Chapter Text
Percy woke up slowly. His body was a lot more loose than what he remembered. It was when he stood that he realized that he was barely keeping a human form. He swung his legs around his bed and blew out a stream of air. That would be a tough one to slowly start to truly adjust to.
He cracked his neck, and when he did, he heard a voice. “About time you woke up.”
“Ares?” He questioned.
“It was my day to have a small part of me watching over you in case you got up. We’ve been switching off.”
“How long was I out?”
“About three months. Don’t worry, someone went to tell Sally about the situation. She didn’t seem all that surprised.”
“Did someone talk to Annabeth?”
Ares scoffed. “I think three separate gods attempted to have the conversation with her. She said she would speak about it with you and no one else.”
Percy groaned. “Was one of you actually able to get her to listen to my epithets?”
“I think the demigods finally drilled those into her head. You’ve become quite popular, Percy.”
He snorted. “You know that if you want my attention you ought to use Perseus, right?”
Ares raised an eyebrow. “I’m literally right in front of you. I can use the affectionate name that you prefer without any harm. Unless you’re about ready to tell me that your ascension has somehow stunted your emotional growth and you no longer consider me your cousin.”
Percy slugged him in the shoulder with most of his weight. “Fuck off, cousin.”
Ares laughed. “That’s what I thought.” He nudged Percy with his own fist, barely actually shoving him. “We figured you’d prefer someone near you. We’ve kept a constant rotation for the last three months. We know that you’ll need some time to figure things out, but we’re all going to be here for you. You can ask for any of us, and we’ll be there by your side.”
Percy swallowed. “Right.”
“Zeus wants to call a council meeting for you soon.”
“Why?”
Ares winked. “I’m under orders to not tell you that. It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
That sounded nice, actually. Percy had kind of half expected all of them to be overwhelmed and freaking out about his whole list of domains. So, a surprise by his uncle sounded like a great way to start everything.
Then, he winced. “Is Uncle Hades upset that I kind of created a whole new river running through his realm?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“You gave him a fucking shock, that’s for sure. But he was never upset about the fact it happened, and honestly given how ecstatic Styx has been, I’m not sure anyone was going to fault you for that. The fates are fucking angry, but they’ve been told by Zeus that you’re a young godling. They can be angry once you’ve settled into your domains and actually fully know what you’re doing. He kind of soothed those tensions.”
Percy sighed in relief. “Thank you, Uncle Zeus.”
A slight scent of ozone told him that Zeus had heard, but wasn’t going to rush around to his side unless Percy needed him. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood. “Can we get food first?”
“Whatever you want,” Ares agreed. The two of them began a leisurely walk towards the kitchen. There was movement in the kitchen that made Percy smile. Evidently therapy being over and three months apparently having occurred while he was out did not change the fact that family had come together in Olympus.
Artemis’ head poked out of the door. “Oh, Percy, you’re awake.”
“I am and hungry.”
“I would imagine,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t think any of our post domain acquisition naps were ever quite this long. You beat Apollo a couple weeks back.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Your dad said from his recollection of the past myths, you weren’t all that different than Despoina when she first decided to settle into the underworld myths, but he wasn’t sure of the time back then. Things were too different than now.”
She ushered them both in to sit down. “Unless you have a problem against alligator chili, I can get you both a bowl in about five minutes when it’s done cooking.”
“Sounds great,” Percy said.
Ares shot her a thumbs up. He leaned back in his chair, his feet propped up. “So, what’s on the agenda first?”
Percy frowned. “Uh, well Zeus wants to do that council meeting, so obviously we’re going to handle that first. Then, for godly stuff, I kind of want to head to Atlantis and let dad teach me how to do the basics. Like splitting my conscience over several bodies and teleportation to our domains.”
“Smart,” Artemis said.
“But uh, I should probably deal with Annabeth first. I remember that she was there close to when I was ascending, and I still haven’t actually talked with her about any of it. I probably put that off too long. I was intending on telling her about the plan and all that before I actually ascended. I didn’t really anticipate those fights.”
