♠~•Percy•~♠

I stood there, gobsmacked. I went through a lot of things just for me to be rejected? Wow. Thanks a lot, universe.

"He is not fit for the army, for he is much too powerful."

And Chaos said that I was too powerful on earth. Is my sassiness really that powerful?

"However," one of the cloaked men interjected, his green eyes fixed on me, "he might do well as one of your assassins."

Chaos sighed and rubbed his temples, "Well, if that is what you decide, then fine. He can be my assassin, along with the other six assassins." he announced. Chaos clapped his hands and six figures appeared out of the blue, all wearing black cloaks, masks covering half of their faces. They stood behind me, "Lord Chaos, you have summoned us. What is it that we can do for you?" they all said simultaneously.

"Assassins of the Universe, I have here before you a new brother. His name is Perseus Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon." he motioned me to take a step forward, "He will be helping you enforce justice throughout the universe, helping the good and eliminating the evil. I hope you would gladly accept him as your brethren."

The assassin in the center walked forward and kneeled in front of Chaos, "We will gladly accept Perseus as one of us. We expect that he could meet our standards and fullfil his duty as an assassin." he stood up, holding out his hand.

"For now, you may call me Han." I shook his hand, "As in, Han Solo?" his grip on my hand tightened, I figured that he didn't like the pun. "Anyway, they will be your comrades." He gestured to the six other assassins. One of them stepped forward, "I am Priestess, lieutenant of Han." then another stepped forward.

"I am Moon, assassin of the universe."

"I am Sun, assassin of the universe."

"I am Justice, assassin of the universe."

"I am Death, assassin of the universe."

I figured that those were only their aliases, I mean, who'd name their kid Death in the first place? "We shall be taking you with us so that you may commence your immersion." Han said.

"I'm warning you, this would not be cakewalk."

•

"Could... I...have...some...cake...now?" I asked breathlessly, "What? Of course not. Run another two-hundred laps, then we'll see." Han replied while he was eating a piece of cake on a plate.

I groaned in frustration, I felt like if I took another step, I'd trip and pass out. In fact, after I took one step, my legs gave out and I kissed the ground. "Tch. And I thought you got picked by Chaos to join us," I heard his footsteps closing in, "Hey, are you okay?" he lightly poked my ribs with his foot, "Oh, have you perhaps died of exhaustion?" he sniggered.

"Shut uuuup..." I groaned, still lying face down. "And he lives! By the way, you shouldn't talk to your superiors like that, punishment is...50 laps more and no cake for you." Han said joyfully, I could practically see his eyes gleaming with victory under his mask.

I struggled to get up, but Han pulled me upright, "Jeez, you kinda remind me of a small child. This is just warm up, Jackson. Anyway, you'll be punished later, you still need to meet up with Priestess in the library, she'll be teaching you Universal history, then you'll be meeting with Death later to practice archery, next you'll be with Moon, he'll be teaching you basic blacksmithing and you'll be choosing a wepon of your choice, lastly, meet up with me here again, I'll be waiting with Justice and Sun, you will duel with three of us."

"Well, doesn't seem like I have much of a choice." I mumbled.

"Hm? What was that?"

"Nothing."

•

Priestess was glaring down at me, she was forcing me to read a seven hundred paged book about the occult history of Nebule, a planet fifty lightyears away from Ende. As much as I want to say that I'm finished, I can't. Because right after I 'finish' a book, she'll give me a pop quiz, and for every wrong answer, she would add books to the pile next to me and force me to read it. Torture.

"I assume that you are finished, young boy. Or are you just begging for more books to be added to your pile."

Gods, no.

"N-no, I just...uh...find this paragraph quite interesting...haha." I stammered, Priestess wasn't as tall as me, but she's just as intimidating as Thalia. If she wasn't wearing her mask, I would've seen her raise an eyebrow, "You're interested...in reading about the infamous witch trials in Nebule?"

"Y-yeah. It kinda reminds me of the witch trials back at my home planet in...Salem? In England, yep. Good ol' Britain."

I mean there's a school for witches and wizards there, right?

Priestess studied me carefully, "It seems you also need to refresh your mind with Earth's history and geography. Salem is located in Massachusetts, not in Britain. The city is most famous for it's witch trials in 1692." She added two books into my pile, I silently complained. She sighed in annoyance, "I will check out these books for you, they will be sent to your quarters and I expect that you have finished reading this by tomorrow morning."

