EARLY UPDATE BECAUSE THE LATEST ROR LEAKS GOT ME SO EXCITED! We finally have the appearance of all the god fighters (aside from that 14th potential fighter they'll add should the mangaka make one of the rounds end in a tie), and there's only Rasputin's appearance we have yet to see! Susanoo looks badass and Anubis is so cute!!! 🥺💖

This is my longest chapter yet lol. It's 10k+ words!

"I THINK I'M GONNA BE sick," Percy uttered out as she paced around Beelzebub's study.

"You're a very dramatic person," Beelzebub noted blandly from his spot on the table. There was a thick tome in his hands written in a language Percy didn't understand. "Sometimes I wonder how you're not Zeus' daughter instead."

"Don't ever say that to my face ever again," she shuddered in disgust.

"Just an observation," he said dismissively. "And can you please stay still?"

"How do you expect me to stay still when I'm about to meet my entire 'family' and see that jerk again in a couple of hours?" She despaired, only to gasp as an idea came to her. "Quick, Beelie, snap my leg and tell Hades that I can't go."

He actually looked up from his book. "As tempting as that sounds, I'd rather not deal with your uncles' combined wrath. That, and a broken bone can be easily repaired by me. Avoidance is pointless."

"Can't you just say that something came up and you need me to stay here longer?" She begged.

"No. In fact, I would prefer it if you leave right now."

"You're not helping," she pouted.

"On the contrary, I am," he held up the large, ancient looking book in his hands. "I visited Asgard and the Valkyries lent me whatever information they had on the bifrost."

She perked up at that, her previous worries about the family get-together pushed to the back of her mind. Eagerly, she plopped down across from him and leaned forward.

"You already went there? Did you see Brunhilde and Göll? How were they?" She shot him with question after question.

"They were fine," he answered, not that he actually paid much attention to how they were doing.

Well that was good to hear. She hadn't seen them in a while and she missed them. "So what'd you learn about the bifrost?" She asked next.

"I have yet to finish studying the books and tomes they gave me, but I believe I'll have to see the bifrost myself," he muttered, sparing a glance at the stack of books he got from the Asgardian library. "There's no better way of understanding it than studying it in person after all."

"Can I come with you?" She asked hopefully. She was kind of curious about the bifrost. When she first ended up here, she barely got a chance to even look at it before she was attacked and had to flee.

Unfortunately for her, he shot that idea down. "Absolutely not."

"Awww, why can't I?"

"Because you annoy me."

She dropped her jaw in offense. "Wha—how do I annoy you?"

"You talk too much, you can't stay still, you whine about being hungry, you whine about being thirsty, you keep leaving strands of your hair all over my floors, you touch everything even when I tell you not to, you can't follow simple instructions, and—" he reached out to yank one of his books from her hands which she was using to make a book tower, "—you're always playing with my books."

"Technically they're not yours," she muttered under her breath.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Can't you just be quiet and read?"

"But I hate reading...! Well... it's more like I can't read, so I hate it." She admitted sheepishly.

He raised a brow. "You can't read? Does public education not exist in your world?"

"It does!" She answered quickly. "I'm just dyslexic, so... yeah. By the way, dyslexia's—"

"—A human learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words," he interrupted her, sounding like a walking dictionary. Nerd. "Yes, I am aware of it. But I'm curious, I would've expected the ichor in your veins—while diluted—would cancel out any defects."

"Defects? Uh, wow, ableist much?" She scoffed. "All demigods in my universe have dyslexia and ADHD."

He actually looked intrigued by that. "Oh?"

"The dyslexia's because we're only hardwired to understand Ancient Greek and nothing else. ADHD acts as our battle reflexes, taking meds for it would get in the way of our instincts and get us killed." She explained, still a bit miffed about his 'defects' comment.

"How fascinating..." He mumbled, quickly reaching out for his notebook and scrawling all of it down. "In our next meeting, I'd like to test your combat skills while taking Adderall and compare it to without. Don't worry, it'll just be another hellhound."

She gawked at him. "Are you kidding?! No way! I'm not hurting another hellhound! That's animal abuse!"

"That didn't stop you before," he pointed out.

"That was because you sicced it on me," she huffed. "I'm not fighting any hellhounds. I have a pet hellhound back home, you know? It doesn't feel right to kill them."

"You... had a pet hellhound." He repeated slowly.

She nodded. "Yeah. Her name's Mrs. O'Leary."

He was even more bewildered. "Your pet hellhound is married?"

She paused. Was she? Daedalus was the one who picked that name out and he never mentioned Mrs. O'Leary having a partner. Nor did she recall ever catching her with another hellhound.

"Uh... I dunno? Maybe?" She shrugged. "Anyway, I dunno if you're still in-contact with Poseidon, but can you, like, not tell him about my ADHD and dyslexia? I may not live with him anymore, but I don't want to give him more ammo to use against me, you know?"

'An insolent, stupid, worthless little girl' was what he had called her. Imagine how much worse he would've been if he knew that she had learning disabilities too. She already dealt with that sort of verbal abuse when she was a kid in school, she didn't want to go through that again.

"Sorry, but I'm supposed to tell him of any new developments I make with you whenever he asks," he said unsympathetically.

Her heart nearly jumped to her chest. "W-what?! No way! But what about doctor-patient confidentiality?"

"Again, I'm not a doctor, nor are you my patient. You're more like a test subject if anything."

I should've kept my fucking mouth shut! She screamed at herself. This was what she got for letting her guard down.

"Beelzebub, please, you can't tell him!" She practically begged.

He looked at her blankly and she stared back, eyes wide and even becoming watery. With a heavy sigh, he looked away and said, "Fine. I won't tell him. But we will be doing the Adderall test without any complaints from you."

Her eyes lit up and the grin she wore nearly split her face. It was as if she was never about to cry. "Deal!"

Was I just tricked? Beelzebub wondered, but found that he didn't really care much. Even if he did want to express his annoyance, it would be too late since he can sense Adamas arrive to pick her up.

