The Rising Dawn Chapter 1: Non-Covid Related Ice-olation, a percy jackson and the olympians fanfic

(Please Read) Author Notes: Hey guys, so the author's note for this chapter is going to be unusually long, just because I need to get some continuity things sorted out. For those of you who have not, but plan to, read Trials of Apollo, there is one major spoiler for that in this so continue reading this at your own risk. For everyone else you either read it or didn't read it but heard about it (me) a pretty major character dies in the third book. For most intents and purposes this fanfic will not take into account the events of Trials of Apollo other than Jason's death, which is where this fanfic more or less starts off at. Magnus Chase and Kane Chronicles will feature, but I'm not sure yet how extensive their involvement will be. I plan for this to be pretty long as I have a lot of ideas about what I want to add to this story and all in all it'll be pretty lengthy, it's just about whether or not I have the enthusiasm to write. Although I have a pretty good idea of where I want to take this story I am always open to suggestions! Also, I've done my best in terms of spelling and grammar however google docs basically stops functioning once you go over 2000 words so we're in for a wild ride. I hope everyone is safe and healthy and let's jump right into it!

1. Non-Covid related Ice-olation

(All characters are property of Rick Riordan)

The cold bit at Percy's face despite the hood and the balaclava that shrouded his face and tried to provide some protection against the brutal elements. He had already lost feeling in his fingers and so efforts to rub his hands together for warmth were becoming increasingly strained. The bleak landscape stared back at him from all angles. There was no happiness here, no hope. Just an endless sea of dark ocean and white masses. The sense of looming dread that had accompanied him since he had set off on this mission had not been abated by the brutal weather conditions.

He stood up from his position at the bow of the ship and made his way towards the deck stairs that led down into the ship's hull. His frozen fingers were numb to the freezing metal handle but the sudden gust of warmth that emerged from the ship's interior briefly took his breath away. He descended the steps to see his travel mates huddled around the ship's engine, the last vestige of warmth after three days of meandering across the desolated wasteland. He unzipped his parka and removed his balaclava, letting his hair fall across his face. He really should have cut it before they set off on this trip.

"Any sign of him?" Piper asked. Out of everyone on the trip, she looked the worst. Bags hung under her eyes and her usual dark complexion was growing paler by the day.

Percy sighed "None yet, but we're still getting steady pings from the radar Leo made. He's out there somewhere, we just can't centre on the signal."

That was clearly not the news Piper had hoped for. She pulled her blanket tighter around her and curled up against the ship's hull. It was clear she still harboured some guilt over the circumstances of Jason's death and saw this trip as an opportunity at redemption.

About two weeks before they had set off on this trip Nico had visited Camp Half-Blood and New Rome to let them know that Jason's ghost had disappeared from Elysium. Hades and his Furies had been left astounded, Jason's ghost had simply vanished into thin air. A couple of days after his disappearance reports of freak storms in Greenland raised everyone's suspicions that the son of Jupiter may have something to do with it. Thanatos told Nico that Jason was currently not technically dead, which meant that he may be alive and well, just lost and confused. Although some wanted to wait for a sign from the gods, or maybe a prophecy from Rachel, Piper and Leo refused to wait and wanted to set off for the source of the storms as quickly as possible. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank joined them to round out what had been the Seven.

Leo had developed a radar tracking technology with his siblings at Cabin 9 for pinpointing the source of the storms, but since making it up the coast of Greenland they had been going around in circles, with the radar not yet able to lock down Jason's location. Percy had periodically sat on the bow of the ship, trying to use his connection to the sea to sense anything out of the ordinary, but his connection to his father felt weak this far north, similar to how it had felt when he'd journeyed to Alaska to fight Alconeyous. He had tried to do the same underwater but the ocean had felt barren of life the past couple of days, Percy might not be an expert on biology, but he was pretty sure there was supposed to be some ocean life even this far north.

Percy sat on the floor next to Annabeth who was currently sleeping. She had come down with a fever yesterday and despite some Ambrosia and Nectar, she was still sleeping off the effects of the illness. Hazel was twirling an amethyst between her fingers, watching it absentmindedly as the light from the engine caused it to gently glow. Neither Leo nor Frank were present, with the former in the captain's cabin and the latter currently patrolling the skies as a falcon. Percy doubted Frank would take long to return, since as cold as it might be on the ship, the temperature would be much worse up in the sky.

