Author's note:
Franklen165: He is going to be half-Titan in this story since he is the vessel of Kronos and will be infused with his power. What did you mean by half-pandora though?
Ace Degenerate: Yuji did in fact pull a monster baddie. The change in appearance is due to the changing perceptions of people perceiving her. The Mist illusion she used to supplement shapeshifting caused people to see her in a form they would normally fear. Penny saw her as a strict middle-aged woman with graying hair. Yuji saw her as an attractive woman in her late twenties, early thirties. The reason he default fears this category of women will be expanded upon in this chapter and later ones.
To the guest reviewers who insulted the story based on the kissing scene: That was a PG-13 level scene. It literally all happened over the clothes and there wasn't any actual sex of any kind. Cool it with the outrage.
An additional thanks to Pedro Alonso Buby Huayanay Zam, Devon18, and TwinstarDragon for their reviews as well.
--
Chapter 2: Bessie Takes A Beating
Penny and I wait on the steps of the museum as paramedics finish looking over the other kids that were in the exhibit when it was attacked. I try and ignore the memories of the creatures and whatever took over my body and try to focus on comforting Penny. She was still shaking after everything that happened. I just rub my hand on her back as I hug her tightly as she grips on to me.
I notice Ms. Dodds glancing in our direction a few times, but she always looked away with a faint blush whenever she saw me noticing her gaze. Mr. Brunner rolled over to talk to us after discussing with the other teachers and the police officers who where present.
"Mr. Itadori, would it be possible for you to take Ms Jackson home for the summer a little early?" he asks me. "After the accident, I was able to reach the principal of Yancy. He agreed to end the semester early in light of the incident and allow parents and relatives to pick up their children. Since you are already here, I felt it would be pointless to take Ms. Jackson back to Yancy only for her to be picked up tomorrow."
"Sounds great, teach," I say. "I can handle getting Penny back to the apartment."
"Alright," Mr. Brunner says before addressing Penny. "It was a pleasure to teach you this year, Ms. Jackson. As a parting gift, I give you my lucky pen."
Penny reaches out and takes the offered ballpoint pen from Mr. Brunner. "What so special about a pen?" she asks.
The question just makes Mr. Brunner smile. "Haven't you heard?" he asks. "They say the pen is mightier than the sword."
With those parting words, he rolls himself back over to the other students where he begins talking to Penny's friend, Grover.
"You ready to go, Penny?" I ask her. She just nods before gripping onto me tighter. I just smile and tighten my hood on her as I carry her over to where I parked my car as she clings to me like a koala.
--
I walk into our apartment building with Penny riding on my back and both of my hands filled with grocery bags carrying ice cream. Penny convinced me on the drive back that she would recover from the trauma induced by the museum attack better if she had ice cream to help comfort her. I tried to hold firm, but she used her puppy dog eyes while calling me "Big Bro" and I folded like a house of cards in a hurricane.
Ah, emotional manipulation. They grow up so fast.
As I was passing through the lobby, I see the landlord, Gabe Ugliano, giving me and Penny a dirty look. When he realizes that he caught my attention, he immediately rushes out of the lobby to avoid me.
"Has he been bothering you or Sally when I'm not around?" I ask Penny.
She just giggles while playing with my hair. "No," she replies. "He always stays far away from us. He hasn't tried anything since we moved in."
The slob had tried to make advances on Sally when we had first started living in the building. I got the vibe he had luck in the past pressuring girls who couldn't afford to pay rent. Thankfully, a quick chat with me and a couple of my work buddies helped straighten him out.
"Great," I say with a smile. "Now, which do you want to have first, Rocky Road or Neapolitan? There is a correct answer."
"Hmmph," Penny says, stroking her chin in thought before a grin spreads across her face. "All of them!"
"Correct!" I respond. "Now, let's get going before it melts."
I manage to shuffle the bags into my left hand before freeing my keys from my pocket and unlocking the front door. The smile on my face fades away as the color drains even faster. In front of me was the single most terrifying thing I may have ever witnessed. More than a rabid dog that once tried to tear me to pieces. More almost getting hit by a car once because I wasn't paying attention when crossing the street. Hell, it was more terrifying than the monsters who almost killed Penny.