"YOOO! YOU GUYS DONE YET?!" The ruffian god yelled out, his voice almost making the walls of the castle shake.

"Sometimes I fear that spending more time with him will make you more annoying," Beelzebub grumbled, rising to his feet.

Adamas was impatiently pacing around the foyer when they finally reached him.

"What took you guys so long to walk here?" He snapped. "Come on, come on, come on! We gotta go!"

Beelzebub could barely get a word in before Adamas grabbed his niece and promptly teleported the two of them back to his flying palace.

"Finally," Adamas muttered once they arrived. "Hades gets super high-strung when it comes to mom's family get-togethers so he'll be here extra early to pick you up, so hurry and get dressed."

"What about you?" She asked. She noticed that he was still in his usual attire.

"Uh, what about me?"

"Aren't you gonna get dressed?"

"No? I'm not going."

"HUH?" Her jaw dropped. "Why not?"

"I'm supposed to be dead, remember? It's fine, I already told my mom that I can't come and I made sure to give her extra gifts in Animal Crossing." He explained dismissively.

"Your mom plays Animal Crossing?" She blinked in disbelief, then remembered what was more important and shook her head. "Actually forget that—why can you opt out but I can't?"

"Because she specifically requested that you come," he answered. "She said the same with Poseidon. Guess she's gonna try and get you two to talk to each other or something."

Her face turned white. "Oh gods. What? Why are you just telling me about this now?!"

"'Cause I knew you'd freak out even more and not wanna come," he admitted sheepishly. "Look, you'll be fine. Your grandma's not gonna leave you alone with Poseidon or anything, plus Hades'll be there with you. Heracles is probably coming along—he's the only adoptive son that Hera actually likes—and the kid's annoying as fuck, but he's nice. You can stick with him too if you want."

But Percy was still horrified at the prospect of forcibly talking to Poseidon. "Tell them I contracted a deadly disease in Helheim and died. If you're gonna fake your death, then it's only fair that I do too!"

"First of all, I didn't fake my death, Poseidon faked it for me without my permission," he corrected with a scowl. "Second, even if you did die, your grandma would just find your soul in Valhalla and take you to the get-together."

She dipped her head back and groaned.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and ushered her to the grand staircase. "Now go get dressed before Hades gets here and decides to do it for you."

That was enough to make her book it for her room. She did not want Hades playing 'dress up' with her because she had the feeling the other god might enjoy it a little too much.

Unlike in Atlantis, Percy's clothes in Helheim didn't exactly follow the sea aesthetic. Her new closet was full of different shades of red, black, grey, and purple. Very little of her clothes consisted of bright and upbeat outfits. But as much as she missed her aquatic colors, nothing would make her want to go back to him.

She hurriedly put something on. A floor-length dark red and black dress that was slitted to the side and decorated with roses with black sheer sleeves, a black velvet choker, and a pair of dark heels.

After doing her hair and making sure she looked presentable enough (the thought that she was going to be meeting a bunch of nit-picky gods made her self-conscious), she rushed back to the foyer just in time for Hades to appear.

"Oh good! You're all ready," Hades beamed. Like a gentleman, he helped her down the stairs. "You look gorgeous, Percy."

"Thanks," she smiled. She noticed that he was alone. "Is it just us two going?"

"Demeter insisted on going there with Persephone and the kids," there was a brief twitch in his eye at the mention of his sister.

"Oh. I see." She said awkwardly.

"Welp, see ya guys later! Tell mom I said 'hi'!" Adamas waved them off.

Hades nodded in response and after making sure to pull Percy in close, he teleported themselves away.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Titans didn't really have a good track record on Olympus, and it wasn't any different in this universe either. However, Rhea was probably the most privileged Titan ever, which was no surprise since she was the mother of the six elder Olympians (or seven, counting Adamas).

Unlike Mnemosyne who resided in a simple palace in the lower half of Olympus, Rhea's home was at the very top where all the other more powerful gods resided.

The grand staircase leading to her home was surrounded by clouds, which made it pretty hard to see where she was going, but Hades was nice enough to hook arms with her and guide her to the very top.

The palace was styled like a massive Greek temple surrounded by beautiful plantlife that seemed to have stemmed from nowhere. High above it, a rainbow arched overhead.

As they drew closer, they came upon a circle of seven statues. She saw a few familiar faces on them; Poseidon, Hades, Adamas, and what was possibly a younger version of Zeus. The other three statues must have been Rhea's other kids, the elder daughters.

"Here we are," Hades murmured, guiding her to the front doors.

They opened as they approached and a figure from the inside was ready to meet them.

The goddess—no, the Titaness was massive. She thought Hades was tall being over seven feet and all, but Rhea had to have been nearing nine feet or so. She walked towards them, her movements filled with grace. She had glowing bronze skin and thick caramel brown hair that flowed down her back in gentle curls. She wore a ruby red attire with golden accents that hugged her figure. She was breathtakingly beautiful, but the second Percy saw her eyes, her awe turned to frozen terror.

Rhea's eyes were gold, as if someone had taken her eyeballs and dipped them in molten gold. The same kind of molten gold that reminded her of Luke and Kronos. Seeing that same gaze staring back at her made her breath stutter.

"Mother," Hades greeted, his voice pulling Percy away from her thoughts.

"Hades!" She gushed. "Early as always, my boy!"

She strode towards them and cupped her son's face, careful not to hurt him with the golden gauntlets around each of her fingers. Her hand was so large that it covered his whole head. She pecked him on the cheeks before turning her attention to Percy.

"And you must be Percilla!" She smiled widely, placing her hands on her face.

"Erm, hello," she greeted feebly, trying not to look straight into her eyes. But Rhea wouldn't have that. Rhea held her cheeks firmly and leaned down more as if to take a closer look.

"You're a lot softer than I expected," Rhea hummed, playing around with her face. She stretched her cheeks out, squished them together, and poked and prodded them with her fingers. "Your father's all hard edges and rocks. He used to have chubby cheeks though... I miss those days," she sighed longingly.

