"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."
- Theodore Roosevelt
Who Is Not Without Sin
25 August 2010, Thalia's Pine Tree, Long Island Sound, New York, USA
7 Days And 9 Hours Since Percy's Death
THALIA HATED RAINSTORMS
Her father would probably smack her upside the head with a bolt for such a blasphemous thought, but she couldn't help it. For as long as she could remember she'd always hated the sight and the aftermath of rain.
It got her clothes all weird and icky. It messed up her hair dye and mascara. It reminded her of the days she'd spent in the freezing cold on the run from monsters with Annabeth and Luke when they couldn't afford to put up a fire.
It reminded Thalia of her mother.
Of Beryl fucking Grace. Serial alcoholic, liar and child abuser.
The rain always served to remind Thalia of all the lies her mother used to tell her, and continued to tell Jason before the crone gave him away to the literal wolves like a sacrificial lamb.
"Never be afraid of thunder, Thalia, it's only your father telling you he loves you." She'd say in the few moments she wasn't wasted out of her mind on cheap booze.
Her mother was an asshole.
She was a monster, an entitled bully, and more importantly a liar.
Every word that came out of the woman's fucking mouth was a lie and a disaster waiting to happen, with the rain often being the most ill omen.
Which was why when that sudden freak storm damn near flooded the entirety of the East Coast on the 18th she'd had the Hunters rushing to Camp Half-Blood on the double, traveling and killing monsters so fast they'd lost track of a couple of hunting wolves somewhere back in Nebraska.
And wouldn't you know it? She'd fucking called it.
Thalia glared at the hollow, rain-battered shell of Camp Half-Blood from a branch on her pine, a scowl on her face as she watched the curse of Gaia continue to eat at what had been her home despite the little time she'd spent in it. The strawberry fields had long since become a dreary, gray smudge in a sea of poisonous-yellow grass, the glimmering canoe lake continued to lose more and more of it's magical luster as the days went by, with the nymphs and naiads taking refuge in the Demeter and Dionysus cabins for a slower but less painful death, rather than deal with the pollution to their source of life.
Campers continued to suffer on hospital beds from injuries and infections even the oldest Hunters couldn't make heads or tails about, and that had been before the curse started going 'fuck it' and snuffing out the breaths from those far too weak to live on. And like it wasn't bad enough, Thalia couldn't even assign the focus of the Hunters on healing or foraging for food with the camp's wards fracturing in multiple areas around the perimeter, sometimes going out fully at odd hours of the day as early as 3am in the morning.
The threat of a stray monster creeping into the camp when they weren't aware had never been higher, and by Jove were the slimy little fuckers trying. Their subsequent defeats in both the Titan and Giant wars had the bastards frothing at the mouth for a taste of retribution, everything from packs of hellhounds to wild, horned centaurs had met their ends to Thalia's spear or the weapons of campers and hunters, yet they didn't seem to get the message.
The worst of it however, by far went to the dryads of the forest. The nature spirits having long since gone catatonic in their trees as the curse seemed to leech more and more energy from them and Thalia's own pine tree to keep itself going.
If not for the Golden Fleece...Thalia didn't even want to imagine it.
She'd been told to expect the worst by Chiron and Nico, but this?
This wasn't a curse, it was a plague with a scavenging fucking conscience.
Camp Half-Blood had never been weaker. Their best warriors were either missing or retired, the Romans and the gods were all acting like idiots, their funds and supplies continued to plummet by the hour, and their main source of protection was on the fritz.
Oh, but wait! There was so much more!
Over on the horizon, right above the wasteland of Earth's Lament, Thalia could make out the sleeping face of a matronly woman with her eyes scrunched tight in the acid-green clouds. Gaia – or a portion of the bitch – was still alive and kicking somewhere out there, using the lifeforce of the camp as a battery for herself with no definite end to her hunger.
The smell of ozone grew suffocating and the air around her grew charged as she tried to take in a few deep breaths, it was all she could do not to set the camp's forests on fire with lightning. The very thought of the fallen goddess was enough to get her blood boiling in fury. It wasn't enough her inbred son had massacred the Hunters and Amazons, the blood of the Roman and Greek demigods on her hands hadn't been enough to satisfy her vengeance, but the stupid hag couldn't do them all a favor and just die?
Thalia let out a sigh as she spied one of her hunters cresting the hill, the silver hunting jacket of Iphigenia shimmered in the rain like a retro CD as she waved for her, "Lieutenant! Your presence is requested."
"Fuck off Iphi. I'm in no mood for their bullshit today."
Her response was rude as all get-out, but Thalia's sisters had been around her and all her crass mannerisms long enough to know how to filter and expand on her thoughts and feelings better than she ever could, Iphi being the most adept at it on account of her maturity and twisted history with her father, Agamemnon.
The aged huntress raised a questioning golden brow and let Thalia stew in the silence for a bit before the daughter of Zeus let out a growl and dropped down from her perch, drawing her hood up, she and her sister made for the Big House in a huff, a migraine forming as she dreaded the expected influx of childish insults and finger-pointing from the head counselors of the camp.
"When I put you and Phoebe in charge, I was hoping I wouldn't have to stop myself from strangling those idiots half an hour later." Thalia continued, her scowl deepening for a bit as she passed the gold and ivory statue of the Athena Parthenos.
Iphi let out an amused snort, "You mean you were hoping Phoebe would do the strangling for you?" The huntress shook her head at Thalia's muttered That too, "They are young, inexperienced and scared Thalia, their whole world is falling apart. You can't expect them to act rationally with all that is happening."
"They're supposed to be in charge of this camp Iphi!" Thalia cried as she came to a stop on the deck of the Big House, "They've all fought in the wars. They all knew what they signed up for when they took up their seats at the table. No one forced them into this! They don't get to-"
Her rant was cut short by a body flying past them from the Big House faster than a speeding bullet, the jarring crash of the shattered screen door ignored as both Thalia and Iphigenia stared wide-eyed at the dazed body of Butch Walker, the head counselor of the Iris Cabin. They turned back to the point of ejection to see Phoebe's fuming glower, her blue eyes blazing in fury even as she fought off the combined weight of the 5 head counselors trying to pin her down.
That was all the motivation Thalia needed, the sight of her sworn sister fighting for her life like an animal while Nico twiddled his thumbs and tried the pacifist approach for these idiots igniting the den of powder kegs in her head as her eyes crackled with sparks. She lost her cool and a jagged streak of lightning split apart the overcast skies in the wake of her fury, her eyes narrowed to slits and her teeth clenched so hard she felt like they would shatter as the deafening boom of thunder shook the world.
The daughter of Zeus prowled into the rec room with all the calculated ferocity of a lioness, "Iphi...get that idiot an ice pack." Iphigenia thumped her chest in salute with a devoted Lieutenant! "As for the rest of you? You can get your hands off my sister now with your dignity or later in a body bag."
"Thali-"
"I wasn't asking Nico. Call off your dogs. Now."
The son of Hades let out a tired sigh even as he glared at the others to get their collective shits together. One by one, Sherman Yang, Malcolm Pace, Will Solace, Nyssa Barrera, and Paolo Montes all climbed off of the huntress, each of them shooting Thalia and Phoebe a dirty look as they gathered to their seats on the ping pong table.