As if on cue a light thud on the deck signaled the return of the son of Mars. A few moments later the deck hatch opened and Frank awkwardly made his way down the stairs. Despite the fact that his face looked like it might have frostbite he still wore a smile. With the depressed attitude that had settled across the six demigods in the last few days, Frank's constant optimism had been something Percy had found himself starting to rely on.

"Anything?" Percy asked.

"No Jason but I saw another bird. Second one today," Frank replied, "Hadn't seen any other signs of life the past couple of days. Hopefully, it's a sign we're on the right track."

'So it's not just the ocean,' Percy mused to himself. For some reason, the past couple of days felt like they had been completely cut off from the rest of the world. They may have been beyond the reach of the gods but that didn't explain why it seemed as though they were beyond the reach of nature. The creeping sense of loneliness and isolation that had been growing in Percy briefly took over, and Percy wondered if they were trapped in this arctic landscape. A soft snore from Annabeth jolted him back to reality. They had survived Kronos and Gaia, it was going to take more than sub-zero temperatures to take them out.

Frank plopped down next to Hazel, knocking her out of her stupor, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She recoiled at what must have been the coldest kiss she'd ever received but her suddenly flushed cheeks gave away that she probably didn't mind too much. She snuggled up next to him and turned her attention to the warm glow emanating from the engine.

There had been a lot left unsaid between the demigods about what was going to happen if and when they found Jason. After all, weren't they going to have to hand him over to Thanatos to go back to Elysium? They'd all taken Jason's death hard, but wasn't this just going to be like losing him all over again? None of them dared bring up any of these things around Piper or Leo, but the weight of the unanswered questions permeated the air.

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide. The familiar weight of the ballpoint pen brought a small degree of comfort to Percy. They'd lost Jason once already, and Percy wasn't there to help. This time he was, and even heaven and earth wouldn't get him to budge on bringing his friend back. Besides, Jason was a son of Jupiter and Percy doubted the king of Olympus would make anything of it if it was his son being brought back from the dead.

Percy's train of thought was broken by the ship's hatch once again opening, and this time it was the ship's self-proclaimed captain. Leo didn't look too dissimilar to Piper with his baggy eyes and pale complexion, but the gleam in Leo's eyes and the grin on his face was something entirely new for this trip.

"I've got him!" Leo exclaimed, "I've got his signal on the radar. It's go time guys. Avengers Assemble! Flame on! Shazam! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Percy was on his feet before Leo had even finished his recitation of superhero catchphrases. Frank's smile was now a grin from ear to ear and he too leapt up to join Percy in the rush to the stairs. Piper and Hazel were both scrambling to join them and even Annabeth came too in all the commotion.

"We found him?" she croaked weakly.

"We found him!" Leo yelled back, banging his fist against the deck in delight. He quickly backed away from the hatch as Percy and Frank practically threw themselves out onto the deck. Piper, suddenly full of life and energy, quickly followed suit while Hazel gave Annabeth her blanket before joining the rest of the demigods on the deck.

"Which direction?" Frank called over his shoulders as he began sprinting towards the edge of the ship.

"Northeast!" Leo called back, just in time for Frank to throw himself over the side before morphing into a giant eagle and shooting up into the sky. Percy, having left his parka in the hull, groaned at the prospect of the freezing water, but nonetheless hurtled himself overboard and dove deep into the frigid ocean.

Percy felt the rush of being in freefall and then was hit with the overwhelming silence of the ocean. The vastness of the ocean spilled out before him in every direction, cold, empty, and dark. Percy remembered how it felt to be in the ocean along with Montauk or Miami or even California. He could feel all the energy in the ocean, it was buzzing with activity and teeming with life. But that was there. Here, in the arctic, there was none of that energy, none of that life. Percy could feel that he was alone for miles and miles.

He shook off the uncomfortable feeling and used his internal compass to figure out which direction was northeast. Then he willed the water to propel him forward, and the familiar tug in his gut gave him a sense of comfort that he desperately needed. Percy didn't know for sure if Leo's radar was going to work, and if they really were about to find Jason, but he wasn't going to voice any doubts now. If Leo believed he'd found Jason then Percy had to have every confidence in him that he was right.

Percy shot through the ocean for about 20 miles and after sensing nothing was beginning to consider turning back when he hit something that knocked the wind out of him. Well, as much as the wind could be knocked out of a demigod breathing underwater. Percy tumbled through the water for a moment before righting himself and looking at what he collided with, except there was nothing there. The water was as empty as it had been, but whatever Percy had hit felt very very real. He swam forward, tentatively this time, with his hand outstretched. He thought he was crazy until it suddenly met something solid. He applied some pressure to it but there was no budging on the part of the invisible object.

