.^^ James ^^

— Athenos —

My alarm didn't wake me up. I woke up on my own, with a scream in my ears.

That, in itself, was terrifying.

The fact that the screaming didn't stop, even when I covered my ears and checked my throat to make sure it wasn't me, started to scare me even worse.

Rafaela blinked st me groggily. "What's wrong?"

I could barely hear her over the screaming, and it was slowly becoming more recognizable. "JAMES!" I yelled, sprinting my way through the portals, and coming out into Greece in daylight. I shielded my eyes, and saw Kari carrying my son, who was clutching his skull and screaming silently, his throat long-scratched silent.

His mother arrived soon after that, and then Warren.

I grabbed him by the throat, roaring, and slammed him into a wall, making chips of mortar fall around us. "Explain." I snarled, gripping tighter.

"I was... very clear... that this... would happen..." he grunted, speaking around my grip with great effort, and he clearly didn't understand how I was overpowering him.

"Athenos, release him. We didn't think it would be this strong, but we expected this." Alexia growled, and pressed her hand to his forehead as Kari set him on a table. Then she hissed. "Why can't I do magic on him?!? Warren! What defenses did you teach him?!?" She snapped.

I dropped him, glaring. "Well? I know he knows a good deal of battle magic, but stopping an Ünterqueen from healing him should be beyond him, yes?"

He scratched his throat, coughing gently. "It would have been, earlier this morning. During our training, he put some magical crystals in his body, to act as sub-dermal armor. The science of it went over my head, but he called it 'Non-Newtonian Ballistic Gel', whatever that means."

I nodded. "It means his mucus membranes are still open to tampering. Alexia, whatever you're doing, direct it through his tear ducts."

She nodded and pressed her fingers to the corners of his eyes gently. They glowed, and he instantly fainted. "Alright, I need to get him into a bathtub, with some water, so I can control his temperature. If it gets too high, his brain melts and he dies, too low, he gets hypothermia and dies."

I picked him up, and carried him into her house, following her directions to strip him to his underwear, and settle him in the water. She created a mask of air, around his nose and mouth, to give him oxygen, then cooled the water carefully, until his temperature evened out to 98.6.

I set a spell in the water to keep him at that temperature, without our needing to constantly monitor it.

Rafaela knocked on the doorframe. "Uhm... can I get an update? Anything you need?"

"James is going through the Chrysalis I hoped he would never have to, because of his half-human heritage. I was clearly wrong. He's screaming into our minds, telepathically. It hurts, and it's making me testy. No, I don't need any help healing my son." Alexia clipped off answers, her voice a deep growl of pain and rage.

Rafaela nodded slowly. "Okay... let me know if that changes. Athenos? I'll be in my shop." She kissed me sweetly, and then exited, after examining James quickly.

"Where did he get those scars?" Alexia asked, leaning against the wall and pressing a hand to her temple.

"Six months in the Dark Dimension. He told you about it. The Candyland Version, at least." I grunted.

"Right..." she frowned. "He shouldn't be this powerful."

"Mutts are always stronger than their parents." I snorted.

She blinked, then laughed once, more of a sarcastic bark. "True... yes."

The water suddenly froze, and I saw steam rising out of it anyway. "Holy shit... that's some fever." I growled.

"It was designed to weed out the Weak. A barbaric practice." She frowned.

"Well, now I know why you only have two male relatives. What's the female version? Super-Period?" I snapped sarcastically.

She blushed. "Something like that."

"Oh... I was just being an ass. I-... seriously?" I asked, incredulous.

She nodded. "Yeah. Sucks ass for the first year or so, then you get used to it, I guess. It's no worse, physically, than any other woman's... just with added magical problems, constant temperature sensitivity, and increased libido and pregnancy hormones. Tells you what the Ancient Fae thought of Women and Men, and their places in society, Yeah?" She grumbled sarcastically.

"Yeah, Fae are massive douches." I raised an eyebrow.

"No argument here..." she growled, and pushed a hand into the ice, grimacing at the pain of the continuously healing frostbite, her regenerative abilities fighting the cold as it tried its best to kill her.