From the ping pong table and Cheez Whiz to the stuffed leopard's head, the old room was just like Thalia remembered it save a few minor changes. Over a dozen comfy chairs ringed the table, all of them occupied save 2, with an extra addition for their resident Oracle of Delphi.
Thalia had never spoken much to Rachel Elizabeth Dare and never really cared to, from what she'd understood of Annabeth's rants; the girl had been trying to steal her best friend's crush for a while. That alone had killed any motivation she might've had to associate with her, but from the the little she'd heard about her overall attitude?
The redhead was pretty chill, gutsy for sure with a nice easy-going smile, and enough playful sarcasm to hang up there with the best of them.
All in all, the girl was someone Thalia would like to get to know better if she had the time, which was why her near-catatonic demeanor came as such a shock to her. Rachel looked like someone had ripped out her heart from her chest and the poor girl didn't quite know how to ask for help, her vibrant red hair was matted and oily, and she looked like she hadn't slept in days. It seemed the only one in the know of what had happened to her was Nico di Angelo if his own stormy expression was anything to go off of, too bad the little shit didn't much feel like sharing.
Thalia ordered Phoebe to the Artemis seat as she marched around the table, "Chiron's holed up in the infirmary helping the others, so I can't place the blame on you squarely for your lack of wisdom," She made her stand at head of the table as she glared at the rest of them, "But, I'd hoped you'd have more sense than to attack a Hunter of Artemis and expect a different sort of outcome."
Nico massaged his temples as her words kickstarted another round of bickering, cries of 'She started it!', 'Emo Cinderella', and some more childish babble filled the air before Thalia lost her patience again. She slammed her fist onto the ping pong table hard enough to create fractures in the linoleum flooring, even as a bolt of lightning struck the weathervane on the roof.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" She screamed as she looked around the room, her eyes coming to a stop on the one person that didn't make her feel like pulling out her teeth. She let out an exhale as she said: "...Solace?"
"...We were hoping maybe one of you guys could get Lady Artemis to help us out with the healing. Or!" Will rushed to clarify at Thalia's scowl, "Or, she could convince my dad to heal the younger ones."
"Speak true boy. You asked me for my Lady's aid and I told you the Ancient Laws wouldn't allow it. You continued to persist to the point I had to call in for Thalia to be the voice of reason!" Phoebe spat as she gestured at Thalia like she herself could hardly believe it, "And like that wasn't enough, and I assure you, it was, that disrespectful fool had the audacity to call my Lady's honor into question?!"
"Yeah...that'll do it." Thalia thought with a grimace.
The Hunters of Artemis were as loyal as they come to the goddess - and Artemis returned that loyalty and love with interest for her daughters - but for hunters like Phoebe? Celyn? Iphigenia? Zoe?! The fact Phoebe hadn't done more than KO Butch was a mercy and a half in and of itself.
Forget death, Phoebe would've made him suffer had the situation been less dire.
But, even then Drew Tanaka was the last person Thalia ever expected to speak out in defense of anyone but herself.
"We didn't bring your lady's 'honor' into question you fucking gorilla!" The daughter of Aphrodite cried out with venom as she shot to her feet, her eyes brimming with angry tears, "We asked you why the gods were sitting back watching while their children are dying! Lacy! Mitchell! Alea! Rose just turned 7 last month! My brothers and sisters are dropping like flies in that infirmary and yet they do NOTHING! WHY!"
Drew directed that question to the roof of the building and beyond, injecting so much charmspeak into her voice Thalia half considered climbing up the slopes of Mount Olympus and bashing her father's skull on his throne for answers.
"Why do I have to listen to my dying siblings beg to see their mother one last time? Why do I have to waste the little food we still have on sacrifices to you people when I know you won't even eat it? WHY?! WHY WERE WE BORN TO DIE!"
The final question may as well have been demanded of by a higher power for all the attention it commanded. It'd always been a question in the backs of their minds long before the wars had taken so much from them, The 'why' of it all probably hadn't even originated from their generation, but it couldn't have been put to voice at a much crucial time than this.
They had all given and suffered more than enough. Fought in wars with loaded odds even the luckiest gambler would never dare to bluff, and yet it still wasn't enough for the gods? The Fates? Thalia didn't much know or care anymore.
Two wars. Hundreds of corpses. Thousands of betrayals and broken oaths, and who knows how many more secrets and lies the gods were keeping to their chest, nothing was changing. The gods continued to win their battles and reign supreme without losses to their own with the blood of demigods as their currency.
Thalia clicked her tongue in anger as her hands bit into her hands hard enough to draw blood, her eyes roved over the tired faces of the camp counselors and she was reminded of why she had left for the hunters in the first place.
These were kids.
The oldest person in this camp barring Chiron was 17 years old, and that average had been lower at the time she'd been a camper. The prophecy had expected her to rally children in a war against Titans - beings that could still give the gods a run for their money if it really came down to it – and win?
She hadn't been able to handle it.
More so, when she'd been told she was expected to die at the end of it all, which was why she didn't so much as think twice once the offer of the Hunt came knocking. Yet in some cruel twist of fate, here she was again a year later, expected to wrangle the dying camp all by herself while her sisters continued to add fuel to the fire.
Phoebe let out a sigh, "...I feel your grief daughter of Aphrodite, but you are young and more importantly ignorant to the ways of this world. You do not get to question the Gods."
"Fuck you."
Thalia appreciated the balls on Tanaka to talk back to a gorilla like Phoebe if anything else, but their argument wasn't helping.
"You are so quick to place the blame on the ones who cannot offer aid to you, yet you absolve the ones honor-bound to protect you?" Phoebe demanded with disbelief, "Where is Annabeth Chase? Piper Mclean? My sister Clarisse La Rue? Where the fuck is Percy Jackson?!"
The room grew silent at the name and Thalia had to stop herself from smacking Phoebe, the finger-pointing was enough of a headache from the campers, but Phoebe was a thousand year's too late to be indulging in this nonsense. Rachel Dare began to devolve into muted sobs as the rest of the room shifted uncomfortably the longer the question was allowed to simmer.
Percy Jackson was missing.
Those were four simple words, yet they had all the impending doom of a coming meteor. According to Nico, the son of Poseidon had gone back to New York for some much needed R'n'R after all the shit he'd been through.
Understandable.
Not the smartest course of action all things considered, but still, understandable.
From what Thalia had gotten, he'd been expected to come back from his 'vacation' on Sunday, just in time to finalize the details for their expedition to Alaska. That had been 3 days ago, and the lack of contact from him or his mother hadn't inspired the most confidence in Thalia.
"That's the smartest thing you've said since you came here sis."
Thalia rolled her eyes in annoyance at Sherman Yang's gruff voice, already she could see Damien White nodding in agreement to the clown's bullshit.
She didn't know much about the two of them other than Yang had been serving as Clarisse's replacement in her absence, and the son of Nemesis had his own unexplained vendetta against her missing friend.
