Woke up under water
Throat chained at the collar
Couldn't get any farther from the daylight
Was I still dreaming, stuck to a machine or
Choking and screaming with my hands tied
Callin' and callin' but nobody comes
Fallin' and fallin', no air in my lungs
Getting so comfortably numb
Don't know how I opened up my eyes
But I'm still alive
I don't wanna just survive
Give me something to sink all my teeth in
Eat the devil and spit out my demons
Still alive
Already died a thousand times
Went to Hell but I'm back and I'm breathing
Make me bleed while my heart is still beating
Still alive
Rhea mouths the words under her breath, her eyes close as she listens to the beautiful voice of Demi Lovato screaming in her ears, drowning out her classmates on the cramp school bus.
It has been one year and a half since she met her older brother, Triton. Since she was told of her heritage as the daughter of the God; Poseidon and given her first Pokémon. She looks down at the Oshawott sitting in her lap, playing with the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. She smiles a bit, scratching him behind the ear and making him chirp. She had decided to call him Murphy, which mean sea warrior. And she sacrificed a bit of her food to her brother and father everyday for helping her keep him.
After meeting her brother, and being gifted Murphy, he had led her back to the teachers who had been searching for her everywhere. When they caught sight of her, they had started screaming at her, painfully grabbing her arm and saying that she would be lucky to stay in the school any longer for what she did. Triton, who blue eyes were almost glowing in raged told her teacher to let go before he reported her for child abuse. She had never seen her teacher snap her hand back so fast before.
Rhea didn't know what happened afterwards, she knew her mother came and there was some talk. Rhea was allowed to stay and finish the school year, since it was near the beginning of it, but she wouldn't be allowed to return the next year. There were more concerns on why the cannon was in operation than why she set it off. And when her mother brought her home that day, all her stepfather did was sneer at Murphy before going back to his poker game.
So yeah…she made sure to sacrifice a portion of her food to them. Right now the twelve year old looks beside her as her best friend Grover dodges another chunk of peanut-butter and ketchup sandwich from Nancy. This school year, she was sent to Asperita Trainer Academy, a boarding school in Aspertia City run by Gym Leader Cheron. She was actually grateful for it, as she didn't want to spend any time this year with her stepfather, and it did well in training Murphy. Unlike other regions, Unova trainers couldn't go on a journey until they were twelve. They could have a starter Pokémon at ten but no more until they reach the age to gain full trainer license. Though her mother had made sure that this year she would go to a school that specializes in Pokémon Training. She flourished here.
Today, during the last bit of May, her sixth-grade class was taking a field trip to Castelia City- twenty eight kids and two teachers crammed in a metal school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts to look at their Parthenon stuff.
Usually stuff like this sounded like torture for her, but not only was it about her family history, Mr. Bunner, our Latin teacher, was leading the trip. He was this middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair, thinning hair but a scruffy sort of beard. Always wearing a frayed tweed jacket, which smell like coffee. Most people wouldn't think he would be cool but to Rhea, he was amazing, next to her brother and mother. He told stories and jokes and let them play games in class. Had this awesome collection of Parthenon armor and weapons, so she knew the trip, no matter how much she hated field trips, would be worth it.
Rhea growls as Nancy snickers, throwing another clunk of her sandwich, "if she keeps doing that imma voy a mostrarle lo mucho que me teme la gente," she growls under her breath as she pulls her headphones off.
Grover pats her on the shoulder, "it's okay, I like peanut butter," his small smile made the anger in Rhea burn like boiling water. She just didn't understand why anyone would ever hurt him! Sure he cried when he got frustrated and was held back by a few years but he was the kindest boy anyone could ever meet! He and his partner, Lily, a Petilil, would even spend their free time picking up litter around the academy. He had curly brown hair that curled around his slightly pointed ears. Unlike what most of their class thought, Rhea knew that her friend Grover was a satyr, a being with the upper half of a human, and a lower half of a goat. They, alongside nymphs, are nature spirits that were created when Ouranos's blood was spilled on fertile soil. Triton had told her that they work for Camp Half-Blood, going out through the Regions and searching for Demigods, infiltrating schools.
Rhea was excited but also scared for this. It meant soon that she would be taken to Camp Half-Blood, be around others who understand her….but it also meant that her normal like as a regular mortail was over. She snorts at Grover, giving him a look, "One, Grover my friend, that has ketchup in it and two you wouldn't like it in your hair," at that moment, Grover duck down again, another wad of falling to the ground. She starts to get up but Grover stops her, grabbing her by the arm and gently pulling me back to my seat.