“Why didn’t you talk to her at the solstice?”
It was a fair question. One that his mother had asked him too. He didn’t have a good answer. He had the truth though which was that he hadn’t felt right trying to talk to her about the changes that were happening across the family. He couldn’t talk about his ascension without airing at least a partial amount of their therapy sessions at the time, and the idea of that just made his skin crawl.
Artemis narrowed her eyes at Ares. “I agree with you, Percy. That conversation won’t be put off any longer.”
“Ares mentioned that three of you went to talk to her. Who all went?”
“Athena, Hermes, and Triton.”
He blinked. Athena made sense. She was Annabeth’s mother. All the bad blood between them wouldn’t change those facts. He was grateful that his brother went as well. He probably did it both on his behalf and on Athena’s. Hermes, though, he doesn’t like Annabeth and while they were close, he wouldn’t expect help from Hermes on Annabeth’s behalf.
Ares chuckled. “Hermes went because he thought she might listen better to someone who had no reason to be on her side and still was willing to try to explain shit. I’m pretty sure Dionysus had to stop him from smiting her when she said that none of this mattered from anyone but you.”
Percy hummed. That did make a certain amount of sense. Artemis set a bowl of food down in front of him. She brushed his shoulder with her hand. “Eat. The world will wait for another few hours if you need it to.”
Percy allowed his brain to quiet down as he ate. Artemis and Ares were busy teasing each other after a few minutes on which of the two of them could better cook exotic meats. He was evidently a huge fan of alligator steaks and not of the ground chuck alligator that was used in chilis.
When his bowl was finished, he stood up from the table. Before he could take more than a step, Ariadne was slipping into the kitchen. She had a smile on her face, but there was a tight tension to the corner of her eyes that screamed she was a little less than okay. “Percy, could I talk with you privately?”
Percy furrowed his brow. He moved to her automatically. “Of course.”
She ushered him out of the room and down the hallway. She pushed open a door and pushed him into a room that he’d never stepped in before. The walls were painted as if they were a constant acid trip. But the fixtures were all wooden and sturdy, with several wine shelves littering the walls. They had knickknacks and decorations up everywhere.
Ariadne started pacing the second they hit the room.
Percy took in her agitation and took a deep breath. “Ariadne, if this is about one of my domains, I promise that I’m going to do everything that I can to value the rest of you and your opinions on things.”
“No, this is nothing about that.”
“Were you hoping that I could change your domains, because while I think technically that does fall under the realm of something I could do, I don’t think it’d be a good idea until I’m a lot more stable than right now?”
She smacked him in the chest. “No. I barely understand the ones I have right now. We do not need to add more to the mix as if that will actually help me and wouldn’t cause bigger problems.”
Percy snorted. “Well, then you must want me for a reasonable conversation, what can I do for you?”
Ariadne breathed out. “The council session, Zeus and the rest of the council intend to offer you Annabeth Chase.”
He blinked. “I thought Ares said this was supposed to be a surprise.”
“It is,” she said dryly. “They plan on offering you a way to ascend her. I believe between Zeus, Athena, and your father it would be easily accomplished.”
“It probably would,” he agreed. “Why is that a problem?”
“She has no ichor in her. Her blood runs red as the day she was born. She is divine. You can taste it on her blood, but she has no claims to ascension outside of you, and your love for her.”
“Right,” Percy said.
“She would become a goddess for nothing other than your love. If they ascend her, it would be forcibly. She might be willing at the time. She might think it a great honor. Or perhaps a duty. However, it would not be done with her life string already woven with golden threads. It would not be domains that she has held in her hands for all of her life that she is settling into. It will be domains handed over. They will pass over her, and she will have them, but it will be a constant battle.”
Ariadne wiped a tear from her eyes. “Listen, I know that this sounds hypocritical, but I swear it’s not, Percy. I should not have been ascended. I am suffering still.”
“What?”
