Chapter Text
Perseus woke up, lying on his back as water lapped gently against him. It was safe to say he freaked out.
Where the fuck was he?
Who the fuck was he?
Why the fuck can he not remember anything.
The water seemed to be actively keeping him up, but that was impossible.
He feels something touch his shoulder and he flails. When he finally rights himself he sees what touched him. A girl.
Maybe 16, dark skinned, blackish-brown hair, ocean blue eyes.
"Sorry. Just making sure you were alive. You looked kind of dead."
"I'm okay." He says. His own voice surprises him. It's deep. Sad?
"Where are you from? The north? Your obviously a water bender."
"A what?"
"A- water bender?" She has to double take. "You know, like other benders but more watery."
"What the hell is a bender?"
"Your joking, right? You're literally bending right now." She says, gesturing down.
Perseus glances down the water beneath him is swirling, wrapping around his legs, keeping him upright.
If he was on solid ground he'd have stumbled back.
"What the fuck?"
"Have you hit your head or something?" The girl asks, looking concerned.
"Maybe. I don't remember anything."
She stares at him. Blinks.
"We should go ashore."
"Okay."
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"I don't trust him." Sokka said.
"He's literally a waterbender!" Katara argued.
"I don't care." Toph offered.
"Thanks for the input Toph." Katara muttered.
"Your welcome."
Perseus watched the back and forth for a few seconds. Eventually Katara kneeled in front of him and held her hand in front of his face.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three."
"What's your name?"
"Perseus."
"Thas a dumb name." Toph said.
"Your literally called Toph."
"Do you remember where your from?" Katara continued.
He shook his head.
She frowned. "I'm gonna try and heal you, but I don't think you have a concusion."
"Can someone explain what's going on?" Perceus finally asked.
"Easy." Sokka said. "The unconscious kid over there is the Avatar. We're being chased by the firenation, he was hit by lightning, we're trying to prevent war, she's teaching him waterbending, I'm her brother, she's teaching him earthbending and she's like basically a princess, the unconscious kid, Aang is 112 cause he was frozen for a hundred years in which time the world has been at war, all of the air nomads and southern waterbeders except for my little sister were killed which is why you my friend must be a Northern man. Oh yeah, Ba Sing Se is now being occupied by the fire nation. And they're chasing us."
Perseus stared at him, glanced at Katara. "Is he serious?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." Perseus had a feeling it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd heard.
"But how can he waterbend so well with no memory? He's using techniques I've never seen. Not even when Aang's in the Avatar state."
"What's the Avatar?"
Toph blinked. "Are you serious? Is he serious?"
"Yes?"
Sokka sighed. "The only person who can bend all four elements. They're reincarnated every time one dies. And they can like, speak to the spirits or something."
"Oh."
Katara bended water from a pouch at her side. It glowed slightly as it floated towards him.
"What are you doing?"
"Healing you. Or trying. I still don't think he's concused Sokka."
"Would you please just try?"
She bended the water to his head and after a few seconds sighed, dropping the water.
"He's fine." She frowned. "You dont remember anything, Perceus?"
"No, I-"
A girl. A blonde girl with stormy eyes and- it was hard to picture solid features but for some reason he was sure she was the most beautiful woman he ever saw.
"Perseus?"
"Um." He swallowed, blinking. "A girl. Annabeth, I think. That's it.
Sokka's face softened a bit. "I'm sure you'll find her."
"Yeah. Um, where are you guys going anyway?"
"Away. We've heard of water tribe soildiers near by. We're hoping our fathers with them."
Perseus nodded.
"Okay, um . . ."
Where should I go? He wanted to ask.
"You could come with us." Toph says. Sokka punches her.
"You can't promise that! We don't know him! He could be a fire nation spy!"
"He's not a spy Sokka!" Toph argued.
"We can't just leave him!" Katara agreed.
"I'm fine." Perseus offered.
"Shush. You're not helping my argument here." Toph snapped.
Sokka groaned. "Let's just think about it. And I dunno, maybe let him have a say in it? And not kidnap him?"
