Chapter Text
Alina's cheeks are red, cold nipping fiercely. She's not the biggest fan of the cold, but when you're an orphan on the streets, you don't really have a choice. It's not even that cold out, but September has some weird weather.
She staggers along New York's streets. The big city buildings tower over her like giants. She isn't more than fifteen but her harsh truth is she'll never stand as tall as the sky scrapers. People walk past, most not even giving her a glance, some look with pity and some with disgust, she's not surprised.
Speaking of giants, eyes loom at her from the shadows. Alina must be imagining it. The cold is making her go crazy! Great!
Alina thinks back to her siblings, and how much she missed them. Luckily they have a warm bed and roof over their heads, she's grateful she was the only half sibling, if her brother and sister were here instead of just her, she probably wouldn't have made it as far.
Loneliness creeps on her like an everlasting chill. A year of jumping around foster homes and families realising she was too difficult. Too much work. Then a year of the streets, wandering streets and neighbourhoods, never staying in a place too long. Eyes in the shadows watch her intently, her every move and breath.
Alina walks slowly, the Empire State building comes into view. It's tall. Taller than Alina thought it would be. She doesn’t care for it much, but her brother had wanted to see it. He always liked the weirdest things, and pointed out little details with strange facts.
A boy passes her, his sea green eyes meeting Alina’s. He looks as if he’s never seen a roughed up girl before. She scowls at his judgement. She’s used to it, but when it comes to kids who look her age she can’t help but feel terrible.
He’s gone before she can remember his face and she turns the corner with more faces of disgust and pity aimed at her. A yell shakes the ground, stopping Alina in her tracks. The yell wasn’t human, and when she turns to an alley across the street where the yell came from, a monstrous giant is charging at her.
Cars and taxis don’t stop as it runs across the street. Why aren’t more people scared? Can they even see it? Every bone in Alina’s body wants her to stay in place, maybe it's a hallucination. Maybe it's real and she’ll finally die. But no, he body is moving on its own, towards the monster much to her dismay.
Her fingers curl around something. A handle maybe? It’s cool and feels natural. Quickly, her hand starts to burn. Her weapon, some kind of axe, is burning red, illuminating a faint glow.
Words, not English, flood her brain and she swings the axe towards the monster without a problem, as if she fights these things for a living. What a nightmare that would be. The giant displays a flesh cut and roars, swinging at the girl. Alina jumps, flipping over the giant. She was always good at sports, but this thing is like 9 feet tall. How the hell-?
Alina is swinging the axe down the giants back, cutting straight through. Alina lands roughly, twisting her ankle. She flips her head up to see the giant is disintegrating into dust. She wants to fight more! Where are the others? The axe burns bright red, melting to the ground, leaving her hands burned and blistered.
A crowd had gathered, but they’re looking at Alina like she just murdered a dog. She wipes her tears- tears? Why was she crying? She was just holding a fucking axe for gods sake! This is not the time to cry, it's time to be cool.
She looks at the crowd that had gathered, on a street corner the boy from earlier is staring straight at her. A pen? In his hand. He looks as if he were to jump into action. Did he really see the giant? He had a surprised look on his face, his eyes glinting with curiosity. Alina looks away, unease settling through her.
She runs, more tears streaming her cheeks. Stop fucking crying. She turns to where the giant was but there's just a smashed car. What? Was it really a hallucination? She really just destroyed someone's car and is fleeing like a guilty person. Maybe she is guilty. Alina spots an alley and makes it her hiding spot. Yelling makes her cry harder.
Is it real? The yelling? It's been so long since she heard that voice. Why now? What if the police were after her? Why would she come looking for Alina now!?
Her bodys hot, too hot. Her eyes feel like they're melting, what if she slept? Would that stop it all? Yeah, Yeah it would.
***
Percy walks by a girl, her bright brown eyes glaring at him. She was covered in dirt, her clothes were barely held together but she looked like she could take on the world.
He had no time to worry about that, his mother was waiting for him at home. He turns the corner and is halfway down the block when an unnatural yell shakes the streets.
Percy knows how to handle it, but why the fuck is a monster just going off like that? This summer just wasn't enough. Did his scent cause it? Demigods have a certain smell, he thinks while running back.
When he turns the corner and is about to uncap his ballpoint pen, which turns into his sword Riptide, he stops.
The girl from earlier is moving, her hands pull materials up, as if a melted item is being put in reverse. By the end she's holding… a fucking labrys?!
Percy watches as her hands turn bright red, changing the labrys’s colour and giving it a faint glow, the same faint glow in her eyes.
She swings, giving the monster a nasty gash. Percy's about to step in, to help her out but she's jumping up and flipping, killing the monster and sending it back to Tartarus.
She must be skilled, doing those things with such ease. Percy wasn't going to stay longer, or follow her when she ran, but the sword she held melted back to the ground, and then they made eye contact.
Her unruly hair was singed, and tears pricked her eyes. She reminded him of Nico. She started to run, and he's following, calling out to her.
When he ran by where she stood, the Greek letter A was burned into the ground. Nevermind that, follow her.
As Percy runs she gets hotter. A red aura surrounds her. She dashes into an alley and he tries to approach her, but it's like walking into a sauna.
She melts the concrete under her, and the brick wall behind her. No shit she's a demigod, but which one would bless their kids with so much power? Her aura calms down and Percy texts his mom. He'd be bringing home someone.