REDO

I do not own Percy Jackson, Marvel, Queen, Green day, AC/DC, or F-Zero.

CHAPTER 1

A lone boy marched through the freezing woods of Maine, the freshly laid snow crunching under his feet. A brown cloak was wrapped around his shoulders, billowing to the right in the wind. The hood was off, letting his long, messy, black hair float in the wind. Underneath that hair, cutting through his left eyebrow and crossing the bridge of his nose was a large jagged scar that looked as if it had been carved into his face by a dull, serrated weapon. Many years of living in the wild and constant monster attacks had left him with many battle scars.

"Oh my GOOOOODS."

His reddish-brown eyes were dull, the boredom of trekking through a constantly static landscape slowly getting to him.

"How hard is it to find a damn castle?"

Given, what he was looking for wasn't actually a castle, but from what he had heard, it might as well have been. Somewhere in the icy woods was a massive military academy that, from images he had seen, looked exactly like a medieval castle, turrets and all.

An extra thirty minutes of wasted time later, he could finally make out a massive brick building in the distance, covered in sheets of ice.

"Oh dear Demeter, thank the gods"

He jogged the rest of the distance, eager to approach his destination as fast as possible.

"Why in the world would the Manticore be here?"

The manticore was the boy's current target, a part man, part lion, part scorpion creature that was posing as a principal for some reason.

He finished his short jog as he reached the massive, ice caked, stone brick walls of the school. Reaching forward, he raked a hand across the slabs of stone, the ice cracking into pieces as his hand disconnected the frozen material from the wall.

He began circling the perimeter of the building, hoping to find an entrance. It took a minute or two, but his marching led him to the front doors, large and wooden with brass knockers in the shape of a lion's head, the ring going through the teeth of the large feline.

"Here we go."

He shoved the doors open and stepped inside, the slightly warmer air from indoors blasting out in a large wave. The stone brick walls were lined with torches, enforcing his belief that it was a castle even more. He turned to close the doors, but-

"Excuse me, may I help you?"

He turned toward the source of the voice to see a woman standing there. One thing immediately stood out to him, and it was the fact that she had the beginnings of a wispy mustache on her upper lip. He couldn't think of any response that dignified a teenager carrying weapons to be in a school during the day other than 'I'm clinically insane!', so he chose the option that seemed to make the most sense at the time. He shut his mouth and pursed his lips.

"If you're not a guardian of one of our students, I'm afraid I will have to call the police." The woman said, reaching for her pocket.

He stomped one foot forwards and snapped. All the torches down the hall flickered as a mysterious gust of wind blew through the corridor.

"What are you talking about?" He said, feigning confusion and standing up straight, "I'm a student here."

"Oh! That's right. Why aren't you in the gymnasium? Mr… uh…"

"I was allowed out for a bathroom break."

"Oh, Okay. Carry on then."

The woman, a misty film now covering her eyes, turned and walked down the hall, disappearing as if nothing had ever happened. The boy let out a sigh of relief that he didn't know he'd been holding and continued walking down the hall. It only took a moment before he heard pop music, Jesse McCartney, blaring from a set of doors on the left side of the hall.

"Why can't they play Green Day or AC/DC? It has to be Jesse McCartney?" He complained, moving towards the doors and peeking inside. Immediately he noticed the two kids sitting near the top of the bleachers, clearly trying to avoid having to socialize. Mostly the older sister, because the younger brother seemed like the hyperactive type, the one who makes friends with everybody. Both were children of Hades, it was quite obvious.

On the dance floor, there was a satyr and three other demigods, one a son of Hermes, one a daughter of Athena, and the last a Daughter of…

Zeus.

The very thought of the name made his heart hurt, from both anger and sadness. He quickly shook off the feeling, pushing the flames of rage back down into his gut before he did something he might end up regretting.

"He'll get what's coming to him," the boy reassured himself. He steadied himself and had almost walked into the gymnasium before a chill went down his spine.

'It's near.' He thought. Reaching down to his left hand, his fingers gently glided across the silvery band that was wrapped around his ring finger. A pulse of reminiscence passed through his body as his eyes fell upon the image on the ring. It was a swirling fire, a simple symbol, but it held much more meaning. He sighed as a weak smile appeared on his face, but quickly steeled himself.

