Chapter 20 - Closure and The Stranger
Mt. Olympus
Apollo looked around the room and gulped. "Um, where exactly do you want me to start, Father?"
"At the beginning, obviously."
"Oh. Yeah, that's probably smart. Well, do you remember the day me and my sister became Olympians?"
"How could I not? You were annoying as ever, and you thought you were the hottest God on Olympus."
"I've always been the hottest God in Olympus though."
"Apollo," Zeus warned."
"Right, right. Sorry about that." The God of the sun sheepishly scratched his head. "Well, after the Fates gave me my domains, that night they pulled me aside and told me something. Because of having so many different domains, they kind of came with a curse. I'll see every other version of myself in every other Reality. At the time, I didn't think if it as a curse, but more like a cool side effect."
"Does that mean it's a curse now?" Percy asked from the podium.
"Now? No, I learned how to control it and only view other versions of myself whenever I feel one of them threatened."
"Wait, so that means you felt the Wars, right? The Second Titanomachy and Gigantomachy?"
Apollo nodded, "Yeah, I felt them alright. Ever since your Zeus called a meeting to inform your Olympians about Kronos waking, I've been keeping tabs on your world. I saw the exploits of your battle with Kronos, and your battle with Gaia. I also saw you become a God, and start your revenge tour against everyone who worked with Gaia. The Olympians of your world have been in a frenzy for the past eight years looking for you, and your Father has been worried sick."
"Well shit, now I almost feel bad. Is there any way you can send a message to them?"
"Well, actually. At this moment in time there's a meeting on your Olympus where the me over there is currently projecting his thoughts and showing this exact conversation."
Percy frowned a little at that, before he came up with an idea. "Apollo, can you do the same?"
"Well, yeah I can. Why?"
"Because, if you do that I'll be able to talk to them, right?"
"Oh! Actually, yeah! One second." Apollo flashed to his chair and projected his thoughts. A few seconds later, a small projection from the gods head showed up, showing the Olympians of Percy's old world.
Percy felt a twinge of sadness that he couldn't be there right now, but he was going to make the most of this brief time they had together.
"Father," he managed to croak out.
"Percy, my Son. It's been too long, we all thought you died! We sent out Artemis and Apollo every day for 3 years to look for you and not a single trace!"
"I was still in the Pit, settling old scores. You know, the usual."
"I'm just glad you're okay, Percy."
"How's Mom?"
Poseidon frowned a little before he smiled big. "Why don't you ask her yourself?" The God of the Seas flashed out, and two seconds later flashed back with a very pissed off looking Sally, Paul, and Estelle.
"Poseidon, Gods help me what the actual Hades was that for?!"
Both versions of Zeus chuckled before Sally looked behind her and nearly fainted. She hesitantly walked forward, her hand outstretched trying to grab the holographic Percy's hand. "Percy? Percy is that you?"
He could feel his eyes water as he simply nodded, "Yes mom, it's me." He thought she would start jumping for joy, because, you know, the fact she saw her missing son for the first time in eight years and all. But nope, leave it to good ole Sally Jackson to give a good reeming when she felt necessary.
"Perseus Jackson!"
"Busted," he heard his Apollo and Hermes whisper and start cracking up silently. Poseidon just had an embarrassed smile on his face as his cheeks to turned golden.
"Uh, yes ma'am?"
"Do you have any idea the stress you put your family and friends through these past eight years?"
He rubbed the back of his neck nervously before shrugging. "A lot?"
"A lot? That's an understatement! You didn't tell me you were going back to the pit! How is a mother supposed to feel?"
"Hey, look on the bright side though Mom! If it wasn't for these Apollo's, you'd still be sad because I would still be missing! So, I view this as an absolute win." He spread his hands and grinned sheepishly, but much to his dismay, his mother did not looked amused.
"Where are you right now, young man?"
"Oh yeah, about that..."
Percy then spent the next several minutes going over the details of how he ended up on this strange world from Tartarus, and how he honestly had no idea how to get back.
His mother just shook her head. "Percy, I'm glad your safe, but if you ever find a way home, please take it. I miss my son, and I know everyone else does here too."
"I will mom, I promise."
"Hey, I can't hold this projection forever, this is a first time thing ya know!" New Apollo cried out. Percy just rolled his eyes. "Alright alright. Let me just say goodbye to my baby sister and we should be good."
Apollo nodded while little Estelle walked up to the projection of Percy. "You're my big brother?" She asked with eyes of awe." Percy knelt down and grinned, "Yep, that would be me! The last time I saw you, you were just a little baby! Now you're what? 6?"
"No, I'm eight!" The little girl giggled happily. Deep down, all Percy wanted to do was hug his baby sister, but that wasn't possible. Instead he just cherished this moment.
