Chapter 14 - School
A week later, Kronos was slouching next to Percy. Every time one of the mortals in Percy's homeroom happened to glance over at the two, they'd be glowered at until they uncomfortably looked away.
Not that Percy could blame them; the immortal omega could hide the unworldly golden colour of his eyes and replace it with a brilliant green, but he couldn't – and wouldn't – diminish his looks, the vain idiot that he was. While the majority of mortals were simply betas, there were a few that were alphas or omegas, but Kronos would evidently be calling to their instincts. Percy glared at a few betas that got a little too close for his liking.
Kronos – with a generous helping of the Mist – had reluctantly arranged for Ezekiel 'Zeke' Roi to be admitted to Goode for the year. With a name like that, he was all but asking for Zeus to strike him down. Essentially translating almost directly to strength of the god king, Kronos had found great amusement out of the alias.
The immortal Titan was settled against Percy's desk, keeping close to his alpha. When the teacher walked in, Kronos completely ignored them in favour of keeping his eyes on Percy. As flattering as it was, Percy nudged him off the desk and over to his own seat. Kronos didn't look impressed, but settled down with his arms crossed before him.
He looked like he was dozing for the duration of that period, and through the rest of them. Percy was almost tempted to find out how he was getting away with it, only to realise that it was probably once again a display of his control over the Mist.
Kronos did, however, take every opportunity he could to irritate the teachers. Whether by subtly causing their computers to short-circuit or to blatantly manipulate the Mist to make the teachers hallucinate.
Either way, Percy was happy when lunch rolled around. Percy turned to face the omega. "I'll catch up with you," he promised as he fiddled with his locker and juggled the books in his hands. Kronos looked like he was going to offer to help, before he shut his mouth and curtly nodded. "I won't be long. Please try not to kill someone."
Kronos scowled at him, casting a wary look around before skulking off down the corridor in the vague direction of the cafeteria.
Percy watched him go for several seconds before sighing and returning his attention to his locker. It wasn't the Titan's fault that he hated school – Percy hated it too. Already he was counting down the days until summer began again. While his family was waiting for him at Camp Half-Blood, he was stuck at school in the year – an outcast in his year group. Kronos' presence would make it more bearable, but he obviously brought his own problems in the sense that Kronos was quite likely to go stir-crazy from living in Percy's apartment.
The alpha's gut churned, and someone shoved him from behind. Percy grunted as his nose slammed into the locker door. He managed to keep hold of his bag, which would probably be entirely useless for him. Instinctively, his fingers twitched and he itched to uncap Riptide, but fiercely reminded himself that he was at school and attacking his fellow mortal students with a sword wasn't likely to end well.
Percy grunted as he turned to face the mortal who'd shoved into him. The scent of another alpha hit him – alike to a punch to the face – and he immediately stiffened and straightened.
"Hi," Percy stiffly greeted, tightening his fingers around the strap of his bag. "Bye."
The other alpha shoved him back, stopping Percy from retreating away. "Hi," the mortal said.
Percy didn't even recognise him by name, not that it mattered. He was an alpha – unmated, from his scent – and he'd been in Percy's homeroom in the morning. Percy assumed that he'd been watching Percy and Kronos all day, waiting for the omega to leave before trying his luck at chasing Percy away.
The demigod was tempted to let him, out of a morbid interest to see what Kronos would do if a greasy-haired, barely post-pubescent and smelly mortal tried to mate with him. It would be amusing, in the morbidly fascinating sort of way. Percy had no doubt that the poor mortal wouldn't survive the encounter.
Besides, Percy had fought to mate with Kronos. No mortal was getting between them.
"Who's your omega?"
"I don't see why that's any of your concern," Percy curtly told the mortal. "He's not yours."
From the look on the mortal's face, he considered Kronos to be nothing more than a pretty face. Percy inwardly scoffed at the thought. Well, he was a pretty face, but he was also so much more than that. Kronos would rip the mortal apart, Percy didn't doubt that.
"Look," Percy said carefully, "you don't want to do this."
That only seemed to encourage the poor mortal. "Oh, I think I do," he disagreed. He came at Percy before the demigod had dropped his book, so Percy let the first punch be taken by his giant textbook. The mortal swore even as the other students around them scattered, giving the two a wide birth. Percy let his books crash to the floor, shoving them aside with a foot as the angry mortal charged him again.
The demigod danced aside with ease. "Stop," Percy snapped, "it's the first day back!"
"Your point?"
Percy growled. Chances were that the teachers wouldn't even be too angry, since it was a dispute over an omega. They'd consider it natural and move on. "I'd rather not get in trouble on the first day back!"
"Then back off! He's a beautiful omega," the mortal taunted, "and he'll be mine after today. Maybe I'll even let you watch."
"Not fucking likely," Percy seethed. He threw himself at the mortal, cheered on by the shouts of the other students watching the fight. The mortal was apparently stronger than Percy, and even though Percy had more experience, he managed to get on top of the demigod. His fist slammed into Percy's face once, twice, and a third time before Percy stopped feeling the individual punches and just pain.
Then, suddenly, the mortal let out a strangled yelp. Percy felt his weight disappear and tried to look through the blood. He wiped at his eyes, and then peered above him.