'Later.' He thought. He twisted the ring, and in a flash of sparks, a glowing red spear appeared in his hand.

"Now where are you…"

"Can I help you, young man?"

A sharply dressed man with two different colored eyes and a strange accent was standing right beside him, sending strangely terrifying waves of intimidation towards the boy. He spun around in a flash, his eyes uncharacteristically wide as he attempted and failed to hide the glowing spear behind his back.

"Uhh…"

"Weapons are not allowed on campus, kid."

The boy quickly shot a hand forward and snapped.

"This is not-"

"Manipulating the mist will not work on me, Olympian spawn."

"How-"

CRACK

The boy gasped as an almost unbearable searing pain erupted in his left shoulder. He could barely register what had even happened, but what he could tell was that his left arm was pretty much out of commission, and the attack had enough force to smash a hole in the stone brick wall behind him, even after passing through the appendage.

"You're coming with me.

The man, in a ridiculously fast motion, so fast that the boy could barely see him move, slapped the spear from the boy's grip and sent it clattering down the hall. The boy bit back a growl as it skittered away.

"That was a gift," He snarled, thrashing his shoulders in an attempt to break free, only leading to a burst of pain shooting through his left side.

"Silence," The man demanded, "before I have to do it myself."

The boy rolled his eyes sarcastically, eliciting an irritated noise from the man.

"Follow me. I have work to do, and you shall not leave my sight."

Before the boy had a chance to respond, the man marched into the gymnasium, where the loud pop music of Jesse McCartney was still blaring through the speakers.

"Not even Queen?" the boy groaned, much to the chagrin of the man.

"Be. QUIET."

"You know, I'm a rocket ship on my way to mars! Or I'm Just a poor boy-"

"Would you like another spine to the shoulder, or are you just trying to annoy me?" The man sighed.

"Somebody to love! I'm just very good at being unintentionally irritating."

"Hmm. Quite."

"What? Too much pressure? Pushing down on me, pressing down on you, no man ask for. Under-"

The man shot a withering glare at the boy as a scorpion-like tail appeared and jabbed against his throat.

"Pressure!" the boy choked, stumbling back from the impact.

"Annoy me one more time and you die."

"Soo... you're the *cough* manticore, huh?"

"Call me Doctor Thorn if you must."

"Nah. I prefer Freaky Lion Man Scorpion thing, but y'know, whatever floats your boat."

The manticore, now dubbed Doctor Thorn, grunted in response and continued marching.

"So you're ignoring me now?"

Thorn, even if he heard the query, acted as if he heard nothing and began stomping up the bleachers, straight towards the two children of Hades.

"Do you want them because they're children of the Big Three?" the boy asked, poking Thorn in the shoulder. Thorn hissed at him to make him quiet just before they reached the two children.

"You two, come with me. We need to talk."

The older sister looked away from her brother and towards Thorn. Her face was almost covered by the floppy green cap on her head as she spoke.

"Did we do something wrong, Doctor?" She asked. It was clear she was trying to sound brave, for her brother if not for herself.

"Yes, you have."

The girl's gaze darted to the boy, who quickly shook his head.

"Just listen to him," He mouthed, "you'll get hurt if you don't."

She glanced at his shoulder, which was still visibly shredded open from the darts that Thorn had fired. She looked as if she was about to scream, but was interrupted by-

"Nine thousand attack damage, yes!"

All three of their pairs of eyes went to the younger brother, who was deeply invested in some card game that featured mythological creatures and gods.

"Nico!"

The boy thought that the sister was going to pass out as her face slowly turned more and more red.

"Nico, I need you to stay calm and quiet," She said as she grabbed her brother by the shoulders and hoisted him up.

"But I almost took down the Manticore!"

The boy's eyes widened as he became rigid. He could see Thorn's eyes narrowing exponentially.

"Nico, is it?"

"Yeah! Did you know that Apollo has plus thirty health and two thousand defense?!"

"Nico, now might not be the best time to talk about killing the Manticore."

"Why's that? Did you know he has three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws?"

"NICO." The sister hissed, making Nico close his mouth.

