Good news! I'll be doing ANOTHER update this week on Sunday, August 18 in honor of Percy's birthday 🥳 So I'll see you guys soon!

Also, I LOVED your reactions to the previous chapter 😂 Act 1 is just meant to establish the romance, so the yanderes aren't that bad rn, but they become irredeemable once we hit act 3 and act 4, so good luck guys!

THIS COULD'VE BEEN AN EMAIL... Poseidon thought for the hundredth time as Odin droned on and on about Mimir's murder.

It was taking all his willpower not to ruin his emotionless expression and roll his eyes in exasperation. Sure Mimir was a valuable tool for Odin but did they really have to get dragged into this whole mess? If Proteus had been murdered, he would've just dealt with the situation alone, not drag almost every important deity from each Pantheon to help out. Was this really necessary? For a talking head of all things? Surely he couldn't have been that special.

And Hades wasn't here either, he remembered with an annoyed inward groan. His older brother was always good at smoothly cutting meetings short, if he were here now, this meeting probably would've ended in a satisfying conclusion an hour ago.

I wonder what my daughter is doing? All of Poseidon's thoughts immediately went to Percy. It was rare for her to ask to stay home during times where he was needed out, so he was immensely pleased with her decision to remain at the palace.

Just then, his phone buzzed.

Oh good, he thought idly, taking it out. A distraction.

"I must take this," he said calmly, rising from his throne. He coldly ignored Zeus' wrinkled pout—a piss poor attempt at a puppy-dog look to help him get out of the meeting. He really ought to stop. There was nothing cute about that saggy, elderly face of his and there was no way in hell he would ever cave in to help his stupid little brother in anything.

He stepped out of the room and answered the call, "Proteus." He acknowledged. "What is it."

"My lord, did Lord Hades ever inform you that he would be visiting the palace today?" Proteus went straight to the point.

"...No, he has not." Poseidon answered, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He did not like where this was going. "My brother is supposed to be here at a meeting, but he's absent. He visited the palace? Is he still there? Where is my daughter?"

He could hear his servant gulp on the other end of the phone. "My lord, I sensed Lord Hades' arrival, but after a minute, he left. The princess' aura vanished alongside him. I assumed he took her to Helheim for an unscheduled visit I wasn't aware of and called you to inform you just in case."

"..."

My daughter.

Hades has my daughter.

Hades took her. He took my daughter.

"—Lord? My Lord?" Proteus nervously called out to him. "My Lord, is—"

Poseidon crushed the phone in his grip.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Loki sent Percy away just as Hades lunged at him with a look of pure murderous rage he hadn't seen from the god in centuries. He summoned his Divine Weapon, but Hades was faster than the speed of light.

"Ack—!" Loki choked as the taller god grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air.

"You little pest," the cold fury in Hades' eyes matched Poseidon's—which was a scary thought. "I knew you should've been executed the second you first kidnapped my niece. Where have you taken her?"

"Up your ass," Loki managed to wheeze out, trying to make a playful grin.

Hades wasn't amused. His violet eyes started to glow with power and Loki could feel his eyeballs start to pop out of their eye sockets as the grip around his throat tightened.

Loki mentally sent a curse to Beelzebub, half-expecting him to come in and save the day, but he also wasn't surprised by the god's abandonment. So much for teamwork, he supposed. He should've known the god would've fled the second Hades sensed something amiss. Probably left the premises before Hades could piece together his deception. Ugh, what an asshole.

"Where is my wife?" Hades demanded.

Instead of answering, Loki shapeshifted into a snake. His lithe form slipped beneath Hades' loose grip. He landed on the floor with a soft thud and was about to teleport away to safety, until the points of Hades' bident speared through him.

He let out a pained yowl that came out as a furious hiss.

"Where is my wife?" Hades demanded once more, pushing his divine weapon deeper into the snake's body, impaling him against the floor. "I won't ask you again, Loki. I would hate to force your pantheon to hold another funeral."

"Funny, Percy said the same thing!" Loki laughed angrily as he struggled to move, but all he managed to accomplish was some form of aggressive wiggling. "Like uncle, like niece, I guess!"

Knowing that this was gonna hurt like a bitch, he morphed back into his regular form and kicked back against Hades' leg. As the elder god was forced back, Loki wrenched the bident out of him with magic before hastily rising up to his feet.