"You better be gone by the time I come back, Death is waiting for you outside. She'll be teaching you archery, unless you have already mastered archery."

"I know archery, I'm just not that good at it."

"And by that, you mean terrible."

"Wha-"

"Oh just go, Death isn't that patient."

I reluctantly left, but seriously, who the heck names their kid Death? I opened the large doors of the library.

"I've been expecting you."

I involuntarily jumped and shrieked.
Death was smiling at me, though I may not see them, but I think her eyes are laughing. Another thing about these assassins, no matter how taller I am than them, they find ways to be more intimidating than me. Death looked up at me, her smile never leaving her face, "Come, we must not waste anymore time."

•

I am terrible at archery, I'm not going to deny it.

"Okay," Death said beside me,"We're gonna try this again, don't give up, okay?" she smiled encouragingly at me. From the way she said it, I think she was giving herself a pep talk rather than me.

The past hour, we've been trying to improve my aim and posture. I don't want to say that I improved because I would be lying. Arrow after arrow, I still haven't shot one on the target, either they'd be planted on the ground, trees, or other people, but never on the target. I was getting frustrated, when Death decided to take a break.

"You definitely need to practice more archery." she remarked, I sat down on the ground, groaning in frustration. "Honestly, I don't think I could do archery as long as I live."

"You make it seem like you can't do it, but I know you can." Death said as she sat beside me, "I've been an archer for only a few years, I literally started just a few days before I died, but I began to practice when Chaos gave me another chance to live. Everyone gets a chance to enhance on something they're terrible at, that's why second chances exist, right? I know that you're not a lost cause, it's also why I am doing my all to teach you."

I smiled lightly, "Thanks, you sure know how to cheer someone up."

"I'm used to it, I used to cheer my brother up whenever he was blue."

I fell silent, I looked at her with a questioning look, "Brother? You had a brother before?" Death seemed to tense, "Yeah, I did. But I think he forgot me already, well he did have the right to forget me, I left him alone when he needed me the most."

"... Y'know, you remind me of somebody that I used to know."

"R-really?"

"Yep, she and her brother were inseparable back then, but she decided to leave him and join a group of girls called Hunters. Unfortunately, she died while we were on a quest and that made her brother bitter. " I noticed that Death fell silent, it was like I was talking to the wind.

"However, he moved on and accepted that his sister was dead, he's quite happy with his life now, he got himself a boyfriend, he's got a lot of friends, and a lot of the younger demigods at camp look up to him."

"What a sad tale, but I'm glad that he's alright." Death said in a quiet voice, I could almost hear relief in her voice. "Anyway," she stood up, "Moon's probably waiting for you, you'll find the forge east from here. You know you've found it if you see the sky tinted red."

I thanked her and headed east, but I could've sworn I heard her sobbing before I left.

•

Moon was waiting for me outside the forge, tapping his feet impatiently. "Sorry I'm late." I apologized, "It's no big deal" he said," you know how to cast metal right?"

"...Maybe?"

Moon shrugged, "Okay, let's go." he entered the forge and I followed him in. A wave of intense heat blasted into my face as I entered the forge, I squinted at the harsh light the flames produced. The sound of metal clanking, hammers pounding, and the hisses of the hot metal meeting cold water.

Moon taught me how to forge a dagger, then a sword, and then a shield. When I was finished, I was sweating like a pig and my arms felt like they were going to fall off.

"Not bad for a first-timer." Moon chuckled as he observed the dagger I made. "Hmm." he hummed. I noticed that he was looking at the dagger with an odd intensity.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Nah." he dismissed my question quickly and went on with how I should forge a sword. I barely registered what he said because my gaze was on the dagger I made. It really looked like Annabeth's old dagger, I don't know if I intended the dagger to look like it or if it was just coincidence.

"You listening?"

"What?" I blinked, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm listening." I told him, but Moon didn't look convinced. He let it slide, and continued to talk about how to forge a sword. Half an hour later, I finally managed to form the blade and cooled the metal with water. "Great job!" Moon applauded, he looked at a nearby clock, "Whoa, I guess that took a lot longer than expected. You can finish the blade later and you can start working on the shield tomorrow, right now, you have to run. " he ushered me out of the forge.