Finally, she released her face and Percy was left to rub at her skin in an attempt to soothe them.

"I'm so happy to finally meet you, Percilla," Rhea beamed, bringing her into a warm hug. Percy was practically buried under her boobs. "I was shocked when I heard the news that Poseidon had sired himself a child—I almost didn't believe it! It's such a shame that I couldn't meet you sooner...!"

Probably 'cause he's ashamed of me and didn't want you to meet me, being 'defective' and all, she answered in her head.

Hades cleared his throat. "Speaking of my little brother..." He trailed off.

"He's not here yet," she answered. "You're actually the earliest of your brothers. Most of your sisters are already here."

Hades' shoulders slumped in disappointment. Apparently he wanted to be the earliest. "Oh. Well, Adamas offered his greetings. He couldn't be here for obvious reasons."

"Figures," she sighed. "My poor little boy never leaves Helheim nowadays... Poseidon's so lucky I didn't wring his neck for that stunt he pulled..."

Percy wanted to tell her that she really should've, but refrained from it.

"I heard you've been living with him for some time now, Percilla," Rhea began, ushering them into her lavish home. "How has he been treating you?"

"Adamas? Oh, he's awesome," she couldn't help but grin.

Rhea beamed at the answer. "Truly? I'm happy to hear that! I never expected my son to be so good with children, I always thought he had an aversion like Poseidon. But it turns out even my unruly son can be soft for children. Poseidon however..."

She shook her head, letting out a wistful sigh. "I remember when Poseidon was just a little boy, I had him watch over baby Zeus for a bit, but when I came back, I caught him trying to put his little brother in the trash can. Guess he hasn't changed."

Percy tried not to laugh at the mental image of a tiny, stoic-faced Poseidon dumping baby Zeus in the trash.

Rhea clapped her hands together, "Anyway, come in, come in! There are other things I must deal with so I'll have Erastos and Hypatos lead you to the garden. In the meanwhile, speak with your sisters! Hades, introduce her to her aunts!"

"Of course I will, mother," Hades replied with a nod.

They walked into the palace and were greeted by two abnormally large lions with glowing manes and intelligent eyes. Percy nearly froze on the spot when she saw them; they were taller than her.

"These are my mother's lions," Hades explained to her quietly. "Erastos and Hypatos."

"Oh," she said in a very feebly voice.

She let the huge lions—Erastos and Hypatos—lead them down to the back of the house. They passed by several large hallways first, each of them decorated with paintings and pictures of the Olympian family as they grew up.

She couldn't help but slow down to stare at them. It was almost surreal seeing baby pictures of the gods, especially of Poseidon. She always assumed the guy just spawned into existence like an unwanted gremlin.

Baby Poseidon was... well, oddly adorable if she had to admit. Rhea hadn't been kidding when she said he used to have chubby cheeks, Poseidon had a face so round it reminded her of vanilla mochi. He was so pale too, with slightly rosy cheeks. The funny part was that his expression never changed even as he grew up—even as a baby he looked apathetic and done with the world*.

"Ah, I remember this one," Hades chuckled, pointing at a large photo of him with his brothers. "It took Adamas forever to keep still because he was trying so hard to make Poseidon smile for the photo. Zeus had a very full diaper during this moment too and I had to clean it because he got all fussy afterwards."

Hades already looked fully grown by the time Zeus was born, and the latter was just a baby nestled in his arms. Poseidon looked like a toddler here, his eyes empty as he stared at the cameraman (who was probably unnerved by the kid). Adamas looked the most different. Since this was taken way before Poseidon ripped him to shreds, Adamas' true form was shown. He had green skin with black marks over it. Unlike the angry scowl he usually wore today, he was all grins for the picture, arm thrown over Poseidon's shoulders. It was actually kind of sad to see how close Adamas wanted to be with Poseidon, knowing what he would do to him later.

"Hold on..." Percy furrowed her brows. A thought came to her. "How long ago was the picture taken?"

"Billions of years ago," Hades replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Her eyes widened. "Huh? But this was taken by a camera, wasn't it? Cameras didn't exist that long ago?"

"That is where you're wrong, my dear niece," he smiled teasingly. "Gods have always been much more advanced than humankind. Most of the technology they have today, we've already had for billions of years."

Her jaw dropped. "So... cellphones?"

"Hephaestus made them billions of years ago."

"The plumbing system?"

"Ptah from the Egyptian pantheon. Also billions of years ago. He was also the one who brought the idea down to Midgard so the humans could finally catch up. We were getting tired of waiting for them to 'discover' it. Midgard used to smell so bad, it was almost as if we could smell it from up here," he made a face of disgust.

"Wow..." She was awed. From what she knew, the advancement of technology mainly relied on mortals back in her world. She was pretty sure her gods didn't have cellphones and TV back in Ancient Greece.

They moved onwards and reached the back of the palace at last.

Rhea's garden looked much more majestic and beautiful compared to Persephone's, mainly because Persephone's garden was in Hell. As pretty as her flowers were, it was kinda hard to have an ethereal scenery when the backdrop were red and black clouds where blood-thirsty demons were flying around.

Marble statues depicting Rhea's children were decorated with vines and flowers, fruit trees seemed to be radiating with freshness, and every flower looked as if they were at their highest point of bloom. The lions continued to lead them, finally stopping at a large rectangular table where a group of gods sat chatting.

Percy recognized Persephone and her kids immediately, but sitting beside her was a goddess she had yet to meet—most likely Demeter. Demeter had dirty blonde hair that reminded her of wheat and deep brown eyes. But while Persephone's skin was pale, Demeter's was tanned similarly to Rhea's. She wore a green dress adorned with vines and flowers.

"It looks like Hades is here," another goddess announced, and the chatter stopped. "Oh? And who have you brought?"

"Percy!" Melinoe beamed. "You actually came!"

"Hey..." She smiled awkwardly. It wasn't like I had much of a choice, she wanted to say.

"Poseidon's daughter..." The first woman who spoke was surprised at first, but then her features warmed into a graceful smile. "Hello there. I've been waiting to meet you."