He summoned his weapon back to his hands just as Hades came at him again.

If I die, Percy better grieve for me for the rest of her life! Loki thought as he was about to launch another attack, but then—

—FWOOOOOM!

It was like a dam had broken open. Outside the palace, they could hear the sound of rushing water and waves crashing against buildings. Their heads turned towards the balcony where they could see a biblical-style flood heading straight for them, swallowing everything in their path. Hades' palace was situated at the top of the tallest mountain, but the flood was so tall that it could reach their height with enough time.

Then came an ancient roar from the distance:

"HAAAAADEEEEES!"

Loki had never felt so relieved to hear Poseidon's voice. He almost regretted not living his life as a simple little salmon at the sea god's side.

Across from him, Hades grimaced, knowing that he was in a lot of trouble now.

Loki shot him a shit-eating grin. "I hope he beats your ass."

And then, he teleported away.

He made sure to stay high, teleporting himself to the bleeding red skies just above Hades' palace. His shoulders slumped and his cocky grin disappeared. It wasn't every day he went and picked fights with Supreme Gods, but it was kind of embarrassing that he barely even put up a fight against him. He'd take his fight with Beelzebub any day over this humiliation.

He looked down, smirking in vindication as he watched the flood climb atop of Hades' mountain before violently slamming into the once pristine dark palace.

"Where is Percy."

He almost jumped in mid-air. He turned to see Beelzebub floating alongside him and scowled. "Oh, it's you. Thanks for the help, by the way!" He snapped sarcastically. "You little shit, you were hoping that psycho would kill me, weren't you?!"

He grabbed him by the front of his cassock and shook him around.

Beelzebub had the audacity to roll his eyes. "Your only job was to get Percy out of there while I kept Hades distracted. And you failed."

And of course he wouldn't help him. The only reason why Hades wasn't suspicious of him was because he trusted him and he would like to keep it that way. Running to Loki's rescue would just make it obvious that they were working together to begin with.

(Plus, if Loki ended up getting killed, then that was all the better for him.)

"Failed?!" Loki's eye twitched in offense. "I got her out of there! I sent her away when Hades came busting in since you weren't doing a good job of distracting him!"

"And where did you send her?" Beelzebub demanded.

"I don't know, okay?!" The Norse god groaned in annoyance. "I couldn't think of a destination in time when Hades came in, so I panicked and just sent her wherever."

"You gave her your cloak," Beelzebub glowered.

"Yeah, so Hades wouldn't hunt her down, obviously!" He huffed.

Beelzebub looked like he was about to blow up from the anger. "Did it ever occur to you," he seethed. "That neither of us will be able to find her now that she's donning your cloak? She's trapped in Helheim, you fool! Any monster here could kill her!"

Loki froze. "...Shit."

Their heads snapped downwards. The realm of Helheim was now almost completely flooded by now. Palaces of the gods had erected a protective barrier around their territory. Most of the weaker monsters and demons had been swept by the violent tide, but there were still the winged ones to worry about. They could swoop in and snatch Percy up. As for the monsters and demons that resided in the rivers and seas, they were now freely swimming all over the place. Percy might've mistakenly thought it would be safe to swim within the flood, only to stumble upon one of them...

There were too many ways that she could die here.

They needed to find her, now.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

It was painfully clear to Percy that Loki hadn't been thinking of a particular destination when he teleported her away because she suddenly found herself free-falling from the skies.

Dammit, Loki!

She flipped herself over so she was facing the ground—while also simultaneously trying to ignore the fact that she was speeding closer and closer to it. The left side of her vision started to turn black as she plummeted past a mountainside.

She patted her wedding dress for any pockets, but apparently Hades didn't believe in dresses with pockets because there were none. She patted around furiously for Riptide, only to pause when she felt something around her garter. Hastily, she bunched her dress up and there it was—Riptide was tucked in-between the lacy black garter and her thigh.

Yanking it out, she quickly uncapped it and stabbed her blade into the side of the mountain in a desperate attempt to slow down her momentum. She had seen Azula from Avatar do this with a hair accessory, so surely it should be possible with a sword, right?

Bits of rock kept flying at her face as she continued to fall, but she was noticeably falling slower and slower. She pushed Riptide in deeper, and finally, her fall came to a stop.

