Chapter 1: Rain, Blood, and Fate.

I do not know why I write this, but I guess no one knows why we do things until they are done. Ironic that. Nevertheless, whoever finds this, and I hope is someone who can use it well, I have tried to document every single one of my discoveries in hopes to find the answer to the Great Prophecy.

Poseidon's Notes, Page 1.

"Im soaked…" Percy said as he hid inside of a trash container. "And…I smell…"

It was hard to block the voices when they echoed in his head, bouncing between the ears and the shadows that they cast behind the eyes…her voice specifically was loud, her shadow the most well defined out of them all. Getting high helped most times, a welcome distraction within the crossroad of thoughts and broken promises. Tonight, however, it was different. Or the drugs were fake and he was smoking tea and taking vitamin pills, or he was too high to feel high. Either way, he heard her voice over and over as the rain slammed against the lid of the container.

"Percy, we need to get out!" Her voice said. "Percy, PERCY!"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He yelled, as he slammed his head into the container walls. He felt softness in his hair, and he lifted a hand to grasp the lump of moistening hair behind his ear. "Fuck…" He said as he began pulling pieces of gum. "FUCK!"

Percy breathed heavily, pushing away the lid and letting the rain fall on his hair. The voices disappeared, almost instantly as if they feared the water. He had always felt that the rain was calming, the sea was a breath of freshness that washed over him. Even when he managed to slip into the public pool, it was almost a magical encounter with a goddess that seemed to embrace him and take away his pains and ails. It was calming, cleansing…a small light in the tunnel of madness and masks.

"If only people could be like water…" Percy thought with anger and sadness. He felt the drops falling down his back, hitting that spot in the centre of his lower back. He smiled for a second, savouring the coldness, that one moment of bliss in the tempest. Water fell down his face, dripping from his chin. He could taste the salt in his tears as it mixed with the rain. He had lived another day, he had survived…but for how long would the charade last? They were already after him, and this time not only the cops, but the gang too. Perhaps stealing from them was not the best idea.

"Find the rat!" he heard the voice of someone around the corner.

"Fuck." The moment of endless peace amidst the tempest ended abruptly, and Percy quickly turned around and began to run towards the other side of the alley, his feet splashing water madly as he hit the floor with heavy stomps. "Should've stayed in the trash…" He murmured as he ran.

The night was dark, the rain making it hard to see too far into the distance. A slight fog covered the city, and the few streetlights that did actually illuminate did not help much in the visibility department. Percy, however, instinctively knew where to go, as if the blindness of darkness did not even bother him. His senses were sharp, his touch sensible. He felt the wind as it kissed his face, the raindrops as they slammed against his skin. He could tell which way to go, as if something was guiding him.

It was always like that when he was high.

"Should've run for the orphanage…" Percy thought as he ran deeper and deeper into the twisting alleys. He saw a few men and women, hiding under tarps or simply sleeping in the rain. The thick smell of alcohol, drugs, and sex overwhelmed him as he turned a corner into the place where most of the homeless lived; a small neighbourhood that had arisen under a highway and that extended throughout a large, abandoned parking lot. He could see a few fires in the distance.

"No, bad idea to go there. Better escape into the city itself." Percy thought as he kept running. While losing himself amongst the people would help him, he knew that more than one of them would recognize him. He knew he wasn't worth getting in trouble for the local gang, so as soon as they came knocking, they would hand them over for a few bites of whatever they could gather.

Living homeless was harsh, and you did what it took to survive. That was the first rule of living in the streets.

As Percy ran, he suddenly felt a coldness rush through his body that was not related to the rain or the night, a chill running from the top of his head down his body. His mind seemed to expand, and the same coldness began to grasp his ears. He could hear faint drumming within them, and suddenly the world seemed to shift around him.

Oh, the drugs were kicking in.

The voices following him suddenly stopped, and Percy whimpered in relief as he felt the pressure ease of his mind. The familiar feeling of burning eyes came quickly, however, and the even more familiar hyperventilation kicked in as he turned into another alley, blind from the world.

