Percy stood over the lifeless body of his girlfriend, desperately shaking her shoulders.
"Annabeth? Wise girl? W-Wise girl??"
Annabeth didn't respond.
"It'll be alright! Hold on," Percy choked, his voice cracking, "I'll- I'll call for help!"
He hyperventilated, only calming when she gave him a limp squeeze of the hand.
"I- I love you, Percy."
Her hand went limp.
He checked her heartbeat.
There wasn't a pulse.
His heart cracked in two.
She couldn't be dead- they- they had plans. Plans to go to New Rome University, to graduate with degrees; plans to grow raise a loving family, with two kids, and to grow old and die together in peace.
He doubled over. He shouldn't have tunnel visioned. He should have been smarter, been more aware. And because of him... it was all gone.
Tears poured out from his tortured face. Why'd this have to happen? Why couldn't he have stopped it? Why wasn't he strong enough to save her?
Zoe, Bianca, Silena, Charles, Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo, Nico, Thalia- and now Annabeth. He could never protect his friends, never strong enough, never smart enough. Even his faithful Blackjack was gone, trampled by a hellhound.
His heart turned to ice as he stood up from her lifeless body, determined to carry on.
Gaea had been defeated, but not without a heavy, pyrrhic price.
The gods? Fading. The demigods? Only him left.
He looked about the bloody battlefield, strung with bodies and monster remains.
His own injuries were minor, not much more than a few gashes along his shoulder. The demigod limped to the fading gods who laid upon the ground like mortals themselves.
"Perseus J-Jackson." Zeus croaked out, "You are the last surviving demigod of this pantheon."
The king of the gods tried to speak again, but he couldn't. He was aging before Percy's very eyes, growing slowly by the hour into an old man. Percy gave him a final nod of respect.
Athena continued, "We, as a pantheon, are gone. When all of us fade, you will cease to exist."
The demigod recoiled in shock.
"You will not have a soul if you stay on this planet. The afterlife exists no more."
He would never see mom and Paul again. Or his baby sister Estelle. He wouldn't be there to coddle her and play the big brother, not anymore. Tears threatened to spill from his sea green eyes.
Hecate continued for her, "I am able to send you to another world, created by the protogenoi Aether and Erebus. Should you accept, you will exist in a new world on your own. One that requires your help to avoid its imminent destruction. You will carry the legacy of the Greek pantheon with you. This will be your greatest quest and task yet."
Percy cleared his tears and sighed; there was always more fighting to be done, more saving to be done.
No! You shouldn't be thinking like that. There could be innocents who need your help, who would die without you. Don't be so selfish. What's another few years saving the world when you've already done it twice over?
"I accept, Lady Hecate."
The goddess nodded, "We can grant you one blessing from the gods here to aid you in your quest to save the world. Who's blessing would you prefer?"
Percy scanned the gods. Zeus and Hades, although powerful, weren't needed too much. His powers as the son of the stormbringer could cover Zeus' bases, although not Hades.
He didn't need a blessing from his father, obviously.
Ares? Not really, he was already a pretty good fighter.
Hephaestus, Ares, Dionysus, Demeter, Hera, all not needed.
Apollo's blessing could be useful, but only for the archery, in which case, he might as well turn to Artemis.
That left Artemis, Athena, and Hecate. Again, Hecate, although powerful, wasn't needed to aid him. He could just as well train his own powers.
Artemis? Although he did consider it for the archery, he ultimately decided against it.
The demigod turned to Athena, "I choose your blessing, my lady, if you agree."
The goddess widened her eyes in slight shock before schooling her expression, "What are your reasons for choosing my blessing?"
"Even strength has to bow down to wisdom sometimes, as Annabeth once said."
He choked near the end, but Athena gave him a look of praise nonetheless, "Even though I never approved of your relationship with my daughter, you were the best choice for her."
In no mood for formalities, Zeus continued, "Pour our energy into Athena."
Poseidon looked at Percy, "Good luck, my son. May the gods be with you."
"And may you enjoy a peaceful afterlife in the void, father," Percy replied respectfully.
One by one, the gods vanished, reduced to atoms as they spent what little remaining life energies they had to boost Athena's power. She then blessed him.
Percy felt himself grow stronger, not just in intelligence but also warfare. To his shock, he felt his dyslexia lessen, and even leave.
Athena finished, panting as one of two gods left, "My blessing was slightly more powerful than usual. You should be able to absorb knowledge like a sponge. Use it well, Perseus. Good luck."
With that, the goddess of war faded into dust.
Percy turned towards Hecate, the last goddess remaining of the Greek pantheon.
She nodded, waving her hand to open a portal, although Percy could see the sweat upon her forehead. She was straining to keep it open at all.