"One day, I'll find a way to make it home, alright?"
The little girl nodded with a sad smile on her face. Percy couldn't let that face stay, he needed to bring back the smiling girl he met like two seconds ago.
"Hey, you're the one who is going to have to protect the family now, alright?"
"Me?"
"Yeah! And you'll be even stronger then me one day, and more important. So, don't ever forget that!"
The little girl beamed and ran back to Sally's legs and hugged them.
"Take care, Percy. Hopefully I can see you again one day, in person."
Percy smiled one last time at his mother. "You will Mom. I promise you that much."
Apollo's connection chose that moment to cut out and he fell back in his seat, panting. "Well, that was fun," he commented."
Percy turned to the God of light and respectfully bowed. "Apollo, I can never thank you enough for that. I got to see my family again, even if it was just for a brief moment."
"Hey man, anything for the two times savior of Olympus. Ever need anything, feel free to call."
Zeus cleared his throat and the two Gods both looked at him. "Well, while that was amusing. We now have the answers we were looking for. Do you intend to stay in this reality, New God?"
"At the moment, I can't really do anything about it, but I would definitely like to go home one day for sure."
"As long as you don't cause problems, you are free to walk away from us."
"I was going to do that anyways?"
"But you can do it now because I allow it."
"That's not how that works at all, Thunder Thighs."
"Why you little- you know what? Just go."
Percy dawned that shit eating grin and flashed out of the Throne Room.
Zeus rubbed his temples in annoyance. "I swear, that kids going to give me an aneurysm, and Gods can't even get aneurysms."
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Percy flashed into his apartment and looked out the window. It was already dark outside, which most likely meant that his date with a BOP would have to be postponed. Sighing, he saw his two pets soundly asleep.
'Now what?' He asked himself. After a few seconds, he decided to walk to the beach and go for a swim.
After about an hour of walking, he made it to the beach, where he looked around, saw no one was looking and promptly dove in, willing the currents to push him way out into the Ocean. Once he couldn't see the City anymore, he just laid there, floating and relaxing while thinking about everything that happened in the last few hours.
"Damn, this really all started when a Demon attacked right before I could get that delicious New York Style Brick Oven Pizza," he muttered. As he thought back to that demon, his mind started racing. 'He said he was looking for a girl so his master can use her as a gateway to conquer this planet? What does that even mean? Perhaps he meant as a sacrifice for some ritual. But if that is the case, that means I have to figure out who this girl is so I can protect her from that fate.'
He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he would find this girl, and he would protect her at all costs. From what Diana told him, The Batman was the World's Greatest Detective, maybe he'll try and ask him to help him out. Again his mind started to wander as he thought about the Olympians of this world. It seemed strange to him, they didn't seem nearly as powerful as the Gods of his home world, yet Diana still seemed to be on a whole other level then them. It hurt his mind to think about, but maybe they were suppressing their power, but that also would not make sense as he was in their own world of Olympus, hence they should have actually seemed stronger if anything.
He let himself sink beneath the surface as he rubbed his temples, he was getting a headache from trying to figure all this out. Maybe the Gods here were just fundamentally different then the Gods he was used too. That had to be it, because honestly Percy couldn't come up with another explanation. Sighing underwater, he decided to let himself drop the subject for now and instead thought about Apollo and how he gave him a chance to see his family again. He couldn't thank him enough for that. Ever since Tartarus, Percy wasn't even sure if he was going to see his family again, and getting captured by Perses had almost solidified that. But then he escaped, and after many hard fought battles with the Titan of Destruction later, amongst other powerful and ancient beings, he finally found the Doors of Death. After staying in that Hellscape for so long though, his body, having just been given Godhood when he left had already adapted to the harsh environment of the Pit.
While he didn't want to go back by any means, he started to notice that once he escaped and came to this new reality, he wasn't anywhere near as strong as he was while he was down there, which honestly terrified him. Sure he was still beyond powerful, and the world's magic seemed to be feeding him power at an even higher rate, but even after months on this new Earth, he was nowhere near where he was right before he found those doors and did literal battle with the Devil and mage. To compensate for that, he would have to learn how to properly access his new domains while his body continues to ever so slowly adapt. At the moment, however, he wasn't doing to bad for himself.
Percy looked at the moon and realized that it was past it's highest arc in the sky, and he laughed. "Damn, leave it to me to get so distracted." He thought back to his Mom and baby sister one last time and smiled. For the most part, he regrets not being there to see her grow up, and if he could go back and do things differently, he would honestly try. But if he was honest with himself, Percy didn't know if he would have been able to cope any other way.