He was breathing too hard, he needed to stop. He began to assess the signs of overdose, something that a homeless man had taught him early on as they shared a needle of heroin.

Step one, test for hyperthermia or hypothermia. Percy touched his face, it was warm. He then touched his chest, also warm. He kept touching different places of his body, even underneath his underwear. Warm, warm, warm. His hands were warm, his feet were warm. Good, no signs of either aside from the normal heat of running.

Next, check skin colour. Percy rushed towards a water puddle, placing his body above it so the water would settle. He took a look into the water, using the dim light and squinting his eyes so he could see. Yes, he looked the same. Thin face, messy black hair, bright green eyes staring back at him wide. Aside from a slight purple mark on his skin from a fight he had been a few days ago, he wasn't pale. Good.

Finally, check for pulse. He had been running, which was not good when one was so high. Running too much would increase his heartrate, and the drugs would do so too. It could lead to a heart attack, which was the main reason most addicts died. Percy placed his back up against the wall, sliding down and taking deep, calming breaths. He began to feel his heart rate decrease, he began to feel the usual rush receding into him. But he also began to feel the world spinning around him. Things around him took funny shapes, the colours seemed to change and shift, even his hands seemed to grow and shrink constantly, which made him giggle.

"There he is!" he heard behind him, followed by heavy footsteps hitting the rain.

"Oh man…" Percy said to himself as he crawled deeper and deeper into the alley, "I can't do this while high."

He felt his heartbeat accelerating again, a slight buzz in his ears as the colours began to blur in his eyes. The rain felt light, and the yellow tones of the streetlights began to change to other spectrums. Red, blue, orange. He needed to calm down!

The exhilaration began. Escaping from a gang set on finding you was hard and doing it while high was almost impossible. Percy started regretting getting involved with Matt in the first place…

He eventually ran into the back wall of the alley. The distortion was getting worse, he could begin to feel his ears buzzing harder and harder.

"Found you, you little rat." He heard from behind him, right before rough hands slammed him against the wall.

"Argh, softer please, my head is killing me…" Percy said as he blinked hard. He tried to keep a giggle as he saw Matt, his head overly large for his body.

"Finally, have you, Perseus Jackson!" said the leader of the gang, a tall, broad chested boy named Matt Sloan. "You little punk, you have balls to steal from me and run away."

"Matt…uh, how's it going?" Percy said, still struggling to see but forcing a smirk. His eyes wanted to close. Gosh, was it ever so hard to stay still? It seemed like everything around him turned!

"Are you fucking high, Jackson?" Matt asked, "with the product you STOLE FROM ME?" He felt a soft snap in his neck as his head twisted hard to the side, the punch hitting him in the cheek. He had managed to avoid most of the damage, but Percy felt one or two loose teeth when he felt his mouth with his tongue.

"That was not as hard as you usually hit, what happened? Rain too slippery?" Percy said, yet instantly regretted it as he felt a kick to his stomach.

"Im gonna wipe that smirk right of your face, Jackson, and I'm gonna enjoy it." Matt said dangerously.

"The only thing you enjoy Matt is looking at yourself in the mirror." Percy said, feeling lame immediately after.

"You're slipping. That was a lame comeback." Matt said.

"Yeah, I've had better, haven't I?" Percy groaned as Matt punched him in the gut. He fell to the ground coughing and spitting. He felt another pair of hands grab him.

"Hold him tight, I'm gonna enjoy this." Matt said. Percy couldn't tell exactly what was going on, all he saw was that Matt, his face shifting into a demon, took out a pen that suddenly turned into a bright orange sword, six foot tall, with flames and—

"I'm so fucking high…" Percy sighed internally.

He felt another punch in his gut, and another, and another. Percy wanted to throw up, to yell, to fight back. Yet the drugs were already spiking, and he felt himself slipping more than once into the relief that they gave him. He felt like a fish in the water, swimming between the raindrops. Something inside of him snapped, and Percy fell to the ground grabbing his ribs. Matt had punched him so hard he had regained lucidity for a minute. He giggled.