"Sherman..." Nico started as he pinched at his brows, "We've been over this. Multiple times. Percy needed some time to himself after all the shit he'd went through, we couldn't force him to-"
"Miss me with that bullshit di Angelo, I'm done listening. When he ditched us to go fight off Gaia on his own I didn't complain, how could I? Who else could we have expected to put her down? You Solace?" Will Solace glared at the son of Ares in answer. "How about you Blackstone? Was anyone willing to step up and finish the job in the Hecate cabin."
Lou Ellen's onyx orbs narrowed to slits, but she kept silent even as her arms sparked and sizzled with Greek fire, Yang continued unperturbed. "So when he went into that coma, when we ran our supplies dry trying to make sure he didn't kill himself in his sleep I didn't question it. He and the '7' had saved the world, I couldn't talk."
"It would've been better for all of us if it stayed that way." Katie Gardner whispered weakly, her hands massaging her graying scalp to stave off the coming headache.
"I'm going to let that one slide because you're actually putting in the work, but Jackson? He knew we were on our last legs here. He knew we had no one to turn to with the Romans and the gods AWOL. He knew how fucked things were and he still left us behind to fix this!"
Nico slammed his hands on the table in a rage and Thalia could swear she saw a silhouette of the Grim Reaper standing behind the kid, his dark onyx eyes stared a hole into the souls of everyone in the room as he let out a frosty exhale.
"For the last time," He started calmly, "I told you all it was my idea for him to leave. He'd gotten his memories wiped by Hera. He'd gone through Tartarus with the girl who left him. He damn near killed himself fighting Gaia for the rest of us! DON'T YOU DARE BLAME HIM FOR ANY OF THIS!"
The air in the room grew heavy with tension and Thalia herself found it hard to breathe the longer she stared into Nico eyes. Nico was a quiet kid. Unless you were Percy Jackson, it took a lot for him to raise his voice.
And when he did?
You'd have to be suicidal to cross him. For a second Thalia actually thought they'd be able to get back on track with this meeting and move things along.
It was too bad then, that Damien White may as well have patented the term ignorant stupidity in the dictionary.
"Jackson isn't a baby di Angelo, or maybe he is I don't know. What sort of man runs home to his mommy when their girlfriend ditches them."
Nico launched himself at the smug son of Nemesis only to be held back by Sherman and Will, too bad they didn't account for Thalia losing her patience. Thalia cleared the ping pong table in a single acrobatic bound, and caught the son of Nemesis' jaw with a flying knee.
She straddled the boy as she pummeled his face in, "You're a pathetic fucking vulture you useless sack of shit, both of you, and I'm done pretending otherwise. You never even had the balls to say any of this to his face when he was still here." The other's scrambled to their feet to drag Thalia away from the boy, but she managed to get one last kick in as she continued to berate him, "He turned down godhood to make sure all of you traitors could come back here alive after everything you did, and you think you have the right to talk down to him?!"
Damien's eyes screamed bloody murder as he wiped the blood off his nose and mouth, "He's not the fucking messiah Grace! He doesn't shit roses. His looks don't make the sun shine any brighter, and his life isn't anymore important than the rest of us!"
"You have no idea what he's going through!" Nico screamed at the boy.
"I don't give a damn what he's going through! We're counting the seconds till the camp wards break fully at this point, we're trying and failing to heal the wounded every hour of the day, but we're here. All of us, traitors and heroes, we're all here fighting for our lives to keep our home safe while he's doing fuck else! Do you know how many 'minor' demigods have talked about abandoning this dump altogether?"
"Damien-"
"No Lou! I need him to know," Damien shoved Nico back a step, "Do you? Huh? Do you! How long I've had to sleep with a knife under my pillow because my own siblings want to kill me for stopping them from leaving? Do you even care? Answer me di Angelo!"
Damien collapsed to his knees as he punched at the flooring halfheartedly, his eyes scrunched tight to stave off tears. No way in Hades would he let these heartless losers catch him crying, everyone of them was an enemy in waiting as far as the son of Nemesis was concerned.
"You call me a loser for talking shit about him when he's not here, well how the fuck can I when he's never even around!"
Sherman wrapped an arm around the boy "...Jackson's a good guy. He's a hero. He's our friend. A guy I'm honored to call a brother in arms, but he's human just like the rest of us. We shouldn't have to put our lives on hold for him whenever he has a bad day."
The room grew silent at Sherman's words, with even Percy's most loyal supporters unable to meet Thalia in the eyes. Rachel continued to sob and Nico was damn near frothing at the mouth with rage, visibly fighting himself from saying something he'd be unable to take back.
Thalia let out a defeated sigh at the bleakness of it all, as the daughter of Zeus and the Lieutenant of the Hunt she was practically the head authority figure for the Greek demigods so long as Chiron was unavailable...and she hated it.
She didn't want to deal with any of this drama. She couldn't stand these fools talking about her missing friend so disrespectfully, but to deny the logic in their words would only make her look biased and emotional.
It would be her outright placing all of their lives on the shaft of a scale of importance, and if she were anything but the leader, she'd make that decision in a heartbeat. But, life could only be so fair...
"What do you want us to do then." Thalia asked instead.
"We can't do anything with this curse eating us out of house Grace. We can't even relocate without abandoning the injured. We can't-"
Sherman was cut off as a sudden tremor shook the entirety of Long Island Sound to the bedrock, a pulse of divine energy overwhelming the camp for a moment before the Earth let out an audible sigh of relief, as if the land had gotten a moment of peace.
"What the fuck was that?"
"CHILDREN OF GREECE, LEND ME YOUR EARS!"
Y*C*O*Y*W
? ? ?, The Endless Nothing, Creation's Playground, The Nexus of All Realities
Time Is An Illusion
THE VOID WAS MORE COLORFUL THAN PERCY HAD BEEN EXPECTING
Enclosed in an endless expanse of ever-shifting shades of azure and carmine, the laws of time, physics and gravity weren't much of a binding factor as far as this little pocket dimension was concerned, with Percy's astral form getting worked for everything it had trying to hold in his erratic molecules in their little container.
Percy's body had no balance or freedom of movement in the void, simply twisting and turning every which way as his molecules pinged and ricocheted inside his body with no set rhythm.
The feeling wasn't all that bad to be honest, Percy could barely even feel it. Like a kite on a clear, sunny day the son of Poseidon simply drifted through the endless nothing, the stifling sensations of pain, anxiety and expectations absent from his soul as he enjoyed the simple tranquility of just existing.
Of his consciousness living on as a mere harmonious constituent of the universe.
Of just being.
Was this Nirvana?
"An interesting perspective all things considered, but not quite right." A familiar sarcastic drawl chimed in from right below him.
A hand clasped onto Percy's ankle and held fast, a tendril of energy snaking it's way up his body and grounding his wild essence in an instant. Percy felt like he had autonomy over his limbs once more as his feet found purchase on a stray asteroid, he turned to thank his savior only for his cheeks to puff up as he struggled to keep from laughing.
Before him, in all her 4 foot glory stood a 6 year old Gaia, her long earth-brown locks trailing down and curtaining her pint-sized body alongside a frilled, leaf-green dress.
Gaia let out an annoyed huff as she brought a hand to massage her temples, "Believe you me this appearance wasn't an intended choice."
Percy feigned a coughing fit to hide a snort at the sound of her squeaky voice, but Gaia could only be so gullible.