Standing in the middle of the living room and watching us enter was Penny's mom, Sally Jackson. She currently was dressed in her casual attire of a dark blue sweater, jeans, and tennis shoes. However, what truly chilled the blood in my veins and sent shivers through the depths of my soul was the expression she had on her face.
A shortsighted fool who had never met her might have called it a smile. I knew better. Mechanically, it might appear similar but they were as different as night and day. Her smile could ease the heart and warm a room. The sinister arrangement of facial features she was currently using seemed inhuman. It was as though she had ceased to be a normal single mother and became the embodiment of death and despair. To look upon her was to know the touch of entropy upon your very spirit as you accepted your continued existence was upon the slightest whim of this hellish being. There was no emotion conveyed upon her face as she gazed in our direction. Her soft brown eyes were now pits of darkness that held no mercy or mortal compassion. Her lips were stretched over teeth which seemed to be bared into a ferocious approximation of a smile. I wasn't fooled. This was not Sally Jackson. It was a demon come to reap our souls and consign us to the darkest depths of the abyss where we would languish for an eternity of suffering.
"Whose idea was it to stop for ice cream on the way home?" the eldritch horror asked us in a voice which might have been sweet, but carried the whisper of damnation. "You know, after leaving a terrorist attack and apparently losing your phones."
I immediately forego any sort of brotherly duty and immediately point up to Penny.
"Mom!" Penny calls out. "Why don't we stop the hunt for the culprit?"
Sally immediately pulls her daughter off of my back, into a headlock, and starts drilling her fist into the girl's head. "It was you!" she says.
"If you had enough brain cells to want ice cream, then you had enough to remember to call!" Sally shouts as she grinds her fist into her daughter's skull. "I think you could stand to lose a few!"
"No!" Penny exclaims from her place in Sally's grip. "I need those to enjoy my ice cream! Yuji, help!"
The girl turns to find a Yuji-shaped outline in the air as her brother was nowhere to be found. Her gaze darts to the side when she hears the clatter of silverware and sees me eating from one of the ice cream cartons that we had just purchased. A look of betrayal crosses her face as she watches me eat another delicious spoonful while I enjoy the amusing display of violent affection.
"What about Yuji?" Penny asks which makes both her mom pause in her attack and me pause mid-bite. "He didn't call you either. Didn't you trust him to be the responsible adult?"
My eyes lock with Sally's as we both stare at each other while processing that statement. I immediately bolt upon seeing her drop her daughter and rush towards me.
--
"So, did the two of you learn your lesson?" Sally asks us, looking down on us. Penny and I sit on the couch and rub the bumps on our heads from where she used her fist to get her point across.
"Yes, Sally," I mutter, looking away from the mom who just smacked me upside the head.
"Yes, Mom," Penny replies, her cheeks puffed out in a pout since she hadn't gotten to eat her ice cream yet.
In a flash, she pulls both of us into a hug as she immediately replaces all of her anger with concern. "Are the two of you alright?" she asks before she focuses on Penny and looks her over. "Did you get hurt anywhere?"
"The paramedics were worried about Penny having a head injury at first," I tell Sally, my voice grave and solemn. "They did their best, but they couldn't fix stupid."
Sally tries to keep a straight face but her snickers overwhelmed her to the point where she bursts out laughing. The thing that broke her restraint was seeing the confusion on Penny's face turn into outrage as her ice cream obsessed brain finally connected the dots.
Sally finally calms down after she finishes assuring herself of Penny's health. I was able to tell her about what happened, minus the whole eating a finger and obliterating fantasy creatures, and she seemed to take it as well as could be expected.
When I asked her why she wasn't as worried about me being hurt, she just turned to me with a complete deadpan and said, "You are an adult. If you are hurt, just go to the hospital and pay it yourself."
I spent the next couple of minutes moping in the corner as Penny laughed at my depression. Once I worked my way through the trauma of being disregarded so completely, I decide to pull out my surprise.
"I know what can cheer us all up now that Penny is home for the summer early," I say with a grin. "I called my boss and got some extra time off due to the attack and everything. Since she gave me a week-long leave from work, that means we can do something special."
