The One Who is Free (Percy Jackson - Maki Zenin & SI-not-MC Chapter 2)
Ten years into this new life, and I'm not sure which of my two lives I prefer.
"RRRAAAAAAAOORRRR!" An oni rushed at me, trying to just slam me with its ugly fat body.
I dashed to the side, my polearm cutting into its side as I passed by it.
"Put your back into it, honey!" My dad shouted, as his sword slashed and burned three youkai of different variations.
Burned, because dad's sword was made of black rock, and covered in infernal flames.
With another swing he sent a wave of hellfire that erased a whole group youkai coming from the side.
I ran around the oni trying to turn back and take another run at me. Angrier now from all the cuts I inflicted on it.
In my old life, I lived in a clan that was oppressive, restrictive, old-fashioned and basically made my and my sister's life a living hell for a condition I was born with. My mother was quietly annoyed at me from not falling in line, and just taking the shit dealt to me. My father wished I was never born, and actively tried to kill me.
At the very least I had Mai, and then my friends from Jujutsu High. Also my stupid Six-Eyed asshole of a teacher. Not that the shithead managed to teach me anything. Not because he didn't care, but because for all he was a genius, he was a dumbass at teaching.
In this life however, I have monsters trying to eat me because I apparently smell hyper-delicious to them. Like, three or four times more than the average demigod of the "Big Three". This started literally hours after my "mother", handed me of to my father. I have heavy fevers every day or so, and once a month they get bad enough that I'm bedridden all day long. I didn't even start my periods yet. This shit is unfair!
My divinity burning me from the inside out from what I caught from dad's talk with Dr. Aya, she's a child of Sukunabikona.
But despite it all...
A hiss that turned into a roar came from behind me. It was a nue. The traditional one from myth, not the Ten Shadows shikigami. Head of a monkey, the limbs of a tiger, the body of a Japanese raccoon dog, and the front half of a snake for a tail.
I tried to backflip over it like I'd usually would with my old body, but it wasn't high enough. I didn't have enough starting momentum.
I really hated that this body's abilities weren't consistent. Sometimes it was just that of a ten year old. Sometimes its how I was before my Heavenly Restriction was completed. Sometimes more.
I have yet to regain the strength I once had.
And I really miss it right now.
The nue tried to jump. The oni closed in.
"Y'er goin down in ma bellye, afta I rip ya to pieces, ya little shyt!" Shouted the oni. I have no idea why they talk in an Osaka accent.
Spikes erupted from the ground, stabbing through the youkai limbs, causing them pain and forcing them in place.
My grinned. In this life, dad always had my back.
I spun my naginata, took out the surprised nue's head. Twisted to spin in the air and take out the oni's head, not throwing away this chance. Both monsters taken out.
I landed gracefully, holding my polearm over my shoulder.
I looked around to see dad had already taken out all the monster horde.
"Oi! Why don't you ever leave more for me, old man?" I called out.
A snake hiss and cry rang in my ear from behind.
Shit! I thought once the monkey head of the nue was cut all of it was dead.
I turned around only to see the snake from the nue's tail extended to reach out and bite my face. I couldn't swing my weapon. It's too long, my arms not long enough, and the angle was awkward.
I raise my arm up to take the bite—
A burly hand clamped down on the snake head, shutting it's mouth down. In one smooth motion dad, pulled the snake away in one hand and sliced it with his sword in his other hand.
"That is why I don't let you deal with more." Dad said with a sigh. Dammit, I would have noticed earlier if it was me from before.
"I swear I could have noticed it. It's just..." I didn't want to whine, but I knew what I sounded like. Why didn't I—Oh, there's the fever.
"Woah, there." Dad caught me as my knees got weak.
He quickly caught the back of my knees from under me and carried me in his arms.
"I can... walk..." I tried to argue. Dammit, I hate this part.
"Last time was 3 a.m., this is too soon." Dad frowned, worry clear in his eyes.
For someone who was the son of the god of the Greek afterlife, dad was actually pretty expressive when he wasn't trying to look scary.
"That's it, we're going to see Hayashi early this week."
Aya Hayashi, well, it should be Hayashi Aya, but dad's western so I kinda got used to this naming. He corrects it when he's talking to other people, but between us, he mentions people by their given name, so I got used to is.