Turning her head around, slower than a glacial drift, toward him. Her emerald-green orbs were sharp enough to tear through steel, "I can strangle you now. I have the limbs and the means to make you regret your cheek once and-."
But, Percy wasn't listening to her anymore, the infinity of the universe was no different to a mundane day by the Sound for Percy as he filled the endless nothing with his belting laugh. Gaea couldn't do more than seethe and growl when the object of her frustration couldn't be bothered to take her seriously.
"Stop laughing!" She screamed at him, but Percy's laughs only grew louder, "Stop it Perseus, I'm warning you-"
Percy's laughs increased in their tempo with stray, little tears snaking down his cheek, "I'm sorry, it's just-" Percy couldn't finish his sentence at the sight of her puffed up cheeks.
"STOP IT!" The fallen goddess screamed at him once more, this time stopping Percy's chuckles at the desperation in her voice.
Gaia balled in on herself as she continued to cry, her long hair covering her thin body leaving Percy alone to float about like an asshole. He didn't know what to do to comfort Gaia other than pretend he couldn't see her crying so he just kept quiet, the faint booms of explosions echoing from somewhere in the void and Gaia's sniffles his unwanted company.
"I was a Perfect being. A constituent of the very fabric of reality itself, with power and authority over every single landmass in this universe. Moons? Planetoids? Planets? Entire asteroid belts? My omnipotence may as well have been fire to a caveman like you, it should have been more than enough to triumph over Ananke's machinations."
Gaea turned a fractured expression to Percy, and it was all she could do to not burst into tears again.
"Nyx derides and bludgeons you every time you meet, but I'm the one who loses to you? I'm the one whose vendetta falls short to the nonsense that surrounds you? Where is the fairness in that?"
And like that, Gaia threw away all sympathy Percy might have been able to feel for the goddess with that infuriating entitlement, "Oh cry me a river you sad sack of shit. You actually expect me to feel bad for you not getting the chance to 86 every mortal on the planet?"
"How can you even say that to me knowing the little of what you know?" Gaia challenged him, smacking a hand to her chest as she screeched at him. "Knowing what I've gone through and lost. My thoughts and regrets. My desires?! Look around us Perseus, we're on the edge of life and death! I did not ask for-"
"Shut the hell up!" Percy roared at the soulless monster before him, words failing him the longer he was forced to bear the sight of her.
Percy felt like smacking himself, how could he have been so stupid?
He'd tried for the goddess.
He'd tried so hard to understand her, to keep an open mind with her plight and try to rationalize her twisted actions as the misguided reactions of a traumatized child to perceived slights, but enough was enough.
Gaia had heard and seen those children dying in that infirmary, felt and experienced everything Percy had since he'd woken up in that cot. His guilt, his rage, his sorrow, his pain, his insecurities and so much more, the monster had gotten front row seats to all of it yet she had the audacity to complain about unfairness.
To act like she'd gotten the worse end of the deal.
"That's because I have gotten the worst of it!" She roared out of nowhere, her mind link revealing his thoughts to her, "Put yourself in my shoes for one godforsaken second! I have nothing! My Names, My power, my children! All of it may as well be lost to me forever, yet I am to be imprisoned in the mind of the unworthy fool who ended me! A selfish brat who throws his will to live away at the drop of a hat, who can't even be bothered to just listen to me!"
Gaia rose to her feet and drifted to his scowling face with a huff, her forest-green eyes bloodshot with grief but no less furious, she poked him in the chest roughly. "I warned you! Advised you time and time again against my better judgment to keep an open mind with all of the events surrounding you. The Olympians, Your friends, Autolycus," The fallen goddess punctuated the name with a shove, the reminder only adding more salt to the wound, "I warned you time and time again not to antagonize my sister! Not to pit the Chimera in a battle of words so injured, yet you ignored me at every turn!"
Percy tried to speak, but she cut him off with a choked voice, "I begged you...I begged you Perseus. To stand and fight for us, to live for us and you looked me dead in the eyes and lied to me. You swore to me you couldn't fight anymore, that you were through with all, yet you didn't even hesitate the second your mother showed herself!"
"...That was...that was different. You can't expect me to-" He was cut off once again by Gaia's rueful chuckle.
"You think don't I know that. That I don't understand the love and loyalty you hold for your mother? You said earlier that I'd felt and experienced everything you had didn't you? You have no idea how accurate that conjecture is." She promised with a dangerous tone, her eyes narrowing to slits as she glared at him, "Every memory, every sensation, every thought, battle, triumph, loss, like, dislike, strength, weakness, fear. Everything. My knowledge of you is so total I could either be your worst enemy or your greatest ally should the need call for it."
Putting aside the outright creepiness attached to that sentiment, "Then why? You know everything that makes me tick, that motivates me, that I look for in a person, so why?! Why are you so...so-"
"Heartless? Cruel? Selfish? Cold? Alien?" Gaia supplied for him with a raised brow, letting out a sigh at his vigorous nodding, "Because I know myself and I know you Perseus Jackson. We couldn't be more different, yet so similar in the worst ways if we tried. You said you tried to understand me? To 'sympathize' with my plight because you believed me to be a traumatized child? You'd think different if you truly knew how far my sins stretched. The years you managed to glimpse of my memories are but a drop in the billions of lifetimes I've existed in this reality. You can't understand me."
The childlike goddess left his space at the last sentence, her arms wrapping around her body as she balled in on herself. She was crying again. Tears streaming down her cheeks as her body racked itself with shudders.
"So that's it then? You tell me I can't understand you, but you're not even going to bother trying? You're just going to stay here miserable forever?"
Gaia devolved into tearful, subdued giggles as she eyed him, "Forever you say? Wouldn't that be a comfort. No, Perseus I'm afraid I don't get that sort of relief. You felt the reaction to our souls once Nyx tried to split us apart did you not? Unless you can awaken...No. Our souls are bound till death do us part," She let out a disgusted grimace at the undertone, one that Percy found himself sharing, "Should you meet your end, natural or otherwise, I will cease to exist. Forever."
Percy's throat tightened as a tight little ball of guilt settled itself in the base of his gut. He'd wondered once what would happen to the goddess in the event of his death, that maybe her mother would pull some strings and help her out in some shape or form, but if Gaia was right and her soul really would fade away...
Gaia continued at his silence, "So to answer your question Perseus, no. I won't bother with you anymore. You and my Mother have made it abundantly clear how little you value my opinion and my life. I won't get in your way, I won't even try to inconvenience you, but I refuse to embarrass myself further trying to endear myself to you. Continue to live or die in a gutter somewhere, I don't care anymore."
"You're lying. I might not have all your memories, but I can feel your emotions just like you can. You're scared. Scared of dying. Scared of being alone."
"I don't want your pity Perseus...but it has been eons since I've ever been placed in such a position of weakness. Not since my marriage with Ouranos."
Gaia took a pause at the name, her emerald orbs swirling with barely concealed terror the longer the name was allowed to stew.
"I am...terrified Perseus. So terrified at the prospect of death. You have the comfort of the Fields of Asphodel or Elysium. The gods and the other Primordials have the relief of Tartarus or the fate of Ouranos but me?" Her raspy chuckles were somehow more depressing than her words, "The worthless shell of a dead Primordial? Where would I go? What realm would take me? What worth does my existence hold to anyone now?"
