This is the second POV chapter that doesn't belong to Atreus or Kratos, which may clear up another aspect of this story. I'll explain more below.
Camp Half-Blood
Percy was a big believer of coincidence, it just seemed to always work for him. Whether it was good or bad, things always managed to line up for him, just a perk of being a demi-god maybe. Today was no different.
Yesterday, Annabeth had called him through an Iris message, explaining what she'd been dealing with. She explained her situation with the goddess Freya and a demi-god by the name of Atreus looking for his father named Kratos. Then that very evening Chiron introduces a minor god by the name Kratos, who was conveniently staying with them for a while.
Looking at the minor god was…weird. The best way Percy could describe it was looking at an old beat-up muscle car, you could see that it once had shine but it clearly isn't in peak condition. Then of course there was the name, this had to be the guy Annabeth was talking about. But the story behind him was outlandish, fighting against the gods, being the last Olympian alive? Even Percy found that crazy.
He knew he had to tell Annabeth, the very next morning he tried to message her. Thankfully his cabin led out into the lake behind the camp, Long Island Sound looked great in the mornings, The low hanging sun cast a shine across the water that Percy felt nostalgic for. It reminded him just how few days he had left here, by the next school semester he and Annabeth would both be in New Rome University, sure he could always come back but this would be the start of a new portion of his life. It felt…final, in a way.
Taking out a gold coin, Percy set up an iris message, ready to talk to Annabeth. As he tossed the coin and asked for Annabeth the rainbow image wavered for a bit. Weird, Iris Messages were nearly instant.
"Show me Annabeth Chase," Percy spoke again, insisting this time.
Again the Iris Message did not show Annabeth. That feeling inside of him that worried was starting to grow.
"Maybe it's the message?" He asked himself, not sounding sure. He reflected the light more directly, that didn't help. He tossed in another coin, perhaps Iris wanted more money? Unfortunately that didn't change either.
"Show me…" He thought for a moment, who could he message.
"Show me Frank Zhang." Without issue, the Iris Message morphed to show Percy's request.
Frank sat in an office the size of his bedroom, bookcases wrapped around the walls and a small nameplate with Frank's name on it. 'Frank Zhang, Hero of Olympus, Legacy of Poseidon, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Available from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.' Frank was enveloped in paper work, a stack on either side of him as he read and signed off on various pieces of paperwork.
"Hey Frank," Percy called out, Frank must've been absorbed to hear the Iris Message form because Frank whipped his head up like he just got surrounded by some monsters.
"Oh, Percy!" Frank calmed down, he relaxed his arm that held his pen like a knife, "Sorry, I didn't expect a call from you, and I was busy. What can I do for you?"
"I'm having some problems on my end, something weird is going on with the Iris Messaging, can you get Annabeth for me?" The sooner he spoke to Annabeth the better.
"Weird how?" Frank asked.
"Like…" Percy thought of how to phrase it, before snapping his fingers, "It's like being left on dial, the phone is ringing but no one is picking up." Frank cupped his chin, thinking.
"We haven't had any issue on our end. As for Annabeth, she left hours ago. I'm sure she let you in on what's been happening?" Percy nodded, "Good."
"I haven't been able to reach her this entire morning, I was hoping maybe you can check on her."
Frank nodded, "I'll see if I can get someone to get a message to…," A knock sounded from somewhere Percy couldn't see, he guessed the door to Frank's office. "Come in!" Frank said, "Gimme a sec Percy?" Frank walked out of view, he could hear talking but nothing concrete, he could tell it was urgent by how they talked.
Frank walked back into view, obviously rushing, "Hey Percy, something came up, Call you later, okay? Bye." Frank dismissed the Iris Message with a wipe, and the call ended there.
The rest of the day was not a pleasant one, Percy was anxious to say the least. Frank had something urgent to do and Annabeth couldn't be reached by Iris Message, he didn't like it at all. But he would endure for the time being. Today was going to be a busy day, he had self-defense classes to teach for the whole day.
