Percy Jackson: The Firstborn

“I came to fulfill a promise.”

Damon’s words carried through the massive prison, rising above the constant clashing of chains. Within seconds, the Hecatoncheir’s fifty heads reacted in different ways; some showed exhaustion, others confusion, and a few still seemed to be trying to recognize the man standing before them. But above everything else, bitterness stood out the most.

And with good reason. After all, the last time he had seen Damon, the redhead had given him his word that he would be free… only to disappear and leave him at the mercy of the Olympians once again.

“I think I’ve heard enough promises from you, Damon…” the Hecatoncheir’s voice thundered as one of his heads spoke, making the nearby walls vibrate. Despite all the time that had passed, the giant showed neither joy nor surprise at seeing him again. “I may be all brute strength, but I’m not a fool like some of Uranus’s other children.” His tone made it quite clear that he had no intention of falling for what he considered the same lie twice.

The small smile Damon had arrived with disappeared. Even so, he didn’t try to defend himself or offer any unnecessary explanations. As much as he disliked hearing it, the hundred-armed warrior had every reason to be angry.

Behind him, Hades, Hecate, and Melinoe stayed out of it. Melinoe, especially, had mixed feelings hearing the way that creature spoke to her king. Her loyalty as a Greek goddess made it difficult to ignore, but she had enough common sense to understand that this wasn’t the time to interfere or try to defend Damon. It was obvious that Lord Damon shared some history with that monstrosity and, judging by the way he accepted his words, a rather complicated one.

“Yeah, you have every right to be angry about that,” Damon admitted. “And I’m not going to give you an excuse. I know you don’t want to hear some bullshit from me trying to justify it.” The redhead spoke plainly, knowing that dancing around the subject would only make things worse.

The Hecatoncheir didn’t respond, preferring to decide for himself how much weight Damon’s words really deserved. Behind him, Hades, Hecate, and Melinoe remained silent, allowing the two to settle the matter between themselves.

One of the heads moved as close as the chains allowed. “Fine, let’s say I believe you. Why shouldn’t I think you’re only here because you plan to use me for whatever problem you have in the future?”

Damon had to give him that. The giant had a point, and the truth was that even he wasn’t completely sure how to answer.

“I can answer that question for you.”

The new voice interrupted Damon’s thoughts, and everyone turned toward his shoulder, where a small orange creature appeared in a puff of smoke and made itself comfortable on top of him. The most obvious thing about it was that it resembled a nine-tailed fox, though it possessed a few traits that certainly weren’t normal for an animal. Hecate studied the creature with interest, wondering where the hell Damon had gotten something like that and, more importantly, where she could find one herself.

Kurama cleared his throat. “Trust me, this idiot has done something similar to me before. But he never abandoned me or locked me away for some malicious reason. Let’s just say there was always some kind of ‘greater good’ involved in his head.”

Inside Damon, several of the Bijuu had to admit he had a point, remembering a certain period when Damon, as Hashirama, had literally ended up imprisoning them.

Kurama pushed that memory aside and continued. “But in the end, he kept his word. Think about it yourself. Do you really believe that, with everything this guy could be doing right now, traveling through Tartarus to find you after all these years was the best thing he had on his schedule? Obviously not. Anyone else probably would’ve forgotten you existed by now.”

“Wow. What a touching way to help me,” Damon commented, feeling his eyebrow twitch at the constant insults and the complete lack of respect the fox seemed to have for him.

“I’m trying to help you, so don’t screw it up,” Kurama shot back in annoyance.

Melinoe shifted her eyes from the small fox toward her father, clearly waiting for some kind of explanation. Hades understood perfectly well the question his daughter wasn’t asking. “Don’t ask me. I think it’s another one of your uncle’s ideas,” the God of the Underworld muttered.

Meanwhile, the Hecatoncheir had spent some time thinking about what the fox had said and had to admit that it made some sense. Most beings he had known probably would have forgotten about him by now. Kurama also set the jokes aside when he noticed that the giant still seemed to be waiting for something more.

“Trust me, I know what it’s like to be locked away because someone decided you were more useful as a weapon than as a living being. I spent a long time literally hating everyone because of that,” the fox continued. “Damon makes mistakes. A lot of them, actually. But I’ve been with him long enough to tell you that at least he learns from them. When he accepts that something is his responsibility, he usually doesn’t turn his back on it a second time.”

The Hecatoncheir processed the tiny fox’s words. Damon didn’t try to add anything; the argument carried far more weight coming from someone else than from Damon talking about how wonderful and trustworthy he supposedly was. Besides, if the giant was going to trust him again, he had to do it because he genuinely wanted to.

One of his heads let out a rough laugh. “What a strange creature.”

Kurama rolled his eyes as one of his tails pointed toward the giant. “Says the guy with fifty heads.”

“Kurama…” Damon warned, knowing perfectly well how little patience the fox had.

“I’m not lying though,” Kurama replied, raising his head smugly.

