Chapter Text
I hate running through woods. There’s always that one root that trips you up when you’re being chased by monsters. And by monsters I mean those terrible snake women, the Scythian Dracanae. They’ve been coming after me for the last couple of days. Can’t they just leave me alone? I’m just trying to find my brother.
My brother, you may have heard of him. Percy Jackson: son of Poseidon, savior of Olympus, and most importantly to me my adopted brother. He disappeared right when our Christmas Break started, taken from the safest place in the world for demigods, Camp Half Blood. No one has a clue as to who or why someone would take one of the greatest heroes in history.
It’s been three and a half months since anybody has last seen him. Annabeth Chase, Percy’s girlfriend and a good friend of mine, was absolutely wrecked the last time I saw her, but not as much as Sally. I was the one who told her the bad news and it just broke my heart to do it. She cried into Paul’s arms for the rest of that terrible day. I left them that night, leaving a note promising her and swearing on the River Styx that I would bring her son back safe and sound.
During my quest to find Percy I went all across New York and a few other states until I met up with the son of Hades himself. Nico di Angelo, my best friend in the entire world, has been helping me in the search for a while now. His Shadow Travel abilities let us cover a lot more ground than when I was by myself. We went up and down the Eastern Seaboard and all the way to Louisiana. We were back in Maine before we separated. It was after he took a trip to Camp to get a restock in Nectar and Ambrosia.
I didn’t want to separate from him, but he said that he had an idea as to where Percy might show up and that I shouldn’t go with him. Admittedly I was pissed beyond a reasonable doubt and still a little ticked off right now, but if it was the only way Nico could follow through with his lead I agreed to it. I haven’t seen Nico since then, and that was a little more than a week ago.
And with these snake women coming after me I really wished Nico was with me. Not only because it was four against one and I would like his company, but because these monsters just wouldn’t die. I know what you’re thinking, ‘Why aren’t you using your fancy sword Tsuna?’ Well I have been using the Kusanagi (which I’ve started calling it by its true name, the Ame no Murakumo.) Magical Metals are the only materials that can even hurt monsters remember? I guess I should rephrase my complaint. The Scythian Dracanae won’t stay dead.
I have stabbed them through their hearts, decapitated them, even pulled a Monty Python’s Black Knight and cut off their limbs. But they reform before completely turning into the monster dust that’s usually left over after you kill them. Maybe if I had Nico with me his dominion over all things death would make them stay dead, at least for a few months instead of the half a second it has been. I haven’t even slept since these things caught my scent, and that was four, almost five, days ago…at least, I think it was, everything is starting to blur together at this point.
Anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier. I was running through some random forest in Maine being chased by the snake women. One of them came at me from my side with a sword that looked like it was made of gold. I was able to block it but I lost my footing and twisted my ankle. I clutched it after I fell.
The Scythian Dracanae laughed at my pain. “Aww, the poor little demigod twisssted hisss ankle.” I had enough of that hiss talk with the Orochi. “Ssshall we end hisss pain sssissstersss?”
“Oh yesss.” one of them said.
“Why did we think he wasss the ssson of Possseidon?” another asked. “We’ve wasssted all thisss time hunting him.”
“He might not be Jackssson, but our Missstresss would enjoy having him asss a plaything.” said another. “Imagine how we would be rewarded.”
“You’re hunting down Percy?” I asked. “Why?”
“None of your bussssinesssss.” The leader of this group of snakes said. “Tie him up sssissstersss.”
The other Scythian Dracanae laughed as they pulled out some rope. I sliced at any one of them that came close, but it was really hard to defend myself while I had a twisted ankle. One of the snake women jabbed me with the butt of her spear. After being knocked to the ground the Snake women grabbed my wrists and started tying me up.
Caaww!!
Thank gods I always have a friend nearby. Yatagarasu, the three legged messenger of the Shinto gods, has been traveling with me ever since I started to look for Percy. And ever since he came with me from Japan he has been watching out for me. He dove through the trees and clawed at their faces. With this distraction I rammed my sword through the chest of a Scythian Dracanae, but not before her sword grazed my side just under my ribs.
I clutched my side, and when I stood up pain shot through my leg. It was going to be hard to run away. I could heal it, but it would take time for me to access the Yasakani no Magatama’s power, let alone more concentration I was willing to give up right now. I ran as fast as I could with a twisted ankle, trying to put as little weight as possible on it. With my connection to the sea I could sense that I was close to the coast, but not close enough.
Yatagarasu caught up to me and, clutching my shoulders, flew me away from the snake women. When we were far enough he let me down gently. I hobbled over to a tree and slid down its trunk to rest. I looked down to see blood staining through my jacket.
“The cut must be deeper than I thought.” I thought to myself before pulling my shirt up to look at the wound better. It wasn’t fatally deep, but it might need stitches if I can’t heal myself soon. Yatagarasu walked over to me and nudged at my wound before hoping on my knees to poke at the Magatama so I could heal myself. “I know Yata. Thanks for the concern.”
I reached for the Magatama, only to hear to a twig snap. My demigod reflexes kicked in, so I jumped up. I didn’t even care about my sprained ankle or the cut to my side. I was just ready to defend myself from whatever monster decided to sneak up on me. But when I jumped out from the other side of the tree there wasn’t a monster standing there.