"Listen, you know who will get blame if anything happens on this trip…" Grover gives her a pleading look and Rhea could feel the tension in her muscles leaving, "Lets just forget about Nancy and enjoy ourselves…you were excited for this trip,"
"Alright…alright," she huffs out some air, "She's only doing this because I beat her in a Pokemon battle anyway," Grover smirks at her and chuckles.
Rhea looked around with a wide smile as Mr. Bunner led the museum tour, Murphy following beside her. Their Latin teacher rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding them through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black and orange pottery. It always blew her mind that this stuff had survived for many years.
Gathering around a thirteen-foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, he began to explain how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about their age. Rhea frowns at this, looking at the carvings on the side, trying to listen to Mr. Bunner but everyone around them was talking and every time she tried to tell them to shut up, Mrs. Dodds would give her the evil eye.
Mrs. Dodds was the math teacher that came to the academy halfway through the year when their last math teacher had a nervous breakdown. She was always wearing a black leather jacket and looked mean enough to ride a Harley into your locker….and she hated Rhea. Always looking to see if Rhea was causing any trouble and if she did, she would point her crooked finger at her and say, "Now honey" real sweet and Rhea knew she was going to get after-school detention for a month.
Rhea rubs her arms, remembering the pain of erasing math workbooks until midnight. Though she couldn't ignore Nancy snickering about the naked guy on the stele anymore. Turning around she glares at her, "Will you shut up . You may think this is boring but some of us would like to actually hear something other than your voice for once!"
The whole class laugh, making Rhea's face burn. "Shit…that came out louder than I wanted.." she turns back, trying to ignore Mrs. Dodds glare as Mr. Bunner stops his story, "Miss Jackson, do you have a comment?"
"No, sir," she mutters.
He smiles kindly, "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?" He gestures to one of the pictures on the stele and Rhea blinks a bit, her shoulders slumping when she recognizes it.
"That's Kronos eating his kids," she replied but from the look from Mr. Bunner she could tell he wanted more. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves she begins to tell the story, "Kronos, was the King of Titans, the youngest Titan, the eldest of the three races born to Gaea and Ouranos. Before he cut up his father into pieces, Ouranos cursed or predicted that one day Kronos would suffer the same fate at the hands of his own child. That prophecy made Kronos paranoid, especially when his first child was born. When he realized that she wasn't a Titan but a Goddess, he feared what Ouranos had said and swallowed her whole. He would do the same for all their children, until his wife Rhea," at this some of her classmates mutter, which Rhea ignored, "heard the voice of Gaea advising the distraught mother to give birth somewhere hidden and hide the child and give Kronos a rock to eat. That baby was Zeus, who was raised by the nine nymphs that attended his birth. When Zeus grew into adulthood, he transformed into a Titanic version of himself and infiltrated Kronos' castle as a royal cupbearer….after many years he was able to trick Kronos into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"
"EWWWW" one of the girls behind her screamed out.
Rhea takes a deep breath, "With his siblings beside him, the divine children of Kronos declared war. An eleven year long Titanomachy, where at the beginning Kronos' side had the upper hands with their skill and more experienced warriors, but over time the Gods gain upper hand as they became skilled warriors as well. After the three brothers gained extremely powerful weapons they were able to hurl Kronos off his throne and defeated him, and as Ouranos said, cut him up itty bitty little pieces, scattering the remains in Tartarus alongside those who were loyal to him,"
"Nerd," Nancy snorts, crossing her arms, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like its going to say so on our job applications, "Please explain why Kronos ate his kids'."
"And why, Miss Jackson," Mr. Bunner smiles, pride practically glowing in his brown eyes, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter to in real life,"
"Busted," Grover grins, Lily snickering on his shoulder.
"Shut up," Nancy hisses, face brighter than her hair.
Rhea hums, smiling a bit as she thinks of his question. "Well I guess it means don't fret about the future? Kronos was so worried about the future and his downfall that he could hardly enjoy life, it even cause a rift between him and his wife so much that she betrayed him," she shrugs her shoulders, "If he didn't he could have been still the ruler of the world with a happy wife and children…he set the curse…prophecy…in motion,"
Mr. Bunner nods his head, "Excellent answer Miss Jackson. Full credits, Zeus did feed Kronos a drink that had a mixture of mustard in it, which forced the Titan to disgorge his other five children, who, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. Now on the happy note of the gods defeating their father, I think its time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"
The class drifted off, the girls holding her stomachs, the guys pushing each other around. But Rhea stood there, looking at the carving of the woman holding out a stone on the Stele.
"Miss Jackson?"