Fortunately for her, she stopped just below a mountain ledge. Grunting, she pushed herself up and swung the lower half of her body upwards. As she stood, she realized how narrow this ledge was. One step back and she'd be falling once more. Ever so carefully she turned around and yanked Riptide out from the rocky surface.

Okay, she thought to herself. Now what do I do?

She looked down and grimaced. The bottom of the mountain looked way too far away. She looked up and decided that climbing up would be her best bet, since at least the top of the mountain looked closer compared to the ground.

And so, she kicked off her heels and started to climb up. She felt extremely grateful for the Curse of Achilles now, since scaling the mountain was swift and easy—even with the stupid wedding dress on. Without it, she probably would've given up halfway through.

She climbed to the top in record time and she hadn't even broken a sweat.

Except, she hadn't really reached the top. She was actually standing on part of a cliff, and there was still much to go to reach the real summit of the mountain. But that was fine. The spot at least gave her a good view of Helheim.

"Bifrost, gotta find the bifrost," she muttered, already stepping around the edges of the cliffside to look for the familiar gates.

She had Loki's cloak on now; she could use this to her advantage and hide away. Maybe pretend to be some homeless kid in Midgard or something. She kinda didn't want to deal with gods at the moment. Or ever.

Wait, she paled in realization. She ate all twelve seeds. She was cursed to stay here forever. She could never leave Helheim now.

The realization made her want to throw up.

Just then, the ground started to shake and she nearly toppled off.

"Whoa," her eyes widened as she hurriedly stepped away from the edge. The quaking seemed to grow stronger as the seconds passed by.

She squinted and saw it. Over in the distance, she spotted a massive flood coming over, sweeping up everything in its path. But then, to her amazement, it started to grow in height; from a hundred meters, then five hundred, then, a thousand and...

And now it was coming for her.

Okay. Easy. She waved dismissively at the rising tides, trying to push them back to circle around the mountain she was on, but the tides didn't seem to want to listen to her. They slammed against the side of the mountain, nearly knocking her over. Then they grew bigger and bigger, getting dangerously close to where she stood at the cliff's edge.

"Aw shit," she cursed.

She turned around and started climbing up again.

"Dammit, daddy, control your waves!"

She scrambled for the summit, and by the time she reached it, she was a mess. Her gown was black so at least the dirt stains weren't that obvious, but parts of the precious fabric were ripped and torn, her feet were dirty with small pebbles stuck to her skin, and her hair which Hades had perfectly curled were now tangled and damp with sweat from her frantic climbing.

She looked back down. The flood was still growing, and she realized that it was trying to reach Hades' palace, which sat atop of the highest mountain in Helheim. She'd be swept up in no time and she did not want to be caught in her father's flood when he was pissed and not thinking straight.

She sprinted away from the edge, spying a familiar Egyptian god just ambling about as if all of Helheim wasn't about to be drowned.

"Anubis!" She called out to him. "Hey! Anubis!"

He looked at her and grinned. "Tiny princess?"

"Can you get me out of here?!" She asked immediately.

He tilted his head like a curious puppy. "Aww, you wanna leave already?"

"Shit's going down in Helheim right now and I kinda don't wanna be in the middle of it, so please just hide me away or something!" She pleaded.

He opened his mouth to respond, but then something about her caught his eye. He leaned down to get a closer look at her. "...Are you wearing a wedding dress?"

"Uh, yeah? Can you please help me out here? I reeeeaaally gotta go!" Her voice raised an octave from her desperation. "Look, you don't even need to teleport me, just point me to the direction of the most isolated spot in Helheim and I'll go there by myself!"

He started to hum loudly as if to think about it before shooting her a toothy grin. "Hmmm, nah! How about I take you to my place instead!"

Her jaw dropped. "HUH?! No! Anubis, I need to get away from everyone!"

He pouted, "But Percyyyy! Loki got to play with you and I wanna play with you too! Come on, come on! Say you agree! You need to say it!"

"I—Okay—fine!" She snapped in frustration. She'll lay low in Anubis' place and figure out what to do from there. She knew her plan to hide away in some desolated area in Helheim was risky and poor, so she'll use this chance to calm down and just wait things out.

He jumped up and cheered. He looked so adorably happy that she would've felt bad for snapping at him had she not been so overwhelmed with panic and paranoia right now.