...
"Percy."
"What?"
Percy let out a sigh, because of course she'd choose to be difficult for this.
"You heard me, don't act deaf now. Call me Percy."
Gaia still didn't seem to get it, her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion which was adorable with her 6 year old appearance, "Why is that-"
"It's what my friends call me Gaia. I've never really liked the name Perseus much, always sounded so...pretentious. Just call me Percy from now on."
"...No. Look, Perseus-"
"-Percy"
"Perseus. I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it, but-"
"If you appreciate it, call me Percy."
"I will not."
"Why not? You just said you wanted me to care about you half a minute ago. I'm handing you an-a..what do you call that phrase again? The one with the branch? Athena conned a couple of scrubs with it back in the day."
"An olive branch?" Gaia voiced with genuine disbelief, her hands coming up to pull at her hair, "By the Void, listen to me! I told you I wanted you to take my help because you recognized it's importance, not because you pitied me."
"I'm not pitying you. I'm trying to-"
"Yes you are!" Gaia exploded, her eyes narrowing to slits as weeks of frustration poured forth from her, "That's all you've been doing in regards to me since the moment you learnt of my past. Projecting your own trauma onto me and infantilizing me like some broken child, even my current appearance is a result of your subconscious whims!"
"...Look I get it. I get it," He had to repeat when the goddess opened her mouth to naysay, "The...the stigma for pity. The inferiority attached to it, and if I were in your shoes I'd probably be kicking myself in the crotch too. I do pity you Gaia, you're right, but that pity's only a facet of what I think of you. I have respect for you as a fighter. I hold envy for you as someone born with so much raw power. I feel anger at you for all the death and torment you brought upon my family and so much more negative feelings for you I can't quite put into words."
"What a man you are Perseus, you sure know what to say to a woman to get the juices flowing. A modern day Casanova. The next Heartbreak Kid." The goddess riposted with a tone as dry as sandpaper.
"First off: ew. Second: EWWW. Dude, shut up and let me finish? Please."
"It's like you don't even hear the innuendos."
What was wrong with this woman?
"Oh my gods Gaia! I'm trying to tell I see you as a person! As someone more nuanced and layered than your outward actions would have me believe. I'm saying we're stuck with each other for the long haul, and I'd rather we didn't spend the rest of our days wishing the other was gone. I'm saying I want us to be partners."
"Maybe even friends."
Percy whispered the last bit to himself, but he'd already guessed by now that his thoughts may as well have been an open book to the voice in his head. Gaia, however, was shifty. Her face was pinched like she was fighting a war in her mind against her pride and self-preservation.
Her head dropped in resignation, "I can't Perseus."
"Dude c'mon, we're on this again? What part of we're stuck-"
"I KNOW!" She screamed suddenly, smacking his hand away from her even as it came to rest on her shoulder, "I know. I know I'm being difficult. I know this outrage is illogical. I understand that I should be above this, that I should take this chance with what little remains of my dignity, but I can't okay?!"
Gaia was subsisting on ragged pants the longer she continued to stare at Percy, her eyes looked fractured and desperate like she was a caged animal on the verge of lashing out.
"Gaia...why not." Percy asked the fallen goddess gently.
"Because it's exactly what She expects of me."
"Who? Tell me her name."
"My Mother. Chaos."
Another dull boom rang out from the distance and Percy could feel the surrounding temperature rise to a rolling boil on the tops of their heads. As quickly as the experience occurred it disappeared, almost like God had merely given them a passing glance and decided These losers aren't even worth the spontaneous combustion.
Gaia seemed to realize that too if her disappointed moan was any indication.
"I tried you know? I did my best with all I had at my disposal, time and time again. I offered sacrifices, prayers, praises, everything. Modelled myself after her persona, carried myself with the grace and dignity befitting a child of the Creator. Followed her every whim and plunged the realms into anarchy at her behest...I betrayed the people who loved me the most Perseus. At the drop of a hat I cut them down by the thousands, nothing was too far for me where her love was concerned."
The fallen goddess let out a rueful snort, "By all the Elder Gods, I didn't much question it when she ordered my eternal slumber."
"...What?"
"What baffles you? Did you truly believe those foolish bedtime stories? That the failure of my Gigante children was somehow enough to weaken me enough for the Olympians to prevail over me?" Gaia let out a disbelieving chuckle, her eyes going half-lidded in a drunken stupor as she said: "History is decided by those who survive Perseus, remember that. You saw what Nyx would have wrought on our world given the chance didn't you? Why would I have been capable of any less if I truly wished for it?"
Percy didn't bother trying to deny it. Primordial's, as he'd said before, were cartoon-level types of bullshit and busted, the fact Gaia and Tartarus hadn't all but swallowed them whole the very second they'd arrived was blessing in disguise he'd never dared to question.
"I did everything Chaos had ever asked of me, and yet...even on the brink of death. Even at what should have been my final breath, did she come for me? Did my mother come to my side to grant my end felicity? No, she came for you. She came to save the boy who'd killed me. To shackle me to your soul and bend me to your will in a cruel lesson on enlightenment."
Gaia shook her head in the negative, even she had a hard time believing that.
"No, that's giving her too much credit, she probably just wanted to save you. Even after all these millennia, all I ever was to her was a means to an end. A poor source of entertainment she could yet use as a stepping stone for her ambitions. It took me a long time, but I can finally say I know where I fall on her list of priorities." The goddess finished quietly, her hands wrapping around her shins as she struggled not to cry.
"...Chaos is an asshole." He had to stifle a chuckle at Gaia's scandalized expression, he couldn't afford to make light of the situation here. "Gaia, I can't say I understand what you're feeling a 100%, but I can tell you this. You don't get to choose your family, but you sure as shit get to choose how they're allowed to treat you. While I don't endorse it, I think it's admirable not to want your decisions to be dictated by someone so toxic to you."
He took a by a seat opposite the fallen goddess as he placed his hands on her bony shoulders, and forced her to look him in the eyes.
"Look, I still haven't forgiven you for all the shit you've pulled. In some ways I probably never will, but for better or worse we're in this together...and I suppose even monsters need someone on their corner they can actually call family. Who better than a monster who killed his own stepfather eh?"
Gaia's eye's widened by a fraction before she turned away, but Percy could swear her emerald orbs were glistening with tears. Her shoulder's shuddered with each scant breath she took as the faint explosions grew more urgent around the Nexus.
"...The Nexus is fading away. We will either die or live, I don't know. But, our saviors have held on for this long. We may yet live to see another day."
Percy made to get up and stretch, but found his hand stopped by a weak force, he looked down to see Gaia with her face turned away from him in embarrassment, "...Can you...can you stay by me just a little longer? I'm scared of the dark."
His heart melted at the request.
The innocence of her appearance, coupled with the memories he'd glimpsed of her wandering about her planet in darkness, and the fear and anxiety that coursed through their mindlink at the very thought of Nyx pushing him to sling an arm over her tiny frame and bring her in close for a hug.