Rhea jumps as Mr. Bunner's voice sounded beside her. Patting her chest, a bit, she gives him a slight glare as he chuckles. Shaking her head she turns back to the stele, to the carving, "I was named after her," Rhea said softly, making Mr. Bunner hum, "she had a horrible start in life…abused by her father, forced to marry her brother…watching her kids being eaten until she had enough. She fought for what she believes what was right, no matter what may happen to her and in the end, she got her happy ending," she bends down, picking up Murphy into her arms, 'My mom hope that I will get that happy ending…one day,"
Mr. Bunner smiles, "Well I think you are already on your way, with your grades in my you learn from me is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such, I will accept only the best from you, Rhea Jackson,"
Rhea frowns at this, a part of her wanting to get angry at him. Mr. Bunner was fun, when he dress up in armor and shouted, "What ho," and challenge them, Honedge-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Parthenon person who had ever lived, their mother and what god they worshiped. But Mr. Bunner expected Rhea to be better, push her harder no matter that she had dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. If it wasn't for Triton and Murphy she would never have made above a C-. But Mr. Bunner didn't expect Rhea to be good, he expected her to be better.
"This makes me think he is at least part of Camp…" she thinks to herself as she nods her head while Mr. Bunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he was at this girl's funeral. But then he told her to go outside and eat my lunch.
The class was gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than Rhea had ever seen over the city. Rhea figures someone must have twisted Zeus's toga because of the weather all over Castella City since Christmas. Massive snowstorms, flooding, wildfires from lighting strikes. Nobody seem to notice or care. Som of the boys were too busy ordering their Pokemon to attack the Pidoves while Nancy was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse. Of course, Mrs. Dodds didn't notice a thing.
Rhea sat beside Grover, bringing out her own lunch, smiling as Murphy chased Lily around the fountain. Both of them thought that maybe if we sat away from their class, everybody wouldn't know that we were a part of it.
"Detention?" Grover asked with concern leaking in his voice.
Rhea shakes her head, "With Bunner? Por supuesto que no, solo desearía que me desa a veces," she muttered a bit. Grover didn't say anything as they watched the stream of cabs going down the road and she thought of her mom's apartment, only a little ways from here. A part of her wanted to jump into a taxi so bad and head home, she hadn't seen her mom since Christmas. "She would hug me and be so glad to see me, but she be disappointed, too," Rhea thought with a frown, "she would send me right back to the Academy, reminding me that I'm doing so well in this school…I wouldn't be able to stand the sad look she would give me,"
"Can I have your apple," Grover's voice breaks her out of her thoughts and Rhea couldn't help but laugh. She handed him the apple,watching as Mr. Bunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate some celery as he read a book, a red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.
Beginning to unwrap her sandwich Rhea head shot up as Nancy appears suddenly in front of Grover, dumping her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap," Oops," she sneers, as her friends laugh behind her back. A yelp was heard and Rhea's head snapped over to see Lily with a scratch mark on her head, Nancy's Skitty giggling madly as Murphy glared at the cat.
Rhea heard a wave roar in her ears and she blinked as Nancy screamed. The girl was now sitting on her butt in the fountain, pulling her soaking wet Skitty off her face, which was slightly bleeding from the Skitty's claws, "Rhea pushed me!" she wails, with fake tears streaming down her face.
Rhea looks around nervously as the kids begin to whisper.
"The water…"
"Like it grabbed her,"
Mierda, me he vuelto a equivocar." Rhea grimaces, looking down as Murphy waddles over to her, looking proud at the fact that he sent Skitty flying. Mrs. Dodds had materialized in front of Nancy, making sure she was okay and promising her a new shirt. Rhea knew she was in trouble as the teacher turned to her with triumphant fire in her eyes, as if she had been waiting for this exact moment. "Now, honey, you will come with me,"
Rhea rubs her bracelet but nods her head. But before she could take a step forward, Grover suddenly stood up, "Wait!" he yelps, eyes widen with fear, "It was me! I pushed her!"
Rhea couldn't help but stare and felt a bit of tears prick in her eyes. Rhea knew how much Mrs. Dodds terrified Grover to death. His whole body shook as Mrs. Dodds glared at him, "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she holds up a hand, her eyes slightly glowing as Grover stutters out, "You-will-stay-here!"
Rhea smiles at him, mouthing thank you to him before she follows Mrs. Dodds who was now at the top of the steps, gesturing to her to come on. Eyes narrow, Rhea rubs her bracelet more, ignoring Nancy as she walks up the stairs, Murphy following behind her. Passing Mr. Bunner who was absorbed into his novel. Following Mrs. Dodds deeper into the museum until they were back in the Parthenon section, which was now empty beside them.
Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Gods, making this growling sort of noise in her throat. Looking like she wanted to pulverize it. Muscles tensing, Rhea swallows as Mrs. Dodds turns to her, "You have been giving us problems, honey," Rhea stayed silent, her hand now gripping the bracelet tightly as she stared at her teacher's eyes. She looked beyond mad, evil even. Mrs. Dodds tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket, "Did you think you can get away with it?"
"Get away with what?" Rhea asked, her eyes glancing at Murphy who shrugs. Rhea didn't think it was about the illegal stash of candy she been selling out of her dorm room. Nor was it about the her essay son Tom Sawyer that she got from the internet.
"We are not fools, Miss Jackson," Mrs. Dodds snaps, "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain,"
Rhea hums, "How about no pain at all, and you tell me what I did?"
Mrs. Dodds snarls as her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals, fingers beginning to stretches, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings, and as she roars out Rhea could see that her mouth was full of yellow sharp fangs.
Rhea couldn't help but walked backwards, eyes widen at the sight of the Fury . Who now was lunging at her to slice her into ribbons. Murphy jumps in front of her, shooting out a water gun, that hit Mrs. Dodds right in the stomach, knocking her into a wall. Shaking her head, Rhea rubs the green jewel in the center of the bronze bracelet, which turns to water slowly sliding into Rhea's palm and transforming into a bronze trident with an emerald green in the center prong. Spinning it expertly in her hand, Rhea gets into a stance.
The Trident was a gift from Triton, before she came to the Academy. The god had been worried that now that she knew the truth about her heritage, that monsters would be coming for her. It was much better than the practice trident he had been letting her use during their lessons.
Mrs. Dodds snarls, as water drips from her form, "Die, honey!" she roars out, once more lunging for her.
But then, things got stranger. Mrs. Dodds' shadow erupted from beneath her, cutting into her shoulder. Rhea couldn't help but blink as Mr. Bunner's Honedge cries Honedge was always weird around her, and was quite different from most Honedge she had seen in textbooks. The body was of a bronze sword with a double-edge blade, with a golden hilt. Embedded in the hilt is a blue gem that appeared to be an eye. Wrapped around the pommel is a long brown leather cloth that she used to grab things. Unlike Honedge from Kalos, she did not have a sheathe.
Honedge spins in the air, dodging out of the way of Mrs. Dodds claws. Rhea shakes her head, feeling absolute terror running through her before she charges, doing the only thing that came naturally. Mrs. Dodds screech of pain echo through the gallery as the prongs of Rhea's trident pierce her chest, passing through her like she was made of water.
Rhea watches with wide eyes as Mrs. Dodds became like a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and and a chill of evil in the air. Rhea shivers, gulping as her dying screech rang in her ears, feeling as if the fury's two glowing red eyes were still watching her.
She was alone.
's Honedge was gone, her trident grip tightly in the palms of her hands.
Nobody was here…but her and Murphy who chirps out running towards her and wrapping around her leg. Flinching slightly, Rhea takes a deep breath as her hands tremble, allowing the trident to morph back into a bracelet that wrapped around her wrist.
"A Kindly One," Rhea whispers, bending down and picking Murphy into her arms, "A Kindly One here…but why?" shaking her head she went back outside. The sky was darken with storm clouds, rain falling down heavily. Grover was sitting by the fountain, using a museum map as an umbrella. Lily was spinning in circles, cheering and dancing in the rain. Nancy was still standing there, sneering at the Petilil as she grumbles to her friends, still soaked from her swim in the fountain. When she saw Rhea, she grins, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt.
It was only thanks to Triton and his lessons that Rhea wasn't confuse about who Mrs. Kerr was. "Though the Mist sure does work fast," she thought before she glares at Nancy, "And did you wait here just so you could see me cry Nancy? As you can see, no tears. Now why don't you actually do something useful in you life for once,"
Nancy flinches, before she rolls her eyes, turning away. Sighing, Rhea sat down beside Grover, thunder booming above them. She looked over to where Mr. Bunner sat, still under his red umbrella, still reading his book.
She takes another breath and grabs her lunch, "I think…I think my time as a normal mortal is almost done…" she thought as she pulls out her headphones once more, pressing play on her phone.
Sucked out the poison, drowned out the noise
Cause I made a choice and drew a hard line
Let the fire catch until I'm back to ash
If anybody asks, I'm turning back time
Chasing the ghosts that would haunt me at night
Facing my past 'cause I'm up for the fight
Somebody turned on the light
I'm not afraid to open up my eyes
But I'm still alive
I don't wanna just survive
Give me something to sink all my teeth in
Eat the devil and spit out my demons
Still alive
Already died a thousand times
Went to Hell but I'm back and I'm breathing
Make me bleed while my heart is still beating!