Chapter Text
“We’ll get through this, Percy. I promise,” Luke said softly.
I leaned my head against his shoulder, watching the reflection of the lake shimmer under the evening light. “I know. I’ve tried praying to Dad a million times, but he hasn’t answered. Lady Mother either. It’s like they don’t—” I stopped myself before saying it, before admitting how much it hurt.
Luke’s fingers found mine. “The gods always disappoint you,” he said, his voice low, edged with something bitter.
I looked up at him. There was a darkness in his eyes I hadn’t seen before, a kind of certainty born from experience. Maybe it came from Hermes—his father who rarely showed up, who treated his kids like an afterthought.
“My dad—” I started, wanting to defend Ares even now.
Luke cut in gently but sharply. “He thought you were meant to be something more, Percy. A god, maybe. If he’d known from the start—”
“He’s not—” I tried to argue, but my voice faltered. Ares had always treated me differently softer, gentler than he did Phobos and Deimos or anyone. I thought it was because I was his and Aprodite.
“But I won’t abandon you,” Luke said firmly, his voice rough but certain. “Because I’m like you, Percy. Because I love you. All I need is you by my side. Forget the gods.”
He held my face in his hands, thumbs brushing my cheeks like he could wipe away everything wrong with the world.
“Luke?” I whispered, my voice small. His eyes burned too bright, too fierce and for just a second, I could’ve sworn I saw a flicker of gold beneath the blue. He leaned in, close enough that I felt his breath against my lips—
And then someone coughed.
Luke froze. His whole expression darkened, his grip on me tightening protectively. One hand stayed under my chin, the other still resting against my hip like a warning.
While I was honestly grateful for the interruption, confusion prickled at the back of my neck. I turned to the stranger who had dared to speak.
“Percy,” the man said, voice deep and steady, like he’d known my name forever.
Luke’s jaw tensed as he pulled back, his body shifting subtly in front of mine. The man looked… familiar. Unsettlingly so. A Hawaiian shirt patterned with waves, black hair streaked with gray, and sea-green eyes that looked right through me. Eyes that I’d seen a million times in my own mirror.
“Can I help you?” I asked, my tone cautious but polite, though my stomach felt heavy like I was staring into a forgotten nightmare.
“I—I am,” the man began, but he couldn’t seem to finish the sentence. His mouth opened, closed, and for a moment, the mighty god looked… uncertain. A fish gasping for air.
Luke rolled his eyes. “Percy,” he said, voice sharp with irritation, “Lord Poseidon.” He gave a shallow bow mocking more than respectful and tugged me up by the hand like we were leaving a dull conversation.
The name hit me like a spark to a fuse. I turned, really looking at him then. The sea-green eyes. The dark hair. The faint calm that radiated from him, masking something vast beneath. And all I could see was him the god who had destroyed my family, who had made my father deny me, who had taken everything I loved and threw it into the sea.
“YOU—”
The word tore out of me like a growl. It was all teeth and fury, raw and unfiltered. Rage poured through me, fast and hot, like lava through my veins. Every instinct screamed to attack, to strike, to make him hurt.
My hand flew for my sword, but before I could reach him, strong arms wrapped around my waist, locking me in place.
“Percy!” Luke’s voice was rough in my ear as he held me back, his chest against my back, my feet kicking against the dirt. My hands clawed the air, reaching for the god who’d ruined everything.
“Let me go! He—he ruined everything! He took everything from me!” My voice cracked, but the fury didn’t fade.
Poseidon didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch. He stood there, calm as a still sea before a storm, watching me like I was a wave about to crash.
Luke tightened his grip. “Percy,” he hissed, “you can’t win that fight.”
Maybe I would fail. Maybe I’d get flattened. But as tears slipped down my face and hung in the air like salt, I wanted to try.
“Gah! You—” I started, but Luke had me wrapped tight around the waist, his arms anchoring me. He kept rubbing my head in this quiet way, humming low, like he was trying to steady a storm.
“Percy—God, Percy,” he breathed. “He’s a god. We don’t curse at gods. We also don’t try and punch them in the face.” Luke’s voice cracked with worry. He wasn’t trying to stop me because he thought I was weak. He was trying to stop me because he loved me.