Gaia stiffened at the touch before slowly, gently, she rested her head on his shoulder, her squeaky voice humming a tune to a song his mother used to sing for him when he was younger.
The pair of them sat together and watched as the stars dimmed out cluster by cluster, the azure and carmine that made up the void melding to form a deep violet before that too faded to black. The endless black continued to close in on itself all around them until the only remaining source of light was the two of them, their collective auras merging to form a dazzling navy blue before that too was snuffed out of existence.
"It doesn't hurt, not even a little." He thought in his heart.
Percy couldn't help but think...was death supposed to be this peaceful?
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
Y*C*O*Y*W
28 August 2010, ?, ?, New York, USA
10 Days Since Percy's 'Death'
IT TURNED OUT DYING DIDN'T SUCK, SURVIVING DID
"God? If you're listening, do me a favour and put me out of my misery..." Percy prayed with a groan.
How he could be in this much pain didn't make any sense, he hadn't even felt anything when the Chimera had roasted him alive. He felt like his body had been steamrolled flat before the operator switched to reverse to get the uneven kinks out, then decided to go forward one last time for the fun of it.
His entire body was gift wrapped in bandages, ointment and plaster, with enough needles and wires attached to his wrists to give Bane vertigo.
And it had been worse 3 days ago if you could believe it.
Percy had woken up right in the middle of a surgical operation to a blazing operating light. Submerged in a tub of unicorn draught and nectar, with his chest split open and held fast by sets of clips as half a dozen KKK cosplayers surrounded his broken body and tried to piece together his shattered ribcage, he wasn't proud to say he hadn't done much more than scream and thrash about as his anasthesia mask grew clogged from his foaming.
Percy's tormento-
"Saviors."
"You shut up!"
Gaia did nothing more than snicker at his bitching as she pantomimed snow angels in his mind's eye. Of the two of them, the fallen goddess had been the only one who'd managed to maintain a relatively upbeat attitude in spite of their predicament. Though, she'd be lying if she said the absence of pain didn't contribute to her delight.
"I don't understand how you can be so pessimistic on such a glorious day. We survived Perseus. Mortals have had festivals for lesser feats."
"...Gaia, I can't go half-mast without pulling out a nerve. If this is me winning? I'd have settled for second place."
"Meh."
"Why I oughta-"
"Oh good, you're awake."
Percy ignored Gaia as he turned back to the outside world. That voice...Percy recognized that thick New York accent, like the speaker held a touch of concern in him, but was trying really hard not to laugh at Percy. He tilted his neck as far as he could to the familiar newcomer's face as he called out:
"Barry?"
Lo and behold, there stood Percy's first ever hit'n'run 'Barry the Bee' in all his flummoxed glory with a bouquet of fresh...begonias?
What was that about?
'Barry' looked young...ish, somewhere in his late thirties if Percy had to guess and pretty tall too. He was dressed in an unbuttoned, pin-striped three-piece and shined, tan dress shoes topped with a fancy wolf cane. His silver hair was wild and parted in the middle down to his neck with a splash of grey stubble framing his angular jaw, a pair of tinted sunglasses covered his eyes, but whenever he tilted his head to the side Percy could see his eyelids were sealed shut, almost like the man was blind.
All in all, he looked like a shifty ponce stuck in the high of his frat boy days.
'Barry' raised a silver brow at him, "Why do you keep calling me that?" He came to Percy's side to drop his flower's on the bedside table even as he dragged a folding chair and an apple to his bed's footboard, "Never mind that, how're you feeling kiddo?"
"Like I could go for ten with Iron Mike, how do you think I feel."
"That bad huh?" 'Barry' clicked his tongue with a sigh as he crossed his legs, he took his time to get comfortable in his seat as he carved apple slices for the both of them, "Want one?"
Percy kept his silence, his eyes latching onto every movement and subtle mannerism the stranger showed to him with laser focus. From the rhythmic tapping of his dress shoes on the rubber floor to every twist and curve of the man's nimble fingers as he played with the paring knife, the movements were familiar to Percy...he just didn't know why.
"I know you."
"I should fucking hope so. You have any idea how hard it was to time an 'accident' in that freak storm? My Rover's been at the shop for weeks at this point."
That wasn't what Percy had been talking about, but his rationale was overtaken by the fact that: "You hit me with a Rover on purpose?!"
"Yeah, and you botched a 3 month operation for me and my boys with your self-righteous meddling. That 'accident' allowed me to keep proper tabs on your dumb ass, it's the only reason we got to you in time. I'd say we're even, but I'd be lying."
Percy's brows scrunched together at the man's words, his mind drawing up a blank on how he could have pulled that off in the time since.
At least until 'Barry' pinned a familiar brooch on the lapel of his jacket.
"Of course." Percy said through gritted teeth, "You're a fucking Spade."
"I like how you manage to voice the word 'Spade' like it's just marginally better than pond scum."
"That you think you're any better than pond scum to me is refreshing, but that's neither here nor there." Percy mocked him with a chuckle, his levity faded however a he asked: "You said you got to me right on time didn't you? Where's my mom?"
"Right to the point eh?" Barry questioned with a sardonic grin, he continued at Percy's glare, "She's holed up somewhere safe with enough divine and mortal security to make the White House look like a gated playpen."
Percy shot up from his cot in a rage, "What gives you the-ARRGGHH!", his voice lost all it's bark as the sudden movement sent his wounded body into a never-ending loop of soul-shredding throes, his left arm felt like it'd been wrung and soaked in Styx water.
'Barry' didn't do much more than chew on his apple slices as he waited for Percy to calm down.
"Easy kid. Look it wasn't an easy decision, even after the spitfire knocked the Texas out of Nathan, but the risks attached to keeping her here with the Night of all gods didn't leave us with much options."
Percy froze.
All levity in the conversation gone as his heart rate spiked, all of a sudden douchey Harvard bachelor's 'Barry' didn't look so arrogant and unassuming anymore. If anything...Percy felt the same foreboding terror he used to feel around Luke Castellan and even Kronos, like he could watch Percy die right in front of him right now and not so much as twitch.
"You...how do you know about N-"
Percy was cut off as 'Barry' surged towards him in an instant, a calloused hand latching onto Percy's face with a smack as he hissed, "If you value your tongue, you'll keep that name out of your mouth anywhere near us, but yes I do know her. She's my grandmother."
Percy's eyes darted around the room even as his good arm leveled halfhearted jabs on 'Barry's' chest, but the man only scoffed as he let go of Percy and plopped down on his seat.
"They told me you were slow not stupid kid. If I really wanted you dead why would I bother dragging your sorry ass over here to fix you? If I really gave a damn about the Night's plans for you, why would I outright tell you she's my grandmother?!"
"You're a mercenary, manipulation and lies should only be the 2nd bullet point of your job description."
"Dammit kid, I'm one of the only schmucks in this stupid game on your side! I risked my neck enough already just to get you an extension on your next test, cut me some slack here!"
That was news to Percy, with all the shit that had gone down back there - and his 2nd coma in just about as many days - he hadn't really put much thought into the timeline of Nyx's tests. It was the 28th of August now, Nyx had told him his test would come on a month-to-month basis so his next test would've been on the 18th of September, and he'd have been wholly unprepared.