Hearing the sound of the ship approaching Percy shot up to the surface to let them know of his discovery. A jet of water threw him above the waves and onto the ship, albeit drenching Piper and Hazel who were standing on the deck huddling together against the elements. Percy smiled apologetically and quickly dried them off before beckoning Leo to join them from the wheel.

"There's something down there," Percy began as Leo reached them, "It's invisible, but it's solid as a rock. I almost squashed myself crashing into it."

Leo checked the radar in his hand and looked out at the water in front of them. "According to this, he is right in front of us. This is the source of the storms. The radar was getting sporadic pings bouncing all over the place the past few days but now they are all pointing right in front of us."

Percy strode the length and stood at the bow, stretching out his arm and summoning the ocean to his will. He felt the tug in his gut and knew it would respond to his every will. He forced it forward into where the solid object was and felt it crash underwater against it. Whatever the object was, it was still there.

Just as he was about to try the same thing, this time above the waves, a squawk above drew the demigod's attention. Frank, still an eagle, was flying just ahead of them and dove downwards, clearly intending to fly back to the ship. However, instead of gently gliding back down he crashed into an unseen object midair and began careening towards the ocean. Percy, without skipping a beat, once more leapt into the ocean and propelled himself towards Frank. Realising he had no idea how large the object was he summoned a massive wave to try and avoid as much of the object as possible. As he surged towards Frank he saw the lower half of the wave crash against the object but the top of the crest sailed over it. This was good news for getting to Frank, but bad news once he got there. Percy was able to grab Franks eagle form midair but immediately after the wave, now without a base, gave way and sent the two of them falling back towards the water. Percy wasn't worried about himself, he'd come out of much higher falls without a scratch, he was however worried about Frank being crumpled like a pancake on impact.

With time running out and the surface rapidly approaching Percy winded back his arm and launched the eagle like a football back towards the ship. The throw, enhanced by Percy being in the water, had enough power to send Frank hurtling back towards the ship right as Percy crashed into the water.

Frank, who had broken his right wing on impact with the object, could do nothing else but squawk in terror as he was yeeted towards the ship at max speed. Seeing Hazel and Leo, the two smallest members of the trip, preparing themselves to catch him did little to ease the panic that gripped him. Frank closed his eyes and prayed to whatever gods could hear him that this wasn't going to be how his final moments were going to go. He braced for impact but it never came. Instead, he began to skid across what felt like water. Opening one eagle eye he saw that he was being gently redirected away from the ship by a water funnel that looped around until he had slowed down to the point where he could be carefully lowered onto the deck.

Percy let out a shaky breath and released his control over the water. Rescuing Frank had taken far more out of him than he'd expected and he took a moment to float in arctic waters and allow himself to catch his breath. Then he began to swim towards the ship, making a concerted effort to avoid whatever object was floating invisibly in the middle of the water. As he made his way back onto the boat he saw that Frank had changed back into human form, and his right arm looked a mess. It was clearly broken in a couple of places and Percy could tell from Frank's expression it was causing him immense pain. Piper had already brought ambrosia up from the hull while Hazel delicately manufactured a sling out of a spare shirt.

"Well there's something there all right," Leo exclaimed from the captain's quarters, emerging with a gadget in hand, "I'm sending out sound vibrations both above ground and underwater and they're bouncing back towards me. It's there and it's big."

"Any idea what it is?" Piper asked.

"Absolutely none, I just know it's solid and there's a lot more underwater than there is above. It's like an invisible glacier that's just sitting there." Leo tapped his finger against his chin for a moment before running back to the captain's quarters and reemerging with a hammer. This wasn't a DIY hammer from Home Depot, this was a 5-foot long warhammer with a celestial bronze head. Leo offered it to Percy.

Percy frowned in response "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"If it's an iceberg let's crack it, maybe cracking it will make it visible."

"Or maybe cracking it will hurt us. We have no idea what it is and what cracking it might do." Hazel interjected, eyeing the warhammer nervously.

Percy gave the warhammer another once over before gripping the handle and pulled it free of Leo's grip. "I'm down to give it a go. We're in the ocean, this is my turf. No asshole iceberg gets to go invisible on my watch."

"Be careful!" Piper cautioned, looking at the hammer with the same degree of nervousness as Hazel.

Percy grinned at her "What's the worst that can happen?"

Hazel covered her face in her hand and groaned "Why must you tempt fate?