She forced away her tears with a hard wipe of her hands. “I love my husband. I love him enough that I have become okay with the things that were forced upon me. The way that I do not fit in this body, in this immortality, it rattles me at times, but it is something that I shall live with.”
She reached out. She gripped Percy’s cheeks harshly. “But I made myself a promise long ago, that I would be the last. I will be the last mortal that they raise from truly mortal to god. The big three children who have remarkable talents and manage to impress all of the council, I leave to their whims. But no mortal demigod.”
“Annabeth,” he whispered softly to himself.
She nodded. “They will offer to ascend her for you. And I need you to be strong enough to tell them no.”
“She could be happy like you are most of the time.”
“No, she couldn’t.” Ariadne looks at him with startling pity. “She’s not like me, Percy. She would not find it in herself to forgive the gods for the things they do that are not mortal like for they are not mortal. She would grow resentful and wrathful. Both things that would not be good for an eternity. She would love you, as I love Dionysus. But her love has never been faithful serving of a god, like mine once was. She will look at you like you are still a mostly mortal being in a god’s immortality and when she realizes that isn’t what you are, she will dislike that as well.”
Percy’s mouth fell open.
“I can’t tell you how long it would take. Foresight is not one of my gifts. But I have gone to talk with her and I have watched her. She thinks that being a goddess would resolve your issues, but they wouldn’t. And since she would be a goddess only out your affection for her, things would be forever off kilter for her.”
Ariadne dropped her hands. She took in a shaking breath. “I know you love her. I know you are loyal to her beyond reason. And I’m asking you for all of those reasons, and all that you know about me, let her go. Elysium will be kind to her in a way that fading never will. Let her see the mortal ending that she has deserved for so long. Don’t force her into immortality.”
Percy blinked. His own eyes welling with tears. “This is why I didn’t want to tell her I was turning into a god. Because she would see me differently or she wouldn’t understand the changes.”
Ariadne nodded. She dropped into a seat with him on the edge of their bed. “It’s not fair. I know.”
“She still isn’t okay with me being a god.”
“She’ll become okay with you being a god if she sees the two of you as different. Ascension would guarantee that she sees you as the same as her.”
Percy groaned. He rubbed at his face with his hands. “How long have you been waiting to tell me this?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t sure I was going to have to. For a while, I thought that Athena might be on my side regarding not ascending the girl. After that I thought I could talk a few other gods on the council, but in the end, they were all rather stubborn about this being for you. You deserved nice things. You deserved the woman you loved. No amount of me talking about the consequences was going to sway them. They’d rather she suffer them than you.”
“And you know better,” Percy whispered.
She gave him a grim smile. “We both know if I could spare you from this heartache I would, but I do not have that ability.”
“You could have let it be like the rest of them.”
“Then I wouldn’t be me.”
Percy nodded. That much was true. “Alright, well, if there’s nothing else, let’s go to this meeting.”
Ariadne stared at him. “Are you sure?”
“No. But I can’t keep running from this. I did it for long enough as a mortal. It’s time to be responsible.”
Percy walked into the council chambers and laughed. The arcs that had become normal during therapy were now under massive overhaul. They were trying to figure out how they wanted the circle to look with all the additional thrones.
“No laughing,” Hera chided him. “This is a rather large decision.”
Percy glanced over at the thrones. He rolled his eyes. “Athena, let your brother have his spot next to his partner. You can take the other side of his throne if you want to be close to him. Mom will not squawk about having her granddaughter there over her son.”
Athena turned to gape at him.
He spun around. “Dionysus, will you please just let it be that Ariadne should be between you and Artemis? Artemis will like her better most days regardless, and while yes it puts you closer to Zeus, the two of you have repaired your relationship enough that shouldn’t be a big deal.”
Dionysus slowly inclined his head.
Percy turned to Hera. “Really? That’s all it took.”
“And where will you be?”
Percy shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me one bit where I am.”
Hades cleared his throat. “Perhaps he should be on my other side, given that a good portion of his domains do actually fall in my realm.”
