Life of A Young Demigod: Book 1 (Percy Jackson reader insert)

Love and War

We stormed towards Ares. This probably wasn't a great idea, but quite frankly, we were sick of this quest, and just wanted it to be over with. We also didn't have much time. It was already midday on the solstice, we had ten hours at the most to figure out how to get the bolt back to New York.

As we approached Ares, who was standing at the edge of the beach, we felt the air begin to shift. Something was coming. I looked up and saw, to my horror, the Furies circling overhead. Before I could say anything, Ares spoke.

"Hmph. You punks are supposed to be dead."

Percy kept walking towards him. "It was you. You stole the bolt, and the helm. You're behind all of this."

Ares smiled and took a black ski mask out of his back pocket. As he placed it on the handlebars of his bike, it morphed into a helm made out of bone and the same black stone that we saw at Hades' palace. He had the helm with him. "Don't you remember kid? Us gods can't steal items of power directly. But you aren't the only demigods who can run errands."

I spoke up. "So, you had one of your kids do it. Who was it? Clarisse? She was there last winter."

Ares laughed. "Clarisse? Don't be silly, she never could have stolen them. I wasn't even involved in the initial theft."

As much as I hated Clarisse, this made me even angrier. No parent should talk about their child like that. It wasn't right.

"However, when I was sent out to search for the bolt, I found who had. Instead of bringing the bolt and helm back, I decided to use them for a bit of fun. You punks are impeding the war effort now, though. You were supposed to die in the underworld so your parents would blame old Corpse Breath. Then we'd get a good old three way war going."

Annabeth seemed appalled. "But they're your family!"

Ares shrugged. "So what? Best kind of war! Always ends up bloody and emotional."

Andromeda spoke, sounding confused."Why'd you give us the bolt, though? Why not just keep it for yourself?"

Ares seemed shocked by this idea. "Wait. Why didn't I?"

I knew the look he had. I could tell. He had a voice speaking into his head. My eyes went wide.

"It wasn't your idea, was it Ares?"

Ares roared. "Of course it was! I don't take orders from anyone but myself! I certainly don't take them from voices in my head!"

"I never mentioned voices."

Ares went red. "Alright, punk. Time to die. I'll let you pick. Classic, or modern?"

Me and Percy summoned our swords, but before Andromeda and the others could do the same, Ares sent them flying with a wave of his hand.

"Classic it is." He said with a smile, summoning a massive two handed blade that was about as tall as I was.

Before we could so much as move a muscle, he snapped his fingers, and a massive red boar emerged from the sand, charging directly at me, as he charged Percy. I quickly rolled out of the way of the boar and spun around, ready for its second charge. This time, I dodged closer to it, and brought my blade up along its side. It sliced, but did not kill.

Dammit. This thing is tough.

It turned again, readying for a third charge. I needed to switch things up. I had an idea, but it seemed like a bit of a longshot. As it began to run towards me, I prepared to loose a blast of energy directly at my feet.

I really hope this works.

When the boar was about five feet away from me, I let the energy loose and jumped. I rocketed a solid seven feet in the air, spun around midair, and brought my sword down directly into the spine of the boar, using my momentum to drive it deep in. With a screech, it began to disintegrate, and I managed to get off without crashing into the ground. My sword was a couple feet away, but I knew it would turn back into a ring and be on my finger in a few moments. I turned towards where Grover and the girls had been thrown to, and saw them slowly getting to their feet as dozens of police officers began to swarm the beach.

"DROP THE GUNS! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!"

Guns? Oh right. Mist.

I turned to where Ares and Percy were fighting. Percy had been backed into the surf, Ares had a clear upper hand. Not even turning to look, Ares waved his hand, and I heard screams as a massive wave of fire flew towards the police cars, the officers and people nearby just barely getting out of the way in time before the cars began to explode.

I turned back to Percy and Ares. Percy was getting tired, despite being able to draw energy from the water. I had to do something, but there was no way I would make it in time.

If there's any time for me to do something really stupid and dangerous, it's right now.

I raised my arm towards Ares. I imagined the largest orb of energy I possibly could, one the size of a sumo wrestler. My vision began to flicker, but I held on. I needed to give this all I possibly could. With the last of my energy, I released the orb. It flew towards Ares and exploded on impact with him, throwing him to the floor. As I collapsed to the ground, I saw Percy thrust Riptide into Ares' thigh, which caused Ares to let loose the loudest scream I had ever heard. My vision went black.

I awoke thirty minutes later in the back of an ambulance, with Andromeda crying by my side.

"Wha... what happened? Did... did we win?"

Andromeda screamed. "(Y/N)! YOU'RE OK!"

I laughed a bit. It kind of hurt. My entire body felt like it was on fire, but I could tell it was slowly going down.

She collected herself and began to explain. Apparently, after I had passed out, Ares had muttered something about a curse and disappeared in a flash. Percy had managed to retrieve the helm of darkness and give it to the Furies, who had brought it back to Hades. For our part, the police now believed we had been kidnapped by a mysterious biker and brought across the country while he went on a rampage. Better than their initial theory of us being some sort of youth branch of a terrorist group, but hardly any more accurate. Percy had given an interview so utterly heart-wrenching that the police and reporters had raised money for plane tickets to get us back to New York as soon as possible. We would be there by later this afternoon. I didn't much like the idea of flying, given Zeus' current opinion on us, but I didn't see any other choice if we wanted to be back in time. Hopefully, the news traveled fast, and he would refrain from blasting us with the godly equivalent of an anti-air missile.

As she finished explaining, I got up, and followed her to meet with the others. We had to move fast, the flight would be leaving in about an hour. Hopefully we could get through security. Before we could meet them, though, she pulled me aside.

She gulped. Why was she nervous? "About back in the hotel."

Uh oh. "'Meda, I'm sorry. I totally understand if you're upset, but I panicked. It'll never happen again, I promise."

She blushed. That was odd. She spoke very quickly, her words blending together. "NoIActuallyDidn'tMindIt."

What.

She took a deep breath. "I was wondering... if you'd like to do something together, just the two of us, when we get back to camp."

My head was spinning. "Are... are you asking me on a date?"

She nodded. I could tell she was crossing her fingers, which I found extremely cute.

I took a deep breath, still half convinced this was somehow a joke. "If... if you're serious about that, I would love to."

She screamed and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"'Meda... still... sore..."

She quickly stood back. "Sorry. Just excited."

I laughed. It didn't hurt quite as much this time. "Don't worry, I get it. I am too."

She smiled at that, took my hand, and we walked over to meet the others in the back of a police car that was going to take us to LAX. I wasn't sure what the future held for me. The last two weeks had been a complete blur of fear, excitement, and everything in between. To be entirely honest, I felt like I was going to throw up. But, as it turns out, something good had come of it. Somehow, by some miracle that even the Oracle at camp could have never predicted, I had managed to make the most beautiful person I had ever seen want to go on a date with me. I smiled. A real, completely unconcerned smile, nothing hiding behind it. This was something I hadn't felt in a while. Maybe this whole being a demigod thing wouldn't be so bad after all.