His body was still so fucked up he'd still be unprepared, so Percy was feeling all too grateful to the schmuck.
"So what? You got me an extended warranty on my life. Big whoop. Why help me?"
"Don't be stupid kid. You know why."
Of course it was all for a recruitment pitch, why would he expect any different?
"Buddy, I'm a paralyzed mummy, I couldn't join your little group even if I wanted to."
"That'd be an issue if you weren't getting treated in a top of the line Spade hospital, the worst of your injuries was your left arm, and even then, our guys are so good we won't have to amputate it. For now."
"I've lost my powers."
"Oh woe, so you're a 'normal' demigod now? Look at this."
'Barry' pulled out a fancy tablet out of his shadow and fiddled with it for a bit before shoving a video to his face. It was a play-by-play of his battle with the Chimera, from the moment Percy had left his house to the minutes he'd spent waiting for the monster by the East River.
It was creepy.
"Are you really giving me a post-game interview on the fight that nearly killed me?"
"The fact that you think there was anything 'near' about your death is adorable. You died kid. Your heart flat-lined multiple times in the span of the last few days, yet you kept coming back. Which is cause for concern, because even we don't know how the Hades you pulled that off."
"Maybe you're not as good as you think you are." Percy muttered peevishly.
"Cute."
The video continued to play for a few minutes longer than Percy had thought the fight even had, he saw his scorched corpse held in his mother's arms dying with a smile even as the Chimera leapt at them. In an instant, video-Percy's eyes lit up with sea-green flames and his hand came up flying to strike, the shock waves from the blast managed to fracture the camera before the drone took a nose-dive as the destructive winds battered it from all sides.
'Barry' paused the frame on the camera's fracture, "This was a god-grade military drone designed from the schematics of Hephaestus himself, we had it scouting you from hundreds of feet in the air and the camera went out before the drone. Do you know what that means?"
"That you should probably be taking Hephaestus to godly court for a faulty patent?"
'Barry' snorted in a nice try gesture as he showed him a picture of what could only be the aftermath of a napalm bombing. Buildings, entire streets and light posts lay in ruins around a deep, ringed crater, with mortal vehicles and metal barricades covering the perimeter as police officers pushed back bystanders while forensic investigators and K-9's searched for clues to make sense of what Percy had done.
"Is this...is this where the Chimera ended up?"
"No this is where it achieved liftoff...you don't wanna see what happened to where it landed."
Percy shut his eyes closed as his head dropped onto his padded pillow, "...Why are you telling me this."
"This is what you managed half-dead, covered head to toe in glass without your powers from your father. Now, I'll advise against ever using that power without the proper training if you'd like to keep that hand, but-"
"Get to the point Barry!"
'Barry' stared at him for a moment, nodding his head, he said, "Okay. Okay. You want a point? You're a walking, talking waste of blessings most people would sell their souls for ten times over, and it's made you lazy."
"Lazy?" Percy's voice was no louder than a whisper, yet the frosty tone he used would have been enough to freeze entire seas.
'Barry' raised an unimpressed brow, "Yes you little shit. Lazy. Spoiled. Coddled. You had power over the Earth, Sky and Sea. You could generate hurricanes and typhoons, blow up dormant volcanoes, and destroy entire bridges in a single strike. And that's not even touching on the nigh-biblical shit you managed to pull at the Acropolis against the Giants. You had godlike power and you wasted it."
"I didn't 'waste' it, I worked within my limits! Demigods burn themselves alive pushing too hard!"
"Percy you are not the average demigod and I don't know why I have to be the one to tell you this. From the moment you stepped foot into this world, you've been fighting enemies with tens upon thousands of years of experience over you and you've still managed to keep up somehow. You drew first blood against a god of war at 12. You engineered a victory against Hyperion and Kronos in the space of a few hours. Do I even need to talk about Gaia?"
Percy couldn't believe the nonsense he was listening to right now, "You think I wanted this?! That I wanted these stupid 'blessings' in the first place? That I'm some sick fuck who revels the 'thrill of destruction' or 'bathing in the blood of enemies'? I hate these powers. I hate how they terrify the people that matter to me the most the fucking second I tap into them! I never wanted this life! No one should want this life! I never wanted to watch my friends die in front of me, never wanted to see the day my mother would cry at my fucking corpse! I never wanted to be a hero!"
Percy's stitches were straining against his wounds with all of his movements and his heart monitor had been substituted for a siren, but he looked the Spade in the eye as he said in a quiet voice: "I never wanted to be a half-blood."
'Barry' wiped at his face in annoyance, "Kid, I get it. Believe me I do. This...this life we've been given isn't much better than a freaking curse, and everyday it's looking like we're just one wrong day away from the gods wiping the slate clean and starting over again." 'Barry' let out a shuddering sigh as he stared a hole into the ceiling, "To live is to suffer kid, if everything you ever hear from my mouth turns out to be a lie, then I swear on the Styx that's the truth."
Thunder rumbled far up in the sky with the words, sealing the oath for the rest of time or until Styx decided to go homicidal for the thrill of it.
Percy didn't get this guy, didn't understand how the guy could keep going on with such a pessimistic attitude, "Then why? Why do anything? Why wake up in the morning to go to school or your dead-end job? Why keep living."
"Because this hell is mine. Because I was born to this world. Because this life belongs to me and I owe it to myself to keep fighting. I didn't get to choose how I was born, the Fates aren't going to give me much of a choice in choosing how I live or get to die." 'Barry' paused with a dark chuckle, his head tilting to the ceiling for a moment before he let out a sigh, "But, I can keep fighting. As long as I still draw breath, as long as I still have strength in my body, as long as I'm still me. Come hell or high water, I will keep fighting."
"...I don't want to be a mercenary, I'm just a kid, I have my whole life to look forward to.. I don't want to get used to killing people. I don't want to stop being human."
"Well, that's too bad all things considered. Sorry kid, not to be an asshole here, but have you met you? Your father might as well be the most powerful Greek god alive so long as he's on the ground or sea, and with all the shit surrounding your mother's half of the family? It's not a stretch to say you might have been bred for war and battle."
"Why do you want me to join your group so badly. It was weird with Autolycus, but at least he didn't hit me with a freaking Rover."
"Are you ever going to get over that?" 'Barry' pulled at his hair as he gathered his thoughts, "I like Autolycus. He's powerful, sharp, loyal, kind of old-fashioned but he's fun to be around."
"He groomed my friend."
'Barry' snorted at the excuse, "You and Bobofit couldn't even be classified as frenemies if we tried, cut it out. Autolycus was on a mission to kill the Chimera. It may come as a shock to you but not all of us have the power to blow apart a city block with a punch, and those that do aren't all too willing to fill out the paperwork for the collateral damage." The man muttered, "I don't agree with his methods, but he had to blend in with that group long enough for the Chimera to let down it's guard. Get angry with him all you want, but I want you to know he was one of the only people willing to foot your hospital bill."
"How bad is it?"
'Barry' pulled out a clipboard and a pen from the shadows as he pantomimed ticking off a checklist.
"Oh nothing too crazy, our boys only pieced together your ribcage, sutured and treated about 67 stab wounds all over your body, managed to bring your charred corpse back to a healthy pink, and bring you back from the dead. So, we're talking upwards of at least a $100 minus tax."
