Happy birthday to that one anon on tumblr that asked if I could update on Wednesday! 🎂

POSEIDON THOUGHT BACK TO THE time he first discovered child leashes. It happened almost a decade ago when he saw a mother and her feral toddler walking around the shores close to his seas. The child had been strapped to a harness and the mother was trying to pull him away from the water.

Anyway, he had drowned the two humans for daring to step close to his territory, but he had to admit (begrudgingly) that whichever human invented those child leashes was smart because he could really use one right now .

"She's not here," Hades stated with certainty. "Poseidon, I can't sense her anywhere. She's probably not in Olympus anymore."

"That fucking brat..." He muttered darkly. He should've used a child leash on her and tethered her to a pole or something.

"Now, now, Poseidon, don't call your daughter that," Hades chided. "Percy is not a brat. Something must have happened. She's not one to disobey. She was perfectly well-behaved when I had her."

He might as well have been saying, 'Haha I'm a better father than you and she likes me more!', but Hades was too refined for that.

Poseidon, however, caught the underlying meaning of his words. The blonde shot him with a glare. "You're bragging."

He merely shrugged, smiling coyly. "Just stating a fact. We should check the other pantheons for Percy. Perhaps she was taken there."

"Or she walked there," Poseidon scoffed. "Insolent child."

Hades sighed in disappointment. "Let's just go to Svarga."

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Bad news: the meeting with the Greek deities was over by now and Poseidon was probably on his way to destroy her.

Good news: at least she'd die after eating the best food in the world!

As a New Yorker, Percy had eaten all kinds of foods from different cultures before. Italian, Greek, Japanese, Pakistani, Mexican—the list could go on and on. She had eaten Indian food too, but nothing could beat Indian food made by the gods (or whatever ancient spirits they had as cooks).

They ate off of giant banana leaves—which weren't part of the meal (Shiva told her so after he caught her trying to nibble on one of them)—and used their hands to pick up their food. Not that she minded. She had eaten greasy French fries before and the food being served was anything but greasy.

Percy was slowly picking off the bits of biryani sticking to her fingers, feeling full. Her plate—or banana leaf—was mostly empty but Parvati would occasionally give her more food since she was 'a growing girl'.

She was pretty sure they needed the food more than she did. She was full, but they were still eating.

Shiva had a whole tandoori chicken leg in each of his three hands while his fourth would shovel rice in his mouth. Ganesha was no longer afraid of her—whatever fear he felt disappeared after his third round of curry. Same with Durga, but that might've been because of the alcohol. Parvati was scarfing down kathi rolls nonstop. Kali was the only one eating at a normal pace.

Since they were gods, she wondered if their stomachs were endless, if they could just keep eating forever and never suffer the consequences. She was also surprised that they were eating in the first place. Back in Atlantis, she was the only one who ate food. Poseidon never ate anything aside from that one time (aka the Meatball Incident™).

"Um," she spoke up shyly. "Can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure, go ahead," Shiva, who she was beginning to really like because of his lackadaisical attitude, said through a mouthful of food.

"I thought gods didn't need to eat? So why do you eat when you don't really need to?"

Shiva burst into laughter, nearly choking on the leftover chicken bits in his mouth (Percy had a brief flashback of the Meatball Incident™).

"This is about your dad, isn't it?" He asked knowingly. "We eat 'cause we wanna! Food's delicious after all! Your dad doesn't eat 'cause it's a 'human thing to do' and he's too much of a 'perfect, flawless, god'," he said, mocking Poseidon's voice and making a funny face.

"You don't eat meals with your dad?" Ganesha asked her sadly.

"Um..." Percy tried to push the Incident™ out of her mind. "No, not really. He thinks it's beneath him and called me 'defective' for needing to eat all the time."

"Oh you poor thing," Parvati frowned sympathetically. She hissed over at Durga, "I knew Poseidon would be a terrible father! Who would trust him with a child, let alone a human one?"

"I'm surprised he hasn't killed her by now," Durga muttered under her breath.

"You've been staying with Poseidon for a month so far," Kali began softly. "Surely you're not being treated well by him? Wouldn't you rather stay with Hades?"

"H-huh?" Percy froze.

"Your father is notorious for hating humans," she clarified. "And you are... well, you are half-human. Do you really feel safe with him?"

Not really. The chances of him killing her were still high, but she didn't think she'd fare well under Hades' care. Not when Zagreus lived in his palace. Not when Hades' intentions for her weren't... exactly the purest. At least with Poseidon he hated her too much to try anything creepy.

"I'm okay with him," she replied. "I like it in Atlantis. I love being underwater..." She couldn't help but let out a dreamy sigh.

Ever since she was a little girl, she always fantasized about living underwater. After watching The Little Mermaid and making Ariel her whole personality, the feelings had only increased. Living in Atlantis was like a dream come true (if you ignored the part where she was living with Poseidon)!