Anyways, Aya Hayashi is a pediatrician. While she can treat normal kids just fine, her main specialty is with demigod kids.
A lot of the Japan youkai, when they aren't the brutish types like oni, would be sneaky about the demigods they target. Not that all youkai are bad, but the bad one are really bad. Specially the akumas. There are no good akumas.
"Do you need anything Maki-chan? We got some snacks the other day." Said Isane, the kitsune. "I can sneak some and we can eat them together." She said in a whisper like we were sharing a secret.
"Sure." I smiled and nodded. Mostly to send Isane away.
I liked Isane. Really, I did. She was my first example of not all youkai being bloodthirsty monsters.
The problem is, she's friendly with me because she wants to bone my dad. And I once heard her fantasize about playing "doctor" with him.
Shudder. I don't need that mental image in my head.
As Isane went away, likely taking her time picking up the snacks, if not losing time "sampling" them, I went to Dr. Aya's office door and leaned my ear against it.
"So there's nothing!" I heard my dad's restrained angry voice.
"Vincent, I've never seen a case where a demigod's divine side was that... overwhelming. It's like she's in a state where she keeps switching between being a demigod or a full god in a mortal body, and that's the problem, her being mortal." Dr. Aya sounded like she was going to cry if she didn't control herself. "I'm sorry. If her body isn't able to handle her power now, then... when she enters her teens, that's as far as I can give you. After that..." She trailed off, but the answer was clear.
Dad tried to have me use some of my divine gifts before. To see if using my powers would given an outlet to my excessive energy. That did not go well. It was a horrible week.
"I see." Dad's voice had no emotion this time.
"Divine food and water would help stave off symptoms, maybe another decade. I'm pretty sure you can get a regular supply from her divine parent, or that Greek organization you have in America. The mother, depending her godly domain or who she is, maybe she could—"
"The mother can't help. She's not worth contacting." Dad said definitely.
He told Dr. Aya that she's a Greek God, but didn't specify. The doctor assumed it probably someone minor.
As for me, he told me my mother was Kiku Akimura. A Japanese-American who joined the U.S. army during the second world war. I never really questioned the details of that. Or questioned how dad, well, looks as young as he does. I didn't tell him yet that I knew who my real mother was. That I remember their meeting when I was a baby.
"Alright." I heard my dad stand up. "Two years. I'll invent a solution."
"...What?" The incredulity was clear in Dr. Aya's voice.
"If her divinity is what's killing her, I'll get rid of it."
"Wait, Vincent, what do you mean?!"
I ran back to my seat, as I heard my dad leaving.
"I brought the snacks—Ah, Vincent-san! Funny to see you here. Would you like some cookies? I baked them myself!" Isane said excitedly as she stood to greet him.
I hissed in sympathy for the foxgirl. Dad was walking with that stride that said 'anything in my way, I'm walking through it'.
"..." Dad looked at Isane who flinched from her glare. It wasn't directed at her, he was just angry at my situation. He stopped, took a breath and spoke. "Thank you for your kindness, Isane, but maybe some other time."
"A-Ah, that's understandable. You're a busy man and all." Isane said shyly as she looked down blushing.
Isane, we can see your tail lazing swinging behind you. Stop that, you're not a dog.
And dad, that whole being gentle after being gruff thing is not helping! I have classmates from school that had a crush on you.
"Maki, let's go." He ordered and I following after him, after saying goodbye to Dr. Aya and Isane.
Dad and I sat in the car in silence as he drove.
The road we took to the forest were lived away from the city was quiet. Well, forest quiet at least. Could still hear the normal animals and birds. Usually it would be noisy with monster screams.
A figure, a woman appeared from behind a tree we were about to pass, her head extending as long neck shooting out all of a sudden trying to reach me.
Before her head had extended even two feet, the ground under her opened and swallowed her whole, even sucking in her neck and head like a noodle. Then the ground thumped as the rokurokubi was crushed into paste.
Dad wasn't in the mood to play around with the monsters today.
"Dad," I spoke after a while. "I heard what you and Dr. Aya said." I ripped off the band-aid. Being direct was always how I am. "Are we going to America? To that Camp Half-Blood?"
"And have the gods use you as their tool while dangling hope in front of you? Fff-Frick, no." Dad said, containing his anger.
"So, you're taking Susanoo-sama's invitation to the Rogue Youkai and Demon Hunter Association?" I asked.
