Not Your Hero ✔

~16~

This part is dedicated to Stan Lee who passed on November 12, 2018. We'll miss his appearances in just about every Marvel movie, and his incredibly creative universe that he generously shared with the rest of the world.

"A demigod?" Iggy asked confusedly, looking at Percy.

"What the hell are you?" Percy spat at the short demonic creature standing in front of him. He stood protectively in front of Iggy.

"Oh, how rude of me." The thing cackled. "Lord Mizéria, the demon of Misery. And I like you!" It cackled, a forked tongue snapping out. "Buried pain, such heartache, such misery! You think you've moved past it don't you, you itty bitty demigod!" It said.

Percy nearly scoffed. Says the three-foot thing to the 6-foot demigod with a sword.

"Oh, the little elf too! Ah, such trauma, I smell it, such a wonderful fragrance! I will surely enjoy devouring you who-" The thing was cut off by a loud slap, the sound ricocheting off the walls of the cave. "Mizéria, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Percy looked in horror as he saw Annabeth's princess curls. "These are our guests idiot! We show hospitality to heroes, we don't eat them!" Annabeth shouted.

She then turned to Percy and Iggy and gave a wide smile. "Welcome to the Den of Heroes. My name is Metanióno, and I look like someone you'd like to forget don't I? That's why you both are staring at me?" Annabeth said. Percy kept the scowl off his face. She isn't here. That isn't her.

"The Den of Heroes?" Iggy asked, not really looking at Annabeth. Percy wondered who he saw. "The one who runs this place, our father, makes spirits. The spirits usually embody characteristics that a hero would have. All sorts of spirits, some even just like me, live here and are sent off by the lord of the universe to create new heroes." Anna- Metanióno explains. "We have the same names, no matter the gender. I'm a male, but I share my name with my sisters and brothers."

Annabeth... Is a man?

"You should join us for dinner," Metanióno suggested. Percy didn't think so, especially right after the demon potato creature just threatened to devour them whole. And Percy didn't know about Iggy, but if he was going to get eaten, he was going to be chewed thoroughly, and he had better be dead first.

"Yeah... Right..." Percy said, his hand on Iggy's head, bringing the kid closer in case they needed to bolt. "Who's this?" A masculine voice said.

Percy couldn't make out any features that were actually his, as the man's face was an everchanging image, his face a blur of other faces, but Percy caught a few, that he recognized.

Frank, Hazel, Perseus, Piper, he even saw Magnus Chase and Sadie Kane. Sadness came over him as he remembered them. He was sure there were more, but he couldn't keep looking at him, so he looked away.

"Father, we have found two heroes, well they found us." Metanióno introduced them, even though he didn't know their names. "I-I'm Ignatius sir," Iggy said. "I'm... Mystique." Percy said, trying to remember what Brie had said 'Misty' stood for. "Well, Ignatius and Mystique, I'm delighted to meet you. Why you must join us for dinner!" Again with the dinner invitations. He hadn't even told them his name.

"Come on, follow me. I'll show you around. We have time." Metanióno said. "Time for what?" Iggy asked. "Dinner of course." Annabat's look-alike says. When did they accept?

The weird demon thing had disappeared, and it was just Percy, not-really-Annabitch, and Iggy. Percy looked around. They were still in a cave. A small cave. Where the actual hell did this guy's dad come from? And where did Mizéria go?

"Come on!" Metanióno said, before running through a wall. That answers Percy's question. Iggy shrugged and they both followed.
____
The other side of that wall would put even the newly designed Olympus to shame.

The room was huge, and bright, unlike the cave. The walls were adorned with beautiful but deadly looking weapons, with pictures of different beings, all colors, shapes, sizes, and species. There was a dining table piled with food- BLUE food- and the smell of Earth food made Percy's mouth water. Elven Seis had a few good dishes, but there's no place like home.

"It smells delicious Alazoneía!" Metanióno praised a pretty redheaded girl. Alazoneía flipped her hair. "I know." She said arrogantly. "Looking good Tapeinós!" Metanióno shouted up at a black haired painter with golden eyes. She blushed. "O-oh it's nothing. Thank you, but I'm sure you can do better Metanióno." Tapeinós says. "Nonsense!" Metanióno says. Tapeinós blushed more and opened her mouth to most likely object, but she changed her mind. She shook her head and continued working.

Percy got a closer look at what she was painting. A young woman with sky blue eyes and brown hair. On the frame said, Estelle Blofis, Earth. Percy looked at the painting again and was amazed at how much it resembled his mother. How much she resembled his mother. She was right next to... Zoë Nightshade. And a small smile settled on Percy's face when he saw his little brother's goofy grin on a newly finished painting.

"Who is in these paintings?" Iggy asked. "Heroes. They're painted as soon as the hero or heroine does their first heroic act." Percy wondered what his little siblings were doing. They had more than likely gotten immortality or at least partial because they look like they're in their twenties in the paintings when they were decades older.

Percy didn't know how long he stared at those paintings, but in no time Metanióno was telling him that it was time for dinner.

About halfway through the meal, Iggy decided to ask a question. "Sir, what's your name?" "I have many names, but you young man can just call me Stanley," Stanley answered. After the dinner, Stanley accompanied Percy and Iggy as they walked out. "You be safe out there you two." Percy nodded at Stanley, and he saw a face where it didn't leave an after image like the other faces. He saw a man, white hair and white mustache, and he had sunglasses and a large smile. Percy wondered if that was Stanley's true face, but when he blinked, it was changing again. Before turning around, Percy thought he caught a glimpse of sea-green eyes and a smirk that he hadn't seen in years. He chuckled quietly.

"Until next time?" Percy asked, though he was sure he'd probably never see Stanley or find this cave ever again. "You can never find this cave more than once I'm afraid. Next time might not happen. But if you are anything like I remember, you have a way of doing the impossible."

"What?" Percy asked, turning back around. "Come on Misty! I think Brie and Mel are looking for us!" Percy turned back around before running to where Iggy was.

Stanley chuckled. "You've done well, Afosíosi. You've done well."

It takes a hero to make a hero.
R.I.P. Stan Lee