"Well we can't let him go around on his own with no memory and a war going on!" Katara told him.
"I'm fine with kidnapping him" Toph said, raising her hand.
Sokka groaned. "Fine. But only because we could use another fighter."
He looked Perseus up and down. "I'm assuming your a fighter. With the. . . armour and sword and stuff."
He glanced down. He was clad in full Greek armour, chestplate, pteruges-skirt-tingy, sandles and vambraces. There was a sword strapped to his side in a simple sheath.
"I. . . guess." He frowned, drawing his sword. It was weighted perfectly, around a meter in length, bronze. It glowed slightly. Weird.
Ἀνακλυσμός was engraved into it. Riptide his brain translated instantly.
"What does that mean?" Katara asked.
"What does what mean?" Toph asked.
"There's something written on his sword. In a different language I think. What's it say?" Sokka asked.
"It means Riptide." Perseus said.
"What language is it in?" She asked.
"Ancient Greek."
"What? What's that?"
"Greek. . . But like, old?" He responded.
"What's Greek?"
"What they speak in Greece." Perseus said, confused.
"Where's Greece?"
"Where's- you don't know where Greece is?" Perseus said, shocked.
"Do you?" Sokka demanded.
"I literally remember nothing. But I'm pretty sure Greece is an important place." Perseus argued.
"Never heard of it." Toph said, shrugging.
He sighed. "If your kidnapping me, when are we leaving. If we're being persuaded shouldn't we be on the move?"
"Probably. We stopped so Katara could have a proper healing session with Aang."
He frowned, looking across the camp to the boy laying against the bison. He was young. Ten, maybe? Completely bald except his eyebrows and with what looked like a blue tattoo of an arrow on his forehead. He had a blanket over him but he looked pale. Sickly. "What's wrong with him anyway?"
"Got hit by lightning." Katara said quietly. "When he was in the Avatar state."
"And that's. . . bad?"
"Very bad."
Perseus nodded. "Can I help? I don't like feeling useless."
Sokka shrugged. "I'm going hunting later. Toph and Katara don't know how to hunt and I could use some help. Wait, can you hunt?"
He nodded, on instinct. "I think I can handle a deer or two." He said, grinning. "I've definitely killed bigger."
Sokka nodded, satisfied. "Relaxing for a while. I'm not going for an hour."
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Toph sat down on a rock beside the boy. She was around the same age as Aang, black hair in a fancy updo, dressed in loose earth tone clothes. She had no shoes for some reason.
"So. . .are you hot?" She asked.
He chocked on his drink.
"Sorry?"
"Are you or are you not attractive? I'm getting the vibes that you are. I'm just looking for confirmation."
"Toph!" Katara scolded.
"I don't even know what I look like." Perseus said.
"Okay. Sokka, Katara, is he hot?"
"I- Toph you can't just ask that!" Katara said.
"I mean, he's not bad looking." Sokka said.
"Sokka!"
"Katara!" He mimicked.
"I'm sorry. I have to ask. Are you blind?" Perseus finally asked, ignoring the others.
"Well obviously!" Toph responded.
"Right. Sorry. Cause you just seem very aware of your surroundings."
"I'm an earth bender. I've learned to see through the earth and stuff. I don't know how to explain it but I'm like. . . aware of everything touching the ground even if I can't see."
Perseus nodded. "I felt that when I was in the water earlier."
"What?" Katara said.
"What?"
"That's not- waterbenders can't do that!"
"Well I did." He says, shrugging.
She just stares at him.
"Right." Sokka said, slinging a pack over his shoulder. "If your done talking about your magic can we go hunting?"
Perseus nodded. "Ready when you are."
"Let's go."
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Percy stalked through the woods carefully, sword drawn. Sokka was surprisingly capable of being quiet when necessary. He held a large metal blade with a round club part at he end. The blade itself didn't look very sharp but he also held a hunting knife in a sheath and a surprisingly deadly boomerang.
The woods was large. The animals seemed. . . unfamiliar. The trees were mostly coniferous, so not as many twigs and the ground was coated in a thick layer of moss to better mask the sound of their footsteps. He was still careful. Sokka gestured to stop and the two boys crouched behind a bush.
