Family No Matter What (Percy Jackson and the Avengers fanfic)

Chapter 9

Annabeth grimaces as Ian once again hits the ground. He at least manages to roll and bounce back to his feet this time. He's improving, the Daughter of Athena must admit. However it's not at nearly a fast enough pace. The demigods his age like Ian, but even they have begun to pick fun at his underdevelopement. Annabeth wants to tell them that he's actually a mortal and that for being one he is actually highly skilled.

Chiron says they can't though and she has to agree. Revealing Ian will only bring the target on his back straight to Camp and most of the kids who have actual combat experience have gone home for the school year. 

They put Ian in the Hermes cabin, a jack of all trades and master of none position where he can more easily blend in. Somehow Annabeth managed to convince the God to claim Ian when she went up to Olympus to report this latest disruption. Well it was actually her mother that did the convincing, but either way the results were the same. Ian's parents were contacted and convinced that their son is attending a prestigious private school for his last year and sorry, but he just doesn't have time to come back and get his stuff and no you can't come visit him. As for Ian's diploma and real senior year, Annabeth assures him she'll come up with something (aka probably convincing Tony Stark to fake the necessary documents).

Ian is taking it hard. 

Everyone he knows is in the outside world and he doesn't know what he's going to do with soccer for the next year or more that he's forced to stay here. He has to hope that it won't be too long, but with the way everyone is acting, he's not too sure.

As he readies the uncomfortably balanced sword and squats down slightly, readying for Annabeth's next move, he can't help but think back to his dream last night and the presence that seems to have vanished from his head for the time being.

- O - O - O - O - O -

He had just managed to get to sleep when he was waking up again. However this was in a different bed in a different cabin. The wall are blue and there are various sea-themed accents spaced throughout the room, including a tinkling fountain in the corner. He slowly sits up. This must be the Poseidon cabin, but it looks different than what he saw just a few days ago when he helped Mary prepare for one of her sparring lessons. He and the young girl have been spending slightly more time together, both somewhat isolated from everyone just for different reasons. Mary is a child of the big three and Ian isn't ADHD or dyslexic like the demigods here. He's into all the things going on in the outside world and doesn't take much interest in fighting or doing other things demigods find interesting. He gets along with the others sure, but his small oddities plus the fact that he's still pretty unskilled with weapons sets him apart greatly.

It's still night out and the only light in the room comes from the fountain. It gives the room a blue, underwater glow. Everything seems muted though, like they sometimes do in dreams. That's what it must be then. A dream. 

A small cough brings attention to the bed across from him and he turns to find someone sitting on the previously vacant space. He's tall and lean with strong swimmer muscles. His hair is jet black, his eyes a darker version of Ian's own, and a slightly mischievous smile pulls at his lips. He's wearing an orange t-shirt, one of the old style of camp half-blood ones that Annabeth wears on occasion and a pair of blue jeans with mud stains on the knees. His trainers are scuffed and dirty, the dirt on them a deep, ominous black that Ian has never seen before. Something clicks then and he realizes that this must be Percy.

'Hey,' he says.

Ian just blinks back. "Hey."

'You're probably wondering why you're here,' Percy says, leaning back on his arms. 

The blond shrugs. "A bit. It's not everyday you see the guy you apparently were in a past life sitting across from you." 

Percy smiles, but it's sad. He looks worn, kind of like Ian's grandfather who was a prisoner of war during the last alien invasion. No one really talks about what happened much, but it changed the old man's perspective of the world, like he just doesn't find any joy in life anymore. Percy looks like this now, but that doesn't make sense because Percy died and Ian was supposed to be his second chance. In fact Ian is supposed to be Percy, just...reset. The black haired demigod sighs. 'That's the problem though. You're not me. I was supposed to be reincarnated, but one of the gods who didn't like me interfered.'

"Then what happened?" Ian questions, eyebrows furrowed. 

'I was tossed in a body with you. For some time it was like we were kind of merged - or one person - but now if feels like we're separating and becoming different people or like we're just now realizing we're separate,' the demigod explains, though he wrinkles his forehead in distaste. 'That doesn't make sense.'

"No," Ian says, stopping him. "It might. Look my dad confided in me a couple years ago that I should have had a brother. I would have had an identical twin, but there were complications during our birth. He died a couple minutes after being born apparently, but what if he was you? What if you were meant to be my twin?"

Percy tilts his head to the side, a thoughtful look on his face. 'And what? When I died again my soul just hopped into your body?'

"Would it be that far fetched? We were babies and then we shared a body for so long. We have never have noticed we weren't the same person," Ian cries. He knows it sounds absurd, but it also feels right as if what he's saying is true. "We probably weren't supposed to be twins in the first place. I bet it was just supposed to be you, but I somehow squeezed into the picture and everything got all messed up!"

Percy nods slowly. That makes sense, he supposes. He just remembers that Hera didn't want him reincarnated and tried to stop it, but by that point he had already begun to reenter the world of the living and so she would have had to take an indirect approach. 'Then coming into contact with Greek world is what set us apart again.'

Ian nods vigorously. It seems crazy, but he was so disappointed upon hearing just how close he had come to having the brother he always wanted and now he's learning that he in a way still has said brother. He pauses. "But why am I here then. I mean not that this isn't useful information that we've discovered, but you brought me here for a different reason didn't you?"

Percy tilts his head back and barks out a laugh. 'Yeah, I guess I forgot. I'm still going to blame the ADHD despite having died.' He suddenly turns serious and looks Ian straight in the eyes. The change is so abrupt that it sends a cold shock of energy down Ian's spine. 'Something is coming. I don't know what it is, but I can feel it. The ocean's unsettled and there's something darker moving around. Be on guard. Whatever is going to happen, you're sure to be in the middle of it.'

- O - O - O - O - O - 

The dream had ended so abruptly then that Ian had jolted awake and straight out of his bed. Several campers woke with groan and someone even threw a pillow at him, but the morning sun was creeping over the horizon and a short time later the day had swept him along.

The dull ache in his arms as he parries another blow brings his mind back to the present. He sloppily knocks Annabeth's sword away and attempts a rather weak counterattack. He doesn't feel Percy's presence anymore, something he hadn't been conscious of until now, and it's a highly unbalancing feeling. It's likely he's been partially emptied out and he desperately wishes that the other man would return. 

Percy would have been his twin, still is in a way. What a strange thought and yet this hollowness proves how accurate it is. Things are about to get a whole lot more interesting, despite how impossible that seems.

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A/N: SO THAT IS ALL FOR THIS CHAPTER. SEE I DIDN'T DIE OR DROP OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I DON'T KNOW WHEN THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP OR WHEN I'LL BE UPDATING THE REST OF MY STORIES. I'M HONESTLY STUMPED ON WHAT TO DO WITH THEM, IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I LAST WROTE. BUT AT LEAST I GOT THIS CHAPTER UP. LET IF ME KNOW IF I HAVEN'T LOST MY TOUCH BY VOTING AND COMMENTING.

PS: I'M NOT SHOUTING AT YOU. I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO BOLD TEXT LIKE I NORMALLY DO FOR A/Ns. WATTLED IS DIFFERENT THAN IT USED TO BE.