Percy clapped. “There we go.”
He moved his throne to where Hades had suggested and then climbed into it. His powers settling as he settled into his own domain fortress. Then, he turned to his uncle. “I owe you an apology.”
“Don’t worry about such things,” Hades said softly.
“No, I created a river in your realm with no hesitation when I was grumpy and tired. You’re allowed to be upset at me for that.”
“Allowed, but I am not. You were tired and it did prove the point you wanted it to rather well.” Hades reached over and squeezed Percy’s shoulders. “Be at peace, Perseus. You did nothing in that day which I hold against you.”
Percy deflated. “Thanks, Uncle.”
Zeus cracked a bolt of lightning to signal the start of the session. “Percy, before we get to the other pressing matters, I just want to say that it is good to see you up and about again.”
Percy flashed him a smile. “Glad to be up and awake. Can’t believe that I crashed for three full months.”
“To be fair,” Hera said, “You did decide to make your entrance by resurrecting a primordial that you had just sent to reform and then create an entire new river for the underworld to separate out the broken oaths that have plagued Styx. That might have been a touch much for a first day.”
Percy couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. “I’m pretty sure I’m doing Khaos proud.”
“I’m sure.”
Zeus cleared his throat. “In your absence, the council has given a lot of thought to your addition to the family, Percy. We know that one of the main considerations to staying mortal when you were first offered the chance to ascend was your love for Annabeth Chase.”
Ariadne’s hand tightened on the edge of her throne.
Percy watched her carefully. He supposed he never did tell her that he agreed. He just said that it was time to stop running. He could tell that she was on edge, and he could tell that the rest of the family was trying hard to ignore the fact she was close to screaming.
“The council is more than happy to ascend her as we did for Ariadne for Dionysus.”
Percy closed his eyes. “Thank you, Uncle Zeus.”
“Of course, Percy. We want you happy.”
“But I don’t accept,” he continued. “Only one person among this council actually knows what it’s like to have a domain handed to you in that fashion. And that person has asked me to not make another mortal suffer through that fate.”
Dionysus turned to stare at Ariadne. “You spoke to him.”
“I told you I was going to.”
Zeus blinked. “But, the council voted.”
“You did, but most of you weren’t listening. You were holding him to a higher degree of importance than her. He wouldn’t want you to do that. He doesn’t want to watch her suffer. He doesn’t want to witness the decay of their love through an eternity. He loves the mortal version of her. He would grow to hate the goddess version of her.”
“Why?”
“Because she would not be as forgiving as me,” Ariadne stated. Her eyes met Percy’s. “I’m sorry, Percy.”
“You don’t need to sorry. This is my mess.”
She nodded slowly.
Percy blew out a stream of air. “I’m sorry, Uncle Zeus. I want to spare myself this pain and let you fix it. But the only fix you can give me is a temporary bandaid and when that falls away, the pain will be so much worse.”
Athena’s head bobbed. “I wish my daughter was more willing to understand the gods.”
“So do I, but she really never has. You called me impertinent as a child, but I at least understood what I was insulting. She bows, but she doesn’t understand.”
“What will you do?” His father asked.
“I don’t know. I need to go talk to her, but I have yet to actually figure out the whole moving thing.”
Hermes coughed. Then, he stopped trying to hide it and burst out laughing. “How about I travel you to camp one last time before you learn how to do it yourself? I was meaning to talk to Apollo about some stuff.”
Apollo raised an eyebrow. “You are aware that I am both here and at the camp, you can talk to me after we call an end to the session.”
“I mean if you don’t want my company at the camp, I’m sure the kiddos will be happy to see me.”
Apollo rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say that.”
Percy stood and walked over to Hermes. “I appreciate your help.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to miss you looking at me when you need to travel fast. You always were one of my favorite demigods to ever live, and while I am grateful beyond measure for the fact that I get you for an eternity, there will be moments when I miss the mortal boy I knew.”
Hermes hugged him close and then they were in the center of the camp.
