all comforted by that little revelation, and had subconsciously clenched her butt at the mere thought of Zeus looking at her. "Eww…"

"I know, right? Like, what even is the appeal in a person's butthole? They poop from there!"

Marina felt a tinge of heat in her face despite being at the bottom of the Atlantic. "Please stop talking…"

"Fine. Whatever. It's just basic biology. Anyway. Go save the day. You've got your swords and armor, and all your magic."

"What about my dragon and my wolf?"

"They will be waiting for you on the surface. They can't breathe underwater."

Marina blinked. Well, that was certainly true. "What happened to Beckendorf?"

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"…are you being serious?"

"Yeah. Kid's dead. RIP Charles Beckendorf, age 18. Only the good die young, as they say."

Marina's brow furrowed. "But…isn't he just in the Underworld? I can just go get him and bring him back."

"Something like that, yeah."

Marina wasn't exactly inspired by that answer, nor was she completely deterred, though. That was something the now-daughter of Poseidon had always considered ironic about this new world she lived in: it was confirmed that there was an afterlife, she had even been there herself, and since it was a physical place, with physical beings, if you wanted a dead friend or loved one back, just…go get them. Obviously, there would be some obstacles in the way, like Charon, Cerberus, the Furies, other Underworld gods, and of course Hades himself, but it wasn't outright impossible to bring a soul out of the Underworld.

Marina would get to that later. Right now, she had a battle to win. "You said I had my swords and armor—where?"

"Within," Chaos said. "Call them forth."

Marina arched a brow, but did as she was told. She didn't know exactly how to "call" her stuff from within, so she just imagined something like her armor was setting on a pedestal, and then racing away and onto her body. As it so happened, her body tingled, her skin prickled, she glowed, and then she felt a tad heavier as the glow faded to reveal her dragon-esque armor.

In her hands were the Dragon's Teeth, her dual xiphos swords.

All the mirth and mania left Chaos as he bowed slightly and spoke in a serious voice. "Welcome back, Dragon Princess of the Dawn."

Marina nodded once. "Thank you…for everything. It has been a nice life."

"You are welcome. I will work on sending you back to the Lands Between. But one thing at a time."

"Yes. The Titan War."

"Good luck, Dragon Princess."

Chaos stepped backwards into a portal he made behind him, and vanished, leaving Marina by herself in this spare room in her second father's palace.

Marina could feel Poseidon and two other deities deeper within. She suspected they were Amphitrite and Triton, her technical stepmother and her half-brother. She wasn't too keen on dealing with them right now. Much further out, she could feel another three deities, and she guessed these were the Titans.

She could play catch up with family later. Right now, people were dying.

Dragon mask firmly attached to her face, her raven hair waving in the water behind her, Marina took off through the palace, making it out through a window. She might not've had specific water powers, but she could still propel herself through the ocean. Just as well, she supposed, since she had gravity magic again.

It was definitely only because she was down in the depths, but Marina felt stronger now than she ever had in either life. She felt more energized, more focused, more ready to go kick some ass, and her magic was just brimming below the surface, ready to be unleashed. Granted, the wind-like Storm spells weren't going to be much good down here, Marina concluded, and lightning incantations were a maybe. Glintstone sorceries and Golden Order incantations were a maybe, since the current medium was water, not air. Marina had never attempted magic while underwater on account of the fact that she couldn't breathe underwater, and never, ever, foresaw herself having to fight underwater.

Jokes on her, right?

Gravity sorceries, on the other hand, should work just fine since the grand majority of the conspectus dealt with manipulating the environment. There were plenty of rocks down here at the bottom of the ocean, after all.

Of course, there was one other avenue of magic that Marina wasn't going to so much as dare to use: the cold ghostflame of the Death Rite Birds that dwelled within her. Miquella's Unalloyed Needle was gone, but the power was still held at bay, not threatening to erupt in some huge pillar that spewed fiery skulls all over the place.

Marina shook her head and focused in. She had arrived at the field of battle at the edge of the city, and wasted no time in getting involved. As a test run, she swung her left Dragon's Tooth, discharging an arc of golden energy that tore through the water even faster than Marina had seen it go through the air.