"If fate wasn't such a bitch to me maybe I'd do it less often." Percy winked at her. Then, adjusting his grip on the hammer, he leapt overboard and began the short swim over to where the object should be.

Forming a stable platform of water underneath him Percy reached out and touched the object as he had done previously, except this time once he found his position he swung the hammer backward and then slammed it into what looked like empty space. Cracks began to appear out of thin air, seeming to split reality as the web of cracks rapidly began crisscrossing across a diameter of about 10 feet. Percy winded up again and began to repeatedly slam the hammer into the cracks until, slowly but surely, the cracks gave way to a hole that led into the invisible object.

Percy turned back to the ship with a grin "Who's up for an adventure?"

As it turned out, no one was particularly ecstatic about the thought of journeying into the object, but nevertheless Hazel and Piper both agreed to accompany him. Percy wasn't thrilled with his reconnaissance team but one look at Piper and he knew there was no arguing about her going. She was determined to find Jason in there. Frank was injured, Annabeth was sick, and Leo had to man the ship and keep tabs on the radar to see if anything changed so he didn't really have any other options anyway.

The three of them slowly descended into the cavern with Percy leading the way, using the gleam off of Riptide to try and gain as much light as possible. It became clear that the object was not just made of ice, as the icy exterior soon gave way to a rocky interior, and the hole Percy had smashed open soon gave way to a narrow corridor that descended further down. Rock walls soon became paved and engraved with designs that were distinctively not Greek or Roman. Percy thought they looked similar to the kind of writings Carter Kane had shown him after their brief meetings and his hosting of the Egyptian goddess Nekhbet, but even Egyptian didn't fit. It felt ancient and Percy silently cursed that Annabeth hadn't been well enough to come with him. If anyone could figure out what the symbols were and where they were from it would be her.

The gentle descent had become increasingly steeper, and as a result, their progress slowed significantly. However, after a few tense minutes the slope evened out and the passageway widened significantly. The scenes depicted on the walls were becoming increasingly violent, as scenes of agriculture and worship gave way to war, blood, and fire. Percy shuddered at one particularly gruesome scene of what looked like the slaughter of a village. The multiple heads on pikes didn't sit well with Percy after all his run-ins with cyclopes. The hallway ended with a large stone door, covered in symbols like the ones that had adorned the early part of the passage. As Percy approached it he began to hear whispering in his ear in a language he didn't know but could somehow understand "Hail Enlil! Praise Enlil! Serve Enlil! Hail Enlil! Praise Enlil! Serve Enlil!"

Percy had no idea who or what Enlil was but it certainly sounded like the door had a bit of a hard-on for them. Against his better judgment, Percy pressed his shoulder against the door and shoved against it, causing the door to give way and open to expose what Percy could only describe as a tomb. All around the room offerings and gold were piled up and wreaths adorned a large statue in the centre. The statue was larger than any man, it towered at least 10 feet tall, and had four bull horns sprouting from its head. In its right hand, it held a large spiked club and in its left, it held a lightning bolt. The words inscribed at its base were in no language Percy recognised, but once more whispering began in his ears began that coincided with a pounding in his head. "Rise Hadad! Awake Hadad! Rise Hadad! Awake Hadad!

Percy dropped to one knee as the pounding in his head became unbearable. He put his hands to his ears and felt the warm sensation of blood dripping from his ears. At first, Percy thought the tombs shaking were a result of the brutal pounding in his head but he quickly realised the ground was shaking and cracks were appearing along the statue. He turned around to see that Piper and Hazel were in similar fits of pain, both of them clutching bleeding ears.

"Rise Hadad! Awake Hadad! Hail Enlil! Praise Enlil! Serve Enlil!"

Percy glanced back at the statue and somehow, despite the immense pain in his head yelled at Hazel and Piper to run. The two demi goddesses needed no further enticement and began sprinting down the corridor back up to the surface.

"Rise Hadad! Awake Hadad! Hail Enlil! Praise Enlil! Serve Enlil!"

The statue was now beginning to glow through the cracks and Percy wasn't down to stick around and find out who in the Hades Hadad was. As he exited the room he grabbed the stone door and tried to slam it closed but an invisible force prevented the door from fully closing.

"Rise Hadad! Awake Hadad! Hail Enlil! Praise Enlil! Serve Enlil!"

Percy, giving up on closing the door and barely able to stand through the pain in his head and the ringing in his ears, sprinted after Piper and Hazel down the corridor. Now all the images on the walls were of death, most of them brutal, and the smell of rotting corpses overwhelmed his nostrils.