Percy glanced around the cabins. He sighed deeply. He could feel in his gut that something was horribly wrong. It was seeping into the camp like a poison. “Damn,” he muttered.
Hermes glanced back at him. “What’s wrong?”
“So many damn things. Khaos and her meddling gave me creation, and I can feel the gaps where the pantheon had been left to its own devices and is now lacking. She doesn’t want to come back from the edge of nothing to fix it, but she knew it needed fixing, thus me.”
He stalked off to the great house instead of Athena’s cabin. He poked his head in. “Chiron, I could use you.”
“Perseus. Apollo and Dionysus informed me that you have been in a coma following your ascension.”
Apollo cracked one eye open.”Am I going to need to talk to camp after you do whatever this is?”
“Definitely.”
“Oh boy.” Apollo stood slowly. “What do you need Chiron’s help with?”
“He knows the kids, mostly because of his close relationship with the satyrs, but he does.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How many children are currently claimed by deities that don’t have cabins?”
“27, present here at camp. More out there in the world.”
His sigh was even louder this time. “How many deities do we have in our pantheon?”
“Several thousand.”
He cursed under his breath. “How much land does this place have?”
“Not enough for whatever you’re thinking,” Hermes cautioned lightly.
Percy marched out of the great house to where the boundary lines were. He touched them gently, and then he pushed them out. Mortals were just going to have to deal with the fact this forest was going to constantly be a place they saw nothing real. He expanded the camp to encompass as much of the land as he could in every direction.
The ground shook, and Hestia shimmered into being in front of him. She stared down at him. “This is not dealing with your mortal partner.”
“Nope,” he agreed.
“You should do that, Percy.”
“I plan to. Unfortunately, this grates on my being too much for me to be present here and have a normal conversation. So this has to be fixed first.”
Hestia closed her eyes. “Percy.”
“I know.” He did. This was not the normal way things were done. This was supposed to be partially an act of worship the construction of a new cabin. But things had been forbidden for too long, and now things were unbalanced. He was supposed to fix the pantheon.
Cabins erupted from the ground. Every god that he could pick a thread out of. He was being fed information from a part of his head that he was sure was tied to creation somehow, and he called forth cabin after cabin. The grounds expanded. The pathways opened up. Several campers had frozen where they stood to see what cabin was going to come up next.
Only once Percy was sure that any deity still living could have children and get them safely to camp, did he lower his arms. He panted. This was at least less draining than it had been before he took that nap. Not exactly pacing himself like he was intending to. However, as he looked at camp, he could tell how much better that would be.
He turned to Chiron. “Help the 27 campers get to their actual cabins.”
Chiron’s mouth was hanging open. “What did you just do?”
“Fixed a problem.” He blinked. “Now, I have a girlfriend to talk to.”
Hestia pointed over his shoulder.
Percy spun and saw Annabeth. He took off at a jog. “Wanna walk with me, wise girl?”
Her mouth snapped shut. She gave him a nod.
The two of them left the area. He walked her down to the shore where they could expect a bit of peace. He laced their fingers together as they walked.
Annabeth bit her lip. “When I told you to use the ichor, I figured that there was a good chance that would be what sent you into full ascension. It’s not like that was ever something your father could or would do lightly, the way you could.”
Percy nodded. “Yeah, that’s what tipped the scales over to happening right then. But Annabeth, it was inevitable.”
“Was it?”
Percy guided her to face him. “Yeah, Annabeth. I was never going to be able to spend the rest of my life without using the full extent of my powers. There was always going to be another great quest or a massive fight, and I was always going to end up at the front lines fighting.”
She yanked her hand out of his. “You promised, Percy. You said that you wanted a mortal life with me. We gave up the quest that got Jason killed so that we could have a break, and you’re telling me that was all for nothing.”
“Not for nothing,” he corrected. “Just not for a mortal lifetime. I needed a break after being a soldier in two wars. I was never going to manage a break from being Poseidon’s favorite son.”