"I believe I have much more than three thousand attack power," Thorn said, his narrowed eyes promising pain and suffering to the small child. Nico only glanced at Thorn for a moment, but the moment that they made eye contact, he froze up and began to hyperventilate.

"Bianca! He's a Manticore!" He whispered either terrified or excited, the boy couldn't tell which.

"Manticores don't exist, Nico," Bianca whispered as Thorn began marching back down the steps.

"Then I believe that you are in for a shocking revelation." He said, and for a split second, a lions mane sparkled around his head and a scorpions tail flashed into existence behind him before disappearing.

Bianca's olive-skinned face went as white as a ghost that had been dipped in baking soda.

"Oh my god." She managed to say.

"Come on, I don't want him to do to you what he did to me!" the boy whispered, gesturing to his left shoulder. Nico turned his head to look at the wound, to which he gasped in delight.

"It's turning green!"

The boy looked down at his wound to find that it was, in fact, turning green.

"That's sick." He groaned.

"Children! Come along!" Thorn called, sounding eerily cheery compared to how he had sounded before.

The boy began taking quick steps towards the basketball court, not having to look behind him to know that the two siblings were following him. Halfway down, he couldn't help but notice the three demigods and the satyr on the dance floor staring at him and the Hades demigods. They reached the bottom, where a waiting Thorn stood.

"Don't fall behind again, or your next breath might be your last." He growled, sending chills down the boy's spine.

It only took a few seconds with the fast walking of Doctor Thorn and the three following him not wanting to get too far behind for them to be back in the hallway that the boy had been in initially.

"So, do you know why I brought you out here?" Thorn asked, his venomous tone returned.

"Because I brought weapons into a school." the boy deadpanned.

"You brought weapons into the school?!" Bianca screeched, "What is WRONG with you?!"

"Trust me, you're gonna wish you had weapons soon." the boy said.

"You must know this already," Thorn said, gesturing to the boy, then turning to the children of Hades, "but you two, you are children of a Greek god. A very powerful god. Power goes a long way in this world, and The General wishes to have you two in his ranks. You could prove to be very valuable assets."

Bianca had both hands on her head, almost ripping her hair out from the sudden information, and Nico just looked excited or scared. Or both.

"No. No, no. NO!" Bianca said, "This isn't real! Greek gods aren't real!"

"Does Zeus really do six hundred damage with each lightning bolt?!" Nico shouted, jumping and tugging on the edge of the boy's cloak.

"Trust me, kid. Zeus does a lot more damage than that." the boy said, looking away angrily.

"So… seven hundred?"

"Nico!" Bianca shouted, "This can't be real! They're just messing with us!"

"Maybe this will be proof enough," Thorn said.

In a split second Thorn had transformed from a regular-ish man to a monstrous looking creature, a man's face on a lion's body with the tail of a scorpion.

"Do you believe now?" Thorn's icy voice cut through the air like shards of broken glass.

Bianca's face, if possible, got even paler as all the air in her lungs seemed to disappear.

"Nico, Bianca, do you trust me?" The boy hissed, never looking away from the monster.

"I don't even know your name!" Bianca gasped, unable to look away from the monster standing in front of them.

"Do you trust me?!"

Bianca, for the smallest moment, glanced into the eyes of the boy. It went unspoken, but the boy could see it in her eyes.

I trust you.

Nico still stood in awe at the monster in front of him.

"Are you… real?" He whispered, about to touch the Manticore, who wore an evil grin as his tail tensed, ready to strike.

The boy almost panicked.

But Bianca had pretty good reflexes.

"Nico, NO!"

The boy watched as Bianca lunged forward, tackling Nico out of the way of the Manticore, who attacked just a moment later, its tail crushing through the floor like a wrecking ball in the exact spot that Nico had been.

"On my count, run like hell." the boy called as the Manticore switched its focus to him.

Waiting for the perfect moment, the boy held his open hand at his side, a tugging sensation appearing in his gut.

"NOW!"

The Manticore swing a massive paw at the boy, but before it reached him, the glowing spear shot back into the boy's hands. The Manticore's eyes widened for a split second before the spear slammed into its face with the force of a warhammer in the hands of Atlas, sending him flying across the corridor and smashing through the wall.

"Whoa." Nico marveled, stopping running to watch the fight.