Shiva and his wives exchanged skeptical looks. "Well, if you're sure..." Shiva said slowly before deciding to change the subject. "By the way, why were you with Loki anyway? Why'd he dump you in our fountain?"

She scowled at the mention of the green haired god. "He was supposed to take me to Lady Mnemosyne's house so I could talk to her, but he tricked me and took me somewhere completely different!"

Durga snorted into her drink. "That was your first mistake kid, trusting Loki."

But I didn't even want him to do anything in the first place! She internally wailed. He teleported me here against my will! And now Poseidon's gonna kill me for letting it happen!

"Since you're done eating, I can take you to her," Shiva offered. "I got no idea where she lives though, so I can only drop you off in Olympus."

Her face lit up. "Can you really?"

He nodded. "Yeah sure. I can do it right now."

"Yes, please!" She exclaimed, bobbing her head up and down. Poseidon was going to kill her anyway, might as well let it happen after having a nice talk with Mnemosyne.

"Alright," Shiva said. "See you later, Percy!"

"Byeee!" Parvati waved. "Come visit us again!"

"Bye guys!" She waved back.

Shiva snapped his fingers and suddenly Percy was now standing in the middle of a beautiful landscape overlooking the mountains and low clouds. She had no idea where she was, but she was so high up that the Greek palaces down below just looked like sparkly dots.

She turned and started to walk around. She saw even more glamorous palaces in the distance, along with giant white statues of naked buff men and curvy ladies. She must've been higher up on Olympus and judging by how the homes looked, this must be where higher-tier gods and goddesses lived.

She wondered if Mnemosyne would be here. She was a Titan after all, and they weren't exactly seen in a positive light despite the remaining ones being peaceful.

This was going to be hard. She wished the Greeks used signs that said 'WELCOME TO (INSERT GOD'S NAME)'S HOUSE!'. Looking for Mnemosyne's place was going to be impossible...

She was trudging down a cobblestone path when she heard the cry of a bird behind her. She glanced back and was nearly blinded by what she saw. Above her and swooping down was a glowing pink, white, and gold chariot that was being drawn by doves who were probably pumped with steroids (because how the fuck were these tiny birds able to carry a whole chariot?)

At first, she thought she was about to get run over, but the chariot stopped just next to her. When it landed, air blasted back, followed by the aromatic smell of perfume.

Sitting inside were a pair of Greek deities. A man and a woman, but Percy was too distracted by the woman to pay the god any attention. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with golden curls and sky blue eyes. Her skin was so fair she seemed to be glowing with radiance. Then Percy's gaze traveled down to her chest. She couldn't help it. Her breasts were huge, so huge that they had to be held up by a pair of cherubs.

"Hello there, dear," the goddess smiled at her.

"Uh... I... hi..." Percy could only stare dumbly and hope she wasn't drooling.

She giggled in amusement. "Come, why don't you join us?"

Percy did the dumbest thing ever: she climbed into the chariot.

Her mother always told her to never get into a car with a stranger, but surely it was okay if the stranger was this hot, right?

The goddess patted the space beside her and she sat down. Luckily, the chariot was spacious enough for it. Across from them, the god watched on warily.

"You must be Poseidon's daughter, correct? My name is Aphrodite," she introduced herself. Her voice was velvety smooth and sweet.

"Oh... that's nice. You're nice looking." She said stupidly. Then she realized she sounded like a total simp and tried to correct herself, "I-I mean, um, yes that's me. It's nice to meet you."

She giggled and it sounded like bells were chiming and the heavens were singing. "My, you're quite polite. I never thought a child of Poseidon could ever be so sweet."

"Uh huh..."

"You're drooling, dear." A handkerchief appeared in her hands in a cloud of pink. She reached out to delicately wipe the drool now sliding down Percy's chin.

Snap out of it, a voice in her head was screaming. It sounded vaguely like her own voice. Snap out of it, you moron! For fuck's sake, why are you so weak when it comes to blondes?!

That finally got her out of it.

"I'm not weak against blondes!" She protested out loud, and not in her head.

Aphrodite blinked.

She realized what she had done and felt her face burn up in embarrassment. Oops.

"Um... uh, sorry," she apologized lamely.

"Huh. I'm impressed. Mortals are usually unable to regain clarity around me, let alone that quickly," she noted, eying her up and down. "How odd... Ares, isn't she quite the interesting child?"

Ares?

Percy turned to the man sitting across from them and felt her jaw drop.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Sitting before them was an extremely muscular god (more muscular than the Ares back home) donning a black skirt and a red cape. But a few things caught her attention...

He had a butt-chin. He was blonde. He had a butt-chin.

This was Ares?!

"Erm..." He actually squirmed when they made eye contact. "Uh, Dite, maybe we should let her go? It looked like she was trying to get somewhere..."

No way. Was this Ares actually afraid of her?

She waved him off. "Nonsense, she's not busy, are you, Percy?"

"Um, no?"