"YES!" He whooped. "You're gonna love living with me! Let's go!"

She was about to correct him that she wouldn't be living with him permanently, but he grabbed her arm and teleported the both of them away just seconds before the tsunami reached the summit.

When her feet touched the ground, she looked up and nearly jumped. Just meters away from her was a giant wall of water that looked almost as if it could touch the bleeding red skies. She expected it to wash over them, but it didn't, as if it was being held back by an invisible wall.

"Don't worry, I put up a barrier around my territory, your crazy dad's flood won't be able to get in," Anubis assured her, patting her on the head. "Now turn around!"

She did, and her eyes widened in awe. "Wow."

Anubis' palace was actually quite beautiful and lively compared to the other palaces she had seen here in Helheim, which were all dark and dreary looking as if to match the Underworld aesthetic. She wondered if this realm had a Home Owners Association and inwardly snorted at the mental image of some dull looking gods trying to fine Anubis for not making his house 'emo' enough like everyone else's.

While Helheim had rough grounds, Anubis' territory was covered in soft, warm sand that made her feel like she was on the beaches of Montauk again. In front of her was a short set of stairs with black and gold statues of Anubis in his jackal form stationed on each side.

Giddily, Anubis led her up the stairs as she kept looking around in amazement. Circling around the area was a canal full of glittering blue water. His palace was made of stone—probably magical ones too—and other precious minerals that she couldn't even name. It was decorated with obelisks* of many sizes, palm trees, and all kinds of foliage that hung from flat roofs.

"Cool place," she complimented.

"Ya think so? Hehe, wait until we get inside!" He eagerly ushered her through the large double-doors.

The inside was just as impressive as the outside. The walls were made of a mix of limestone, alabaster, granite, and a bunch of other stuff, mixing together to create a yellowish tint and making the interiors radiate with a warm glow. She felt as if she had walked into some underground temple that had been well-preserved over the years. Tall pillars held up the high ceilings and she could see Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on those pillars too. It reminded her of the stress Beelzebub went through trying to teach her how to translate them before ultimately giving up.

Anubis must really like plants, she noted, spying many huge vases containing large, leafy plants. Calypso would've loved this guy.

"Ah, wait," she paused, glancing down with a guilty grimace. Her feet were all dirty and here she was, walking around someone's house and mucking up their pristine floors. She could already imagine her mom's disappointed face.

"I, uh... I'm sorry," she apologized to him. "I removed my shoes a while ago, and..."

He let out a grand laugh. "Don't worry about that! I don't wear shoes either, see?" He lifted up his leg, showing off his bare foot. All she could really pay attention to were the dangerously sharp black talons he had for toenails. He definitely didn't seem like the best person to play footsies with.

"Ah, right," she said, swallowing audibly. She was now very aware that this guy wasn't just a dog, but a jackal. He could probably smell how much she reeked of sweat and dirt from her frantic escape attempt, which was pretty embarrassing.

"Uh, sorry, but do you have a shower I could use by any chance?" She asked nervously.

"'Course I do!" He lit up. "Come on, I'll show you! I have a lot of cool soaps from my mom!"

Excited to show off the soap collection gifted by his mom, Anubis quickly ushered her off to a staircase and several hallways deeper into the palace.

She vaguely wondered if this guy rarely had any visitors because he seemed really excited to have her around.

He stopped just outside of a pair of huge double-doors gilded with gold. "Just inside this room," he told her, grinning. "Feel free to use whatever soap you want! Oh! And you need to eat, right? I'll get dinner prepared for you too while you bathe! Do you like to eat meat?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"Raw?"

"No. I prefer my meat cooked, thanks."

"Human meat or animal meat?" He asked.

The question stunned her so much that she had to stop and re-register his words. "...Huh?"

"Do you wanna eat cooked human meat or cooked animal meat?" He clarified, which only stupefied her some more.

"I... Um, animal please," she stammered, and then, more curiously, "...Do you eat humans?"

"Nah, I tried but they kinda taste bad," he gagged, sticking out his tongue in disgust. His two tongue piercings glinted under the warm light. "But you're a mermaid, right? Don't you eat humans?"

"I'm not a mermaid," she immediately corrected. "I'm half human and half god. The mermaid thing is only a temporary form I use back home."