"How does that feel, Jackson?" Matt taunted, "Tell me, does it hurt? This will hurt more."

Just as Matt was about to kick him, a shadow moved behind him and pushed him to the side.

"Great, I'm tripping." Percy thought, as he began to laugh.

"What the fu—" The hands holding him loosened, and Percy was pushed back to the wall.

He saw a short black-haired boy with pale skin and dressed in some sort of uniform. He was standing with hands to the side, calmly staring with a dark look towards Matt and his group of cronies.

"The fuck? A little kid comes to play?" Matt said, walking towards the boy threateningly. The huge sword in his hand.

Matt threw a punch, and the kid immediately sidestepped, pushing the hand to the side and punching him in the neck. Matt fell to the wet floor limp, the sword seemingly to go up in flames.

"Yep, tripping, definitely." Percy thought, as he began laughing harder.

Matt's two cronies jumped the kid. The kid sidestepped, tripping one of them and as he fell, he poked him in his eyes. The other boy pulled a knife that seemed almost too small, which made another burst of laughter escape Percy's lips, and ran towards the kid. Percy tried to warn him, but somehow the kid seemed to blend with the shadows, punching and kicking the knife away and with a well-placed hit to the back of the head, the final bully fell.

The kid then turned to him, the same blank stare. Percy's laughter died. For a moment, a single moment, Percy felt it. The rush. It fuelled him, his fingers twitching, his mind clearing for a second as his body entered into fight-or-flight. Yet just as quickly as it came, it left him. The drugs distorting his surroundings too much. He felt another fit of laughter coming, but all that came out was vomit as Percy began to throw up from the beating.

He bent over one of the corners of the Alley, emptying whatever little he had in his stomach. He felt some of the psychedelic effects of the drugs leaving him as he emptied himself, leaving him too high to function normally, but not enough to not realize what was going on around him.

"Uh…" Percy said, spitting, "Are you real?" He wiped his mouth with his dirty sleeve and looked at the kid up and down.

"As real as I can be." The boy said, looking slightly disgusted yet concerned. He made the motion of extending his hand but seemed to think better about it and pulled it back. Instead, he gave a little bow. "My name is Nico, nice to finally meet you."

"Uh…" Percy groaned as he felt his stomach turning, "Hi?" he croaked.

"You're a hard man to track, Perseus Jackson." Nico said.

"I mean, yeah, I guess I am—wait, what?" Percy suddenly stumbled, the world distorting more and more around him. At least the rain was stopping.

"Some people are very interested in you, Perseus, I represent those who are." Nico said. He lifted his chin, a slight smile on his lips. He crossed his arms and stared at Percy, yet it looked a little silly considering Percy was much taller than Nico.

"Dude, you're like twelve, why are you talking like some mysterious men-in-black guy?" Percy asked, confused. He grabbed his head as it began to pound.

Nico tried to keep staring, his eyes darkening by the second, then he simply sighed hard and turned around.

"Cat got your tongue?" Percy joked as he slammed his back against the wall for support.

"I have wanted to be on a mission like this forever! And the ONE time that they let me out, you ruin it!" Nico said, pointing at Percy with his gloved hand. "It was my chance to make an impression you know?"

"But…" Percy said, still confused, "But you're twelve…"

"IM FIFTEEN!" Nico said, pointing his finger right in front of his eyes, "Call me twelve one more time and I swear I will end you!"

Percy smiled, and just as he was about to say something another person entered the alley.

"Oh, good. You have him."

Percy turned, and he swore he was still hallucinating. A girl, blonde, beautiful, stood amongst the few raindrops that still fell. Her hair was curly, and she had a slight tan to her skin. She was dressed in the same uniform the boy was wearing, a black and blue suit, with a white dress shirt, and a red tie. A strange symbol, like an omega, was visible on the chest. Percy stood a little straighter at her entrance.

"He ruined my entrance!" Nico complained.

"Nico, your entrance makes you sound like a twelve-year-old." The girl said, and Nico stammered. She then turned towards Percy, and he thought that nothing was more beautiful than those grey eyes that stared back at her.