"See?" She smiled. "You know, dear, I've been very curious about you ever since Zeus announced that Poseidon had sired a child. You're not what I was expecting."

"Oh," she said awkwardly. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course not," Aphrodite giggled. The sound made it feel like her head was getting filled with cotton-candy. She mentally forced herself to stay focused. "But you know what really intrigued me when I first sensed you?"

She gulped inaudibly. Catching Aphrodite's attention was the last thing she wanted. She was deadly back home and it wasn't going to be any different in this universe.

"...What?" She asked wearily.

The voluptuous goddess giggled, as if she could sense her fear.

She reached out to cup Percy's chin. "You're only just a baby and yet... so many broken hearts follow you. You're quite the heartbreaker, Percy. I wonder, whose hearts have you shattered?"

"Do you really think it'll work?" Percy asked anxiously.

It was quite the scene. The daughter of Poseidon and the son of Hades sitting on the floor of her cramped New York apartment bedroom, eating slices of a blue birthday cake while discussing war plans.

Well, it was more like 'a suicidal battle plan that had a 99% chance of getting Percy killed' kind of plan. So, the usual.

"If it doesn't kill you, then yeah," Nico said unhelpfully.

"But... you're asking me to jump into the River Styx. Hasn't, like, only one person been able to do that? How do we know it'll work for me?" She wondered aloud.

"I'm a hundred percent certain Luke did it too," Nico said firmly. "I just need to find out how."

"And how will you do that?"

"Easy. We'll get the answer from his mother," he answered. "May Castellan, right? Her name's not in the Underworld Archives. She's still alive. I just need to find her. See how Luke acquired her permission."

"Then I go ask my mom for permission," she said, nodding along.

"And then I'll take you into the Underworld so you can get into the River Styx," he finished.

"You mean sneak me into the Underworld," she corrected. "Your dad kinda still hates my guts."

He winced. "Right..."

Percy fell quiet. She watched as Nico took another bite of cake and felt her chest ache. He was still so young...

"You don't need to do this, you know," she spoke up. "The war, I mean. You—"

"—I want to do this," he interrupted her, his voice taking up a slightly hard edge. "You're the Child of the Prophecy, Percy. Not me, not Thalia, you. If you die, there's no backup. There's no second chance. It's over for all of us."

She bit the inside of her cheek. She still couldn't help but feel awful for this. The demigod life had pretty much ruined Nico's life, and she had helped it by breaking her promise—by failing to save Bianca. He didn't deserve any of that. And he certainly didn't deserve to spend the tender years of his life fighting in a war.

Nico looked over at her, his expression pained.

"I know what you're thinking," he mumbled. "You're thinking of her, aren't you? You're wondering why I'm still continuing to help despite everything that's happened."

"I hated you," he admitted and she winced. "But not because you failed to save her. But because you broke her heart."

"...What?"

He let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes. "Figures you still wouldn't get it. Percy, Bianca loved you. And not just as a friend. When we first met you at Westover Hall, you defended her from those bullies who were making fun of her hair and how she always hung out with me. Ever since then, you became our friend. She looked up to you, saw you as her hero and her friend. But then she started to fall for you, and she fell for you hard."

Percy was stunned, but he wasn't finished yet.

"She never admitted it to me though," he said, looking down. "But I could tell. She was ashamed of herself. We may not have remembered our past back in the 40s, but we—she could still remember the fear of people finding out she liked the same gender," he quickly corrected. "It didn't help that you kept telling us about your good friend Anthonius."

His voice was bitter, and Percy could hardly blame him. She remembered all the times she had spoken about Anthonius. To Bianca, she must have looked like she was crushing hard on him. It... it must have really hurt her.

"I thought, after we found out that the gods were real, that maybe things would get better. I mean, everyone was gay back in Ancient Greece, right*? So I thought maybe she'd pluck up the courage to tell you how she felt... but then Anthonius fell and all you could think about was saving him. And then she joined the Hunters."

Percy's breath hitched. The Hunters. This whole time she thought Bianca had joined them solely so she could be free from responsibility. And maybe that was a part of the reason... but she was also to blame too now. Now she had realized that she was the final push that led to the decision.

"When you guys went on that quest... I had this stupid idea that maybe spending more time together would make you return her feelings and make her realize that she made a mistake in joining the Hunters. I thought the two of you would return safe and happy and I would get my sister back. But I was wrong. Only one of you returned. And Bianca died with a broken heart because of you."

"N-Nico, I'm sorry..." She said shakily, her eyes wet with tears. Her hands were trembling.

He shook his head. "No. It's not your fault. I hated you for a long time. But I understand now that it's not your fault that you didn't return Bianca's feelings, and it's... it's not your fault that you couldn't save her. She made her choice."

But it did nothing to reassure her.

Because Percy loved Bianca too, just not in the way she would've wanted it.

And now she knew that she had broken her heart, and it led her to her death.