"Percy, this is the eldest of my sisters, Hestia," Hades introduced.

Percy's eyes widened in realization.

Aside from her dad, Hestia was her favorite goddess because she was the only one who hadn't fucked with her life one way or another, and she probably never would. She had no idea if this Hestia would be the same, but the more she stayed in her presence, the more reassured she felt. It was as if all her anxiety melted away. Despite just barely meeting her, Hestia made her feel safe, made her feel like she was at home wrapped up in her mother's embrace again.

Like Rhea, Hestia had eyes of molten gold with no sclera. Only difference was that Hestia's eyes looked like the center of a warm fire. She had long red hair that seemed to move as if it was a living flame being stoked and placed over it was a black veil. She wore a very modest burgundy Greek chiton that seemed so simplistic compared to all the other attires Percy had seen since being here.

Hades pushed a seat open for her. Percy sat down, noticing that there was an empty chair across from her. Then, Hades sat down on her left, sitting beside his eldest sister.

"So Percy," Hestia began. Rhea's two lions came over to her side and she was calmly petting them. "I heard you've been living with Adamas for some time now. I hope he's been treating you well?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but then she froze. Wait, nobody's supposed to know that he's alive!

"U-um, w-who?" She stuttered, pretending terribly.

"Don't worry," Hades whispered. "Everyone at the table knows that my brother's alive."

She relaxed. Oh. Well in that case. "He's been great! He's super cool, he lets me play video games and all that fun stuff."

"He lets her eat junk food too," Hades added with an amused roll of his eyes. "I had him put a stop to it."

"Wha—that was you?" Percy couldn't help but cry out. "Why'd you do that? He's been trying to put me on a vegan diet!" He even tried to make her eat grass once!

He had a great laugh over her suffering. "Apologies, Percy. We may be ignorant over how humans work, but we at least know that there's certain kinds of food you shouldn't be eating."

"Clearly he's not been feeding you enough," Demeter sniffed daintily. "Look at you, all skin and bones and you're so short too! A girl your age ought to be six feet at least!"

Being called short was a first. Percy was 5'10" (or 179 centimeters for non-Americans). She was considered above average when it came to height—at least in human standards.

Persephone sighed, "Mother, she's mortal. She's at the perfect height for mortal children."

"Are you sure?" Demeter squinted at Percy, who tried not to fidget under her stare. "What if she'll still be this short after being ascended?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Demeter. How about we change the subject? Percy's state is a very... delicate subject," Hades said with a tight smile.

Demeter scoffed loudly, eying him with derision, but before she could speak up, everyone in the room seemed to straighten as if they had sensed another's presence.

"Oh great," Demeter rolled her eyes. "The most insufferable couple in the universe has arrived."

Percy heard them before she could see them.

"—skin that fucking nymph, AND I'LL SKIN YOU TOO, YOU CHEATING BASTARD!" A woman was roaring fiercely at the entrance to the garden.

"Hera..." A familiar croaky voice said weakly. "My love, please! It wasn't what it looked like! I merely tripped into bed with her!"

"WITH YOUR DICK INSIDE HER LOOSE VAGINA?! DON'T BULLSHIT ME, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Hades gasped at the language, genuinely aghast by it as he reached out to cover Percy's ears with his large hands.

"Hera, Zeus! Watch your words, we have a child amongst us!" He scolded.

"The only child here is my manchild of a husband!" Hera harrumphed, finally coming into view.

She was a voluptuous goddess with a beauty that could rival her mother's. She donned a royal blue gown with golden accessories and accents, and atop her raven black hair was a golden circlet decorated with bold blue jewels.

Hera stormed over, arching an elegant brow when she spotted Percy. "Oh? Is this Poseidon's child?—and Hades, take your hands off her ears, you're being ridiculous! Well, child, shouldn't you introduce yourself to me?"

Percy's eyes widened in alarm. "U-um, uh, hello."

Hera wasn't very impressed. "Not even going to get up to bow at my feet? Ugh, whatever, I've heard you've been staying in Helheim anyway so it's to be expected that your manners are... lacking."

Fortunately for her, Hera went straight to her chair beside Demeter. She crossed her arms and tossed her wavy hair over her shoulder, but the irritation only grew.

"ZEUS!" She snapped, making everyone at the table flinch. Even the lions ducked under the table to hide from her. "Pick up your gods damn pace, you pathetic sack of bones!"

"Coming, dear!" Zeus wheezed, sounding like he was in a rush.

His frail form finally arrived, donning his usual white rags. Behind him were four other gods. The first one she immediately recognized as Heracles from the photos Beelzebub once showed her. The second was Ares, whose eyes bulged the second he saw her.

The two other gods must have been Hephaestus and Hebe, Hera's other children with Zeus. Hephaestus had the same amount of bulk as Heracles and Ares. He had a smooshed nose (probably from when Hera tossed him out of the heavens), a scraggly beard, and messy unkempt hair that looked as if certain clumps of it were burnt from working at the forges.

Hebe, Heracles' wife, was another beautiful goddess. She had golden hair that was curled into perfect ringlets and wore a poofy and lacy dress of a baby blue color. In Percy's opinion, give the woman a pair of wings and she would've been the perfect angel.

She half-expected to see Zeus' other kids (since this was a family gathering after all), but now she realized how stupid that sounded. Of course Hera wouldn't want her husband to bring his illegitimate kids along, and the only reason Heracles was here was probably because he was her favorite despite only being adopted.

With a huff, Hera sat at the end of the table with Zeus and their kids following suit. Heracles ended up taking a seat on Percy's right. He gave her a warm, but tired grin as if his parents' argument had completely drained him.

"Oh! Percy, you're here? But where's your father? Did he lose you again?" Zeus asked.

"Zeus...!" A chorus of groans could be heard.

"Have some tact, you buffoon!" Hera hissed. "The girl lives with Poseidon no longer! Which is to be expected. I mean, Poseidon? A father of a girl? Hah! Percilla, you're better off living with me! I will raise you to be a proper goddess and I will make sure to marry you off to the right god!"