"Oh, right! That's cool! Hey, I got a lot of pools here that you can swim around if you get homesick! I'll show them to you later! Enjoy your bath, Percy, I'll get the servants to prepare a feast!"

And with a happy squeal, he bounded away.

"Ah, wait! Anubis!" She called out to him.

He stopped just before he could turn a corner. He grinned at her, "Yeah?"

"Um, I'm sorry," she apologized. "About earlier. When I snapped at you. I didn't mean to be rude, I was just stressed out and trying to get away from... everything, I guess. Thanks for taking me in. I really appreciate it."

"..."

"..."

"..."

She swallowed thickly. Okay, this silence was beginning to freak her out now. Had she said the wrong thing?

Before she speak up again, Anubis was in front of her in an instant, his lips stretched out so widely that she could see every razor sharp tooth he owned.

"AWWWWWW!" He loudly exclaimed, scooping her up in the tightest hug imaginable. Her feet dangled in the air. "You're so cuuuuute! You weren't even mean to me at all, but you still said sorry! Man, I'm so glad you came to me! I'm gonna keep you forever!"

"Please put me down," she wheezed.

He gave one final squeeze and twirl before finally releasing her, much to her relief.

"You don't need to be sorry, Tiny Princess! All's forgiven!" He chirped, patting her head with enough force to make her think he was playing Whac-A-Mole with her being the mole. "Now get cleaned up! I'll make sure you get a change of clothes to wear afterwards!"

He dashed off again for dinner preparations.

She couldn't help but grin as his figure disappeared. Anubis was a pretty cool god to be around. He wasn't polite and formal like Hades, not stiff and emotionally constipated like Poseidon and Beelzebub, nor was he stressful to deal with like Loki was. He was a breath of fresh air and if she was in a clearer state of mind, she probably would've happily matched his enthusiastic energy.

She stepped into the room.

It was a massive bedroom that probably belonged to Anubis. She could tell it was his because it looked like a tornado had formed inside. Despite the mess, it was still magnificent. Healthy green indoor plants sat on tables and bookshelves or hung from raised pots, the walls were lined with a thick strip of gold that bordered a bigger strip that depicted paintings of Egyptian gods. His brown and gold bed—which hadn't been made—had a white patterned canopy hanging above it, and just a few feet away was a circular archway that led to a balcony that oversaw the front of the palace.

She knew Anubis assured her that it was fine, but she still felt bad for stepping inside and leaving dirt tracks on his bedroom floor. She found another door that probably led to the bathroom and stepped in.

She could never get used to godly bathrooms.

Anubis' bathroom looked more like an indoor pool than anything. She walked down some steps before reaching the edge of a large, rectangular pool that nearly took up a majority of the room. Lit-up candles were scattered around the room, providing the room with a faint light in the otherwise dark room.

Lining the walls were Anubis' soap collection that his mother gave him. She saw pink heart-shaped soap bars. Pyramid soap. Seashells, fruits, jackals, and even a miniature soap figurine of himself.

Oh these are so cute, it made her smile a bit.

She stripped off that accursed wedding dress and her underwear before slowly stepping into the pool. Anubis was huge, so the pool was deep enough that she couldn't stand upright and had to stay afloat, which would've made cleaning herself harder if she couldn't manipulate the water.

There was a woven basket at the edge of the pool, filled with fancy looking soap bars of different colors. Some were plain rectangular shaped, others had flowers or dogs carved at the side that made her chuckle.

She picked the blue and white one that reminded her the most of the beach she and her mom used to visit in Montauk.

"Squeaky clean, squeaky clean~" She sang as she rubbed the bar of soap over her skin, as if she wasn't seconds away from breaking into hysterics.

She calmly cleaned every inch of her body while trying not to think of what happened between her and Hades during their 'wedding night'. Just thinking about the word 'wedding' made a part of her mind crack.

Everything had happened so fast that it was finally hitting her at once.

She was... married now. To her own uncle. Not only that, but apparently she had been crowned as the new Queen of Helheim too. How the fuck was she going to get out of this now?

There was still Loki to worry about as well. A part of her was still angry about the whole Beelzebub thing, but he had helped her out of a sticky situation. She could acknowledge that. And she had no choice but to leave him behind while he remained at Hades' palace to hold her furious... husband (shudder) back.

Was he okay? Did he get out of there on time?