The memory faded away, and Percy could vaguely feel Aphrodite brush away a stray tear.

"Oh?" Aphrodite murmured, looking excited. "What is it, Percy? Tell me, tell me about the hearts you've broken."

"I need to leave," she breathed out, hands scrambling to jump off the chariot.

She sprinted away as fast as she could go. In the distance, she could hear Ares wailing, "Oh, we've really done it now, Dite! Poseidon's gonna kill us!"

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

"I never thought you would be the one to lose your own child in a place as big as Valhalla, brother!" Zeus chortled as he walked side-by-side with his elder brothers.

Poseidon ignored him and sent Hades an icy look. "You just had to tell him."

"He wanted to help," Hades said defensively.

"He's not helping, he's useless. And annoying." He turned to the elderly god. "Go back home, Zeus."

"Ha! I will not! I'm enjoying this too much. I can't believe my brother would be so scatter-brained as to misplace a child!" He laughed grandly.

"I did not misplace her, she ran away," Poseidon snapped.

"I'm telling you, she was taken," Hades sighed.

"Why would anyone want to take her aside from you?" Poseidon scoffed. "If someone did take her, I assure you, they would've returned her the second she opened her mouth. She has yet to be returned back, therefore, the only viable option is that she has run away."

"With a dad like you, who can blame her," Zeus muttered under his breath.

"Do I need to remind you of how your children feel about you, Zeus?" Poseidon shot back.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! My children love me!" He croaked. When no one said anything, he feebly added, "...Right, brothers? They love me, right? Right? Oh, come on, don't leave me hanging!"

Hades could only do nothing but sigh as they drew closer to Shiva's palace.

The search for Percy wasn't going well. The only thing the three had managed to accomplish was to remind Hades of how stressful it was to be the eldest. He idly wondered if Hestia was experiencing the same thing with their sisters (he certainly knew Hera was a handful).

None of them could stick with a probable scenario of what had happened.

Poseidon was under the impression that she had run away.

Zeus was under the impression that Poseidon had simply misplaced her.

And Hades was under the impression that she had been taken.

(As usual, he was the only one with his head on straight.)

"Hello Shiva!" Zeus was the first to greet the four-armed god after he answered the door.

"Oh? It's not every day you get the Big Three bros at your doorstep." Shiva was intrigued. "What's up?"

"Poseidon lost his daughter—"

"—I did not lose her," Poseidon fumed. "That brat disobeyed my orders and ran away, and now—"

"—Have you seen her, Shiva?" Hades interrupted tiresomely. "She's quite short, tanned skin, green eyes, dark hair with a grey streak, and—"

Shiva cut him off before Hades could start rambling about all the miniscule details he picked up about her, "You guys just missed her actually," he grinned in amusement. "She was here liiiike ten? Maybe eleven? Minutes ago?"

The three brothers paused.

"Why was she here with you?" Hades asked immediately, eyes slightly narrowed.

He raised all four hands up in mock innocence. "Whoa, chill! I didn't do anything. She made a big splash in one of my fountains after Loki dumped her here."

"Loki?"

"Uh huh. Poor kid got tricked by him," he explained sympathetically.

"So she was taken," Hades concluded, shooting his brothers his famous 'I told you so' look.

Poseidon suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and demanded, "Where is she now?"

"I took her back to Olympus."

He could feel his eye almost twitch in aggravation. They were just there.

Zeus grinned, "Well! I guess it's time to head back to Olympus then!"

"Wait," Poseidon said through gritted teeth. Zeus was always the type to act first, think later. "Where in Olympus?" He asked Shiva.

He shrugged. "Dunno. I just took her to some random location. Oh! She said she was looking for Mnemosyne's place?"

Of fucking course. Poseidon thought. Mnemosyne this, Mnemosyne that. It was always something with that goddess. Why was his daughter so obsessed with the woman? They had only met twice.

"I know where that is!" Zeus exclaimed (which was no surprise since she was one of his many old flames).

"Then let's go," Hades smiled in relief. Finally, they would get Percy back. "Thank you for your assistance, Shiva."

"No problem, oh and Poseidon!" He called out. "Tell Percy she's welcome here anytime, okay? I think the kid's cool! My wives adore her and Ganesha could use a new friend!"

Before Poseidon could shoot him down, Hades teleported them back to Olympus.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Percy didn't know where she was going, but she knew she was running somewhere downhill because she nearly tripped and went rolling. Luckily, she managed to catch herself before that happened, but she still wasn't able to stop running until she got to the very bottom.

Tears were blurring her vision. All she could think about was Aphrodite's words.

'So many broken hearts follow you.'

Rachel, Ethan, Calypso, Anthonius... and Bianca. Bianca, Bianca, Bianca. Her biggest regret. The worst heartbreak she had ever caused. Her death, her heartbreak. It was her fault.

Bzzz!

A fly nearly flew into her eye. She recoiled back.