Penny scrunched her face up in concentration before gaping in surprise as she guessed what I had arranged. "You got the cabin!" she squeals as she immediately jumped up and started hugging my head. The surprise blinding I received from the emotional eleven-year old sent me stumbling around as I tried to regain my balance while avoiding any of the furniture. In the end, I only stubbed my toes twice and kneed a single coffee table before I successfully pried her off of my face. I was worried I was going to be smothered there for a second. How does such a tiny body have such monstrous grip strength?
"You rented out the Montauk cabin?" Sally asks in surprise. "They are usually booked up, even this early in the season."
"It's going to be stormy for part of the week so the people who originally rented let me take their spot," I admit. It also helps that I paid them a ransom-worth of money to give up the time slot. Heh heh, disposable income for the win. Living with Sally and Penny instead of getting my own place has helped me build up quite the nest egg for times like this.
"That's awesome!" Penny shouts before racing off to her room. "I'll pack really quick so we can leave right now!"
Sally just rolls her eyes at her daughter's antics before turning back to me. "Thanks, Yuji," she tells me. "This means a lot."
"No problem, Sally," I say, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "I am always happy to do stuff for you and Penny."
She just smiles and gives me a hug before kissing me on the cheek. My brain promptly turns off as a blush spreads over my face. Sally just giggles at my expression before going to pack her own bags. By the time I finally rebooted, we were ready to get our vacation started.
--
The rain had started soon after we arrived at the cabin and unpacked our bags. Sally tossed a quick meal together from the supply of Chef Boyardee and canned soup we had brought along. As we ate, Penny told Sally about the cool stuff that we had seen at the museum before everything happened.
"Then we had lunch and Yuji went off to make out with my Algebra teacher," she says in the same tone of voice that someone uses to discuss the weather or traffic.
I immediately choke on the ravioli I was eating as Sally's gaze immediately locks on me. I barely manage to dislodge the wad of Italian food from my esophagus when Sally asks, "Oh, really? That's what he was doing instead of spending time with his little sister who he hadn't seen in months?"
"We were just talking," I say, holding my hands in innocence. "She wanted to talk about Penny. I got the feeling Penny wasn't her favorite student."
"At first, maybe," Penny says, stoking the fire with gasoline. "Don't forget the part where you were tasting each other's tonsils while the hag was rubbing herself all over you."
My eyes meet Penny's with a look of disbelief. Was this little perv watching us?!
The only reply to my conveyed question was a look that roughly translated to, 'That's for the ice cream.'
"Wait, hag?" I ask. "Do you seriously think your mom is that old? Ms. Dodds is practically the same age as her."
"What are you talking about?" Penny replies in confusion. "She's way older than mom. She's like, fifty!"
"She might have been barely thirty," I say in disbelief. "How on earth are you this bad at guessing the age of a woman who taught you for months?"
"She had grey hair!" Penny insists. "Like, a lot of it!"
"I am worried about you being color blind now," I tell her. "But the important thing is, we will always love you. I mean, did you think we would judge you when you bring your girlfriend home to show your mom?"
"Girlfriend?" Sally asks before her head snaps to face Penny so fast that I am legitimately shocked her vertebrae didn't shatter from the whiplash.
Penny immediately spits out the sip of water she was trying to drink before attempting to distract Sally from targeting her with her motherly instincts. Penny's eyes dart to me in betrayal only to see me shrug from behind Sally. 'What can you do?' I mouth to her before I sit back and enjoy the show as Sally pries Penny for every detail about the potential romance with Nancy. They aren't even twelve but I know Sally well enough to know that she is already planning a wedding.
I just watch and try to stifle a snicker as Penny gets her well deserved payback for trying to utilize a WMD, a Weapon of Motherly Destruction, on me over ice cream. She knows the rule for acceptable WMD use in desert vengeance is limited to baked goods up to, and including, brownies, pies, cakes, and cupcakes. She shouldn't have broken the Ice Cream Accord signed after the Rocky Road Retaliation of '21. Too many good frozen treats were lost that day to ignore their sacrifice on the road to a better tomorrow.
--
I wake up to the crack of thunder as the storm raged outside. The heavy rain formed a steady patter as it poured down onto the roof and windows. I look down at the sleeping face of Penny snuggled into my chest as I sit on the living room couch in the cabin. Sally had her head lying on my shoulder as she was out like a light as well.