Not to mention the fact that Hades and her dad were currently duking it out now. Helheim was completely flooded over now too; were the other gods okay too?

The list of problems just kept climbing up, it was driving her crazy. She was at a complete loss of what to do now. She was married to her uncle and was now forever trapped here in Helheim because he force-fed her twelve seeds from a cursed pomegranate. How could she ever face her dad after this? Or anyone really?

And then a bone-chilling question occurred to her:

...Would I still be able to go home?

Her vision started to blur with tears as it suddenly dawned on her just how deeply the ramifications of the curse went. She was cursed to remain here in Helheim for the rest of her life, did that mean she couldn't go home even if a way out was finally given to her?

No, no, no, her breathing started to hitch. The bar of soap slipped past her fingers and sunk to the bottom.

She backed against the side of the pool, her whole body trembling as fear coursed through her veins. A shaky hand covered her mouth as if to suppress any screams that might escape her. Or maybe to hold back her vomit. She didn't know. She wanted to cry, scream, and throw up. She had never felt so revolting and terrified before in all her life.

She started choking on her sobs as she thought about her mom, Anthonius, Grover, her dad, and all the people she would never see again.

She slowly sank to the bottom of the pool, completely submerged in the water. She opened her mouth, breathing in. She wondered if she could will the water to drown her. Let her die in her father's embrace for all she cared. Her chances of seeing everyone she loved had been snatched away from her in the cruelest way possible, along with her reasons for living.

But then she thought about Anubis and quickly regretted that thought. Anubis had kindly taken her in, and she was about to repay him by letting him find a dead demigod in his bathroom?

A little longer, she promised herself as she swam back up to the surface. I'll live a little longer.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

After her bath, she stepped out of the pool and dried off with a towel that had magically appeared beside the basket full of soaps. When she re-entered the bedroom, she was surprised to find that it had been meticulously cleaned while she was in the bath.

Not only that, but a dress was laid out on the bed for her. It was a black, floor-length kalasiris—a type of dress that was commonly worn by women in Ancient Egypt—that had a wide scoop neckline that was lined with gold. She put it on. It came with some accessories too, like a golden belt to wrap around her waist and an additional tie for her waist that had a bunch of cute jackal charms and amulets. She had also been provided with shoes too—a comfy pair of sandals that were a lot more preferable than having to wear heels all the time. 

After tying on the sandals, she turned around to head out the door only to nearly jump ten feet into the air when she saw a little girl standing right behind her.

"Oh my gods—!" She pressed a hand to her heart. "Holy—fu—fudge! You scared me...!"

The little girl merely tilted her head. Like her, she was donning a similar black kalasiris, but with dark green linings instead, and her belt was made of snakeskin instead of gold.

Actually, now that she had a good look at her, the little girl kinda resembled a snake. She had a couple of serpentine features. She could see patches of scales on her dark skin, littered around her shoulders, neck, and some on her face too. Her eyes were a deep shade of emerald green and slitted at the center, very much like a snake. Her thick black hair was put in an updo, braided and stacked in a way to resemble a snake with its mouth open and ready to strike.

"Are you my daddy's mate?" The little girl questioned.

Percy blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

She just repeated the question.

"Um... no?" She replied. "Wait, who's your dad?"

"His name is Anubis," she replied, puffing her chest out in pride. "God of death and the weigher of hearts!"

Her eyes nearly popped out. "Your dad is Anubis?!" Her jaw dropped. With how he acted, she never would've expected him to be a father.

"Yes!" She nodded her little head enthusiastically, her updo bouncing along with her. "And I am Kebechet, the one and only child of the great Lord Anubis!"

What the fuck, Percy thought blankly. She was pretty sure Kebechet was supposed to be millions, maybe billions of years old, but she looked like she was around five years old at best. Did she purposely choose to use a younger form?

"Nice to meet you, Kebechet," she said, idly wondering if she needed to refer to her as Lady Kebechet or something, but decided against it. "I'm Percy. Your dad's just... letting me stay here for a bit. Hope you don't mind..."

Kebechet stared up at her, furrowing her brows. "That's... it? Are you sure you're not my daddy's mate? Why else would he bring you here?"

"What exactly do you mean by 'mate'?" She asked. She had a feeling she wasn't talking about the British version of 'mate'.