Another fly buzzed by. She swatted them away.

"Oh come on!" She sniffled, wiping her eyes angrily. "Why are there flies in heaven?!"

She swatted them away again and she watched as they flew to the side... to the direction of a glittering white palace.

She blinked. Could it be...?

She walked to the house, hoping she was at the right one. After her busy day, she was ready to give up if she got it wrong.

She knocked on the door. It opened.

"Percy?!" Mnemosyne gasped. "What are you doing here?! And were you crying?!"

She couldn't help it. She was the first genuinely nicest person she had met today. Without hesitation, she threw herself onto the goddess and held her tight. For a second, it almost felt like she was hugging her mom. The thought almost made her cry harder.

"Sorry," she mumbled pathetically, sniffling. "Had a bad day."

"Come on in, you look like you could use some rest." Carefully, Mnemosyne helped lead her further into the house and had her sit in a comfortable chaise lounge. "What happened, Percy? Did Poseidon let you out or did you...?"

"He let me come with him to Valhalla, but that doesn't matter now..." She shook her head. "I got some bad news. I'm so sorry, but Beelzebub knows."

She stilled. "What do you mean he knows?"

"He... I told him," she admitted guiltily. "I'm sorry. Beelzebub's scarily smart. He started piecing things together about me that weren't adding up, and I tried to make up excuses but he could tell when I was lying! And then he sicced a giant dog on me, and I had to use Riptide and—" she let out a heavy sigh. "He knows."

The color was drained from her face. "...This isn't good. Of all the gods... This is bad, Percy. Really, really bad. Has he told your father?"

She shook her head. Vaguely, she could feel herself being watched again, but surely Mnemosyne—who was a goddess—would pick up an intruder in her home, right?

"No. It's worse. He plans to use me to kill him."

She cocked her head back. "What?"

"Yeah! It's insane! He's totally crazy! After I told him about where I came from, he suddenly started obsessing over the multiverse—"

"—The what?"

"The multiverse. It's a nerd thing, don't worry about it. Basically, me being here means the multiverse exists and he plans to find a way to access it. If he succeeds, he'll send me home and find a universe with strong enough beings to kill him. If he can't, then he'll forcefully turn me into a goddess and put me in a position to kill him instead."

Mnemosyne's jaw dropped. "That's... I knew he wasn't right in the head, but... I just don't understand, why does he want to die? You're sure his plans aren't something more... nefarious?"

"He..." Percy bit her lip. "Um, I don't know. Look, I don't want to kill Beelzebub. You've looked through my memories, you know what I..." She gulped. "I'm sick of constantly being forced to fight. Beelzebub did some fucked up shit to me, but I don't want him to die and I don't want to be the reason for it either. I'm glad he wants to find a way for me to go home, but like... isn't there someone that could... you know, help him?"

Mnemosyne blinked. "Are you... asking if there's some form of godly therapy for him?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, someone seriously needs to check him into the closest mental hospital so he could get better and learn to leave sixteen year old girls alone!" Seriously, who ties up girls naked in their ancient, pre-historic age?

"Unfortunately no. And even if there was, they definitely wouldn't want to help him," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Percy couldn't help but frown at the act. Sure Beelzebub wasn't exactly the most pleasant of gods, but he was clearly depressed. Depressed enough to be concerningly suicidal. Plus, he wasn't just willing to hurt himself, he was willing to hurt others.

"Thank you for telling me this, Percy," Mnemosyne said. "I'll make sure to tell the Valkyries about this. They'll be horrified for sure, but having Lord Beelzebub help—even if it's not for the same reason as us—could do us wonders. I hate to say it, but he's a genius. One of the smartest of all the gods. Plus, the more help the better. We'll just have to hope he can find a way to access this 'multiverse' so you won't have to go through with... you know."

Percy fell quiet. Talking about how dire her situation was made her want to change the subject. That, and the feeling that they were being watched had yet to disappear.

"There's another thing I wanted to talk about," she began unsurely. "You saw my memories and all, so that means you know the difference between Midgard and... well, the 'Midgard' back in my universe."

Mnemosyne didn't say anything but quirked a brow to show her that she was paying attention.

"Poseidon said some stuff about the seas down in Midgard that made me wonder..." She trailed off. "It sounded like pollution's not much of an issue here?"

"Oh..." Her eyes widened slightly. "Yes, it's very different from the Midgard you know, but trust me, you'll like these changes."

"What do you mean?"

"Because of how... protective your father is over his territory, he rarely lets any humans tread on it. Humans don't realize it, but their actions related to bodies of water are heavily regulated." She explained.

"When aquariums were first being built, Poseidon personally flooded them down and took the captured sea animals back. Those establishments no longer exist unlike back in your world. When coastal cities were polluting the beaches, Poseidon released a series of tsunamis. It's gotten to the point where almost all beaches are avoided now. Human researchers who want to study the depths of the ocean? Poseidon would crush their submarines without mercy. In your world where studying the seas and oceans was a moderately safe career, in here, it's one of the deadliest. Those countries back in your world that rely on fish-based diets? In here, just eating fish is considered a delicacy because of how hard it is to go fishing."