"KEEP GOING, NICO!" the boy yelled as he began sprinting towards the door as well.

Nico's eyes widened as the Manticore crawled back through the wall.

"Oh dang."

"DI ANGELO!" Thorn shouted, his tail twisting around and sending a barrage of spines straight at Nico.

"NICO!" Bianca screamed, "NO!"

The boy suddenly appeared in front of Nico, twisting and turning as his spear sliced almost every spine out of the air before they could reach Nico.

Thorn growled and crouched down, tensing his leg muscles and tendons as he prepared to pounce.

"Alright then." the boy said, "You asked for it."

The spear suddenly disappeared into thin air as he reached up to pull the charm around his neck. Another simple image, a silver arrow, yet still containing so much more value.

"WHAT'S THAT GONNA DO?!" Bianca shouted.

In the blink of an eye, a bright silvery bow appeared in his hands, the steely arrow glowing with an ethereal power.

"Need a hand?" He quipped before releasing the arrow. It sliced through the air with deadly precision before impaling itself through the front right paw of the Manticore and into the floor, effectively pinning it in place. Thorn screeched in pain and thrashed around trying to escape.

"Really? Need a hand?" Bianca asked sarcastically as the boy met them at the door.

"Eh." the boy shrugged as the bow disappeared from his hands.

"WHOA! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Nico shouted in excitement, hopping up and down.

"I'll explain later, but we need to go."

Thorn, behind them, ripped his paw from the floor and whipped his glare to the three, who began to run.

"Oh my god ohmygodohmygod," Bianca said in a hushed voice as they sprinted out the doors.

"Calm down, just don't look back." the boy said, turning to the right, "This way!"

Bianca, continuing to sprint, decided to look back.

"GET BACK HERE!" Thorn roared, charging at the three like a runaway freight train.

"I TOLD YOU TO NOT LOOK BACK!"

"You should know that when you tell people to not look back, THEY LOOK BACK!"

The three somehow barely managed to keep ahead of the rampaging monster for the next few minutes as they were relentlessly pursued down a weathered path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights.

"Almost there…" He said in a hushed voice.

"Almost where?!" Bianca shouted

"On my way here I passed through a clearing near the cliff. Plenty of space for you and your brother to hide while I fight Thorn!" the boy said.

"Sounds good!"

They hopped over a line of bushes and into the clearing, Thorn dangerously close behind them.

"Alright, get behind me!" the boy said, abruptly stopping and twisting his ring.

Bianca grabbed Nico in her arms and dove past the boy, sliding towards the edge of the clearing as Thorn barreled towards the boy.

"I WILL DESTROY-"

Thorn suddenly began gasping for air as he flew past the boy, flopping to the ground and sliding to a stop near the Di Angelos

Looking down at his chest, Bianca and Nico could see that the glowing spear had pierced right through him.

"H-how…?" Thorn choked, trying and failing to stand back up.

"With great reflexes comes great response ability." the boy smirked, kicking Thorn's tail with his foot.

Thorn hissed weakly and collapsed before disintegrating into golden dust, the red spear dropping to the snowy ground with a thud and then disappearing.

"Everything that glitters is not gold. Bam."

"How in the world are you making jokes? You have a giant spike in your stomach!" Bianca shouted, gesturing to his abdomen.

"Huh." the boy said as he looked down, "When did that happen?"

"You missed one when you were slicing them out of the air!" Nico piped up.

"Ah. Right." the boy said, "Not a problem."

He reached down and ripped the spike from his midsection, and to the surprise of the Di Angelos, the wound closed itself.

"AWESOME!" Nico shouted, "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

The boy looked down at his shoulder, where the poisoned laceration had already healed itself as well.

"Healing powers. I know it looks cool, but please don't tell anyone I can do that."

"Why?"

Before the boy had a chance to respond, a voice shouted from the foliage that they had just flown through a moment before, "I think they went this way!"

The boy quickly stuffed his charm under his shirt and crammed his ringed hand in his pocket as the three demigods and the satyr from the gymnasium hopped through the underbrush, weapons drawn.

Except for the satyr, who held a shredded tin can like a grenade, before taking a bite out of it.

"Nico! Bianca!" he said, spitting out the piece of metal and hiding the rest behind his back, "What happened?"