It was a wolf. The most beautiful wolf I have ever seen. Its fur was mostly white along its underside. The back of its fur was a dark grey. I’ve always loved wolves, not as much as foxes, but they have always been one of my favorite animals. What was weird was that it didn’t react to me almost attacking it with my sword. It just stared at me with a calm expression.
“Hey there boy.” I said as I had my sword go back to its ring form. “What are you doing here?”
The wolf just kept staring at me before walking closer to me. I backed up, not really sure if it was going to attack me or not. Yatagarasu wasn’t helping, because he just stared at the wolf. But all the wolf did was sniff at me. It looked up at me before turning away. Before it got went out of sight it looked back at me and let out a whine. Did it want me to follow it?
It was either follow the wolf, or let the Scythian Dracanae find and kill me. Gee, I wonder which one I’m going to choose. Yatagarasu didn’t stop me, so I guess that he trusted the wolf enough. I hobbled after the wolf, all the while hearing the monsters howling and yelling. I tried to hurry after it, but my ankle was starting to really hurt, and the cut felt like it was getting worse.
The wolf would stop after a couple of minutes so I would keep up. As much as I appreciated it, I was suspicious. It could be leading me to a trap. Wild animals are never this generous, as far as I know. But it seemed friendly. It led me and Yatagarasu to an open road. There was a town sign up ahead, though it was too far away for me to see what town I was being led to. At least I’ll be able to get some help and restock on some supplies.
The wolf started growling and its fur was on end. It freaked me out because I thought it was going to attack me and rip my throat out. But Yatagarasu started squawking at something from behind me. Before I had a chance to turn around I was grabbed by something big.
It had huge fists, just large enough to wrap around my shoulders. The hands seemed human, but they were connected to something that smelled like a barn. The creature roared, and brought me close to its face. It’s bull face.
“The Minotaur?!” I yelled as I struggled against the monster’s grip. “I thought Percy killed you!”
The Minotaur roared at the mention of Percy’s name. He must hate my brother. Well, Percy did kill him twice. But why is he even here? He should be stuck in Tartarus. The Minotaur snorted and started to walk away from the wolf. I wasn’t going to let this thing kidnap me, so I brought out my sword and thrust it through the monsters wrist.
It roared loudly before it threw me. As I went flying I saw the town sign getting closer. Oh, this is going to hurt. I heard Yatagarasu caw and saw it fly passed me. When I hit the sign, I vaguely noticed how it didn’t hurt quite as much as I thought hitting a solid wood sign would be. I rolled over and was clutching my sides in pain. I had to have a couple of ribs broken. I prayed that nothing was punctured.
Amidst the pieces of wood was Yatagarasu. He was lying on the ground making wheezing noises with each breath. He must have flown between me and the sign to cushion the impact. The idiot. I picked him up as gently as I could, cradling him close to my chest, and saw that his left wing was broken.
The Minotaur roared. “Take one step closer and get deep fried.” I warned it.
The bull headed (Ha, what a pun) creature stepped closer. I gritted my teeth and used my powers to summon a lightning bolt. It took a lot of out of me, but that lightning bolt hit right in front of the Minotaur. It snorted but backed up.
“If you or the snakes follow me, I will make you crispier than KFC, got it?” I said. The Minotaur roared, but it didn’t come any closer. “Who knew you could listen.”
I gently cradled Yatagarasu to my chest and hobbled to the closest town, feeling incredibly dizzy from the lightning bolt. I fought through the pain, feeling my blood trickle down my side. I tried to get the Magatama to activate so it would heal the two of us but it never turned on. Why start having a mind of its own now? Come on Aunt Ameterasu!
When I arrived in the town nothing was open. Given the time at night I wasn’t surprised. But how was I supposed to get help now? I walked down Main Street, looking for any help. There were all these stores that were closed for the night. I was half tempted to break into one to rest up but they could have alarms, and trying to explain to the police why a beaten and bloodied teenager with an injured bird is breaking into a store was something I did not want to explain.
I saw a bird bath in what appeared to be a patio of a diner. The lights were on inside, so someone had to be inside. But first I had to take care of Yatagarasu. I laid him down in the water, and after sticking my hand in it I focused it to heal Yatagarasu of his injuries. The water climbed up his body, and after a few minutes it flowed off of him. He looked surprised to be healed. He chirped in gratitude before pecking at the Magatama again.
“I can’t Yata.” I said. “It’s not working for some reason. And the water in there isn’t enough to heal me.” He chirped again with concern. “It’ll be okay. Trust me.”
With that I started hobbling to the door of the diner. Granny’s Diner, if I’m reading the neon sign correctly. What a weird name. I think there was a party going on with all the noise that I was hearing. But as I reached for the door it opened on its own. A woman with shoulder length black hair, who looked very professional and business-y, was standing in the doorway.
But her visage blurred until she looked drastically different. She was wearing a black dress that looked queenly. It also looked vicious, with tight black leather and an authority of power radiating off of her. It made my head hurt. It hurt so much that everything started spinning and I fell into the woman’s arms.
“Oh my god! Swan!” cried the woman. She set me down on the floor. “Someone call an ambulance!” And with that I passed out, the voices of the other people of the diner fading out.