She nodded slowly. "His heartbeat is stabilizing... he'll be resting, now... and hopefully his mind will sleep." She grimaced again, pressing her skull as his scream amplified itself.

I grunted, leaning against the tub, and suddenly the screaming was gone. "Wow, it's gone... that feels nice."

"Gone?!?" She growled, clutching her skull even tighter.

A soft voice came from the crystal talisman around my neck, the one that gave me a conduit to Rafaela's ancestors. "Lay Your hand upon him."

I reached through the ice without question, and placed a hand on his heart.

"Do Not Flinch." The voice commanded, and before I could respond, hot white light traveled down my arm; Ancestral magic.

I hadn't tried it yet, the magic of ancestors not my own, but now at least I knew it was possible. It left burn marks on my skin, in a circuit-like pattern, like my entire arm and right chest was a motherboard.

"You compare us to your technology as a jest, but in truth, it is not far from fact... the connections between soul and body are trillions of connections, circuits, that must be in sync, or the entire system collapses. We will remove his imbalance."

"No! If you do that, he won't fully transition! He needs this, if he ever wants to be recognized as a Fae Ünterking, instead of just a Mage!" I argued.

"Acceptance? A cheap argument, to ask us to accept the pain that is coursing through him as we speak."

"Cheap to you, because you think he will not face dangers, dangers he will need every ally and power he can have to combat." I shook my head.

"Hmm... his fate is indeed one of conflict. War. We can change that. If he does not become Jhamæs Parthenos, the Ice-Born... it can be changed, if he is not given the gift -nay, the curse- of Power."

"And then... what??? He dies an Everyman? What father would deny a son his Greatness?" I snapped.

"If we save him, he dies at the age of 67, surrounded by children that are not his by blood, but are his children, nonetheless. If we allow him to become Jhamæs Parthenos, the Ice-Born, his death will be a violent one, with many evils dead in his wake, but so many more, lurking in the shadows... for his children to conquer, and theirs. The Parthenos Line will be known and feared, far and wide... and their deaths will be violent, and gruesome, as they toil endlessly in the inconceivable battle against Evil."

"Give him the choice. His fate is not mine or yours to decide in his stead, and the far-off future is not known to even the greatest of prophetesses! You are guessing, and I do not rely on guesswork when I make my decisions! Give him the choice." I growled.

"You will regret asking that of us." The voice said with absolute certainty. Not a threat, but a resigned affirmation.

"Who are you talking to?" Alexia asked.

"What does the name 'Jhamæs Parthenos, the Ice-Born' mean to you?" I asked, instead of answering.

She blinked. "That's the name Lady Durham gave him, when she pulled him from me and cut his umbilical. I called him James, instead."

"What does it mean?" I asked.

She sighed. "It's an ancient Elvish word, given to the dishonored Dead. It means 'Unworthy'."

"So 'The Unworthy Parthenos, Born of Ice', Hmm?" I snorted, looking down at the frozen tub. "An ironic name. He is the best of us. He will be the best of us."

The white magic came again, surging into his body, and the water suddenly melted, heating to a pleasing temperature.

"That is all We may do. You must wait, as must all mortals." The voice sounded miffed, but disappeared, as he fell asleep under my hand.

"You didn't answer me. How do you know his true name?" Alexia growled.

I snapped my gaze to her. "She gave him that as his True Name? I ought to break the bitch's neck!!!" I growled.

"While that would be amusing, speak!" She snapped.

"The ancestor spirits, Rafaela's... he connected us to them, gave us their magic. They argued with me, said they could change his fate to a peaceful one, but many evils would remain unchecked. His peace, for others' lives. I refused." I shook my head.

Her slap echoed in the ceramic room, and I didn't move away. "Why?" She asked simply.

"Because Fate is not man's decree. If he is fated to become a warrior who doles out Justice, it is no one's place to take that glory from him. Not even yours or mine." I shrugged.

She raised her hand again, then sighed, letting it fall to her lap. "Damn you for being logical..."

"Mm. Does he have to stay in the water, now that he's stabilized?" I asked.