She blinked back some tears. “Okay, so we have to adapt to the fact that you’re a god.”
“Yes.”
She blew a strand of her hair from her face. “Alright. Well, from what I’ve seen, you’ve kind of got the council on your side for the moment. They seem to be really grateful for the therapy that you’ve offered them. Perhaps, since you no longer need college application letters, you could ask to change your boon. Maybe they’ll be willing to ascend me.”
“The council would ascend you if I asked,” Percy said slowly. “But I won’t.”
Annabeth froze.
“For that matter, even if they weren’t willing to, I could ascend you without them because of what Khaos gave me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I won’t though. You wouldn’t make a good goddess, Annabeth.”
“You’re going to judge me for not having fancy powers, aren’t you?”
“It has nothing to do with flashy powers. It’s about taking versus asking. It’s about understanding gods versus mortals. It’s about fucking prayer.” He stopped. He was getting dangerously close to yelling.
Annabeth stared at him with wide eyes. “Really? You’re getting onto me about prayers. I know for a fact you barely did them correctly once in your mortal life.”
“I didn’t do offerings lightly. I didn’t trust easily. But I was very faithful. I said thank you to Hades when I succeeded in bargaining with him for my mother. I was always careful to respect the boundaries of the gods when we were in Olympus. And I fought for them each time that it came up that I had to.”
He hesitated. “When was the last time that you prayed and it was anything but something that you forced yourself to do because you wanted to be respectful? When was the last time that you were desperate and your first thought was to reach for help from something divine?”
“Never.”
“I always reached. I did so by yanking at my dad’s domains and telling them they’d answer, but I reached. That’s a form of faith. Not the traditional, but certainly the one that got me this close to ascension.”
Annabeth had tears welling up in her eyes. “But you’re a god, Percy.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I don’t want to be a fucking mortal play toy of a god.”
“You would never be a play toy to me,” Percy swore. “I am loyal to you. I love you. Regardless of how long it takes you to come to terms with this, I will be loyal to you. If I am single for your lifetime because you never get comfortable with being with me that’s fine. If we never sleep together because you do not want to add another demigod to this world, then we will do that. I don’t care how this works, Annabeth.”
“Ascend me,” she demanded, wiping at the tears in her eyes. “I can live beside you forever. We wouldn’t have to worry about the rest.”
“We’d have all new worries.” Percy glanced at the sky. “I am the thirteenth Olympian now, Annabeth. Can you stand to see the rest of the council for an eternity? Can you handle the fact that I will randomly slide up to Zeus and demand hugs? What about the fact that technically your mother is now my niece and among the family, she often acts subservient to the rest of the sea because of her trauma? Could you handle the fact I would respect that?”
“Why are you being cruel, Percy?”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’m being honest.”
“But this is awful. If I’m not a goddess, then I’ll die.”
“Yes, you will. You will die the mortal death that both of us wanted. You will get to see Elysium. You will see our fallen friends again. I won’t.”
“You won’t see Jason,” she whimpered.
“No. He’s gone from me.” Percy stared at her. “You want to see Luke again. Don’t lie to me, I know you.”
“I will need time.”
“I know.” Percy leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Call for me. Anytime, any day. I will come.”
“Unless you’re busy on the council.”
“Well, my first steps are going to figure out how to split myself into different aspects so I can handle my multitude of jobs. So, I think by the time you’ve had your space, I’ll be able to get to you no matter what.”
She faltered. “Wait, before you go, can you tell me who you are?”
He grinned. “I’m Perseus. God of therapy, still waters, loyalty, and calamities. I’m King Perseus, ruler of the underworld rivers and Tartarus’ pit. I’m Perseus, god of creation granted champion of Khaos.”
Annabeth gaped.
He took a deep bow. “I know. Wild ending for Percy Jackson’s story.” His smile remained on his face. “Be safe, Annabeth. Call me when you’re ready.” Then, he stepped into the sea’s waters and drifted off towards Atlantis. He trusted that the other gods near them would notice if something crazy happened right then.