"I will try and find a way home, one way or another. Even if it is just to visit, I have too." On that last pleasant note, Percy made an air bubble and suspended it underwater, acting as a makeshift bed.
He was about 30 feet below the surface, and he just decided to sleep in the Ocean, he hadn't in so long and he kind of missed the feeling of just waking up underwater, feeling rejuvenated. So with that last though in mind, he promptly passed out.
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My Lord, Look Out! Incoming!
Percy opened his eyes to see a familiar looking dolphin frantically swimming back and forth in front of him. "Johena, what are you doing here?"
Watch out! Hurry, Move! Then the dolphin quickly dove into the deep, though Percy could still feel her presence. Confused by her words, he looked up just in time to see a shadow impact the water at Mach Zeus right above him, and he only had time to say one thing, which was, appropriately, "Shit."
He tried to move out of the way, but seeing as how he slept so close to the surface and drifted throughout the night, the metal object still managed to hit his leg as he swam away. Grabbing his leg, he looked at the metal object rapidly sinking and realized it looked like an escape pod from a spaceship, a very sleek looking grey and red spaceship.
He decided to follow it deep below the surface when he noticed two very human looking hands banging against the windshield of the spaceship frantically, trying to escape. This spurred Percy to move a lot faster, and within seconds, he caught up to the alien space craft and had his Godly weapon out in Trident Form. He held out his free hand and willed the water to slow down the space ship until it finally came to a stop. Then Percy created an air bubble around the ship and gestured for the figure in the spaceship to sit back so he could break the glass. He was able to make her out a little bit better now, and was able to tell she was a female.
The girl, obviously scared, seemed to understand what Percy wanted and hunched back as far as she could possibly go. Percy, taking a deep breath, lifted his trident with the prongs facing the windshield.
"Here goes," he muttered before bringing his trident down with as much force as he could possible muster, managing to shatter the glass in one fell swoop. The girl, who he could now see because the tinted window was gone, was a blonde haired blue girl who looked around his age. She said something that Percy at first didn't understand, but after a few seconds, he realized his brain must have blanked because she said the same thing again, only this time, he was able to understand her.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Percy, you should probably come with me so we can get you to the surface. I don't think your body appreciates being this deep underwater at the moment." He reached his hand down for her to take, and after a brief hesitation, she took his hand and hoisted herself out of the spaceship, her arms wrapped around his neck like her life depended on it. Which Percy supposed, at the moment it kind of did.
The girl looked scared, which honestly seemed like the appropriate emotion for this unique situation. "Alright, hold on. I am going to have this bubble ascend slowly to the surface to give your body time to accumulate to the water pressure. It's alright."
"How are you even doing this right now? Controlling a bubble of air underwater?"
"Uh, it's kind of a long and weird story, but basically I can control water. That's pretty much a basic explanation."
"Is everyone on this planet like that?" The blonde hesitantly asked him.
Percy laughed a little and shook his head no. "I only got here a few months ago myself, from a different reality. But as far as I can tell, not everyone here has powers. Some do though, which is kind of weird at first, but you get used to it."
"A different reality? That seems weird."
"Yeah, you're telling me," he laughed. He had no idea why he was telling her this, but he figured why not? She was an alien who crash landed on an alien planet, can't be the weirdest thing that has happened to her today.
Within a couple more seconds, they broke the surface of the water and Percy's bubble broke, so they were floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. "Hey, I have no idea where to go, so we are going to go back to my home if that is alright with you?" The girl seemed to be in pain, but she nodded and closed her eyes to block out the sun. "Whatever you do, do not open your eyes until I give the signal, alright?"
"Um, alright..," she trailed off, sounding unsure. But seeing as they were both in the middle of the ocean, the fastest way back to his apartment was to flash there, and he didn't exactly want her turning into ashes. With that pleasant thought out of the way, he focused on his living room, and in an instant, they were both standing in front of his couch. "It's safe now."
The girl opened her eyes and looked around, her arms still around Percy's neck. He took that opportunity to will both of them dry, which freaked out the girl, causing her to let go and back up away from him.
"Woah woah, woah, it's alright. Control over water, remember?" Percy raised his hands in surrender. He was honestly out of his element here, and had no idea what else to do.
"Sorry, I forgot and it kind of freaked me out."
"It's alright. I do have a couple questions though, but first, can you tell me your name?"
After looking around his living room, she looked back at him, squinting as if she were trying to focus really hard on Percy. "My name is Kara. Kara Zor-El."
I hope you guys like this chapter, it took sever attempts to get done. I never like the fact that I'm crossover stories, Percy just either straight up never sees his family again, or they die, so I wanted a way fir him to at least somewhat be at peace with his family. On that note, you guys should really check out a dope PJO God of War crossover called The Banes of Olympus by Redape14