Poseidon just watched, unreadable, as I refused to calm down. The ground trembled at my feet, the forest answering something inside me. The earth shook enough to knock Luke and me off balance. I fumbled in my pocket for the pen Deimos had given me gift and joke both and clicked it. The metal popped, and a short sword sprang into existence.
Luke couldn’t reach me in time. I swung.
“Percy—” the stranger tried to reason with me, his voice smooth as surf. Calm as a god. Calm as the sea.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I spat, teeth bared. “You don’t get to decide who’s good for me. You didn’t live in my life. You gave me a few genes and a nightmare. You don’t get to play father now.”
“Percy Jackson,” he said, stern and steady. “It’s an order from your father.”
The words hit a chord of cold inside me. “Father?” I snapped, the sound of it venomous on my tongue. My grip tightened on the pen-hilt until my knuckles went white. “You—” I swallowed hard. “You took everything.”
He started to answer, something about my mother but I cut him off before he could shape the words.
“You don’t know her, and you don’t know me,” I said. “I had a father who raised me. You should have spent your life ignoring me like you’re good at. So don’t you dare call yourself my father.” Rage made my voice small and sharp. I shifted my grip and the sword shimmered, changing shape metal lengthening, thickening until I held something like a hammer, heavy and wicked, perfect for smashing a god’s skull.
For a second, it was just me, the two of us, and the world waiting to see if I’d throw myself at the sea itself.
“Looks like that boar didn’t teach you a thing about respect.”
“Don’t you dare call my dad anything but his name.”
I swiped. The weapon shifted in my hands, blade thickening, curving an axe now, heavy and hot in my grip. I swung it toward his face with everything I had. I might’ve been born from the sea, but it was war that raised me and it only came out when some threatened my peace.
Too bad he dodged.
For a moment, it was just me and the motion, the rhythm of combat reminders flashing through my head. The days I trained until my arms shook. The lessons burned into me one weapon’s never enough. In war, you adapt. In war, you fight to win. Even when your dad can’t protect you.
And now, after sixteen years of silence, Poseidon finally showed up to claim me? After Ares had been the one to raise me, to teach me, to stay? He thought I still belonged to him.
He was wrong.
The sword reformed mid-swing, cutting clean across the god’s cheek. A thin line of gold shimmered before sealing itself.
I would’ve gone again, but Luke caught me from behind, arms locking around me before I could strike.
“Percy,” he said softly, like it could undo the storm raging through me.
But it was too late.
The waves in the nearby lake began to rise—water where there hadn’t been any before, pulled from nothing but fury. It clawed toward Poseidon, pulling Luke’s legs out from under him as the wind howled. The god of the sea stood calm, unmoved, but his power answered mine, the waves freezing midair, obeying him instead of me.
And for a single breath, I realized, I was the only son stupid enough to try drowning the ocean himself.
I threw my axe, only just missing the god who suddenly wanted to play father. It should have chopped his head off instead, it drew just a line of gold from his arm.
Luke pulled me from the water, holding me back as I panted, tears slipping down my face. I couldn’t stop them I was shaking too hard. “I hate him,” I choked out, voice breaking.
“Percy… stop this.” Luke’s voice was gentle but firm, his arms around me like a cage.
I wanted to scream. To fight. But Poseidon just stood there, calm and untouched, as if none of it mattered. And that was when I knew I’d lost.
“There is a prophecy,” he said finally.
“A what?” I snapped, head lifting. Even Luke stiffened. Prophecies were never good news.
“Come with me, and I shall disclose it.” He wiped the blood from his cheek, like I’d only flicked a bit of dust at him.
I bit my lip. That was… serious. Dangerous, even. I looked back at Luke, and the way his jaw tightened said everything. He didn’t want me going anywhere near this man.
“I’ll be right back,” I said quietly.
“Percy, this isn’t—” He leaned close, his breath warm against my ear. “I trust you, but him…” His voice hardened.
“I’ll be right back. Promise.” I forced a smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He sighed. “Alright. Be safe.”
I tried to keep my smile from trembling, but when I turned to Poseidon, my face went cold. I followed him wordlessly, footsteps crunching in the dirt.
“You look like your mother,” he said suddenly, almost softly.
“I can hardly remember her,” I muttered. “She died when I was five. My lady mother took me in.”
“Lady mother?” he repeated.