“HE-HE-HE-HE-HE-HE.”

The Hecatoncheir’s heavy laughter echoed throughout the prison, causing more than one person to stare at him strangely because of how unusual it sounded. “You are tiny, fox, but I can feel great power coming from you. I respect that… and I’ll believe you this time.”

Kurama puffed out his chest proudly, and the giant’s compliment seemed to multiply an already massive ego by a hundred.

Inside Damon, several of the Bijuu rolled their eyes.

“Ha. How much do you want to bet that mangy fox is never going to stop rubbing this in our faces now?” Shukaku complained, bringing both hands to his head as he could already imagine Kurama’s future bragging. His siblings simply stared at him with flat expressions because every single one of them knew he was right.

While another small drama between the Bijuu began inside Damon’s mind, the Hecatoncheir’s hundred eyes settled on him. The giant lowered one of his heads in approval.

Damon understood the confirmation.

Needing nothing else, he approached one of the chains and wrapped his hand around the thick metal. The moment he touched it, he could feel layers of divine energy running through every link. If Zeus was good at anything, it was building prisons and taking every possible precaution to make sure his enemies could never escape.

Damon let out a small laugh. Zeus, God of Prisons. It fit him perfectly.

The symbols carved into the link began to fade, and without thinking much about it, Damon pulled on the chain and snapped it in a single motion. The impact echoed throughout the prison as a massive section crashed against the ground.

The giant slowly moved his newly freed arm, first closing his enormous hand and then stretching his fingers as if he were still getting used to being able to move them freely. “One down,” the redhead commented, about to summon several Shadow Clones to speed up the process when the Hecatoncheir interrupted him again.

“Wait,” the giant said, though this time his tone lacked the hostility from before. Damon stopped and turned toward him, raising an eyebrow. “Does Zeus know you’re doing this?”

Damon let out an amused snort. “I think Zeus has much bigger problems than worrying about what I’m doing.”

Several heads shifted in confusion. The Hecatoncheir had been imprisoned for so long that Damon’s words didn’t seem to make much sense to him. Hades finally stepped in from behind his brother. “Zeus no longer rules Olympus.”

The giant’s hundred eyes shifted between Hades and Damon until one of his still-chained arms pulled hard on instinct, causing another deafening clash of metal. “Zeus lost the throne? Why the hell didn’t you start with that, Damon? And here I was thinking you came looking for me because you needed help taking it from him.”

Damon burst out laughing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. My bad, I should’ve made that clear from the beginning. I thought you already knew, but apparently I was wrong. Zeus is no longer the King of Olympus. I’m the current king,” the redhead said with plenty of self-satisfaction.

“Hmmm…” the Hecatoncheir muttered, now far more surprised. Part of him felt better hearing the news, though he wasn’t even sure exactly how he was supposed to feel after being imprisoned for so many years. “So Zeus is dead… what a shame. I really would’ve preferred dealing with him with my own hands. Feeling his tiny body break while I listened to his screams… and then eating him.”

The ancient warrior’s rough voice thundered throughout the prison as his words registered in the minds of the deities present. Hecate and Melinoe felt a small chill as they pictured the scene in a little too much detail.

Damon, for his part, raised both hands. “I never said he was dead. So if that’s what you want to do, I don’t see why not. I couldn’t care less about Zeus.”

Kurama burst out laughing from Damon’s shoulder while the giant seemed to be holding himself back from celebrating on the spot. A massive grin spread across several of his heads, revealing large yellowed teeth.

“The brother who abandoned Olympus ended up coming back and taking the throne… HE-HE-HE-HE. I would’ve loved to see Zeus’s face.”

“It was undoubtedly a great day,” Hades commented.

Damon decided not to go into detail. “The point is, you don’t need to worry about Zeus anymore. As long as I’m king, no one from Olympus is going to bother you. In fact, your name should be in Greek history books for what you really were during that war: one of the heroes who helped defeat the Titans. I’ll make sure that changes and that your name is recognized the way it should be.”

Damon fixed his eyes on several of the warrior’s red eyes. “And once you get out of here, you can do whatever you want. You don’t owe me anything for freeing you, and I don’t expect you to fight for Olympus again just because I tell you to. If I ever need your help, I’ll probably come ask you for it, but if your answer is no, then it’s no.”

The Hecatoncheir focused several of his heads on Damon as he processed his words. “You’ve changed.”

“I hope you mean for the better,” Damon replied as his lips curved into a small smile.

“Meh, either one works for me. Good or bad doesn’t matter much when you’re a mythological being,” the hundred-armed giant replied.

Kurama let out a laugh from his shoulder. “I tell him the same thing, but sometimes he doesn’t listen.”

Damon shot the fox a look. “Keep talking and you’re going back inside.”

Kurama wisely decided to stay quiet while Damon turned his attention back to the chains. However, before he could continue, a female voice swept through the entire prison from every direction at once.

“I don’t think what you’re doing is a very good idea, King of Olympus.”