The demigod ran towards the portal, before pausing at it. "My lady Hecate, would you like to come with me?"
Hecate shook her head in slight amusement, "I am fading in several hours anyway. Good luck, Perseus Jackson."
Percy nodded sadly, before taking a deep breathing and stepping through into a new world.
-----
The demigod son of Poseidon landed in a bathroom stall. It was as if the world was laughing at him already. Just his luck.
Although, he supposed, Hecate couldn't exactly put him in public, could she? A bathroom stall was the only private place he could spawn.
Eh. It was clean enough.
Percy stepped outside...
Damn. It was a library. The... Library of Vale? He groaned mentally, but brightened at the realization that his dyslexia was almost gone.
He did have to read, though. Otherwise, he'd look like a blubbering dumbass in the streets, he reasoned. It was if someone from here was transported to Earth, they would have no clue what was going on.
Earth.
Home.
Anna-
He tore himself from that line of thought. There was no use mulling over the past, even if he knew he'd do it at some point. Instead, the demigod strode right up to the history section, picking out a massive, thick textbook. Thick as in with double Cs thick.
He sat himself down patiently, opening the cover.
Reading himself away from his thoughts was surprisingly appealing considering how much he'd hated school on Earth. Once he could read properly without dyslexia and ADHD annoying him though...
Remnant, hm? That was this world's name.
Percy flipped through the pages quickly. Even Athena kids couldn't read this fast. The given power of Athena's blessing, sampled from the rest of the gods, was amply powerful.
He could feel himself absorbing information like a sponge, the letters actually aligning unlike the mess of words in his head from the times he'd tried reading before.
Aura? Aura is the manifestation of one's soul, a life force that runs through every living creature, except the Grimm, which are soulless. It can be used for a wide range of purposes, including both offensive and defensive forces during a fight as well as dust usage...
So a forcefield, eh? He hummed to himself quietly, that would definitely be useful.
Percy kept reading, too enamored with the knowledge pouring into his head to pay any attention to his surroundings. From what he gathered, aura, semblances, dust, huntsman, and Grimm were the basics of this world of Remnant. From there spouted the typical companies, crime, kingdoms, villages, and what not, so similar to Earth it hurt.
Racism? Check. Or was it speciesism? Meh, that was a mouthful anyway.
Greedy company with questionable labor practices? Check.
Kingdoms? Check.
Academies? Check. Well, huntsman academies, but still.
Monsters? Check.
Technology? Check.
Except this time, he didn't have to worry about technology attracting monsters; negativity apparently did. Fat load of crap that did him. The creatures of the Grimm had so many types, much like what he and other demigods faced regularly. Each had its own weaknesses and strengths.
Huntsmen academies to defend the people and destroy the Grimm, hm? Apparently, you couldn't truly be a huntsman without a license. It would be good to attend one of these, he supposed. It sounded like college, except for training. Plus, he could match his strength with other aspiring huntsmen. Annabeth would have wanted him to go to college, to get an education...
He tore himself away from the thought again, reading on.
17 was the age, perfect. Beacon Academy is the residential academy for Vale, training the next generation of heroes to battle the Grimm. To be accepted into Beacon, one needs transcripts from a training academy, Percy frowned at that, however one may be invited to attend Beacon Academy based on an exceptional display of skill.
It would just be like camp, he supposed.
Percy read on, absorbed in the reading of this new world.
-----
The demigod stepped into the sun, letting it embrace his skin. He breathed a scent of the fresh, city air of Vale. Oddly, it gave off metropolitan New York vibes; he felt right at home.
Home...
He shook his head out of his little reverie. Reminiscing could wait.
First order of business: Ocean dipping.
Or that was what he liked to call it, anyway. Water rejuvenated him, like some kind of magical coffee; it provided sustenance – he didn't even have to eat!
And Athena's blessing was really kicking in, huh? "Sustenance" ... such advanced vocabulary, at least for him, anyway.
He wandered out of the city and down to the docks. Ensuring no one could see him, he dove in.
It was... powerful. So much more so than Earth's, which was polluted everywhere. This ocean was clean, powerful despite no presence other than himself. Teeming with life, he felt many life forms call out to him.
Dark splotches moved in his senses, not animals that he could sense.
The Grimm.
As Percy tried to reach out to them, they recoiled, trying to attack him.
He withdrew. There went his slightly horrible idea of controlling the aquatic Grimm.
The animals were confused, and he felt a migraine from the amount of animals calling out to him, asking what he was. There was no Poseidon, no gods on Remnant, so he couldn't exactly tell them, could he?
And didn't his powers stem from his father? Shouldn't they not work here on a different planet, with the gods gone?
He shrugged it off. Might as well tell the fish that was swimming around him that he was the son of a god. And the shark nuzzling his hand lovingly. He didn't even know that was possible.