Percy's throat tightened at the absurdity of it all, because of course a hospital bill would have him wishing for death. 'Barry' continued in a sardonic tone as he placed a briefcase on his lap, "Uh-huh. Here, this is yours."
"Where are you pulling these things from? What is this."
"Your cut. You didn't think Autolycus was hunting the Chimera for sport right? The bounty on it's head alone was about $30 million and 300 drachmae, Maria managed to sell it's venom sac and goat's horn for $500k each. We didn't find a buyer for the lion's mane, but the boys are cooking up something special for you, you'll love it."
"About as much as I love talking to you." Percy muttered to himself.
"Look kid, I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything. You have enough money in that bag to live out your life on some faraway beach house in Thailand or something. Your scent is so weak only the oldest and strongest of monsters actively searching for you will ever really be an issue, and barring your mother, the Spades and di Angelo the whole world thinks you're dead."
"What?"
'Barry' tossed him a rolled-up newspaper from the 19th of August, on the front page was the aftermath of a colossal explosion over on East Harlem with EMTs and firefighter's still trying to douse the flames. On the side column was a dated picture of his wanted poster from back when he was 12, and a tiny little blurb for his obituary.
"It took some doing and serious misting, but we managed to erase your records completely from the U.S registry. Your name might as well be synonymous with 'John Doe' to the mortal world by now. This is up to you kid, you can bow out now and disappear."
Percy's eyes were unamused, "Or?", he prompted, already guessing the man's sales pitch.
'Barry' smiled like a car dealer, slimy and dangerous, "You're a fighter Jackson, but you're a big fish in a small pond. The old horse tries, but he's just one guy micro-managing a whole camp or prepubescents and hormonal teenagers, his methods are archaic and just as tired as him. Chase, La Rue, Lt. Grace and di Angelo are exceptions, but you kid?"
Percy really had to wonder how long this dude had been planning this visit once he pulled out a bulky case file from the shadows. One by one, 'Barry' showed him clear-cut pictures of his various escapades around America, from his duel on the beach with Ares to him and his friends manoeuvring around the Nemean Lion in the Smithsonian.
"You leave camp for the school year, you only ever practice on straw dummies during summers, you fight opponents so far below your skill level it actually regresses you, and yet you thrive on the field of battle."
'Barry' pulled out one final picture, it was a blurry shot of him taking on an army of 200 monsters all by himself on the Williamsburg Bridge.
No.
Percy was blurry, the monster's were captured pretty well. Percy had been moving so fast during that battle not even Hephaestus-grade tech had been able to pin him down.
'Barry' continued, "We've been watching, all of us, and we like what we see kid-"
"Gross."
"I will pull your plug."
Percy withheld a smirk when he realized the old Spade was only half-joking, already he could spy a vein throbbing on the older man's forehead in annoyance.
"You're a well of untapped potential even without your father's powers, your blood manipulation acts a multiplier and an adapter for your physical abilities, and your instincts are battle-tested and approved by the Wolf Mother herself, but with us? Under my personal tutelage with our skillsets so similar? The amount of battle experience that you could hone to a knife's edge against so many equals and superiors would elevate to the rank of Inquisitor before you even turn 20."
Percy gave it some thought, and decided the whole thing was still too shifty for his liking, "Why are you doing all this, what's in it for you? I don't even know your name, yet you're already planning my future?"
"You have people other than Autolycus interested in your survival kid. There's a reason why we're placed under oath to never even approach you, one that I won't share because it's not my place to." 'Barry' was quick to shut him down as Percy rushed to ask who, "As for my personal stake in you? Call it a sentimental whim. I've seen your type before: the young, naive and hopeful trying to maintain their 'humanity' in a world so devoid of it. I've been in your shoes before and I'm hoping to save you from it before the fate that normally follows those types catches you."
"Broken and depressed?" Percy joked.
"Dead and forgotten."
The Spade looked him in the eyes at the riposte, a quiet desperation in his demeanor as he all but begged Percy to take his offer...like he was genuinely trying to save Percy from a terrible fate. Percy didn't know how to respond to that.
"Join the Spades Percy Jackson. Join me and I can help you fight against these trials the Night is trying to break you with. Join me and we can change the status quo together, forever in favor of our family."
...
Percy stared long and hard at the ceiling as he mulled over the words, in the back of his mind, he imagined he could see a rusty old sword held back by a thin string oscillating to and fro over him. His eyes grew hazy and unfocused as he ignored the outside world and talked with the voice in his head.
"You've been quiet Gaia, what do you think?"
The goddess appeared to him in an instant, her childish face a masterful mix of aged wisdom and smug satisfaction at the fact he'd come to her instead of the other way around.
"I think you're being difficult for no concrete reason, you've long since chosen your path."
Percy snorted, "That obvious huh? What if I'm going about this the wrong way...what if doing this is just playing into Night's hand?"
Gaia's smugness disappeared as she cupped a hand on his cheek in a gesture that could pass as affectionate, her voice was soft as she whispered: "The Destroyer of Destroyers path? It still weighs on you?"
Percy didn't react in any way, but his silence in itself was enough of an answer.
"...Nyx won't admit it, but mortals, monsters, even the gods and Primordials themselves, we're all the same in some way or the other Perseus, every last one of us. Glory? Freedom? Love? Family? We're all slaves to something or the other. All of us have to spend our lives drunk on something to keep moving forward otherwise what's the point of it all? You're a slave to your loved ones Perseus Jackson, you were never promised a life of comfort. The question isn't whether or not this is the right choice."
The fallen goddess' form dissolved into acid-green mist and dissipated around him, before reforming with her arms around his shoulders and her lips by his ear, "The question is, are you willing to bet the lives of the ones you hold dear on the off chance it's not?"
...
Percy returned his attention back to the Spade, his resolve harder than it'd ever been as he looked the man in the eye and asked, "If I join you, can you swear I'll find a way to clear out Gaia's curse from the camp?"
'Barry' didn't hesitate, "Absolutely. I can't promise it'll happen today or tomorrow or even by the next month, but I can promise you it'll be long gone before the end of this year."
The sword of Damocles lost it's rust as it snapped free of it's string, a faint whistling sound accompanying it as it came tearing down upon Percy's head.
Percy didn't flinch, he extended a bandaged hand to the devil with a grim smile, "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."
"Not Meredith?"
"Perseus Meredith Jackson is Sally Jackson's son. I'll join your group and be your guy, I'll do what I have to to help out the camp even if I have to pay for their food and supplies from my own pocket, but I won't ever attach my mother's name to this. I won't."
"...Far be it from me to tell other people how to compartmentalize their issues," 'Barry' conceded with a shrug. "But, you'd do well to learn your mother isn't as detached from this life of ours as you'd like to believe."
'Barry' took Percy's hand at the elbow in a firm hold before the boy could protest, as he looked Percy in the eye with an excited grin.
"Avery Giles, son of Thanatos. Inquisitor Supreme of the Greek Charter of the Order. Welcome to the Penumbran Spades, my friend. Her master hates my fucking guts."
Y*C*O*Y*W
Arc 1: Part 1 Concluded