Gently moving to avoid waking them up, I prop Sally up on the couch as I carry Penny to one of the bedrooms. I just slip her under the covers as I prevent her hands from clinging to me in her sleep. I go back for Sally and carry her over to the same bed so the mother and daughter automatically snuggle up together.
I smile to myself as I take a seat in one of the chairs in the bedroom and I watch them for a moment. The peaceful smiles on their faces made me a little nostalgic. I wonder if I was ever that relaxed as a kid?
My eyelids sink as I watch over them, my body putting itself to sleep after the long day. The rhythmic drumming of the rain drops only seemed to ease me further into unconsciousness with each passing moment. The only thing that broke the calm was the sound of someone pounding on the front door.
It was distant enough to not wake up Penny or Sally, but it immediately sent me on edge. No one should know where we are right now. I used a false name when renting the cabin and the only person besides my family who knew the location was the boss. Since I know she wouldn't tell anyone without giving me a call first, this alerts me to how potentially dangerous it was.
I creep through the cabin as I make my way back to the living room where we had dropped the luggage. I watch the front door for any signs of someone trying to break it down, but it is just vibrating from the force of the knocking. I pull the zipper on my backpack slowly to eliminate any sound before I reach inside and pull out my 9-millimeter pistol. I gently pull back on the slide to ensure one is chambered before I switch off the safety.
I move backwards towards the glass door of the cabin leading out to the beach. I ease it open after looking around to check for anyone else. The rain begins to pout in from the newly made gap, but I just ignore it as I make my way outside. The wind batters me with stinging drops of rain as the storm continues to pour down on me. The cold water was soaking through my clothes, but I don't pay attention to such a minor inconvenience.
Each step carried me around the house and towards the front. I keep an eye out, but there doesn't appear to be anyone else around. At least, any that I can see through this storm. My movements were muffled by the pouring rain and the booming thunder, so I would be catching the intruder by surprise.
I see them as I round the corner. They were still at the front door and pounding on it hard enough to hear over the storm. I make a wide loop around to them so I could come up behind them and retain the element of surprise. As I stalk forward, my finger inches down from the trigger guard to rest on the trigger itself.
I close in on them in a moment before I spin them around, pin them against the door, and place my gun against the underside of their chin. It is only then do I recognize the terror-filled eyes of Penny's friend fro school. Groaner, or something like that. Growler? No, it was Grover.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, my voice hard as steel as I look into the kid's eyes. I don't care if he is Penny's age or not. I need to figure out how much of a threat he is.
He stammers over his words in fear before he feels my grip tighten and the barrel of the gun press a little harder. "I'll ask again," I tell him. "There won't be a third time. What are you doing here?"
He finally seems to regain the ability to speak as he stumbles over his words in the hopes of placating me. "Camp sent me!" he shouts. "Sally told Chiron who told me that you guys were here! Please don't shoot!"
"What camp?" I ask as I keep my grip on him.
"Camp Halfblood!" Grover squeaks, his voice becoming more hysterical. "The one Sally told you guys about!"
"Sally didn't say anything about a camp," I inform him. "So, you better tell me something else and I would advise you choose carefully."
"Penny's dad!" Grover shouts. "Penny's dad is one of the sponsors of the camp! Sally agreed to have Penny attend so she can learn about him! Ask her yourself!"
"I will," I say before I pull the gun from his chin. Grover takes a deep breath in relief only for his eyes to go wide as the butt of my gun finds its way to his head. He drops like a sack of rocks once he falls unconscious. I scoop him up and toss him over my shoulder as I make my way back to the glass door. I glance around once more to check for anyone else before I go back inside with our new guest.
--
"Yuji, what is that?" Sally asks as she rubs her eyes in exasperation.
"A smoothie?" I reply as I glance down at the bottle I am drinking. "You bought some of these at the store last week."
"Not that," she says as she sighs. "The eleven year old you have gagged and zip tied to a chair behind you."
"Oh, that," I say as I turn and look at Grover sitting in a wooden chair with his arms and legs bound to the chair with plastic zip ties. There was a bundled up sock in his mouth as a gag while a bruise has already formed on his forehead from when I knocked him out. "He showed up while you guys were asleep. I didn't want to wake you both up."