I am the son of the sea god, he cast out to the animals.
Silence reigned for several tense minutes, before they began greeting him and bowing before him (as best they could).
None of the creatures denied his claims like he expected them to. Huh, that was strange. There was no sea god on Remnant, or not one that existed currently.
He smacked himself in the face mentally. Fish were always easier to communicate with, straightforward and to the point unlike humans.
The seventeen-year-old dragged himself out of the water, drying himself. He decided to take a walk around the dock, feeling eyes on his back already.
-----
He didn't know why he cared, but he did. He couldn't let the girl get hurt, not on his watch, even if she seemed in control. He touched the beads of his camp necklace for good luck.
Percy drew Riptide with a hiss and leapt from one of the roof tops, unceremoniously crushing the single remaining henchman under his weight that had been sneaking up behind the girl.
The eccentric orange criminal muttered to the unconscious man, "You were worth every cent. Truly, you were." He nudged the guy with his cane.
"My sincere condolences, kind sir," Percy replied, his sarcasm laying thick.
The criminal tipped his hat in reply, "At least someone has manners."
"Well, Red, and your friend there, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening."
The hat wearing weirdo dropped his cigarette and crushed it beneath his cane.
"And as much as I'd love to stick around," he pointed his cane towards them, revealing it to be a gun, "I'm afraid this, is where we part ways."
Percy stared down the barrel of the cane-gun, gulping. He'd had someone unlock his aura for him already, despite it being, ahem, slightly illegal. He didn't want to expose his heritage before he unlocked his semblance, however.
"Watch out!" the girl cried, as the eccentrically dressed criminal fired his cane-gun.
Percy moved.
His left hand came up randomly, as if it had a mind of its own, making a massive circular sea green ward coming up as it flicked.
It rotated like some kind of magic array, stopping the pellet in its tracks.
The street went up in steam and explosion. He let out a silent sigh of relief. He'd read that many semblances unlocked under near-death experiences. Thank goodness that worked and his semblance was a useful one, otherwise he'd likely be in the hospital. Not dead, and the girl not dead either, but it would be painful despite his demigod heritage.
When the dust cleared, the criminal was already climbing up the ladder. Percy grit his teeth, and he shared a look with the girl beside him, both of them coming to a silent agreement.
He summoned wards beneath him like it was instinctual, trying to boost him up to the top of the building; instead they disappeared as he tried to land on him, and he stumbled on the ground. He tried a second time, and this time was a success, boosting him onto the top of the building as the girl beat him there.
"Hey!" she cried out, stopping the guy in his tracks.
"Persistent," he muttered to himself more than anything.
A bullhead rose in front of him, making Percy and the girl step backwards.
The orange-haired criminal jumped on, turning back towards the two of them.
"End of the line you two!"
He tossed a red dust crystal at their feet. Percy tilted his head in confusion, before the criminal raised his cane-gun to shoot it.
Percy threw up a sea green ward surrounding the two of them as it exploded.
The criminal whooped for joy, before tilting his head when he realized the two were still alive.
Percy sketched a symbol he vaguely recognized as the Greek letter epsilon in the air. With a push of his hand, it expelled, dissolving as explosions rocked the bullhead.
The orange-haired criminal left, and another one took his place.
She blasted fire at them, even as Percy easily deflected it with his newfound semblance.
A circle of wards surrounded the ship, draining Percy's aura drastically, but it would be worth it. The criminal looked around, confused for a second, before she conjured some floating arrays of fire and expelled outwards, dissolving the teal wards.
Percy frowned. Now that, was just cheating.
The woman made an upward motion, exploding the ground even as Percy placed a ward on it and backflipped off. He drew another expel ward, rocking the ship with explosions again.
The girl transformed her scythe into a rifle, firing shots at the woman, who easily blocked them with her aura.
She superheated the ground again, as the girl and Percy flipped to the side, and it exploded.
He cursed internally. His aura was far too low now to chase after the criminals.
The bullhead closed its doors, as Percy let it fly off unimpeded.
"You're a huntsman?"
Percy looked at her nervously, "Uh... no?"
The girl ignored him, "Can I have your autograph?"
Percy was about to explain how he wasn't a hunter when a voice rang out behind them, "You are in deep trouble."
The two spun around to see a green-eyed blonde woman.
-----
"I hope you two know that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly," the blonde woman scolded them while she circled the table, "You put yourself and others in grave danger."
"A- well, technically, Beacon's policy does say that one can be invited into Beacon under an exceptional display of skill or bravery."
The woman paused in her tracks, turning to glare at him. He might have found her gaze terrifying once, but not anymore. Percy didn't falter under her intruding gaze, giving the woman half of Lupa's patented wolf glare.