Percy felt awed the more Mnemosyne talked. She was amazed.

Back in her world, pollution was rampant. She saw it in almost every quest she had been in. The pollution from when she fell into the Mississippi River, the pollution in the East and Hudson River during the Battle of Manhattan. All the oil spills that happened in the sea... the overfishing... She didn't even know if her dad was actively trying to stop it unlike this Poseidon. If he was, he certainly wasn't doing a good job. Or maybe it was just too bad that it was beyond his control.

Sure Poseidon's method of... killing everyone that touched his territory was a bit much, but it was clearly effective in keeping his empire safe. Hearing how he took such great care of his people filled her with a sense of pride, the same pride a kid would feel when knowing their parent was a famous figure in society.

Stop it! A voice that sounded just like her own hissed in her mind. He's not your dad! You still need to go home to your real one, remember?

Right. She mentally shook her head to clear her thoughts. This Poseidon was not her father. Her real one was back home, waiting for her to return.

Home. Home, home, home. I need to go home. I don't belong here, she reminded herself.

"I'm really glad to hear that," she said earnestly, feeling her shoulders sag. In this modern age, she was beginning to think having clean oceans was impossible, but at least it was different here.

"I should get back to the Conference Hall," she decided, rising to her feet. "Poseidon's... never mind." He definitely wasn't there anymore, but oh well.

"Do you need me to take you there?" Mnemosyne offered.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay! I don't wanna trouble you. Can you point me in the direction though?"

She told her. Fortunately, the Hall actually wasn't too far away. After bidding the goddess goodbye, she left the house and started to walk there. There was no need for running since she knew she was already in trouble, might as well stall whatever punishment Poseidon had in store for her.

This is all Loki's fault, she inwardly grumbled. Maybe if I told him that he was the one who took me, he'd let me off? No, probably not. Gods, I hope Hades is at least with him, he'll side with me...

"Yoohoo, little mermaid~! Up here~!" A familiar voice sang.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Percy snapped her head up to glare at the figure floating overhead. "You," she said in an irked voice.

He waved playfully at her, grinning innocently. "I see you found your way to good ol' Mnemosyne after all! Did you two have a good talk?"

She tensed up, suspicion dawning on her. That weird sensation of being watched while she was at Mnemosyne's house... was it him? Had he been spying on them? Her heart nearly stopped in fear. If it was him then he knew her secret.

But suddenly that fear gave way to another feeling: anger. An intense, bubbling anger that she didn't know where it was coming from.

"Were you spying on me?!" She shouted.

He cocked his head back. "My, that's quite the accusation! Why so angry, Percy? Were you two exchanging some juicy secrets?"

The anger continued to burn within her. Stop, a voice tried to yell through the roaring of a wave. Stop it! Something's not right here!

But she didn't care. Blinded by this newfound anger, Percy shot her hand up and a wave was summoned at her side, slamming into the god and making him fly back until he hit the cobblestones.

He sat up immediately, green hair sticking to his face. His eyes glared back at her and a twisted smile curled up his lips.

Stiffly, he rose back up to his feet and held his arms up. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but you're dead for that." As he spoke, small dark portals appeared on his palms and out dropped his weapon; a pair of dual-chained hooks.

He disappeared in a blink of an eye, but Percy already knew where he was going. She whirled around, Riptide materializing into her hand just in time to block his incoming attack.

CLANG!

"Now where did this little toy come from?" He hummed playfully, eyes glued onto her sword.

Rather than giving him a verbal response, she grinned wickedly and spat at his face. He let out a cry of disgust. She forced him back with her sword and went at him.

"Ungrateful brat!" He snarled as he evaded her attacks. "And after all I've done for you!"

"Done for me?! You've caused me more trouble than good, Loki!"

"SHUT UP!"

His blade finally made contact with her side, but rather than cutting her in half, her Curse of Achilles protected her. The impact of his attack sent her flying to the side, and she had to stab Riptide through the ground in order to slow down.

When the dust settled, Loki's anger only grew when he saw her unharmed. He lunged at her again, slashing downwards and nearly giving her a good haircut.

His movements were a lot faster now. She summoned more water to keep him at bay, forming it into a thick tendril. It tried to swat him aside, but he dodged it and it ended up beheading the statue of some long-haired naked dude holding a lyre.

He threw one of the blades at her, but before it could strike, it went into a portal.

Percy whirled around, realizing he intended to do a sneak attack, but that was where she made a mistake. The second she turned, Loki was on her in an instant, trapping her in a chokehold.

A portal appeared on the ground next to her feet and his weapon came shooting out. The long chain was about to wrap itself around Riptide, but she quickly tossed it to her other hand before it could happen. Then, she reached out and sliced at the arm around her throat.