"So your first thought was to knock him out and tie him to a chair?" Sally asks.
"No," I say. Sally lets out a breath of relief only for me to finish the thought. "My first thought was to shoot him."
I see her annoyed gaze land on me so I try to explain. "I stopped when I realized it was a kid. What did you expect my first reaction to be? No one is supposed to really know we are out here. For all I knew it was some criminals who attack unsuspecting tourists."
"You saw a short person at the door and your gut instinct is dwarf criminals?" Sally says, looking at me with a deadpan expression.
I try and look anywhere but in her direction. "Maybe," I say.
"Jesus Christ," Sally says. "I can't seem to decide which of you is more insane, you or Penny."
Penny appears right on cue, shambling into the room while blinking sleep out of her eyes. She passes right by the unconscious Grover and grabs a pack of chips from the kitchen. On her way back to the bedroom, she pats her bound classmate on the head while saying, "Good Grover." This is the last thing she does before shuffling back to bed with her snack.
I just gesture at the retreating firm of my little sister. "Okay, it's definitely Penny," Sally admits. "Please wake up Grover already."
"Got it," I say with a nod. I grab a prepared glass of ice water I had set off the side and immediately dump it into his face. He wakes up with a startled shout that's muffled through his sock gag. I turn to Sally with a thumbs up only to wither as her glare lands on me. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"Can you let him go too?" Sally asks with a hard look at me.
I promptly remove the boy's gag and cut the zip ties with a small pocket knife. He immediately rushes over to hide behind Sally while peeking out in fear at me.
"Are you okay, Grover?" Sally asks the kid as she checks that he isn't too injured. "How did you get this bruise on your head?"
Grover's eyes dart to me as I shake my head and make a cutting motion at my neck. He seems to get the meaning when he says, "I tripped when Yuji surprised me. Must have hit my head pretty hard."
Sally looks back at me trying to appear as innocent as possible before she just rolls her eyes. "I'm just going to try and take that at face value," she says. "What are you even doing here? I was going to reach out to camp after we got back to New York."
"Chiron said it is too urgent to wait," Grover says. "Penny needs to get to camp right now. They are already on the way."
"What's on the way?" I say, butting into the conversation. "What's after Penny?"
Grover seems to hesitate and look at Sally. She nods in silent confirmation before he finally says, "Monsters. The bad guys from the Greek myths are real and they are coming to get Penny."
I remember back to something I vaguely recall that guy saying when he was in control of my body. "Is it because she is the daughter of Poseidon?" I ask.
Sally and Grover's jaws drop at my casual question. "How on earth did you know that?" Sally replies.
"There were some monsters at the museum, but I ate a finger and this finger guy pulverized them," I explain. "But its cool. The weird guy kind of disappeared after a minute."
"I have so many questions," Sally says. "However, that it going to have to wait until we get out of here. Leave everything we won't need tonight. It will only waste time. We have to get to Camp Halfblood as soon as possible."
--
We are driving through Long Island as the rain continues to beat down on the roof of my car. The windshield wipers were going at max speed, but it was barely keeping the glass clear enough to see through. We hadn't passed anyone else for a while as most people seemed to know better than to try and drive in this weather. On the other hand, here I was breaking the speed limit down a country road while keeping us a hair's breadth from going off the road at any given moment. Wet roads are no joke.
"What's so special about this camp?" I ask Sally as she sits in the backseat with Penny. Grover was riding shotgun and giving me directions since there weren't any signs to this camp. "Why is Penny safer there instead of anywhere else."
"There's a barrier around camp," Grover answers instead. "It protects the camp and keeps out hostile monsters."
"So all we need to do is get inside the barrier before the bad guys show up?" I ask.
"Pretty much," Grover admits. "But getting all the way before they catch up is always the hardest part."
A bellow rings out through the air. I almost mistook it for thunder, but I could tell from the sound that it came from something alive.
"How close are we?" I glance around in the rear view mirror to see if anything is following us, but this road doesn't have any streetlights and the rain ruins any remaining visibility. They could be right behind us and I wouldn't be able to tell.
"A couple of miles, I think?" Grover says. "The road winds a bit so it's somewhere around that far, but we should be there in a few minutes."
Another echoing roar cut through the booming thunder and pouring rain to reach us as I navigated another turn. "What is that?" I ask Grover. "It's getting closer."