"So, you're him huh," She said, "To be honest I was expecting something a little more from what we've heard of you."

"Who in the name of Kentucky fried fuck are you?" Percy finally asked the question that he had been wanting to ask for the past minutes.

"Crude." The girl smirked, "My name is Annabeth, and this is Nico. We're from a place called Olympus, a place for kids like us." Annabeth said.

"Us?" Percy said, cringing as his head buzzed slightly.

"Rejects, scum, outcasts," Annabeth said, "But we're rejects with abilities, scum with skills, outcasts with gifts."

Percy heard Nico scoff next to him.

"Now who's being extra?" he said.

"We've heard of you, Perseus Jackson, what you did, what happened." Annabeth said, ignoring Nico. "We've been trying to track you down for years, who knew you would lead us through the underground of New York for so long."

The voices returned, the screams, the smell. Percy saw a flash of red, a face in pain. Water. So much water.

"No." Percy said simply, forcing the voices to retreat, "No. You can't know that, you don't know that!"

"But we do, Perseus," Annabeth said, "It's okay. We understand, and we can help you."

"No one can help me. I'm a monster, a freak!" Percy fell with his back to the wall, the voices echoing in his mind. He needed more drugs. God above he needed more drugs! He tried to reach for them in his pockets, and with a whimper he realized he was out.

"Olympus can help you, Perseus, that feeling that you are feeling right now, we can teach you how to use it, and use it for good. Help us stop evil, bring down the corrupt, the true monsters of this world. People like Gabe Ugliano."

That name stopped Percy dead. His hands stopped shaking, his mind cleared. The rush returned, a moment of mindless fury, of mindless exodus. He looked at Annabeth, and he swore he saw her flinch for a second. That name brought back not only voices, but memories, visions of the past, one he promised he would bury deep into his mind. He saw himself, a knife in his hand, and seven naked corpses around him. So much water. So much blood.

"How do you know that name?" Percy said in a deep, quiet voice.

"We know everything about you, Perseus." Annabeth said. "You have a gift."

"I'm a monster." Percy said.

"You killed six men with a butter knife, Perseus, and after you ran away you've not only survived, but you've also thrived in the streets! Stealing, scamming, fighting. Imagine what you could accomplish if you harnessed that ability, what you could do if you trained it!"

Percy was still sitting, but the rush was receding. Hiding.

"I won't…I can't…" Percy said. The drugs were coming back. He began to shake once more, and internally he did the overdose check up on himself.

He was so cold, his hands seemed to take on a pale blue tint, and he swore his heart was about to explode.

"I overdosed…" Percy thought to himself.

"Come with us, Perseus. Let us help you." Annabeth extended a hand.

"You say you get rid of monsters, of…of…evil. How am I different after what I've done?" Percy asked.

"Do you take pleasure in stealing, in scamming, in killing?" Annabeth asked.

"I…I only did it to survive…"

"Exactly." Annabeth reached to cup his cheeks; she lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot, pupils dilated, yet Annabeth didn't seem to mind when she faced him with her grey eyes. "You are not a monster, whatever you think. You have a gift; you protect others with your power. That is why we need you in Olympus."

"I'm…I—" Percy felt a tear running down his face. "I'm so tired."

"I know." Annabeth said. The last thing Percy heard before falling unconscious, was a sweet voice whispering into his ears. "Sleep well, son of the sea."

Welp, there you have it peeps. The first two chapters of my new story. I'm saying now, there will be a lot of inconsistencies with the story, as I'm not working with a plan but simply discovering things as I go. Mind you, it won't be anything major, but for example I may mention a name and change it or misspell it later, or some things that I mention like clothing can change or something. I will try my best to avoid these inconsistencies, as I'm a firm believer of Suspension of Disbelief (which is why there won't be many A/N, but only when I think it will be necessary, that way the story flows better) but I'm also human and can (and will) make mistakes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Comment what you think, share it with your friends, stay safe, stay healthy.

And as always, Happy Reading.

-CallMeLatino