The sight above him would always remain ingrained into his memory.
The poor, doomed mortal was dangling in the air, a rather furious omega's hand around his throat. Oddly enough, his face was changing colour into splotches of purple. It was when he gasped for air that Percy tried to push himself upright, only to groan.
The sound at least got Kronos' attention.
"Stop," Percy gasped, "Kr – Zeke, stop. Please."
Kronos just scowled, his green eyes glowing with fury. "Not even a little?"
"A little what?" Percy asked in disbelief. "Death by strangulation?" As far as Percy was aware, a little death still meant the mortal was dead. You can't be a little dead and still be alive.
"Yes?" The omega frowned. "Why can't I? He hurt you."
Percy swallowed. "That's called murder."
"What if you do it?" Kronos let go of the poor, terrified mortal, apparently actually expecting Percy to kill the stupid mortal.
"That's still murder," Percy tiredly said to him.
"What is going on here?"
Percy froze as the school principal stormed into view.
The other alpha pointed a shaking finger at Kronos. "He did it, sir! He tried to strangle me!" His voice was hoarse. Considering the bruises already heavily coming out around the mortal's throat, Percy and even Kronos really couldn't say otherwise. Honestly, Percy would be surprised if Kronos hadn't partly crushed his windpipe.
"Oh, shit," Percy said with a heavy sigh, and then realised there was blood in his mouth so he tried to wipe his face again, only to let out a quiet hiss.
From the look on Kronos' face as his eyes flickered towards the mortal, he was sorely tempted to grab him around the throat again.
"Zeke," Percy said instead, hoping to get his attention. The students around them were all watching, not sure whether to be amazed with the omega's actions or to run away screaming. Four hours, and Kronos had tried to murder someone. "Zeke."
Kronos' furious gaze reluctantly returned to Percy. Percy raised a hand towards the omega. "You mind giving me some help here?"
The Titan frowned slightly as if just remembering that Percy was still sprawled over the kind of disgusting plastic floor, before reaching down and helping him to his feet. Percy leaned against him slightly.
The school principal frowned at the three of them. "All of you, into my office – now. And someone send the nurse down too." He looked suspiciously from Kronos and Percy to the stupid mortal, and then back to Kronos – the only uninjured one of the three.
Kronos, always going to have an issue with authority figures, shot him the darkest glower known to man.
The mortal apparently wasn't as stupid as he seemed. The entire way to the principal's office, he made sure to keep Percy between himself and the murderous omega.
When they were nearly at the principal's office, the mortal leant towards Percy slightly. "I don't want him," he whispered. "You can keep him." He hesitated briefly, giving Percy the opportunity to glance over towards Kronos, knowing that Kronos would be able to hear his words even whispered as they were. "Where the hell did you find him, Penis? He's insane."
Just his luck. In one day, he goes from the outcast to the alpha with the mentally disturbed omega.
Percy cast his eyes towards the ceiling as Kronos growled angrily. "Hell sounds about right," Percy muttered under his breath.
So I'm still figuring out the plot for this in the future... still working out chinks and the details. But I'm going to try to make it my own. Maybe draw on a few things from the actual series, but I'm doing my research. Dozens of monsters I've found out and researched, I've been pouring through all the myths and looking at those details... it should be interesting. And very plot-heavy. Actually, one thing I've found is the Moly Plant. Interesting little myth that one... ;) Then I looked into the myths of the stars (capricorn & centaurus among others ;) because, well, Krios is still out and about in this story *laughs evilly*).
ghostfall: thanks :)
ShadowsClaw: Yeah. For all his very serious flaws, I feel like Kronos honestly loves his brothers. I figure they're the only constant for him... I've tried to form bonds between them in all my stories with them in :)
That Weirdo Writer: I hope it was up to your expectations.
marinamar4: So... A/B/O... can get very very weird. In my story at least, it won't get very weird. Alphas are kind of the leaders of society/whatever, they're the 'dominant' and naturally more aggressive (that also have knots which is kinda weird, but hey) - akin to a wolf pack, they're the alpha wolves. Beta are 'normal' people who aren't alpha or omega, sort of the middle ground - your standard not-role-specific wolf in the pack. The omegas are generally naturally more submissive, though in this Kronos is more aggressive just because he's not exactly your standard omega, but they can get really aggressive when those they care for are threatened - they're your wolves which tend to stay behind and care for the young mostly, but again Kronos isn't exactly your standard for that either. Uh... alphas go into rut, and omegas into heat - which leads into the odder part of omegaverse - so omegas (even men!) can get knocked up... which is kinda weird. Nope, Kronos didn't really talk about his childhood yet, and he'll be incredibly vague about that. Iapetus and Hyperion would, but Hyperion was already dead via tree at that point, and Iapetus is already brain-washed. Yes, he will encounter Kronos later on in the fic, and yes, that will have a reaction. I think in this Kronos and Rhea truly loved each other, Kronos just valued his freedom and his ability to do what he wanted, and Rhea wanted to restrict that and try to protect him - since she was his alpha. Yes... If you really love someone, let them go. If they come back, it was meant to be. If not, they were never yours in the first place... Percy's gonna think about that phrase a lot in this fanfic. I figure it's basically the moral of this fanfic :).