A New Frost

Chapter 9

Kihone was walking through the forest up in Alaska. Her normal domain was canada, but for some reason she just knew she had to be there. Footsteps could be heard from her right. They were obviously labored, slow. Whatever it was had to be injured. She walked in the direction of the sounds until they stopped. She heard a thud, like something fell. She kept walking until she came upon and boy, about 17 years old. Black hair covered in snow. The boy was laying on the ground passed out. Kihone knew she couldn't leave him there to die. So she teleported herself and the boy back to her palace in Canada. Setting him on a couch next to the fire and leaving food on the table next to him she left him until he would wake up.

It took the boy four days to wake up. And when he finally did, Kihone realized who he was. Percy Jackson was lying on the couch infront of her. Percy Jackson was the half dead boy.
Kihone knew he had been missing from the gods but she didn't know where he was and had no intentions of finding him. Now that she had, she didn't know what to do. He had been injured. Hypothermia and the flu the least of his problems now. He had lost several toes and fingers due to Frost bite. He couldn't seem to talk at all either. But he was awake. And that was progress.

She rushed to his side, offering him the food and water on the table. He just stared at her. Empty eyed, he either didn't understand her or didn't care enough to take care of himself. He stayed awake for a few more minutes, eventually closing his eyes and falling back asleep.

They did this for the next several months. Sometimes he would eat something small, sometimes it would take him a week to wake up again. But his body wasn't healing. Kihone knew she had a choice, she could bring him back to Olympus, let Apollo have him, and go back to her life. But she also knew that if Percy Jackson had left his life there, he would not want to return.
So she kept him in her palace. Waiting for him to die. She was sure he would. His body was too damaged. But he woke up again. This time was different. He sat up this time. And he finally seemed to realize who she was. He scowled, not happy with his rescuer.

"I'm not going to bring you back to Olympus."
He just kept scowling. And then he sighed. Very quietly saying " you shouldve let me die."
Kihone was surprised, he could talk. Not well, but he could. His voice was raspy, unused and a little bit broken. But he could talk.
Kihone didn't need to reply to his comment. She knew he wouldn't agree with her no matter what. She left him be with the fire roaring and a fresh plate of food and clothes.

He got stronger this time. Had a normal sleep schedule too. Before long he would be keeping Kihone company. They spent their days together in her palace. Two whole years passed just like that. Kihone would have to leave sometimes. She always offered for him to join her. But he always stayed put.

Percy spent a whole day in the library, reading about something. Kihone had no idea what until that night during dinner. As they are their soup he explained what he had been reading.
"I want to try something." He started, Kihone looked up, intrigued. He continued, "I read about a process we could do. It would heal me," he paused. "Or possibly kill me. But I want to try it." Kihone still said nothing. "Basically, all you'd have to do is inject a tiny bit of your power into a pond. And I fall through the ice, and essentially die." Kihone started to protest. She didn't want him dead, she enjoyed his company. But Percy kept talking, "But I won't be dead. Percy Jackson will be dead. And I'll be reborn as someone else. A mortal myth."
Kihone thought for a couple seconds before deciding. " Okay" she said, "but only if you're sure you want to do this." Percy nodded understanding the risk.
"I want a fresh start."

Two days later they stood next to the nearest pond they could find. It was extremely cold. Percy was shivering. But he seemed excited. And so, Kihone walked to the center and out her palm against the ice. Giving up power, even a little bit is harder than it seems. But eventually, a little stream of white light left her hand. Once it hit the bottom of the lake it diapered, like a blooming flower.
Kihone walked back to Percy. "Are you ready?"
He took a deep breath " yea, I think I am." He gave her a long hug, whispering, "thank you for everything." Kihone smiled at him and just said "of course."

She watched him walk to the center of the pond. The ice slowly cracked before he suddenly plunged under. Going to rest at the bottom of the pond. According to the book where they found this, it could take anywhere from days to millennia before he would be back. And all she could do was wait.

And she did wait. For five hundred years. She's sit by that little pond everyday, waiting for him to come back. All through summer and spring the pond would stay frozen. It never melted.
Kihone was right there the day it cracked. The ice on the surface making a spider web of little tiny breaks in the ice. It took over five hundred years. But Percy would finally come back.

Suddenly ice and water flew up into the air. Percy Jackson was back.

He looked different. Pale and icy. His hair was now white. His eyes were much lighter, looking like the cracked layer of ice Kihone had just seen. He had a staff, wooden and knotted. He didn't look like Percy Jackson at all. He was a new man.

The next year they spend with him getting used to his new identity and powers. He explained to Kihone that he wasn't Percy Jackson anymore. Another mortal myth, the man in the moon, had given him a new name. Jack Frost.
But along with this new identity came a new personality. He was bipolar. Extremely so. When he got angry, his body radiated frost bite and he would become older looking. He seemed more kihone's age when he was like this. But he was almost villainous. His whole personality would shift. He'd be angry and hard to please. Scary even.
But when he was happy, it seemed like the whole world was happy. He'd play with foxes and go ice skating. Huge, clumpy snow flakes would fall out of the sky. He'd sing and dance joyfully. It was a sight to behold.

Kihone sighed sadly, they had spent hundreds of years together and yet, Jack was different from when he came out of the ice. Before they came to the demigod's camp he was happy, most of the time. He had moved on from his past. She hoped she would get back the Jack Frost she knew.