That... was still a weird experience. Meeting the actual Susanoo. Its were I learned that my dad was the son of Hades, since Susanoo considered grandfather a coworker.
Susanoo had come to dad to thank him for his help in protecting the Japanese demigods and helping the supernatural community get back on its feet after WWII.
Again, how old is my dad?
"Being too indebt to the gods, those related by blood or not, friendly or not, is never a situation you want to be in." Dad shook his head. "Also, neither of those are a solution to your problem."
We reached the house without another incident.
As we got out of the car dad seems to have come to a decision.
"I'm gonna call your Uncle Yuudai. You're going to be staying with his for a while, two weeks, a month at most." Dad said.
Uncle Yuudai was a demigod of Bishamonten. Dad usually doesn't go to him unless something was serious, or he wanted to bother him.
"Where are you going?" My heart quickened.
"Just a small trip." He said with that small smile he tended to have, when he's being genuine and trying to ease my worries.
However I felt... anxious. I'm fine, I'm used to being alone, yet...
"Take me with you." I said with conviction, eyes hardened with determination.
"No, because your already gathers monster here like someone has a radio station constantly telling our location. It would be much worse in America." Dad said with an amused smile.
"You didn't have to be that blunt." I grumbled as I followed him into the house. I tried to look mean, by dad probably thought I only looked cutely pouting. I'm not.
"Besides, where I'm going I need a stealthy approach." He said and we went to make lunch, along with the cut up ambrosia cutes. I looked at the storage, they're the last ones we have.
"Can you tell me where you're going?" I tentatively asked. I can probably Isane and her friends sneak me in a plane after him. I have some shirtless pictures of dad to pay for favors.
"Ha! No." He chuckled. "You might do something dumb like follow me."
"...Okay," I tried to act glumly. New approach, get Isane and her friends to follow him.
"Also don't try to get Isane to follow me. You'll be wasting whatever favor you want to use on her."
Shit. He read my moves!
Yet, there was this intense feeling in my chest. This feeling like dad was about to do something insanely dangerous. Something... I couldn't describe it.
"If her divinity is what's killing her, I'll get rid of it."
Heavenly Restriction was her curse and her salvation in her last life. Is it going to be something similar here?
Would that be good or bad? A curse or a blessing?
"Dad..." I didn't know why I said my next words. Maybe an attempt to make him stay. Maybe trying to make him mad so he won't go through with whatever dangerous thing he was going to do. Maybe I didn't want to leave things unsaid.
"Hmm?" He looked at me as he put lunch on the table. His head tilted waiting for me to continue.
It as the first time I had a parent that looked out for me this much. A father that willingly accepted danger every single day just to raise me. And I did not want to lose that.
"Why don't we ask my mother? My real mother." I said.
"What—"
"I... know about Ath—"
"Don't say her name." Dad said with a sudden shout.
I clamped my mouth shut. I know he was not angry at me. His eyes glowing red with infernal fire wasn't directed at me, but at the mention of my biological mother.
He sat down, letting out a long sigh, as he looked at me questioningly.
"I remember." I finally said. "Back then, I remember her bringing me to you. That's how..." I trailed off. "How... how is my..." I'm not sure what to call Kiku Akimura at this point. I don't remember the conversation between dad and Athena very well, but I know mom was involved somehow in the mix. "How was I born?"
"That..." Dad looked away, resting his cheek against his hand. "You really are smart." He said it in such a way that I was not sure it was praise, even if he also sounded nostalgically happy. He let out another sigh. "When I get back, I'll tell you everything, okay?"
"That sounds like a death flag from an anime." I said back bluntly.
"Ha!" He let out that bark laugh, that seemed to shake the air, yet fill it with infectious joy. "That's for other people. I'm a Son of Hades. Come on eat up."
"...These are the last ones we have." I said about the ambrosia.
"Yuudai has some shinsen. Mooch off of him as much as you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, he owes me. A few years ago Orochi came back, he and Raika—Daughter of Susanoo—went to face it along without back-up. He called me up when the cheap ass sake that they got didn't work, so I went and saved their asses."
I blinked at that. Dad... might be stronger than I thought.
"Stop worrying about the grown up stuff and eat up."
"Yes sir!"
A month later, dad came to pick me up from Uncle Yuudai's house with a basket of golden apples.