“Lady Aphrodite,” I said.
He hummed lowly in thought. “Both of us were born of the ocean. She must have done so to keep you safe.”
Had she? I couldn’t bring myself to be angry with her. Not without knowing everything. But the silence… the way she ignored me… that still stung.
“She cared,” I said finally. “Just like my dad.”
“Ares,” he said with a sigh. “He trained you like a brute. There’s more to battle than swinging a weapon, Percy. You’re strong, but any opponent with a mind could—”
“Hey,” I cut him off, grinding my teeth. “You might’ve had a hand in making me, but Ares is my dad. You’re not.”
He looked at me, ocean eyes hard. “Then where is your dad, as you call him?”
I smirked, bitter and sharp. “He’s pissed off because instead of ignoring me like you’re so good at, you claimed me. So how about you skip the lectures and just tell me the prophecy, so I can get on with my life.”
Poseidon stared at me really stared. Disappointed that I didn’t call him Father. Angry that my respect didn’t automatically belong to him. The silence between us felt like the sea before a storm. But I didn’t flinch. His choices didn’t shape me. His blood didn’t make him my dad. He was nothing more than a donor I had the misfortune of meeting.
A half-blood born of one of the eldest gods
Shall reach sixteen against all odds.
Blamed for a wrong wrought by another’s hand.
A shadowed ally, love-bound, shall stir the tides,
Seeking the fall of the mighty,
So that demigods may rise in their stead.
Yet in the end, the heart shall break,
And what you hold most dear shall vanish beyond your reach.” Poseidon finished, his voice carrying that heavy, divine echo.
“Perfect. Just great.” I threw up my hands. “Thanks for the nightmare fuel. See ya.”
“You don’t have to go, Percy,” he said quickly, stepping toward me. “I can keep you safe. You are my son.”
“Don’t call me that.” My voice came out sharp, shaking. “Ares is my dad. He’s all I want or need for father figures. So… bye.” I waved him off, turning before he could say another word.
When I found Luke, I told him everything. I always did. He listened without interrupting, his hand gently brushing my hair back, thumb running over my temple.
“It sucks, huh?” I said softly
“No more than usual,” he muttered, thoughtfully. Luke smiled faintly. “We’ll get through this, Percy. I promise.”
I tilted my head toward him. “How’d I get so lucky with you?”
He chuckled, low and warm. “You didn’t listen when I said we couldn’t get married when you were five. Then when I brought up the boyfriend step, you said that wasn’t serious enough for us.”
I grinned, cheeks flushing as I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Yep.”
Luke held me close, his arms a shield against the world, and for a moment, I felt nothing but safe. But even wrapped in him, my mind wouldn’t quiet. The prophecy… what did it really mean? For me, for Luke, for all of us? My family. The thought pressed down on me, heavy and relentless, and I couldn’t shake the gnawing fear that nothing would ever be simple again.
+++++
Luke’s POV
“I want to speak to Ares.”
The words left my mouth before I could second-guess them.
Deimos and Phobos exchanged a look like I’d just announced I wanted to jump into Tartarus for fun. Maybe I had. But the only thing in my head was Percy—Percy, crying as he threw himself at Poseidon to kill him, for taking all he lived away. Reckless and trembling, willing to die for someone who’d never once said I love you son back.
Ares. The god of war. The bastard who’d raised him, but now was refusing to see him,
“That’s dumb,” Deimos said flatly.
Phobos nodded, faintly. “Very dumb.”
I rolled my eyes, but my jaw stayed tight. “I’m not asking for me. I’m asking for Percy.”
That shut them up. For a second, anyway. The twins’ expressions softened barely. Maybe they understood. Maybe they didn’t. But I didn’t care. Percy was all I had left to care about in this cursed world. If it meant facing Ares himself, then fine. I’d do it.
“…You might die,” Phobos muttered after a long silence.
I gave a short bow. “Then let me die for him.”
Deimos sighed. “You’re a fool.”
“I know,” I said, voice low. “Grant me this.”
They looked at each other again, like they were silently deciding which one of them would have to clean up the mess afterward.
Finally, Deimos raised his hand, a faint glow curling around his fingers.
“We warned you,” he said.
Phobos smirked. “Just don’t make him mad.”
Then the world tore open around me—heat, metal, smoke—and I was gone.