"It's the heavy hitter after Penny," Grover explains. "Sure, there are hellhounds, cyclops, and others, but they are slower and they don't hold a candle to him."
"Who is it?" I pressure as I spare a quick glance at the frightened expression on the boy's face.
"The Minotaur," he says, practically forcing himself to say the words. "The son of a bull created by Poseidon and the queen of Crete, Pasiphae. He was the monster at the center of the Labyrinth created by Daedalus. Yearly tributes from neighboring towns were fed to him as he forged himself on blood and stewed in hate. From what I remember, he is one of main hunters Hades uses when he wants to be sure a demigod dies."
"Why does Hades want to kill Penny?" I ask as I struggle to keep us from sliding off of the asphalt from a particularly harsh turn. "Isn't she his niece or something?"
"Because she shouldn't exist," Grover tells me. "The three brothers made a pact after World War II to stop having mortal children. They were always unbalancing the world when the grudges kept shifting around. So, they swore to no longer sire demigods. However, Zeus took issue with Hades having children who hadn't died out yet. All the other children of the Big Three had perished in the war on both sides, so he felt it was only right for him to clear the board. After he struck down the demigods, Hades swore vengeance against the other two for the deaths of his children due to the pact. Any time Poseidon or Zeus breaks the deal and has a kid with a human, Hades does everything in his power to ensure they don't survive."
"He is willing to kill a random kid after all of this time?" I reply.
"Of course," Grover explains. "You don't understand how the gods think. They are immortal beings. They don't care about years or decades. A century is meaningless to them. They don't forget and they never forgive. The only reason that more wars do not break out is because they balance out their grudges through their children. Hades doesn't want to fight his brothers himself, so he sends out monsters to even the score."
"How many times has it happened?" I ask. "There can't have been many if they were trying to avoid conflicts."
"Penny is the only child of Poseidon since the war," Grover replies. "There was a daughter of Zeus a few years ago, but Hades wasn't taking any chances. She was with a group of demigods and a satyr guide when they were attacked. They were almost to camp, but there was no way that they would make it while the monsters were chasing them down. So, she held off the monsters while the others made it to camp. She knew they were after her, so she was the only person who could do it."
"What was her name?" I got the feeling that Grover wasn't telling the whole story. Most people can only care so much about the death of someone you have never met. I have seen the same look in his eyes when some of my coworkers talked about buddies that passed away. It was almost like they wished they could have died instead.
"It was Thalia," he whispers.
I was about to say something more when I catch a flash of movement in the rear view mirror only for something to crash into the back of the car and send it flying through the air. It crashes back to the ground in a squeal of crushing metal as it tumbles end over end. Glass sprays into the car as the windows shatter from the impacts. We break through the guard rail on the side of the road before we continue rolling into the woods bordering the road.
My vision is blurry as I get my bearings after the car finally stops moving. Luckily, it landed wheels down so it was easy to rip off my seat belt and kick the crumpled door off of the car once my head stopped ringing. I drag Grover out as well before I yank one of the back doors open to retrieve Sally and Penny.
Sally was relatively okay so she waves me off so I can check on Penny and Grover. The two of them were not too injured due to the seatbelts holding them in place, but they got smacked around by the crash.
"Are you guys good?" I ask them as I try to get them to focus on me.
"Yeah," Penny says. "My head is just fuzzy right now."
"Shit, that's probably a concussion," I say. "Grover, how do we get to camp from here?"
"It's right over that hill," he says, pointing towards a hill that stands above the tree line. A flash of lighting illuminated its shape and the lone tree standing at its top. I ignore the worried feeling in my chest as I realize that Grover's words were getting slurred. He probably has a concussion too.
"Okay, here's the game plan," I say. "You guys get to camp. You call in the cavalry while I hold it off."
I can tell by the look in Grover's eyes that he had once heard the exact same thing. I just give him a comforting smile before resting my hand on his shoulder. "Protect my little sister," I tell him. "Nothing else matters. Keep Penny safe."
The boy gets choked up for a second before he nods his head. I can tell that he had steeled his nerves enough to follow through with my request. I was about to turn back towards Sally when Penny grabs the sleeve of my jacket and stops me.