Percy turned to Hades with a look of horror.

"That's not necessary, Hera, Percy's just fine in Helheim," he said calmly.

"You've been in Helheim?" Zeus perked up. "Gods, how much have I missed?"

"Everything, since you've been too busy being balls-deep in your latest whores," Hera said venomously. "I leave for an hour and you're already messing around with a low-lived nymph in OUR marital bed!"

"No, no! We fell, I swear!" Zeus was trying to convince her.

"You LIAR!"

"So," Heracles began while Hera yelled at Zeus in the background. His blue eyes meet Percy's. "Hi! I'm your cousin, Heracles. This is my brother, Ares, and my wife, Hebe."

Ares was shaking in his chair, probably remembering that the last time they met ended up with her running away in tears. Hebe was too busy making animals out of the napkins.

"I'm Percilla, but please call me Percy," she smiled, trying to be friendly. She still felt wary because of how her world's Heracles was like. She had a few reassurances that this Heracles was better, but there was only way for her to find out.

"Can I ask you something?"

He smiled, "Yeah, of course!"

"Hypothetically, if you met a girl while you were doing the Twelve Labors and she gave you ideas on how to successfully perform some of the tasks and even gave you a super cool sword, would you steal all the credit and forget she ever existed?" She asked in one breath.

Heracles blinked, genuinely horrified.

There was a scandalized gasp, but not from him. It came from his right; Ares, incensed by her words, exclaimed, "My brother would never do such a thing! He's an honorable man! Where did you hear such rumors?!"

"It's alright, Ares," Heracles patted his shoulder before turning back to her. "But he's right, I would never do something like that. I wasn't allowed any help during the Twelve Labors, but if someone did offer their aid, I would admit it to my father right away even if it meant failing my ascension test."

Though they probably would've already known to begin with, he mentally added.

Percy finally relaxed. "Oh thank gods."

Heracles tilted his head curiously, looking like an overgrown, overly muscular puppy, "I know you said it was only a hypothetical situation, but... it sounded quite specific. Did someone tell you I did that?"

"No!" She answered quickly just as Ares said accusingly, "It must've been Beelzebub! I know that no-good fly god's been watching over her so he must've told her all of these lies!"

"It wasn't him!" She said in Beelzebub's defense. She was starting to get upset at how little people thought of him; first Mnemosyne and now Ares.

"We're sorry, Percy," Heracles was quick to appease her. Fortunately, he really did look genuinely apologetic for his brother's accusation. "I know Lord Beelzebub isn't one for tasteless rumors. My brother tends to be protective of me, is all. He means no harm with it."

Heracles nudged Ares with his elbow, and the god of war had the decency to look sheepish.

He cleared his throat, blue eyes averting to the side. "Ahem. Yes. I, ah, apologize for that."

She nodded slowly. "...It's fine—"

"—Can we get this started already? What is taking mother so long?" Hera complained loudly.

Everyone turned to her. Apparently she had won her argument against her husband.

"Peace, Hera. Our little brother has yet to arrive," Hestia replied.

The Queen of the Gods wrinkled her nose. "Poseidon? How odd, usually he's here early."

"That's true..." Hades said thoughtfully.

"Hmmm... you don't think Poseidon's... avoiding this, do you?" Demeter wondered aloud, stealing a quick glance Percy's way.

"Wait," Hestia suddenly straightened up. "Mother just left. I think she's going to get Poseidon!"

Zeus started to laugh. "Oooh, someone's in trouble~! Hahaha!"

"You're in trouble too, you idiot!" Hera smacked him across the face.

Hestia sighed and sunk into her chair. This was going to be a long wait.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

The second Poseidon sensed his mother teleport into his palace, he knew he was going to get an earful from her.

"Well, well, well," Rhea drawled, appearing around the bookshelf and facing him where he sat at the table. She swam over to him, her tail shining with red and gold scales. "Is there anything you want to say to me, young man? Any reason why you're not coming to our family gathering?"

"I'm busy with my duties," he replied flatly.

"Don't lie to me, boy," she hissed, snatching the book from his hands. "You haven't stepped out of your library in weeks, you hermit!"

His eye twitched at being called a hermit, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Your daughter's there, you know," she went on. "She came in with Hades. She looked quite happy with him and from what she told me, she's happy under Adamas' care too."

"Is there any point to this, mother?" He asked, barely able to hide the irritation in his voice.

"You made her run away."

"I did not make her do anything." He replied in a clipped tone. "We had an argument, and like the child she is, she let her emotions get the best of her. Rather than returning to the palace, she opted to move to Adamas' home."

"And you don't want her back?" She asked.

"No."

"So you don't care about her at all?"

"That's correct. Are you done here now?" He asked impatiently.

"You know, Hades told me about the pitiful state you were in when he went to see you," she started. "If you really didn't care about Percy, you would've continued with your duties as if nothing ever happened. But you hid in your library like a coward instead. It's been weeks since she's left and you're still here. I don't know what you did to make her leave, but I at least know that deep down you felt some remorse for it. Am I right?"

He harrumphed and stubbornly refused to answer.

She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"And don't get me started on the influx of dead spirits that were sent to Helheim. Your brother told me all about that too. Midgardians from coastal areas that were killed by 'sudden' attacks of earthquakes and tsunamis." She shook her head with a sigh. "You've always had the worst temper..."

"I do not," he refuted.

"You do," she deadpanned.

Everyone seemed to think that Poseidon's mood fluctuated between two states: chilling apathy or apoplectic fury with no in-betweens. But Rhea knew her son better than that, and right now, not only was she dealing with his childish stubbornness, but also his unwavering pride.

"You are too narcissistic, my son," she let out a heavy sigh. "As much as it pains me to say this, it is one of the traits you got from your father."

Poseidon glared at her fiercely and opened his mouth to object, but she raised a finger to stop him.

"Let me finish," she said sternly. "You're obsessed with perfection and the belief that you yourself are the epitome of it. You perceive others as flawed simply because they're not like you. The only reason you respect Hades so much is because he met your standards, not because you value him as a brother."