"Wait, have you chosen a weapon? You're going to spar with the others right?" he asked, "I-" I gripped Riptide in my pocket. I felt guilty, this sword is a gift from my father, I left earth without even saying farewell to him. I don't think I could use Riptide without feeling guilt churning in my stomach, I don't think I have any right to use it anymore...

"I haven't chosen a weapon yet." I answered sheepishly, he pushed me back into the forge and pulled me towards a rusty iron cabinet. He opened the cabinet, and my jaw probably hit the ground when I saw a whole other world inside the cabinet.

It stretched out as far as my eyes could see, it looked like an endless closet of weapons and armor."You seem to be the sword type of guy, yeah?" Moon said, he held out his arm into the cabinet and fished out a claymore. "Do you think this'll work out for you? Double edged Stygian iron. Made from the best materials from Erebus." Moon handed me the sword, the blade felt cold and light on my hands, it had a dark aura around it which remembered me of Nico. Great job on trying not to get homesick, Jackson.

I slightly shook my head, "I get the chills with this blade. Don't wanna be shivering in fear in a duel." I joked. Moon hummed beside me, "Yeah, you're right. This blade is darker than you, and you seem to be a very happy go lucky dude." he threw the blade back into the cabinet, and pulled out another one. "How about this one? Katana. Made of Solar Iron, will melt anything that you cut through." he handed me the golden blade. It was probably half a foot longer than Riptide, the metal glowed like it was still fresh from being forged, I could even see the heat waves coming from the blade. "Don't worry, it comes with a fireproof sheath." Moon reassured me, as if the blade burning through everything it touches is not worrying.

I was silent for a bit. Wielding a katana sounds cool, but I don't think I could slice my superiors in half right now. "It's...a bit too extreme for me. Besides, I don't work well with fire." I gave back the blade to him. "So, not the fire type huh? Shame, I'm a magician with fire." he chuckled and threw the katana into the cabinet.

"What do you work well with? Earth? Air? Plasma?"

"I kinda prefer things watery."

"Ah! A waterboy. I've got the perfect sword for ya."

Moon reached into the cabinet once again and pulled out another blade. Moon grinned at me, "I think you're going to love this. Ocean black steel, mined from the deepest depth of Earth's oceans. Ocean black steel is quite rare, the few craftsmen and blacksmiths knows that any blade forged with this metal would penetrate through anything." Moon coughed, "Anyway I'm just rambling, now off you go. You'll be punished severely for tardiness if you don't make it in time. You know where the arena is, right?" he shooed me out of the forge, "Run if you want to live, Jackson." he waved goodbye as I sprinted towards the arena.

•

I heard them before I saw them. The harsh sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the arena as I approached it, I expected grunts of pain and weariness from the trio dueling each other, but they talked with one another like they were enjoying afternoon tea time.

"Hey Han, is it true that Chaos pardoned us our duties for a whole
century so that we could train the boy?" I overheard Justice say, and it seemed like he wasn't even out of breath, "Yeah, he told me this morning. By the way, why would you call him a boy? He is no boy." Han replied, "He's right, Justice," a female voice chuckled, I assumed that it was Sun, "You're a boy. Jackson's a man."

"Yeah, a very obtuse man." Justice replied with a small chuckle.

Obtuse? The hell does that mean?

"Yet loyal and dedicated, mind you." Han added. "But also naive at times, and a bit... childish." Sun continued. Wow, I really feel flustered with their praise. I'm blushing. "Speaking of him, where is he anyway? He's already late." Han said, they stopped their match and the arena went silent. "He's most likely still in the forge, I thought we only have two hours each for every lesson. Moon's hoarding all the teaching time all to himself." Justice whined, then he yelped in pain as Sun punched his shoulder, "Don't speak of my Moony woony like that! They're probably having a hard time in the forge."

"Jeez, is that how you call your boyfriend now? And here I thought the first pet name was terrible-" Justice huffed, but was once again cut off when he was elbowed in the gut. "Shh." Han hushed, "What? I'm just stating the facts here. You know that pet names make me sick, Han. I know that you-"

"SHHH! Shut up, Justice." Han hissed, he cleared his throat and shouted, "Eavesdropping on your superiors now, are you Jackson? You're late also, a hundred rounds around the arena for punishment."

I think I just dug up my own grave.