"Hmmmm... nothing!" She stubbornly refused to tell her, grinning innocently. "You know, I heard about you. Aren't you related to that meanie, Poseidon?"

"He's my dad."

Kebechet's snakelike eyes widened. "No. Way." She gaped up at her. "That scary guy's your dad?!"

She nodded, chuckling sheepishly.

"My daddy told me that he's trying to drown Helheim! Is that why you're here? Because your daddy's angry and you're hiding away so you don't get grounded?"

"Uh... something like that?" She scratched her head.

"Oh no!" The little girl gasped, looking horrified for her sake, which was pretty endearing in Percy's opinion. She rushed forward to grasp her hand, a firm look in her eyes. "Don't worry. My daddy and I will hide you here. I hate being grounded too!"

"Your dad grounds you?" She asked curiously. Anubis seemed more like the fun parent, the type that could never discipline their kids because they were just too nice.

Kebechet scowled. "Yeah! One time when daddy took me out to Valhalla for a picnic, I wandered off and got lost! Daddy was really upset and he grounded me and took away ALL of my toys that day!"

Percy let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh my gods, that's awful! I can relate, my dad confiscated my phone. He also threw away my cookies once and yelled at me. Not a fun time."

"He threw away your cookies?!"

"Yeah! I even made those for him as an apology!"

"What'd you do after that?"

"I, uh... well..." She trailed off. She didn't think she should tell her that she had run away to Helheim to stay with one of her uncles. She didn't want to be a bad influence after all. "Er, I just waited out my punishment like all good kids do!" She said, finishing with a beam.

Even after her soul-crushing breakdown in the bathroom, she could feel the corners lift up into a genuine smile. Talking with Kebechet reminded her of the days she would talk to the little kids at Camp Half-Blood, teaching them how to swordfight (with wooden swords of course!). They were just so innocent and refreshing to talk to.

"Knock, knock!" They heard Anubis say from behind the door before he walked in with his usual toothy grin. "I see you two have been getting along! Wanna tell me what you've been gossiping about?"

"It was girl talk! We're still busy, go away, daddy!" Kebechet huffed.

Anubis pouted, broken-hearted. "Kebi, you're so mean! And here I thought you wanted to eat with me and Percy! I even had the servants prepare your favorite rabbit meat and quail eggs!"

Kebechet's snake eyes sparkled and she looked seconds away from drooling at the prospect of her favorite foods. "Sorry! I didn't mean what I said!" She cried out, running up to her dad who spread his arms wide to catch her when she lept at him.

Anubis let out a hearty laugh as he picked his daughter up and snuggled her like she was his long-lost teddy bear. He gave her exaggerated loud smooches on her scaly cheeks. "Mwah, mwah, mwah! It's okay, I forgive you! Let's eat now, yeah?"

He was looking at Percy when he said that. Percy had been so distracted smiling at the adorable scene that she hadn't realized he had been waiting for her to answer.

"Oh, right, yeah!" She nodded, smiling back at him. "Let's go."

All three of them walked out of the room. Anubis, still carrying Kebechet in his arms, started to lead her down the hallway to where the Great Hall was. He started to speak to his daughter in Ancient Egyptian, knowing that Percy couldn't understand.

"So? What do you think?" He asked Kebechet, grinning knowingly.

Kebechet gave a nod of approval. "She seems nice! Better than the other ones! Are you gonna make her my new mommy?"

"Don't be silly!" He laughed and ruffled her hair, ignoring her whines and pouts. "She already is your mommy!" 

— author's note —

* In Egyptian mythology obelisks were the symbol of Ra, which I thought was fitting for Anubis' palace since that's his great great granddaddy lol

To all my old-time readers, did you guys miss my YouTube memes? Cuz I surely missed making them 😂 Anyways, the titles of the Percy vids were given to me by a genius anon from Tumblr, so thank you again!

Memes from melinoetargaryen:

Anubis fanart from spicytunayumm + their live reaction to when I announced him as the new member of the harem lol:

Anuby fanart (yes that's the anubis x percy ship name lol) by eiranzhi:

Percy fanart from ghostingghostdreams:

Percy fanart from honeydew-mint:

QinZiYan made Percy using their Love and Deepspace MC!!!! (They sent more pics, but I'm gonna have to upload the rest in the next chapter cuz wattpad has a 20 media limit ugh):