There was an animal that looked somewhere between a deer and a cow drinking from the river.
It was a stag(bull?) by the looks of things and on its own. Sokka gestured that he'd go around and to wait. Perseus nodded.
Sokka disappeared into the foliage and after a minute he seen the glint of metal in a bush the far side of the river. He gave a thumbs up and the two boys charged, quiet enough to get within two meters before it noticed and tried to dart. Perseus slashed across it's leg and Sokka tackled it, quickly drawing a knife and slitting it's throat. He wasn't sure but he might have heard Sokka muttering beneath his breath. A prayer, maybe?
Sokka stood, grinning.
"I haven't been able to hunt anything this big since before the men of my tribe left. I hadn't realised how much I missed having someone to hunt with. Thanks man."
"No problem." Perseus responded, grinning.
They carried it back to camp together and with Kataras help got to work skinning and gutting it. Sokka talked about how Perseus must be an experienced hunter.
Perseus just worked away at cleaning the meat trying to ignore them. (Why was he so bad at taking complements?)
Eventually they had enough clean meat for Katara to cook with. To keep himself busy, he offered to help.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yeah. Unless you prefer cooking yourself?"
"No, it's okay! Just wondering." She assured him.
He nodded.
"What're we making?"
"Stew. We have some potatoes and carrots in a bag somewhere and some herbs."
He nodded, getting to work chopping vegetables.
"Damn. You're really good with a weapon." Sokka said.
Perseus glanced down at the knife.
"Oh. Thanks?"
When dinner was ready they sat around a campfire and ate. Perseus cleaned his sword carefully as the others talked. Toph told stories of their travels so far. Occasionally Katara would chime in to say she was exaggerating. Sokka also chimed in but Perceus was pretty sure it was just to exaggerate further.
When Katara was finished eating she started healing the unconscious Avatar. Sokka and Perseus cleaned up.
When they were done he wandered over towards Katara and sat down beside her, cross-legged.
The water she was using glowed. As bright as his sword, if not brighter. She bended the water in circular motions over a nasty burn wound on his back. It was massive, red and scabbing. The skin surrounding it was peeling badly.
He stared at the girl's bending, mesmerised.
She smiled slightly. "First time seeing healing?"
"Well obviously."
"Oh, yeah."
"How do you. . ." He began.
"I don't really know how to describe it. It doesn't come to everyone naturally. But their's spirit magic everywhere." She said, shrugging slightly. "I'm sure you could learn."
He nodded slightly. She bended the water back into her waterskin and rolled Aang onto his back then putting a blanket over him.
She glanced at Perseus.
"You should get some sleep."
He nodded. "Yeah. You sure you don't want me to take watch?"
"Nah. Tophs got that covered with her seismic senses." She frowned. "You want something more comfortable to sleep in than armour?"
Perseus glances down at himself for the millionth time today. "Oh. Yeah."
She nodded and turns to root in there stuff.
"Sokka I'm stealing some of your clothes to give to Perseus!"
"Hey-" Sokka begins
"It's really okay." Perseus says.
"Oh, Sokka doesn't really mind." She says, handing him a pile of clothes.
"Hopefully they're not to small. I can make adjustments if I have to."
"Thanks."
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He goes to the edge of the camp to change. He takes of his armour, placing it carefully beside him. It takes a bit to figure out the tunic but he gets it. He's wearing navy trousers, a dark blue tunic with wave patterns embroidered into the bottom and a long-sleeved underneath.
She also gave him some booths to replace the sandles but he just takes them off to sleep.
He makes his way back to the camp and collapses beside Toph and Sokka, grabbing a spare blanket. He's out in a second.
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You have to understand Perceus, you need to understand your powers to defeat Gaia. I planned to exchange you with the Roman boy but that won't work anymore.
I have sent another in your replacement. You will return home. After you have mastered your powers and helped these people defeated the Firelord.
Then, and only then can you return home. Reunite with your family. Fight son of Posidon. The fate of the world's depend on it.