Loki hissed in pain and she broke free. She turned around, sword pointed at him.

But then the two of them froze, realization dawning on them.

Slowly, Loki twisted his forearm so he could see the damage. They both watched, stunned as a thin line of gold blood—ichor—dripped down**. A second later, the cut sealed itself up.

"...Huh?" He said aloud. He then squinted at Riptide, "Hey, what kind of weapon even is that?"

Percy looked down at her sword. While Loki was surprised that her weapon was able to cut him, she was more surprised that he was able to heal so quickly after she had cut him. She had never seen an immortal heal so fast like that before...

"What happened here?!" A voice squawked.

Oh shit.

Loki and Percy turned their heads. Poseidon, Hades, Zeus, and Odin were just a few meters away, surveying the damage their fight had caused. Odin's ravens, Huginn and Munnin were especially astonished. Quickly, she reverted Riptide back into a pen and shoved it into her pocket before anyone else could see it.

Poseidon was the first person to spot them. The second they made eye-contact, Percy flinched. Her mom had glared at her tons of times for causing trouble, but Poseidon's glare promised death. At least with her mom, the worst she'd get was being grounded, but with Poseidon, he'd put her six feet under. Literally.

Wordlessly, he stalked towards her, the ground quaking under his feet. Gods, he was pissed.

The other gods spotted them next. She and Loki exchanged a look of dread as all four of them made a B-line for them.

"What is the meaning of this?" Odin demanded.

Loki tattled on her, "It was her fault! She hit me first!"

"W-well, he kidnapped me first!" She stammered, trying not to falter under the weight of Poseidon's deadly stare.

"Alright, alright," Hades, always the voice of reason, cut in. "Percy, why don't you explain what happened first and then Loki can go next."

"I was waiting at the courtyard just like I was told to, but Loki appeared and teleported me away without my consent. I ended up at Shiva's house and they invited me to eat with them for a bit, so I did 'cause who can say no to good food?"

Zeus nodded along like he could totally understand that.

"After eating, Shiva teleported me back to Olympus and, well, yeah," she finished lamely.

Hades nodded calmly before motioning for Loki to go on next.

"I only teleported Percy away because she wanted to go see Mnemosyne, so rather than have her wait outside in the cold, I tried to teleport her to Mnemosyne's house where it'd be warmer," he said dramatically, trying to paint himself as the good guy. "But I miscalculated on that and accidentally sent her to Shiva's. Whoops! But all is well since she managed to get to Mnemosyne anyway! But instead of thanking me, she attacked me! She even cut me with her sword!"

"What sword?" Huginn asked.

Loki blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah, what sword, Loki?" Muninn added.

Loki turned to point, "The one in her hand, you dumb bir—"

He stopped. Percy's hands were empty. She looked back at him innocently.

"Loki..." Odin said lowly. "This better not be one of your tricks again..."

"It's not! She had a sword! And she cut me with it!" He insisted.

Zeus furrowed his brows. "But then that would mean she was using a Divine Weapon and from what I know, she couldn't have made one for herself. Unless, brother, you made one for her?"

"Of course not," Poseidon sneered. "She'd sooner impale herself with it."

"That, and if she had truly injured you, then where is the injury?" Hades inquired.

"It healed!" Loki exclaimed.

"You do realize, Loki, that injuries made from a Divine Weapon don't heal this quickly? Unless the two of you have been fighting for hours, which I doubt," Odin said.

Loki seemed to realize nobody was believing him, so he directed his furious gaze at Percy. "Where is the sword?" He hissed.

"I don't have one," she said, looking at him weirdly. "I never used a sword on you. Just my water powers." To further support her claims, she motioned to all the large puddles that were gathered around them.

"If you don't pull that sword out right now, I'll—"

"—That's enough," Odin interrupted sharply. "Poseidon, apologies for my nephew's... behavior. I will take him back to Asgard to punish him accordingly."

Poseidon nodded wordlessly, but his piercing glare was still planted on his daughter who was trying her hardest not to shrink away.

Odin teleported away with Loki in tow. That just left her with the Big Three.

"I gotta say," Zeus spoke up. "This is some impressive damage!" He grinned at her.

"Um... thanks," she said, eyeing her father warily.

"Though I don't think Apollo would appreciate you decapitating one of his statues, but in my opinion, it looks better this way!" He chortled. She could tell he was just trying to put some humor in the dreary atmosphere, but it wasn't working. Especially with Poseidon glaring them both down.

"We're going home," he said abruptly, in a voice that left no arguments. She only managed to catch a glimpse of Hades and Zeus exchanging worried glances before they were swallowed up by water.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Much to her shock, after Poseidon sent them home, the punishment never came. Instead, he silently swam over to his office and that was that.

In her opinion, the silence was scarier than the actual punishment. She didn't know what he had in store for her, but she could tell that he was furious. A part of her wanted to storm up to him and say that it wasn't her fault—Loki was the one who decided to teleport her away after all.