She continued walking, tearing her gaze away from his, "If it were up to me, you would be sent home with a pat on the back," she paused, as the girl piped up with a smile on her face, "and a slap on the wrist."
Her crop hit the table as the girl looked disappointed and startled at the same time, jumping back in her chair.
"But... there is someone here who would like to meet you."
A gray-haired man walked in with a plate of cookies and a mug of coffee. He wore glasses – well spectacles, really – and a green turtleneck sweater. For all intents and purposes, he looked like an old college professor. Until the eyes. The eyes. They were the eyes of an old soul... he hadn't seen that look on any mortal, ever.
"Ruby Rose."
So that was her name. Interesting... it did fit perfectly with her style of red.
He leaned in, seemingly examining her, "You... have silver eyes."
"And what is your name, young man?"
"Perseus Jackson."
"So... where did you learn to do this?"
Percy watched in awe as he realized the entire fight had been recorded from the start. He whistled silently in appreciation- Ruby certainly was skilled with her scythe. He let Ruby field the questions; cruel though it might have been, he couldn't exactly say he'd only existed on this world for a day, now could he?
"S-Signal Academy?" she replied, looking up at him nervously.
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons every designed?"
"Well... one teacher in particular."
"... I see."
The man placed the plate of cookies on the desk. Percy and Ruby couldn't resist, and the two devoured them like wolves devouring meat.
The man continued, "It's just that I've only seen one other scythe wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow."
Percy quirked his eyebrow in confusion, before Ruby answered through a mouthful of cookies, "Mmmm. That's my uncle Crow. With a Q, by the way. Qrow," she swallowed, slightly embarrassed, "Sorry. That's my uncle Qrow. He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing, and now, I'm all like- hyah!" she made several gestures.
The man looked on while sipping his coffee, amused. Percy couldn't deny that some part of the girl was endearing.
"So I've noticed. And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well... I want to be a huntress."
"You want to slay monsters."
"Yeah! I only have two years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a huntress, and I'm trying to become a huntress because I want to help people. My parents taught me to help people so I thought meh, eh, might as well make a career out of it, hehe. I mean the police are alright, but huntsmen and huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting, cool, you know?"
"Do you know who I am?"
"You're professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon."
Ozpin, hm? Wizard of Oz reference?
"Hello."
"Nice to meet you."
"You want to come to my school."
"More than anything."
"Well, okay."
Ruby bounced up and down in her seat excitedly, as Ozpin turned his attention to Percy.
"And where did you learn to create these..."
"Wards," Percy supplied for him.
"Yes, wards."
With a wide smile on his face, Percy mustered up the confidence he usually had with dealing with mortals, "I am self-taught sir," he bullshitted with the confidence he would have if the Mist still existed
"Rather intriguing semblance, don't you think? And could you explain the characters of your semblance?"
"Of course," he bullshitted again, "each symbol represents something different. I'm afraid I'm unable to translate, as it seems to be a forgotten language. No one on Remnant can translate this, me included."
Well, obviously not, since it was his Greek, but last he checked, Greek wasn't present on Remnant.
"I have to say, this was certainly an impressive display young man."
Percy inclined his head in thanks, as Ozpin continued, "I would like to extend my offer to you to join Beacon Academy."
"I will accept your gracious offer, sir. If I may enquire, how many weeks are left until initiation?"
Ozpin smiled indulgently at him, "Five weeks left. I bid you farewell. Here, both of you take some lien; you earned it. Good luck, and stay out of trouble."
"I can't promise you on that one, Ozpin!" Percy jested back, as him and Ruby left the building.
Percy turned to the girl, "Welp. I wish we'd met under better circumstances, but I'm Percy. Nice to meet you."
The girl smiled up at him, "I'm Ruby. You were so cool back there!! And how does your weapon work??"
Percy handed her the pen. He smiled at her as she uncapped it, enthusiastically commenting on it, "It's so smooth! It's so fast I can't even see it mechashift!"
"Well Ruby, I can tell you next time when we meet at Beacon, if you'd like. I unfortunately have to go find a place to stay for the night. Bye!"
"See you soon, Percy!"
-----
"There's something off about him, Ozpin."
"I know, Glynda, I know. His semblance has never been seen before in the history of Remnant. It has much potential. He has the posture and the weariness of a man who has been through much bloodshed. I can only hope he will be adequately prepared for what is to come."
-----
AN: I do apologize for using so much of the first episode of the first season of RWBY, but I couldn't get the 'interrogation' through without it. Plus, it might provide some context for those who either haven't seen the first episode or forgot it. If it bothers you, just skip over it.
How'd you like the first chapter? Review, comment, favorite, follow, vote, but only if you enjoyed! It helps motivate me to write more.
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'til next time!
-thann3