"Take this," she says, forcing something into my hand. "It'll help."
I look down to see the pen Mr. Brunner had given her at the museum. "Got it, midget," I say ruffling her wet hair with a grin. "I'll give it back when I see you at camp."
She nods before her and Grover make their way up the hill. Once I was sure they were okay, I begin to turn towards the car when I see something massive hurtling towards me from my peripherals. I raise my arms to block, but the blow overpowers my defense and sends me flying. I crash into the ground and roll to a stop before I look up to see a massive figure illuminated by the headlights from my totaled car.
My eyes worked up from its cloven hooves to the stained underwear and muscled form until I reached the massive bovine head coated in black fur with crimson eyes. I watch as it picks up Sally from where she lay next to the car. I tried to move, but my body felt like it was made of lead. She struggled in its grasp, her legs kicking as her fists futilely struck at its forearm. Her eyes darted to me at the last moment and I saw her mouth something. Even through the rain, I could make out what she said. 'Go.'
Then, the moment was over and the Minotaur squeezed. Sally Jackson, one of the few people I could call family in this world, burst into golden light as the monster ended her life. As I stared at the beast that had killed her, I felt a burning hate that seared through every fiber of my being.
Give me control.
The voice from the museum whispered into my head. I could barely hear it over the screams of rage playing in my mind.
I protected your sister. Let me avenge her mother for you. You have the power to do it.
I almost agreed with the voice. I wanted to kill it more than anything. However, he messed up in one way.I wanted to kill it. I didn't care if it was murdered by the voice a hundred times. I wanted to be the one to repay it for the woman it just murdered.
I forced my body to move as I dug my fists into the wet ground and push myself to my feet. As I stood on my shaky legs, I felt something in my hand besides dirt. I glance down to see the pen Penny had given me before she left. The pouring rain slowly cleaned off the mud until it was clean once more in my hand.
Mr. Brunner's words echoed in my mind. "They say the pen is mightier than the sword."
Another voice seemed to whisper into my thoughts as well. However, it was different from the harsh one I had first met in the museum or the kind tone of Mr. Brunner. It seemed to surge with rage and power that mirrored my own.
Draw the blade. Slay the beast that dared to steal Sally away.
Without a thought, I flicked the cap of the pen off and watched as it extended and changed until I was holding the leather grip of a sword. The bronze blade gleamed in the light as I saw the symbol of a trident etched into the metal of the weapon. Rain landed on the sword only for the water to trickle down the length of it as my eyes caught sight of the deadly edge it possessed.
A snort brought me back to reality. The Minotaur still stood where it had killed Sally as it turned to focus its crimson gaze on me. The eyes seemed to contain a savage gleam as I understood this was a monster whose only purpose on this world was to cause suffering. It didn't deserve any sympathy for the end it was about to receive.
It ran towards me with a roar. Within the first few steps, it dropped down to all fours as it rushed towards me with a thundering charge which seemed to match the electrical blasts overhead. I shouted my own challenge as I bolted forward as well. All of the pain from my injuries faded under the anger and adrenaline as I sought to end this creature's existence.
As it closed the distance, it tried swing its head up and gore me with its obsidian horns. I had already begun to sidestep the attack as I used both hands to swing the sword in a slash on the monster. The blade sliced through the flesh of its snout before carving through one of its eyes, its left horn, and a long bloody line down the side of its body.
It bellowed in pain and anger at the attack, but it learned its lesson from the injury. Instead of relying on pure power, it began to keep distance between us as lashed out with its fists and anything it could get its hands on. I dodge one blow and give a cut to the attacking arm only to dive out of the way of a wave of mud it threw up with the other hand.
I see the wounds I make on its body slowly healing as time goes on. The cut along its side had sealed close while I could see the blood already stop flowing from the gash on its arm. His left eye was already gazing at me hatefully once it regrew and returned the monster's complete sight. The ways to defeat it are probably to outlast its healing or kill it in a single blow. From how fast I feel my body slowing down, I know my only option is to deal a fatal blow before it can regenerate.
My thoughts were cut short when the cow-man backhanded a tree near its base and shattered it in half. It grabbed the upper section by the trunk and threw it at me. I jump onto the flying tree only spring off of it to try to close the distance and slash through its thick neck. My sword dug deep into its flesh, cleaving through its hide and muscle until it reached the spine. However, the weakening force of my swing was unable to sever the bones of its spine as the blade became lodged partway through.