"That's not true." He said harshly.

She raised a challenging brow. "Oh? If a familial bond was all you needed to care for someone, then your own daughter wouldn't have fled from you. Perhaps it's true that you started to care for Hades after the Gigantomachy, but that's your problem Poseidon: you only start to see the value in people once they've met your ridiculously high standards. They're worthless to you if they can't. And that's the situation you put that poor girl in."

"You started to warm up to your daughter, but you lost it the second she made a mistake. It made you remember that she wasn't like you, that she wasn't the perfect goddess you wanted, so you hurt her and now you feel guilty. But instead of apologizing, you hid away like a child because you hate the thought of caring for someone you think is 'beneath you' because that would mean that your entire ideology was wrong. Am I missing anything?"

He remained stubbornly silent, which didn't surprise her. He hated having to admit when he was in the wrong.

But Rhea wasn't about to let up.

"You cannot care for her properly because you refuse to let yourself!" She snapped. "All because she cannot meet your outrageous expectations! Just let her in! Why must you repress yourself like this, my son?"

More silence. Poseidon wasn't even looking at her at this point.

She crossed her arms. "I only see three options here. You can either forget about your beliefs or make an exception for your daughter. Or... you leave her be and let Adamas raise her."

The idea of his daughter being raised by someone else seemed to irk him enough for his jaw to clench and the muscles in his arms to tense up.

"Get up, Poseidon," she ordered. "This is your one chance."

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?"

She smiled, all sharp and merciless. "This is your one chance to make amends, my dear. If you fail, you can say goodbye to your daughter. I don't think you're aware of how many people want to take her under their wing. Do you think Adamas and Hades are your only threat?"

She let out a cackle and snapped her fingers. Soon, the two found themselves at the center of her garden, their tails replaced by legs and their regular clothes back on their bodies.

Percy was in the middle of talking to Heracles about his tattoos when she promptly choked on her spit the second she noticed Poseidon's presence. He pointedly looked away from her.

"Sorry for the wait, children!" Rhea smiled angelically as if she hadn't just been taunting her son. "I had to drag this lazy boy over. Come, Poseidon, your seat is just over here."

She had a vice grip on his shoulder as she forced him forward to the only vacant chair: the one right across Percy. The poor girl looked like she was about to throw up.

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my FUCKING gods, she was internally yelling in her head. Okay, okay, this is fine. This is fine. Just act normal!

She stole a quick glance at him only to meet his eye. They immediately turned away, pretending it never happened.

Meanwhile, the rest of the family looked at each with deadpanning eyes, having caught the exchange between them. Rhea rolled her eyes. They were definitely father and daughter.

Rhea clapped her hands, summoning the food to the table. As mouth watering as everything looked, her appetite had already left the second Poseidon arrived.

There were a lot of merry cheers once the food arrived and Percy let out a feeble, "thanks, grandma" when everyone said their thanks.

Her hands went for the bowl of soup, but she was shaking so much that Hades was starting to look at her in concern, as if she might explode.

Her leg was bouncing erratically due to her frazzled nerves, and she nearly jumped when Hades reached over to grab her thigh, making her leg stop moving.

"Calm down," he whispered in her ear, making a shiver roll down her spine. "You'll be fine. He won't bother you."

His hand was moving up and down now. Percy swallowed thickly, only to jump again when a loud SNAP! was heard. She looked up. Poseidon had snapped his utensils in half and was now glowering at his elder brother.

Hades smiled innocently and grabbed a napkin. "Ah, you have something here, Percy," he said loudly, wiping a nonexistent spot of soup from the corner of her lips.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! She wanted to scream, her comically wide eyes darting between him to his wife and kids. The three siblings didn't seem to notice—too busy stuffing their faces and all—but Persephone was watching them very closely. And instead of reacting like how a normal woman would react when catching her husband lusting after his niece, she was beaming at them. Like how a fangirl would beam whenever their ship finally became canon.

Why can't we just be normal?! She despaired. She hesitated to remove the hand. Hades liked her, maybe not in the way she preferred, but he liked her and kept her safe. If it weren't for him, she'd be dead by now. If she removed his hand, would he be upset with her? Offended? Would she lose his protection?

She glanced over to her other side, sweating buckets as she prayed that Heracles didn't realize what was going on. Fortunately, he wasn't even looking at her. He was engaged in a conversation with Ares.

It seemed like the only person who noticed what Hades was doing under the table was Poseidon, and he was not happy about it.

Rhea cleared her throat, "Poseidon, instead of glaring like a stubborn boy, why don't actually start eating, hmm?"

And of course, she had to be loud about it too so now everybody was looking around to see what Poseidon was so pissed about (this time). Percy panicked. Hastily, she swatted Hades' hand off of her thigh, but it was too late.

"Oh my," Demeter's eyes lit up at the prospect of Hades leaving her daughter for another unfortunate victim. Meanwhile, Makaria and Melinoe were each giving their brother pats on the shoulder, comforting him over his 'loss'.

Hera was giggling into her palm, as if the whole thing was the most entertaining thing she had ever seen. Percy felt mortified and terrified at the same time. Nobody seemed to think that this was wrong.

Except for Heracles... mainly because he didn't even see it.

He blinked, looking at her and Hades with an innocent look. "Did something happen?"

Percy tried to stammer a reply, but Poseidon angrily jabbed a piece of steak off a plate before she could start. He dropped the meat onto his own plate and glowered at his mother. "There. Happy now?"

She shot him a sardonic smile. "Very."

Percy tried her best to continue eating after that, but she was honestly too humiliated. Almost everyone at the table saw Hades stroking her leg and rather than reacting appropriately, they treated it like some exciting sex scene from a show.

Friendly chatter ensued between the family. The only ones not engaging were Poseidon and Percy who stiffly ate their food. Rhea watched them silently, eye twitching in annoyance when nothing happened.

"Good gods, you two," she let out a heavy sigh, fork slamming down. "We're nearly at dessert time and you've barely touched your food! How disrespectful!"