Breakfast was a quick affair, he wasn't in the hungriest of moods, what with his growing worry over Annabeth. He looked over to the head table, Kratos was still here along with that head he spoke to. Percy at first thought it was a trophy, but no, in fact it was an actual talking head. That definitely didn't creep him out at all. Kratos spoke to the head, and once he was finished Rachel had come over to talk to him, maybe to give him the tour. Rachel liked doing the tours for new campers, she told him it was always fun to see the reactions on the kids' faces whenever they saw some of the wilder parts of camp.
Eventually he left the dining hall and got ready for his class, like many things in his life this was Annabeth's idea. She was the one to recommend a self-defense class taught by him, as he was obviously the best sword fighter in camp - Jason coming in a distant second if you asked Percy.
"It would be good of you to pass on some of your skills," Annabeth told him, one night as they looked over Long Island sound, "And hey, maybe if one of them gets better than you we won't need to worry."
It wasn't a bad idea, entirely. So he went with it, and now here he was sparring with a new kid. The boy was a son of Ares, brash, hot headed, and all the qualities that came with it. The kid was basically a younger Clarrisse, except without the electric spear she once wielded. That also meant he was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop.
"RAH!" The boy yelled.
The boy swung at him hard, but power didn't always come with accuracy, and the wooden training sword he was given swung clear of him as Percy deftly moved away from the swing.
Percy turned away from the kid to address the others, boys and girls in training pads and wooden swords clasped to their hips, "New lesson class, don't convey to your enemies that you're about to-"
"YAH!" The Ares kid shouted behind him, he could feel the air rapidly move behind him.
Percy once again moved, this time sticking his leg out so the Ares kid would trip over it as his momentum carried him forward. "Attack." He finished.
It worked just as he imagined it, the Ares kid put too much momentum into the swing and couldn't readjust. The move brought his leg forward enough for him to trip and fall into the grass. Some of the kids laughed. The boy could only look away in embarrassment.
"It doesn't matter how hard you swing if you miss, especially in a fight with a monster. They won't give you a second chance if they could." Percy walked over to the kid and lent out his hand, the Ares kid begrudgingly took it and stood back up.
"Okay class, pair up into groups and spar. I'll be watching over you all and critiquing. No maiming or scarring, we just got these new swords from the Hephaestus cabin last week and I want them to last." The kids dispersed into their small groups, leaving Percy time to watch them all.
As he did he looked out beyond them, a figure managing to catch his eye. Kratos and Rachel had been watching the class. The two - and a half? Did he count the head? - of them left shortly after, making their way back to the cabins. Before he could even think about it, he was called back to the sparring children.
The rest of the day was filled with more new kids in search of practical sword fighting skills. By the afternoon, he was dying for some food and quiet, especially quiet. He was never this nosy as a kid was he?
As he entered the dining hall, the camp was just filled with chatter. This wasn't unusual but it definitely had a different tone to it. Coincidentally he happened to bump into Clarisse on his way to the tables. Literally.
"Watch it." She warned, shouldering him away.
"Hey there, Clarisse. So what's got the camp so talkative tonight?" He asked as the two walked side by side.
"Mecha-Clops got beaten." She bit out.
Percy raised his brow, "Really?" It wasn't that long ago when the Hephaestus cabin displayed their newest invention, Mecha-Clops. Supposedly it was to be a new attraction for Camp Half-Blood, an automaton to rival even the lava wall.
Mecha-Clops was instantly popular with the older campers, those who wanted to test their metal against the mechanical monster. Even Percy wanted to take a swing at it. But it was quickly discovered that Mecha-Clops was more than just a glorified training dummy, it was actually hard. Plenty of campers tried their best, some managed to survive the onslaught of attacks, but most failed. Percy had a hard time getting through it all himself. But one thing remained, Mecha-Clops could not be beaten. That is until today apparently.
"So, who did it?" Percy asked.
"Jason, and him." Clarisse pointed to Kratos, sitting at the head table, speaking with his head friend.
"Is that considered cheating or…?" Whatever the answer Clarisse did not give him one. She instead left to her table, unusually quiet and - dare he say - in thought.
Left alone, Percy passed by Jason, who had a few bandages around him, clearly from his fight with Mecha-Clops. "Praise the conquering hero." Percy mocked as he clasped his hands around Jason's shoulders.
"Ow," Jason weakly muttered.