"Yes, it'll help." She nodded, and stood up. "The screaming stopped, as well, which is a good sign. I suggest you go make him a super-protein Shake with alchemy or something. No amount of food on the planet will feed him when he wakes up."

I nodded and went to the kitchen, setting a pot of water to boil, then pouring in salt from the Black Sea, an ungodly amount. As it came to a boil, I reached for Elder Ashe, then stopped. "Is he allergic to Elder Ashe?" I called back.

"ARE YE STARK RAVIN' MAD?!?"

"Okay So it's a Yes?" I asked casually.

"I hate you." She groaned.

I nodded and added in Wyrmwood instead, the Draconic variety of Elder Ashe that worked with all species's. Next was Litmus Moss, the electrically charged herb melting swiftly into the black brew, and turning it blue.

Next I just ground up a giant pile of bison steak I'd been meaning to give him for Riley, and cooked it all in the water with some herbs to make it taste less ghastly.

The fumes alone were giving me the energy I had when I was 10, however, so I knew it would work. I used magic to compress all of it into a single meat-pie, draining the condensed, syrup consistency broth into a water bottle.

I set both by the bathtub, with a plate of celery I'd injected with what would usually be enough vitamins to put someone into the hospital, but I figured he'd need it to stand a chance.

Soon enough, I fell asleep again, leaning against the tub.

—

"-Alright, now clamp the Mesenteric?" I murmured, sitting calmly beside James, coaching him through a shrapnel extraction in the gut.

"Should we really be experimenting on this guy? I mean, we promised to help him." James sighed.

"And we are. But his life isn't currently in any danger, and so it's the perfect time to teach you a bit about gut wounds." I shrugged.

"Hey doc... can I ask why I'm your test subject?" My patient asked slowly.

"You're not currently dying, nor is your wound terribly bad, and if he makes a mistake, it's in a controlled environment, and I can quickly fix it. You are, therefore, the perfect test subject. Now silence. You are a corpse, at the moment, or at best a wounded combatant in trauma. You don't get to talk during the surgery, regardless of my numbing your sense of pain." I nodded.

He nodded and laid back with his arms behind his head. "Alright, doc, if you say so."

"Have you clamped all the arteries? Good, Now gently extract the visible shrapnel with the tweezers."

"You know..." he tapped the tweezers against the surgery bowl, dropping a piece of glass. "Most dads play catch with their sons..." another. "Or take them to a football game..." another. "To bond with them after long periods of time apart..." a much larger piece. "But here we are, doing surgery together."

"I understand. But to be fairly honest, sports bore me, and I figured that our time was best spent on more worthwhile pursuits, such as teaching you first aid and Trauma Surgery, So that you are better prepared for your future, and also I can let you earn a decent wage this summer. Would you rather we be camping? That's a good skill to have. I know a few good spots in Nassau or the Everglades." I hummed.

"To be completely honest? Camping sounds much more fun than digging around in someone's stomach for shrapnel." He sighed, handing me the tweezers.

I nodded. "Alright, easily done!" I gripped all the crystal inside my patient's body, and crumbled it, pulling out the dust carefully, and pouring it into the surgery bowl. "Then let's go. Stitch him up and meet me at the house." I grinned.

He groaned. "You could have done that from the beginning?!?"

"Yes. Yes I could have. But then you wouldn't have learned how to clamp arteries properly." I shrugged pragmatically, and wandered out.

When he found me, I had loaded a shovel and two Bows, one compound and one cross, plus plenty arrows and quills, into the backseat of my car. "Let's Go." I nodded at the passenger seat.

"Where's the tent?" He asked.

"We'll make it when we get there." I shrugged.

He grinned. "Oh you want a 'Real Camping' Training weekend. Alright. Game on."

—

"So how do you like the taste of seal meat?" I leaned back against the cave wall we were camped in, near the top of a mountain, sitting snugly on an island just off the coast from Kingston.

"Very greasy. Not entirely unpleasant, but I wouldn't eat it if there was other options." He frowned at the seal and potato soup in his hands.