Percy panicked. "Oh, no, grandma, I'm just, uh—"

"—No, no! No excuses young lady!" Then she gasped, as if a brilliant idea came to mind. "I know what to do now."

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at her. "Mother..."

"If a nice hearty meal isn't enough to make you speak to each other, then I'll just have to take you elsewhere," she said, a smile crawling over her face.

Percy exchanged a lost look with her cousins, but none of them seemed to have a clue on what she was talking about. The elder gods, however, knew.

Zeus practically lit up. "Oh finally!" He cheered. "It's been so long since his turn in there!"

"Where?" She wondered aloud.

"It's decided," Rhea said, straightening herself up. "I'll send you there and you will learn to get along, hopefully by the time dessert is served. Goodbye now!"

She clapped her hands and Percy and Poseidon found themselves being teleported away.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Her feet hit the dirt. Thankfully, the landing wasn't so hard that she toppled over, but the sudden gust of high winds was what startled her. She found herself standing at the very edge of a mountain's summit, overlooking a pristine shore being washed by glittering blue waves.

Beside her, Poseidon clicked his tongue in annoyance.

She turned to him, hesitant but wanting to know, "Where are we?"

"This is..." His face did a little grimace at this part. "The 'time-out island', as she calls it."

"...Time-out island?" She repeated slowly, staring at him in bewilderment.

"Yes," he answered through gritted teeth. "The 'time-out island'. As you can tell by the ridiculous name, my mother would send me and my siblings here whenever we misbehaved as children. Zeus, of course, was here the most."

A small laugh almost left her throat, but one glare from Poseidon was enough to stifle it. Still, it was kind of funny. A 'time-out' island... for gods... Pfft.

"So... what do we do now?"

"Nothing," he said, still scowling. "This island is under my mother's jurisdiction. I cannot teleport out of here unless it's with her permission. Obviously. It wouldn't be much of a punishment if we could leave whenever we wanted."

"Is there anyone who could help us?" She asked hopelessly.

"No, we are alone here."

"This is her idea of therapy?" She asked in disbelief. "Just throw us on an island and hope for the best?"

"Yes." He said bluntly.

This family's seriously crazy, she thought.

Without a word, he strode forward, sitting down at the edge of the cliff. The sight kind of shocked her; stiff, prim and proper Poseidon willingly sitting on the ground and probably dirtying his fancy attire.

"How long is she going to keep us here?" She asked.

"I don't know," he replied in a clipped tone. "Mother can keep us here for years, centuries even."

Her jaw dropped. "Centuries?!" She didn't have centuries! She couldn't afford to stay here for that long! That was ridiculous! Surely Rhea remembered that she was mortal and couldn't stay here for centuries, right? Hades had to be telling her that, or maybe Heracles... right?

She backed away from the edge, heart racing. Okay, calm down, she told herself. Rhea's not dumb, she knows I can't stay here for that long.

So for now, all she could do was wait for them to be sent back. She should probably head down too, since being so high up in the air made her uncomfortable. She preferred getting closer to the shore.

Her feet were already leading her down the summit when Poseidon turned to glare at her. "Where are you going?" He demanded.

"Down," she replied, matching his irked tone. "I'm not staying up here with you."

There was definitely no way the two of them were gonna get along any time soon, which meant—to her great despair—that they would also be missing out on desserts.

"You want to risk walking down a mountain in those shoes of yours?" He sneered, then scoffed. "Be my guest."

Smiling sarcastically, she kicked her heels off and strode away. She turned her back to him, unaware of his careful stare as she started to descend.

In the midst of walking, she lost her balance. She couldn't help it. The way down was pretty steep and the safest path was this tiny strip of land on the edge. A part of the edge broke away when she stepped down, and it was too late for her to catch herself.

Her eyes widened in horror, stomach dropping as she was sent over the edge, but before she could even scream, a large hand grabbed her wrist and yanked her back to safety.

"Foolish girl!" Poseidon roared, holding onto her wrist so hard he could almost break it. "Be more careful! Does your own mortality not faze you?!"

It wasn't my fault! It was an accident! Was on the tip of her tongue, but right now her whole body was hot with aggravation.

"No, it doesn't," she growled with frustration, getting fed up with him. She wrenched herself free. "In fact, I embrace it!"

He scoffed in disdain. "You wish to remain mortal?" He was mockery, cruelty, and amusement all rolled into one. "What naive thinking, daughter."

"You want me gone, don't you?!" She snapped at him. "Well, good news: you don't have to worry about that! You won't find me anywhere after I finally kick the bucket!"

He narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She let out a scoff and stubbornly refused to answer.

But to be honest, she didn't really have a clue where she would go if she were to die in this universe. Would her spirit go to Valhalla like all the other human souls here did, would she return to her world and finally be able to rest in Elysium where her deceased friends would be waiting for her, or... or would she just be roaming around an endless void with nowhere to go?

She didn't want to find out. So she made a mental note to ask Beelzebub for his theory later.

She turned away from him and stormed forward, ignoring the anger and impatience growing in his eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" He harshly grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around to face him. "Answer my question. What did you mean by that?"

"Why do you care?" The words came out more bitterly than she liked. Giving him a hateful glare, she turned away and continued her trek down the mountain.

She heard him click his tongue behind her, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. Ah, so he was following after her silently. Great. Though to be fair, he was the sea god so he probably wanted to be near the sea too.

Meanwhile, Poseidon was barely able to hold back unleashing his full rage.

What is the meaning of this, mother? He thought angrily, pushing his thoughts into her mind. He knew that she was watching them. You control this island. You could've prevented that path from breaking away. You are purposely endangering her life.

And you're doing such a good job protecting her! Her voice cooed in his head. How sweet. You're almost becoming a proper father!

Cease these antics of yours, he demanded. The brat is mortal. Take us back already.

No, I don't think I will, she simpered. I think you two should stay there just a bit longer. By the way, you guys missed dessert.