The incantation was Elden Blade, taught to her father by her mother who was taught by the Greater Will how to use such power. Befitting a technique bestowed by a god, the Elden Blade chopped through lines of monsters and even destroyed those in the general flight path.

Well, then.

Marina didn't waste a second as she shot over the heads of the stunned merman warriors to engage the whole enemy army by herself. It was quite easy with magic spam, Marina launching spells left and right as she cleared whole mobs, going with bigger spells like Carian Grandeur and Gavel of Haima to take out the bigger sea monsters.

Marina loved the Gavel of Haima. There was just something so satisfying about generating this humongous magic hammer the size of a retail complex, and smashing a huge shrimp monster into paste.

And also a gigantic magic sword as wide as a four-lane highway and long as a skyscraper was tall. Marina cleaved through a few underwater mountain with that one, along with annihilating what was probably hundreds of monsters.

The seawater was the ultimate buff for Marina, and she bodied the whole invading army practically on her own. The mermen and other affiliated good guys did rally and join the fight, but their contribution was admittedly minimal compared to how much carrying Marina did.

The overpowered daughter of Poseidon eventually found herself face to face with Oceanus.

The reasons she knew it was Oceanus was because he said so.

"I am Oceanus," said the abnormally large and buff merman with bull horns coming out of his head. In his hand was a really big snake. "Which goddess are you that has broken my forces?"

Marina reached up and removed her mask. "Hi."

Oceanus almost dropped his snake. "Penny Jackson!? What in Gaea's-"

The Titan lost his mind he was so shocked.

Or rather, he lost his head because he was so stunned he temporarily lost track of his surroundings.

Marina had come into battle with two swords. Somewhere along the way, she ended up with only one sword. In the heat of the moment, with so much going on, no one noticed, especially because one became two once more. In actuality, duplication magic was cool, being able to control swords with her mind was also really cool, and cheesing bosses was arguably less cool depending on who the boss was.

For Oceanus, Marina had no problem chunking her other Dragon's Tooth off to the side, commanding it around in a wide arc with her will, and having it come racing in while Oceanus was distracted in order to decapitate him from behind.

Marina caught her sword and attacked the serpent before it could process what was going on.

And then just like that, the Atlantic Theater was over, ending with a decisive Poseidon victory.

"Penny?" an endlessly shocked voice came from behind.

Marina turned to see the family had assembled behind her. Tyson, her little half-brother, a merman with two tails that she presumed to be her older half-brother, Triton, a merwoman that was probably Amphitrite, and Poseidon.

He looked like hammered crap.

Imagining her armor going back on that mental pedestal, Marina changed back into her street clothes of orange t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"Hi, guys. How much time do we have, because it's a rather involved story."

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How about Penny's happy life with a financially successful and stable Sally Jackson, eh?

Marsinax and Morgen will return next chapter.

I am open to suggestions on what role Annabeth plays in this story. Right now, I'm going with female Annabeth that is Penny's BFF, which does lead to this next question: if Penny and Annie are best friends, who is Marina's love interest? Or does she even have one in this story?

I honestly can't think of any boy that I could pair her with and have it make sense other than male Annabeth. There are plenty of girls, obviously, like female Annabeth, and I laid the groundwork, which mostly consists of sand, for Piper, and Reyna and Rachel aren't off the table, but I like keeping the yuri exclusive to Backup Plan. Makes it more unique.

If you're thinking, "How about that Roman guy that was Marina's first boyfriend? When she gets back to the Lands Between, she can bring him back to Earth with her."

If you think that's somehow on the table, then welcome to your first DelayedInspiration story!

This time featuring only one of the three constants!

Remnant is up next, but in the meantime, please Fav, Follow, and Review!

Right now Annabeth is going to be Marina's best friend that is a girl, and there won't be a pairing, but if you have suggestions or can convince me otherwise, I am all ears!

And please buy my novel! PM for details because I can't get the link to work properly on FFN from Amazon.