"Hence why it's blubber was so valuable in oil lamps. But we have to be careful not to eat a Selkie. Bad things happen when you ingest Mer-Flesh." I said seriously.

"Mermaids? Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow. "You're screwing with me."

"No. Selkies are to Mermaids what Freddy Krueger is to Dreamwalkers. Both Selkies and Mermaids exist, and both are technically called 'Mer-Folk', but one is usually murderous in the wild, when they've given in to their instincts, while the other just likes to hoard shiny things." I explained.

He blinked slowly. "Okay... that kinda sucks, but cool. So why would we eat a person?"

"No, they chose to look like animals, in the wild. Sharks, Sea Lions, Orcas, Dolphins, Giant Turtles... it depends on the Selkie." I drained my soup, and set the bowl on the ground.

He nodded slowly, and drained his as well, grimacing. "So... why here?" He gestured around.

"I wanted to bring you here, is all. Your mother and I came here pretty often, though for... different reasons." I grinned.

He groaned, throwing a can of beans at me. "Oh come on, gross!!!"

I cackled madly, setting the soup aside and laying on my duffle bag. "You'll bring someone here, one day, too. Don't doubt it. Now get some sleep. You'll need your rest! Tomorrow, you learn how to skin a seal!"

"Ooh, yay, can't wait." He said, unenthusiastically, but I could see his aura still, and I'd become desensitized to his attitude, because it hid happiness he wasn't ready to show me yet.

—

My alarm rang in my ear, and my fist was caught, before it completed its path. I opened my eyes, confused, and blinked in shock.

James chuckled and shook wet red hair out of his eyes, spreading down his back nearly to his waist. In doing so, he revealed his ears, which now held a definitive point. His teeth were also sharpened, flashed when he grinned at me again. "You awake, old man?"

I flinched at his deeper voice, and chuckled. "I'll get used to that, I suppose. Did your mother sign off on you getting out of the bath, yet? Your temperature is steady?" I asked, sitting him down in a chair, (happy I was still able to do so, as he hadn't been able to stop me,) and then began measuring his vitals.

He shrugged. "She's asleep. I feel great, actually. My senses have leveled out. They're still a bit sensitive, but seeing as they're on the 'lowest setting', so to speak, I guess I'll have to get used to it."

"Yes... it would seem so." I dilated one of his eyes with light, and it slitted vertically, like a reptile's. "Hmm... vertically elliptical pupils... curious..." his ears were clean, thankfully, so I could get a look at his eardrums, finding them covered in a layer of very fine hair follicles.

"Alright, you'll need to keep your ears clean, or the hair on your eardrums will matte, and that will not be pleasant, and could possibly lead to permanent deafness. Alright?" I asked, and began checking his muscle-fat-bone ratios, though it was difficult, with the crystal that was now somehow integrated with his skin, instead of below it.

"I'm going to have to cut a portion of your skin, to get a better look at what you've done to yourself with this crystal." I sighed, and brought out my magical scalpel, meant for magical patients. It was made of Rune'd Obsidian, a Fragment of a Native American Relic, and able to cut through just about anything that existed, bar none but the most powerful of things. Even dragon-scales parted before it.

It was a mixture of relief and disappointment, when the blade managed to penetrate his skin. I opened a section of his shoulder, (entering through the trough of one of his bigger scars, where the skin was thinner,) to see what he'd done, and looked at the crystal that was now seeped into his bones.

All the keratin in his system, (that which formed bones, hair, nails, and skin cells, in four different densities,) had been integrated with the crystal, in various states of matter.

His muscles, much improved by the forced evolution, no longer followed standard human anatomy, in certain areas, like his shoulder and thigh muscle groups, which had flattened themselves, and nearly tripled the amount of tendons, though to what effect, I was not entirely certain.

I hummed and healed him carefully, as his new skin did not accept magical healing, so I had to use his own blood, as a sort of glue, sealing the wound from the inside, and also speeding up his healing process.

Alexia arrived as I was finishing up, as dramatic as ever she was, these days. "WHAT THE FUCKIN' HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?"