At that moment Bianca decided to remember everything that was going on.

"Holy shit." She said.

The satyr's face went as red as a tomato, while the daughter of Zeus chuckled.

"So you know about the gods, huh?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"WE JUST FOUGHT THE MANTICORE!" Nico exclaimed.

The three demigods and the satyr raised their weapons again.

"Where did he go?!" the son of Hermes growled, swinging his sword around wildly.

"He turned into dust!" Nico said.

The daughter of Athena almost dropped her knife in shock, eyes and mouth as wide as dinner plates.

"You killed him?!" she asked in disbelief.

"No," Bianca said, "he did."

For the first time, the three demigods and the satyr seemed to notice the boy standing there, who waved weakly.

"Hi." He said.

"You… uh… don't have any weapons?" The son of Hermes said.

"Sure I do." the boy said, lifting his hands up, the ring having been slipped off in his pocket, "They're called fists."

"And… you killed the Manticore... with your fists?"

"Actually-" Nico began but was cut off by the boy shooting a steely look at him.

"Yep! With his fists! It was like watching Captain Falcon fight it!" He exclaimed, pulling off the surprisingly convincing lie by throwing a few punches.

The daughter of Athena walked right up to the boy and circled him, seemingly analyzing everything about him.

"You obviously have godly blood, but I can't figure out which one it came from…" She mumbled.

"Uh, nice to meet you too… I guess?" the boy said.

"Russet eyes? Black hair? Who could that be?"

"Is she always like this?" He asked the daughter of Zeus, who huffed out a few laughs.

"It's like clockwork. Hephaestus kids build stuff, Demeter kids grow stuff, Athena kids think… stuff. I'm Thalia by the way." She said.

"Nice to meet you," he said, still focused on the girl circling him.

"Are you gonna tell us your name, or…?"

"Just… call me whatever you want."

"So you'd be fine if I called you like… Lightning McQueen?"

"Uh… sure, but I've gotta know, why are you guys here? The Manticore?"

"We were here to bring those two" She pointed at the Di Angelos, "back to camp. Truth be told, we had no clue that the Manticore would be here. It would have been nice to know in advance though." She glared at the satyr.

"Hey!" He squeaked, "I told you he was a monster! I just didn't know which one..."

"Wait! Stop." Bianca said, stepping forward, "Camp?"

"Yeah! Camp is awesome!" The son of Hermes blurted out, "You get to learn how to use a sword or a bow, and there's a climbing wall that shoots lava!"

"That sounds AWESOME!" Nico said.

"No. NO! It does not sound awesome! Why would anyone ever want to climb a wall that shoots lava?!" Bianca shouted.

"Well, if you don't like the idea of camp, there's always the hunters-" The daughter of Athena began, but was cut off by the daughter of Zeus, Thalia.

"The hunters are no good little brats and you want nothing to do with them. Especially Zoë Nightshade, their lieutenant. All she does is fill your head with lies-"

She was suddenly cut off by a piercing hunting horn blasting through the freezing woods.

"Speak of the devil…"

"Son of a... I've avoided them just fine until now, and now they show up and I'm cornered on a cliff!" the boy growled.

"Uh-"

"DAMN IT!"

"Arrow!" Bianca squeaked.

It happened in less than a second. Three arrows flew out of the woods, all aimed at the boy, and before anyone could process what had happened, all three had been caught, two in his left hand which had gone limp at his side, and one in his right, which had stopped less than an inch from his face.

"Nice catch," Bianca said, her breath hitched.

Before the boy had a chance to respond, about thirty girls ranging from the age of eight to sixteen poured through the thicket surrounding the clearing, all bearing bows that were drawn back and trained upon the demigods.

Editors note: The 1st chapter is finally here! Sorry for the long wait but i needed to make sure we had some chapter lined up in case we have a lull week plus you know adulting. Anyway, the next chapter should be out next monday feb 11 2019. I liking the mystery that the author omega has set up here in this chapter. Can you guess who this mysterious boy is? Anyway i go by SpecterMn here on FF but i'm known everywhere else as TripleG so if you guys want to talk smack or interact with the author we have a lovely discord set up and a TBA social media to stay up to date! Sea you next time on Heart of Ashes!

Authors note: What he said.