The Minotaur used this opportunity to grab me by the chest and slam me down into the muddy ground. I could feel the blow crush my rib cage, no doubt shattering multiple bones. I cough up a wad of blood as I can tell that I have lost my chance to finish this. The sword was lodged into its spine and I doubt I had enough energy to pry it out while the monster tried to kill me. Even now, I don't think I have the power to get up.
My head drops down to the side and my eyes land on an object laying beside me. I mistook it as a chunk of wood for a moment before an arc of lightning illuminated the sky. The light from the heavens revealed the glossy black surface of the severed Minotaur horn.
"Did you know how the Minotaur died, Yuji?" Penny asks me as we look at a drawing in the exhibit.
"I bet he ate too much and he exploded," I say, my guess prompting a giggle from the girl.
"Nope!" she said. "Theseus was able to cut off one of its horns during his fight with the Minotaur. When he lost his sword, he was able to distract it and stab it in the heart with its own heart."
"How did he distract it?" I ask. "Sing 'Old McDonald had a Farm'?"
"No, silly," she say with another laugh. "He said the Minotaur's name. After all, it used to have one too. All babies do."
"What was his name?" I inquire. None of the stories I had ever heard had mentioned him having any name more than the Minotaur.
"Asterion," Penny says. "Naming him was one of the last loving acts his mother gave him before the madness Poseidon inflicted on her ended. It's kind of sad. The only reason he turned out the way he did was because of a god getting angry at a king. I wonder if he could have turned out different if he had someone who had loved him. It must have been hard not having a mom."
"Maybe," I admit. "But don't be too sad. Hopefully, Theseus did him a favor. This way he wouldn't be trapped in his sad life."
"You are right," Penny says. "I shouldn't get too sad over a story. Still, if anything, I am just sad for who he used to be, not who he ended up being. The baby was the real victim."
"Probably," I say. "Now, let's stop moping and check out some more stuff."
"Got it!" Penny shouts. "I can show you so much cool Greek stuff!"
I just gave a glance back at the drawing and wondered if a monster like the Minotaur could have lived a different life.
I look up and see the Minotaur pulling back its arms to prepare to slam them down into my defenseless body. Using the only card I have left, I call out, "Asterion!"
The bull man pauses as the constant anger in its red eyes seemed to dim as confusion seemed to replace it. It was like he was trying to remember something important when he didn't remember forgetting.
In the brief moment I had, I reached out and grabbed the smooth black horn lying on the ground before driving it up into the monster's heart. The point of the horn pierced through the skin and tissues between it and its target before coming to a stop deep in its chest. The monster gave a weak moo of pain and surprise before it begins to fall forward.
As it gets closer to falling on me, the handle of the sword comes into reach. Using the force of its falling weight to help fuel the cut, I wrench the sword through its neck with every ounce of power I still have in my body. With a shout of exertion, the blade severed the bull's neck clean through its spine as a spray of red blood flies into the air to mix with the rain. Its head began to flip as it is no longer connected to its body and tumble away.
The main body collapses down towards me, but I used up the last of my strength for the final attack. I just lay on the muddy ground as it comes close to crushing me more dissolving into golden dust at the last second. The dust quickly gets washed away by the rain so that it mixes with the mud and disappears.
As the adrenaline fueling my body fades away, I feel my consciousness slipping as well. I don't fight it as my world turns to black. I did everything I set out to do. I protected Penny. I got revenge for Sally. My eyes just watch the lightning across the clouds as rain patters down on my face until darkness is all I can see. Then, I fade into the realm of dreams.
--
Author's note:
There we go! I was trying to get a lot done in this chapter, so I hope you guys enjoyed it. It was fun exploring this idea more after a while because I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted to add in. My favorite thing was trying to write Penny. I hope you enjoy how I chose to write her.
Anyway, please drop a review to let me know what you think. They always help to keep up my motivation and fuel my writing speed. I always try to take them to heart when writing my stories.
If you like where I'm going with the story, favorite and follow to keep up to date with any new chapters or revisions.
A pleasure as always,
Titan900
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