But she knew Poseidon didn't care about that. She had disobeyed him, unwillingly or not, and that alone was enough to earn his wrath.

She didn't really know what to do now. Usually when she was in trouble with a parent (her mom), she would always apologize right afterwards. But this wasn't her mom she was dealing with, hell, it wasn't even someone mentally sane. This was Poseidon, a dangerous and temperamental all-powerful god.

But she was going to try anyway.

Standing beside her and watching what she was doing, Proteus wrung his hands anxiously.

"Princess, while this is a very sweet thing to do... with your father, who knows how he would react..."

She grimaced. "I know. But I still have to apologize. There's no use avoiding him or playing the waiting game."

"I don't know..." Proteus looked scared for her. "My lord could be quite volatile."

"I still need to try."

"And you think cookies would work?" He questioned.

Percy made a face. She had baked a bunch of blue cookies as an apology. It was something she always did back home when she was stressed. Poseidon didn't like human food, but these cookies were blue—his favorite color!—and, well, baking cookies for someone was just a nice thing to do.

(Plus, like she said, she was a stress-baker.)

"Maybe," she said unsurely after she put the last cookie on the plate. She picked the whole thing up, carefully balancing them in her hands. "Wish me luck."

"...Good luck, princess," he said.

She headed over to Poseidon's office and knocked on the door. She waited a moment, and then:

"Enter."

Here goes nothing... she thought, taking a deep breath.

She opened the door and stepped inside, trying to remain calm. Poseidon's eyes pierced through her as she swam to his desk and set the plate of cookies down.

Unfortunately, he spoke before she could.

"...How many times do I need to remind you that I don't eat this human trash," he said coldly.

She swallowed thickly. "I'm just... I wanted to apologize so—"

"—I don't want your apologies," he interrupted her, voice raising slightly. "I want your obedience. I gave you a simple order, to stay at the courtyard but you couldn't even do that! Not only did you let yourself get taken away by some low-rate trickster god, but instead of trying to find your way back, you wasted time dining with Shiva and visiting Mnemosyne! And then you go around starting fights?! What is wrong with you?!"

"Please, I'm sorry—"

Angrily, he swatted aside the plate of cookies and it shattered loudly when it hit the wall. She flinched as he stood.

"I told you I don't want your pathetic apologies!" He roared.

The water around them turned cold. She could feel a thin layer of frost starting to form on her bare skin. The tears dripping from her eyes were turning into little beads of ice.

"You insolent, stupid, worthless little girl!" Insult after insult was hurled at her, and at that moment, she wished she could shrink. She wanted nothing more than to turn small, or just disappear and never be seen again.

"I took you into my home, gave you luxuries that even other gods dream of having, had my best servant give you the right education, and THIS is how you repay me?!"

Her breathing quickened when he started to swim forward. He was looming over her now, his massive frame dwarfing her much smaller one. The look of hatred in his eyes felt like it was stabbing into her heart.

He wasn't even her real father, so why did this feel like the worst form of rejection?

"I am trying to mold you into becoming a perfect goddess," he hissed. "A perfect daughter!"

The second he let out those words, the water around him suddenly pushed him back. The force was hard enough to make him slam against his desk.

He froze, and his eyes went back to her, the only person who could've attacked him in his own domain.

Percy sucked in a breath to force herself to stop crying, and gave him a glare that could rival his own.

"Maybe you should try acting like a perfect father first." She shot back, voice trembling. "I don't care about perfection. I just want a dad! But you're too far up your own ass to even give me that!"

And with that, she turned and bolted out the door. 

— author's note —

* "I mean, everyone was gay back in Ancient Greece, right*?" Just wanted to inform you that Nico said this out of IGNORANCE. This is absolutely not true the way people think it is 😭 Ppl in ancient greece were definitely fruity, but I promise you if you take a random person from Ancient Greece, put them in the modern world, and tell them about gay rights, there's a good chance they'd call you a slur 😭 it was not about love, homosexuality wasn't a concept to them, only masculinity and femininity. A man (dominant/masculine) laying with a boy (submissive/feminine) was okay, but the older man would be let off while the boy (especially if he was penetrated) would be looked down on and called a "kinaidos" for being submissive/feminine. Don't even get me started on how they viewed sapphics 💀💀 the idea of a woman getting pleasure from another woman and not a man was laughable

** I was kinda disappointed when the ror gods bled and their blood was red just like ours. In Greek myths (and in pjo), the gods were described to have ichor instead of red blood. It was one of the many things that made them so different from the humans, so I decided to put that here too.

The sudden burst of anger Percy felt before she attacked Loki? Yeah that wasn't natural. Someone caused that, any guesses who? (It's not Loki)

I GOT FANART!

From Yasashi/Sophrosyne:

I love the tiny Percy 😂😂 she's just a silly lil gal 🥺