"So, congrats on the beating of such a fearsome foe. Perhaps you're a little closer to being the best swordsman in camp…maybe." Percy joked, pat Jason's shoulder.
Jason couldn't help but chuckle, "Thanks, but I probably did the least work. It really was his work that made it possible." Jason nodded to Kratos, still in conversation with his head friend.
"How much we talking?" Percy asked.
Jason thought for a moment before giving his answer, "Like 80%." Percy couldn't help but whistle.
"Wow man, really gonna let him get all of the credit?" Percy crossed his hands.
"I was doing my own run against Mecha-Clops, was sloppy, almost got knocked to next week until he came." Jason looked back at Kratos, "He was the one to ensure the killing blow, so he was pretty much the only reason we beat it."
"Well rest up then, I'm sure Piper wouldn't want to see you like this." Jason's face fell, a frown covering his face.
"Yeah." He said solemnly, before turning back to his plate.
Percy found that odd, but relented. Dinner passed and Percy headed back to his cabins, he wondered what Frank was up to. It had been all day since he spoke to him, what could be so urgent to have taken this long?
"Hey Percy!"
"GAH!" Percy jumped with Riptide immediately pulled out ready to defend himself, only to see an Iris Message in front of him.
"Oh, sorry man, didn't mean to spook you." Frank sat across from him…well technically he sat across the country from him.
Percy relaxed, put Riptide away, and addressed Frank, "Hey there, was literally just thinking about you."
Frank rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry, things have been hectic on my side of things."
"Is there any good news?" Percy asked, Frank did not immediately say yes.
"There's been an…accident? The airport Annabeth was flying out of got attacked, we're still assessing by what but it looked magical in nature, not something we've seen personally but we think it might be something from the Nordic pantheon, just as a guess." That got him worried.
"What about Annabeth?"
"We couldn't find her, we tried Iris Messaging her like you, but nothing went through. We have some of our own wandering the city looking for her, we even went to her dads place to see if she was there. He said he hadn't seen her since she picked up the plane tickets." Percy thought back to his last conversation with Annabeth, what she could possibly do next.
"A bus. Yeah that's right she said she was going to get bus tickets as a backup." Annabeth was always one for backup plans.
"That seems like something she'd do, I'll relay what you've told me. We'll find her, don't worry." He could tell Frank was trying to be considerate.
"Thanks, but I doubt you will, Annabeth is pretty good at this kinda stuff."
Frank chuckled, "Well then we'll do our best. I'll keep you informed when we get more information, see ya." Frank waved.
"See ya," Percy waved back.
Percy looked ahead of it towards the cabins…and turned away. There was someone he needed to speak to right now. He made his way past the mess hall, all the way to the Big House. If anyone could help him, it was probably going to be someone who would have a reason all their own. He just hoped that this was the person Annabeth was talking about.
On the steps leading to the Big House, the god Kratos stood, speaking with the head. "...en we go and speak to him, it shouldn't be that hard, right?" The head spoke.
"He is an irritant, but he is likely our best option." Kratos said, agreeing.
Percy coughed, making himself known. The two of them looked at him, finally noticing him.
This close Percy's last observation of the god felt even truer. Kratos was old, he looked ancient compared to the other Olympians who looked eternal. Ares may have his scars, Hades may have his pale skin, and Zeus might have that gigantic beard of his but Kratos felt old. The way parts of his face sagged, the scars, the beard, the demeanor. It spoke of someone who has been through a lot. And from the story Annabeth relayed to him, he certainly did. Kratos now felt like a shadow of the power he once had, it was unnerving. But he pushed it aside, he had business with the god.
"We need to talk."
Alright it's time to talk about Kratos. Earlier in this story you might remember him being called a minor god, this is because of a few things.
1) Kratos is not as powerful as he used to be, he may have gained some of it back but decades (centuries maybe, it's unclear) after the original GoW trilogy and being away from his homeland clearly hasn't been good to him. No matter how you slice it, Kratos is just basically weaker than before.
2) Because of that, it is entirely a misconception on everyone else's part. Kratos is not someone who would willingly correct someone, especially if it's to his benefit. He prefers that everyone treat him like a minor god so they don't get in his way.
These two reasons are why he is being called a minor god in this story, I hope that clears it up.