Poseidon was ready to snap at her, but he felt her side of the connection cut off so he was left to simmer in his rage.

Percy glanced back at him curiously. He looked angry, but she couldn't pinpoint why. And he definitely wasn't going to speak out his thoughts anyway. Shaking her head, she quietly resumed walking, praying that no other wild accident would occur.

They managed to make it down with relative ease. Once they got to the bottom, she couldn't help but pick up the pace, jogging towards the beach as the wind blew her hair back. The very sight of the sea was almost enough to lift up her mood.

She dove into the water, clothes and all, and felt the tension in her body go away once she was submerged. The splash she heard behind her told her that Poseidon followed suit. She ignored him, diving deeper under the water and leaving him alone.

The second Poseidon touched the water, his clothes melted off his skin like seafoam. His legs merged together to form his grand tail and his fins grew into place.

As much as he detested the 'time-out island', the sea was very clean and beautiful, something he could at least appreciate. And he could tell that Percy enjoyed it too. The girl was already admiring everything she could find on the seabed, so distracted that she didn't even realize that he was watching her.

He could still hear his mother's words echoing in his head: "You cannot care for her properly because you refuse to let yourself!"

His mother could be so annoying sometimes. And so perceptive too.

He hated to admit it, but Percy had been growing on him. Kind of like how mold grew on walls.

He didn't welcome the idea of fatherhood—who would when it was suddenly forced onto you?—but... it didn't turn out to be so horrible. She was annoying, yes, and usually the first thing he would do when he met someone annoying was kill them, but he couldn't find himself doing that to her. Oh there were definitely times where he attempted to kill her in those earlier weeks—had Hades not been around, she would've been dead by now.

But time passed by, and suddenly the murder attempts had lessened to the point that they were simply just passing thoughts with no follow-up action.

He no longer wanted her dead. He didn't understand why, perhaps it was that 'paternal instinct' Hades kept raving about was what kept him from killing her.

Either way, he got used to her aggravating, annoying, infuriating presence—and he could not stand it. It went against everything he stood for. He, who was Perfection, had a heavily flawed and imperfect daughter, and instead of killing such a stain to his bloodline, he kept her alive.

I can kill her right now, he thought darkly, blue eyes stalking her every movement like a predator. She may be of the sea, but he was the sea. He could crush her with a simple thought, use her own gifts against her, let the water squeeze her body until she popped and he would finally be rid of her.

But images kept flashing through his head. Her nervous smile. The way her eyes shone as she swam around the sea. Her head bowed over a large tome as she poured all her efforts into her studies. She was nothing like him, but her blood was his, and his blood was hers. Father and daughter.

No, he tried to deny. She was of no worth keeping around. It was a waste of time trying to mold her to perfection, trying to—

"I don't care about perfection," he could still hear her voice ringing in his head from that fateful day. He remembered her face too; red, watery-eyed and filled with emotion that he didn't like to think about. "I just want a dad! But you're too far up your own ass to even give me that!"

"I only see three options here," he recalled his mother saying. "You can either forget about your beliefs or make an exception for your daughter. Or... you leave her be and let Adamas raise her."

It finally dawned on him the true reason they had been sent here. Rhea didn't put them here in hopes for them to get along; this was a test for him and him only.

He had a choice to make, and he had to make it now.

"...Percilla." He called out her name.

He saw her body tense up. She turned to him, face wary as she slowly swam up. She kept a good distance between them, but that would've been useless.

"...Yes?" She said carefully.

His hand twitched at his side. Kill her. Drown her. Rip her face off. Kill her, kill her, kill her—

"The citizens of the Atlantean Empire have yet to meet their Princess," he found himself saying instead, his hand now relaxed at his side. "A tour of the seven kingdoms is necessary to do so."

She stared at him, that wariness disappearing. Confusion set in.

"Are you... are you asking me?" She even pointed at herself, just to make sure.

"I need an answer, Percilla."

Holy shit. She was floored. Poseidon was asking her. For permission. Instead of just demanding it.

"You... want me to meet your people?" She asked, stupefied.

"They are your people too, have you forgotten?" He deadpanned.

What is going on? She felt dizzy all of a sudden. Did Rhea drug the food or something?

"I'm not much of a princess," she said slowly. "I doubt you'd want them to meet me."

She waited for him to agree, to insult her and say, 'you're right, you're a great disappointment and I'd be embarrassing myself if I introduced you as my daughter', but the words never came.

"You are still learning. I suppose that's... satisfactory enough. For now."

She stared at him anxiously, looking at him up and down for any hint that she could be speaking to a doppelganger or whatever. But this was 100% Poseidon.

"...Can I think about it?" She asked quietly.

His lips thinned in displeasure. Now was the moment for him to change his mind, to go back to the horrible Poseidon that she was used to dealing with, but that didn't happen.

He nodded. "Fine."

Rhea had seen and heard enough.

Not even a second passed before the scenery changed and Poseidon found himself sitting in the chair he was in before, only this time, the garden was empty save for him and his mother. Percy was nowhere to be found.

"I sent her back to Adamas," she assured. "Left her with a slice of cake too, of course. No desserts for you though, young man." She wagged her finger at him.

"Mother."

She laced her fingers together. "Hmm?"

"You knew I was thinking about killing her back on the island." It wasn't phrased as a question. He already knew the answer. "If I had done it, would you have tried to stop me?"

"Yes," she answered without hesitation. "But I would've taken her away from you, and you would've had to live with it." 

— author's note —

* I had to add this cuz I saw some panels from the manga about the Greek bros when they were kids and Poseidon as a baby cracked me up cuz he literally looked dead inside 😭

Alright so, about those 3 options Rhea mentioned, which one do you think Poseidon would actually follow through? Do you think he'll: forgo his beliefs, make Percy an exception to them, or give up and just let Adamas raise her?

HERE ARE SOME FAN-MEMES FROM Noodle_19:

And more from Luna999:

PLS THE MEATBALL ON HIS TITTIES 😭😭😭

AND NOW HERE ARE MORE PICREWS I MADE: