IT'S AUGUST 18!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERCY!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳

More good news: I finally finished editing my outline so I can now announce that Cú Chulainn is the seventh love interest for this fic!

(If you haven't seen me announce this on tumblr, then you can just skip this part and get straight to the chapter. The rest of this note is just copy-pasted from that one tumblr post.)

For those who don't know, Cú Chulainn is a character from the ROR spinoff: Apocalypse of the Gods, and he is a demigod. Like, an actual 50% human and 50% god.

Yeah so that means there are now 2 types of demigods in the ROR verse: a human with the strength of a god (gained via drinking ambrosia aka, zeus' blood; ex: Heracles before ascension) and now the actual half-blood that we're familiar with

BUT BECAUSE I ALREADY STATED IN ARSENIC BLUES THAT BIOLOGICAL HALF-GOD AND HALF-HUMANS DON'T EXIST AND ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO CREATE, CÚ CHULAINN WILL BE LIKE PRE-ASCENSION HERACLES: a human with the strength of a god BUT he got this through drinking Lugh's blood and was also blessed by him (hence why he will have some of Lugh's powers too)

There was more I wanted to say about exploring the similarities and differences between him and Percy later on, but this is getting too long so I'll end it here.

Also, I changed Poseidon's graphic in the intro chapter so check it out if you're curious!

HESTIA HAD IT EASY—HERA'S temper tantrums were far easier to placate; all she had to do was give the younger goddess some calming tea, tell her that she was most beautiful and powerful Queen in all the three realms, and maybe take her to a shopping trip or two.

But Hades? Oh he had the short end of the stick.

He adored his baby brothers so much, but by the gods were they a handful. Poseidon especially. His temper tantrums made Hera look like a saint.

Like that time in Ancient Greece where Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus bragged that their daughter, Andromeda, was more beautiful than the merfolk of the seas and Poseidon flipped out and sent Cetus to kill them all. Or that time King Minos sacrificed an inferior bull in Poseidon's name and he decided to curse his wife to have sex with said bull ("All this because of a bull? Seriously, brother? You said you didn't even care about their worship." Hades had sighed that day.).

And don't even get him started on all those times a mortal would refer to him by name instead of by title—sure Hades didn't like it when a human would refer to him as 'Hades' and not 'Lord Hades' as they should've either, but some of them just genuinely forget! Poseidon didn't need to send a tidal flood just to kill one human. Honestly, humans dropped like flies every day and lines in Helheim were so long already, there was no need to further clog them! Hades was so thankful he wasn't the only god working in Helheim—he didn't want to know what his life would be like without their assistance.

But this... oh this might possibly be the worst temper tantrum Hades had the displeasure of dealing with.

The King of Helheim stood at the balcony of his palace, overlooking the massive flood rising higher and higher, steadily reaching to the summit of the mountain his home stood upon. Soon enough the wave was so tall that it cast a shadow over his palace as he calmly looked up at it.

As if it were a living animal, the waves swooped down like a predator would when spying prey. The unforgiving waters crashed into the palace, destroying sturdy marble and stone like it was nothing. Quickly, the palace was smashed apart as if it were made of paper.

Hades had already teleported away into the blood-red skies before it could hit him. Unfortunately, many of the lampads working in his palace probably hadn't survived the collision. Regrettable, but he could deal with it. He could just hire more to replace their loss. More fortunately, his precious Cerberus would be okay—he was a strong swimmer after all. He could already hear all three of his heads yipping as he doggy-paddled around.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" The waves roared, booming across the realm.

"Poseidon, should we go over some breathing exercises? Count to ten?" Hades suggested in a placating tone. According to Hestia, these techniques usually helped Hera manage her anger.

A giant trident made of water shot out of the water. Hades calmly stepped aside to dodge it.

"Brother, please," Hades tried to soothe. "Let us speak, face to face. There's no need for such violence."

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO TAKE HER!" The sea roared. "NO RIGHT!"

Hades wasn't fast enough to dodge the next attack: the seas snapping upwards to swallow him whole. His body was sucked into a whirlpool, swinging him around almost dizzyingly. Hades summoned his bident, swiping it downwards to cut through the whirlpool before flying back out of reach.

"Poseidon!" Hades said much more sternly this time. "I'm sorry, brother! But what's done is done!"

"WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!" The seas continued to roar, water spraying everywhere and cutting into Hades' skin, stinging him only briefly. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!"

Hades took a deep breath, before coming out with it, "I made Percy swallow all twelve seeds of a cursed pomegranate. She is cursed to remain here, by my side, forever. And I..." He couldn't help but swallow thickly at this part. "I have wedded her. She is my wife, and I am her husband."

For a few seconds, the seas were scarily quiet until it all went to hell.

The water exploded everywhere; and what once was a massive flood had now become the sites of multiple cyclones of water bursting into life, swirling around and slamming into everything it could reach. They reached high into the skies, spinning around like a deadly game of Tops; they shredded through unguarded buildings, made hills and mountains crumble away, and if Hades had been a lesser god, his skin would've ripped to shreds when several of them crashed into him.

Then came the loud crack of thunder. Storms. Wonderful. Hades should've known Poseidon would come at him with the full force of his domains—seas, earthshaker, and storms.

In the corner of his eyes, he could see Adamas' ship/palace still flying in the distance. Thankfully a barrier was up so he would be spared from this, but he worried that Adamas might come down here to see what was going on. He did not want another brother involved, but he knew it would be inevitable. He could only hope Adamas would understand his actions, or at least stay neutral.

Just then, a figure launched out of the water, shooting straight for him. Poseidon.

Hades held his bident out, deflecting his brother's trident just in time. Poseidon lashed at him again, but Hades interlocked their weapons to give himself a moment to speak.

"Brother, it's too late now," Hades said solemnly.

"—No!" Poseidon refused to believe it. "It's impossible! She is MY daughter! You did not have my permission to take her as yours!"

"I did not need your permission."

"I'll kill you!" Poseidon seethed.

Hades frowned. "Brother—"

Poseidon slammed his trident forward and unlocked their positions. He thrust his trident out, but Hades side-stepped to avoid being impaled. The force of his attack was powerful enough to create a shockwave so strong it made a huge hole through the mountain behind him.

He tried to speak again, "Posei—"

But his brother was clearly too enraged to speak anymore.

He went for his throat, his blue eyes blazing with fury. Hades just kept dodging and deflecting.

Up above, a hurricane was rapidly forming. Rubble from broken buildings, bridges, and crumbled mountain ranges were flying around in the air as rain pelted them. Under them, the flood continued to rage on, and the water cyclones left a path of destruction everywhere it went.

Poseidon remained perfectly dry while Hades' suit was utterly ruined, soaked to the bone and full of rips and tears from the onslaught of attacks. Thin streaks of ichor poured from every small wound.

Hades could feel his grip on his bident slipping. All the water being sprayed at him was making his grip so slippery, but he kept holding on as tight as he could as he was forced to act on the defense.

He hesitated to use his powers. The last thing he wanted to do was harm his brother, especially since he knew he was justified in his anger. But at this point, he didn't have much of a choice.

And yet, he tried one more time, "Brother, please just stop," he pleaded.

"Traitorous filth," there was nothing but pure venom in Poseidon's voice. Hades had heard it many times, but never had such hatred been directed towards him. "You knew what my intentions were—knew I wanted to marry her and yet you went behind my back to STEAL MY DAUGHTER FROM ME!"

One of the cyclones slammed into him, sharp beads of water slicing away at his skin and turning the blue water into gold as his ichor spilled out. He heard Poseidon let out another roar that mimicked the sound of crashing waves before he was grabbed by the neck and thrown into the side of a mountain. Poseidon kept soaring, pushing him further into the mountain until they both shot out from the other side.

"I haven't seen my dear nieces and nephew in a while," Poseidon seethed, a deranged look in his eyes. "Perhaps I ought to visit them in their new home in Valhalla! I'll kill your son and turn your daughters into slaves for my council to play with! Give your children the disrespect you have given mine!"

Hades' eyes hardened.

He finally switched to the offensive, locking their weapons together. Hades made a wide arc and when he saw an opening, he took it. He closed in on him and grabbed him by the wrist and with an angry roar, threw him back.

"Disrespect?! I have turned your daughter into a Queen!" Hades shouted. "And you will stay away from my children!"

He brought his hand up and dark streaks of energy blasted out of his hand, heading straight for his falling brother. Poseidon summoned a wave to shield him, throwing it back at Hades only for him to slice it apart with his bident as he flew down to meet him.

Poseidon brought his trident up just as they clashed once more, their weapons locked together. With a feral snarl, Poseidon grasped the front of his brother's hair, his eyes wide and dangerous.

"I'll destroy you for tarnishing my daughter!" He growled.

He jabbed his thumb straight into his brother's eye, his claw piercing through it and making ichor squirt out. Hades let out a scream, though his pain only turned into anger as the furious look on his face only grew worse.

"Cease this now, brother," Hades warned, ichor dripping from his eye socket. "Don't make me hurt you."

"You are no brother of mine," he spat.

Hades' face turned blank.

Poseidon may have been faster, but Hades was stronger. He ripped Poseidon's hand off of him, and with the push of his bident, slammed him into another mountain.

He flew down faster than he could recover, grabbing his wrist before he could raise his trident. He held on tight, making sure not to crush his limb. Quickly, he released some of his power, watching guiltily as Poseidon's skin began to decay under his grip.

Poseidon gritted his teeth, "You—"

And then, before any of them could react, a third party had joined.

SCHICK!

Hades pulled away, but it was already too late. Blood spurted from his severed arm, while his disconnected hand fell from Poseidon's wrist and into the water below.

Adamas stood in-between them, ichor dripping from the blade of his scythe. His expression was dark and serious.

"What," he began, rage trembling slightly in his voice. "The fuck are you two idiots doing?"

He turned his glare to Poseidon. "Why the fuck are you causing a mess in Helheim?" He then directed his glower to Hades, a very rare occurrence. "And why the fuck were you trying to kill Poseidon?!"

"I wasn't," Hades quickly explained himself, knowing how bad it must've looked to him to see his older brother trying to decay the hand of another brother. His eye was already healed too, so he barely looked injured. "I was trying to stop him from creating more harm—my only intention was to injure, not to kill. I made sure Poseidon would be able to heal from this."

"Heal from this?!" Poseidon spat the words back, his decaying wrist already beginning to slowly repair itself. "You kidnapped my daughter and forced her to wed you—without my saying so! You had no right to do this!"

The anger quickly drained away from Adamas' face, replaced by shock. "Wait, what? Hades, you did what?"

Hades sighed, dispersing his weapon. "It is true," he confessed. "Percy and I are now married, and I... I also forced her to swallow all twelve seeds of a cursed pomegranate. She is now trapped here, like Persephone once was."

"You stole her from me!" Poseidon hissed. "I was going to marry her—and you knew! You were the first person I told!"

Hades looked down.

Adamas' jaw dropped in disbelief. A part of him had been rooting for Hades to end up with Percy (and a smaller part of him kinda wanted her to be with Poseidon), but he didn't want her to be trapped against her will. He couldn't believe this was actually happening right now.

"Hold on," he said slowly, still struggling to gather his thoughts. "How... how did you even get to marry her without Poseidon's permission?"

Poseidon's face darkened, "I would also like to know that."

"...I didn't use Greek traditions," Hades admitted. "I had help from a god from a different pantheon, and his method didn't require the permission of the bride's father. With his help, Percy and I were able to successfully marry. It is done."

A voice scoffed, "No it's not!"

Heads turned.

A very annoyed Hera ascended to the skies, followed by a familiar Chinese deity they hadn't seen in a while, Yue Lao. It finally clicked in Poseidon and Adamas' heads how the wedding had gone through.

"The marriage isn't complete, and it's all your fault!" She screamed at Hades, who stared back at her, stunned.

"What?" He blinked rapidly. "W-what do you mean? Yue Dao tied the red string around us. He bound us together and declared us husband and wife!"

He looked to Yue Dao for an explanation.

The old man sighed. While Hera looked angry, he was just disappointed. "Yes, but I told you my Lord, you must consummate the marriage in order for it to be considered complete. The consummation never happened."

"Which means there is no marriage for me to bless," Hera fixed her little brother with a murderous look. "Because someone failed to properly bed his wife! I ought to beat you, Hades, you fool! This is the second time you've wronged me! First you didn't invite me to your first wedding and now you prevent me from blessing your second marriage because of your own foolishness! Ugh!"

Hades' jaw actually dropped, as if someone had slapped him across the face. "You mean to tell me that we are no longer considered husband and wife!?" His voice raised an octave from the horror dawning on him.

"No, the two of you are still each other's spouses," Yue Lao assured. "But the marriage is not officially complete. It's only... halfway, so to say. Consummate the marriage, and it will be fulfilled."

"That is never going to happen, you decrepit sack of bones," Poseidon snarled. He raised his trident and both Yue Lao and Hera let out a squeaks of terror before teleporting out of there.

With them gone, Poseidon redirected his anger back to the source of all of this mayhem: Hades.

"You will never touch my daughter, nor will you be allowed anywhere near her," Poseidon seethed. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you the first time when you withheld my daughter last year and kept her from returning home!"

"If you wanted her so badly then you should've acted first," Hades snapped back. "You had all the chances in the world, brother! How am I to blame when I only did what you failed to do?"

Poseidon started to thrust his trident forward again, but Adamas had enough.

"Both of you shut up!" He barked. "You guys keep going on and on about Percy this and Percy that, but where the fuck is the kid?!"

Hades scowled, "Loki teleported her away and held me back. But she should still be in Helheim." It wasn't like she could leave anyway.

There was a brief pause of silence as the three brothers spread their consciousness throughout the realm to search for her familiar aura, but there was nothing.

"...I don't sense her," Adamas said.

"Neither do I," Hades frowned. This can't be possible... he thought. There was no way she had left Helheim, so why couldn't he sense her here?

Poseidon looked like he was about to murder them both. "You mean to tell me," he seethed. "That my daughter is now somewhere roaming around in Helheim and neither of us are able to pinpoint her exact location?!"

"Hold on, hold on," Adamas had to play as the mediator once again. "Loki's the one who teleported her, right? Well, he's not that stupid, he wouldn't have sent her somewhere dangerous, right?"

"..."

"..."

"Shit, okay, yeah, we gotta find her fast."

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

"Here comes the train~! Choo choo~!" Percy sang as she slowly wiggled a spoon with a quail egg tentatively in front of a wide-eyed Kebechet. "Aren't you a little too old for me to be feeding you?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Nope," Kebechet chirped before grabbing her wrist and making her place the spoon in her awaiting mouth.

Once Kebechet got her bite, Percy turned her attention back to her plate of roasted lamb chops lathered with blackberry sauce.

Anubis hadn't been kidding when he promised her a feast. They sat at a long table that practically had every inch covered with some sort of plate, platter, bowl, or pitcher. Meats from all kinds of animals—some were cooked, others were laid out raw—aish baladi flatbread, mahlab bread, lentil soup, molokhia, and pretty much everything from Ancient to modern-day Egypt was laid out before her.

There was no way she could eat all of this, but thankfully, gods had endless stomachs so she didn't have to worry about eating everything to not look rude (her mom always said it was rude to leave out food when you were at a guest's house, after all!).

Across from her and Kebechet, Anubis was sloppily eating his thirteenth piece of raw lamb meat (she had counted—it was definitely thirteen). He was a sloppy eater, tiny pieces of food flying every which way and sauce all over his mouth and chin. Kebechet was a lot neater, though that was mostly because she didn't have to chew like her dad did, she simply just swallowed everything whole. A snake thing, Percy figured.

"I'm kinda curious," she began after taking sips of her water. "But how old exactly are you, Kebechet?"

"I'm five!" The little girl beamed.

"Oh," Percy smiled. She had assumed as much. She was pretty impressed that she actually got it down exactly, she usually wasn't good with ages. Every little kid looked the same to her.

But then:

"—Billion," Kebechet finished.

Percy actually choked on her water. "H-huh?"

"I'm five billion years old!" Kebechet cried out, making grabby hands for a bowl of frog legs. Percy numbly handed them over, flabbergasted.

"5,999,999,999 to be exact!" Anubis exclaimed cheerfully. "Little Kebi's turning 6 billion years old next month! I've been keeping track! And we're gonna be having a birthday party too, right Kebi?"

"YEAH!" Kebechet squealed. "Birthday party!"

"Oh, wow," she replied feebly, still dumbfounded at the realization that she had been spoon-feeding a five billion year old goddess this whole time.

Though she actually found it really sweet that Anubis had been keeping track of his daughter's age all this time. Her father, uncles, and aunts were born way before the Big Bang (so they were over 13.8 billion years old at the latest), and while they knew their ages, they never bothered with birthday celebrations for themselves or their kids after turning, like, a hundred or so. Heck, she was pretty sure not even Rhea was throwing birthday parties for her kids. Except Zeus, but he loved parties so that was no surprise.

"You have any idea what kinda party you want it to be?" She asked Kebechet, smiling.

Strangely enough, Kebechet's smile dimmed and she looked down almost as if she had suddenly become shy. She mumbled something under her breath, and Percy's eyes widened when she heard of it.

"Did you just say you wanted a Cleo de Nile themed birthday party? As in, the girl from Monster High?!"

Kebechet whipped her head up, gasping. "You heard of it?!"

"Yes!" Percy was nodding her head enthusiastically. "Oh my gods, I used to watch that show when I was a lit—I mean, I used to watch it secretly on my phone when my dad wasn't around," she corrected herself. "My favorite character was always Lagoona Blue."

My mom even bought me the doll, she reminisced, thinking of the good ol' days. I always loved making up weird dramatic scenarios between her, my Ariel doll, and all my mermaid Barbies.

"I didn't know you watch TV shows made by humans," Anubis mused.

"I do it when my dad's not around," she explained. And then I erase it from my search history by the time he comes back, she mentally added. "I didn't think you would let your daughter watch those kinda things though. I thought most gods hated humans..."

"I don't hate humans," Anubis beamed, and she almost smiled back in relief until he added, "I mean, I think they're kinda stupid and weak and they taste super bad, but I don't hate them! I just don't like them. I do hate the British though... Disrespecting my funeral rites, grave-robbing, desecrating my holy grounds..."

His eye twitched and an animalistic growl escaped his throat. Percy watched warily as his claws dug into the hard material of the table. She handed him another lamb leg to calm him down.

"I-I don't like humans either!" Kebechet chimed in hastily, she was looking up imploringly at Percy, like she wanted to make sure to get the point across in fear of being judged by her. "I'm not a gross human lover like those weirdo gods! I just like Monster High and that's all!"

Well, Percy, the only 'human lover' in the room, thought. This is kinda awkward.

"It's okay, Kebi," she assured. "I don't see anything wrong with liking human stuff."

"Yeah, see, Percy doesn't care," Anubis sent his daughter a comforting grin. "It's okay if you like some human stuff, don't listen to those other meanie gods, okay? You do what makes you happy."

So he didn't like humans that much, but he still let his daughter enjoy human-made things like TV shows and fictional characters just so she could be happy. Meanwhile, Poseidon would have a full blown meltdown if she tried to take a bite of pizza.

He's a really good dad, Percy couldn't help but think fondly. Kebechet's in good hands.

"Another question," she added. "Uh, if you're billions of years old... why do you look so young?"

Kebechet would be turning 6 billion years old soon, and she was pretty sure she was older than most of her cousins like Apollo, Artemis, Ares, and Hermes, and yet they all looked very much like adults while Kebechet looked like a little kid.

"Kebi just likes this form a lot," Anubis chuckled. "Plus, it helps with her job."

"Job?" She echoed.

Kebechet puffed her chest out in pride. "I serve water to the good spirits! But sometimes they get scared of me when I'm big, so I stay little 'cause then they stop trying to run away from me!"

She wondered what she looked like in her older form if it was causing people to run away in fear, but figured now wasn't the best time to ask.

Less than half an hour later, the entire table was clear of food courtesy to Anubis and Kebechet's bottomless pits they called stomachs. Just when Percy thought it was over, a bunch of mummified servants walked in carrying desserts. Mouthwatering, sweet-smelling desserts. She saw meshabek, basbousa, kunafa, sweet fetir, and all kinds of Egyptian delicacies she had never seen before and was eager to try out.

And luckily for her, she still had some space left in her stomach for more.

Percy was five minutes into savoring her chocolate coated zalabya when Anubis brought up the question, "Say, Percy," he called out. "You were reeeaaally desperate to hide away earlier. Why's that?"

"Oh, that, well..." She deflated, trailing off.

She really didn't want to talk about everything that had happened, but she didn't want to hide things from Anubis, who had been generous enough to let her stay with him and his daughter for the time being. She believed he had a right to know what he was getting into.

She swallowed thickly, slowly setting her utensils down. "My uncle, Hades, he, uh..." She glanced cautiously over at Kebechet. It felt wrong to talk about these things with a kid around, but then she remembered that she was actually just a month shy from being 6 billion years old. "He took me down here to Helheim and got the two of us... married."

Anubis paused in his eating. "...You're married to him?"

Beside her, Kebechet looked upset and confused as she glanced between Percy and her dad.

She grimaced, fearing his judgment. "I-it's gross, I know. But I didn't consent to it, I swear...!"

He frowned, looking up thoughtfully. "...Hmmm, meh. I think I can work with that."

She shot him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

He gave her an easygoing grin and waved it off. "Nothing!" He said innocently. "So, is there anything else?"

"He also... cursed me into staying in Helheim forever." She admitted.

His eyes widened with intrigue and... excitement? "Oh?" His eyes started to scan her up and down, like he was looking for something.

"Yeah," she nodded miserably, picking at her food. "You know how he cursed Persephone before? Well, he did the same with me. Except, I was forced to swallow twelve seeds instead of six."

"So you can't leave? Ever? Even if you wanna?" He pressed on.

She nodded in confirmation.

Kebechet drank her juice to hide her smile whereas Anubis didn't bother, his lips splitting his face to reveal a fanged grin.

"Man!" He laughed, which wasn't a very sympathetic reaction for this situation. "That must suck! But don't worry, you can stay here with me and Kebi forever!"

"What? Oh, no, no, it's okay, you don't need to do that," she said quickly. "I'll just stay here for the night and leave, it's okay."

She didn't want to stay here forever, that sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. She didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary, especially since Kebechet's birthday was coming so soon. She felt like she'd be intruding on a family moment if she was still around for it.

"No, stay!" Kebechet exclaimed. "Stay forever!"

"Yeah!" Anubis agreed, nodding eagerly. "Kebi and I want you to stay, so stay!"

"Anubis," she said worriedly. "My uncle is going to be looking for me. If he finds out that I've been here the whole time, he might get the wrong idea..."

"He won't find you," Anubis snorted. "No one will. Hell, you're sitting in front of me and I still can't sense you! Why's that?"

She looked down to fiddle with the bracelet that had once been Loki's cloak. "It's this," she explained, lifting it up. "It used to be Loki's cloak, but he turned it into a bracelet for me to wear. As long as I have it on, I'm undetectable."

"Cooool," he marveled. "And very useful. I can't even smell you, and my sense of smell's the best around!"

"So you can totally stay!" Kebechet exclaimed. "That bracelet can hide you, so stay here with me and daddy and no one will ever know you're here!"

"I can't just do that, Kebi," she tried to explain gently. "I'm basically a stranger and I don't want to impose on you and your dad."

"Psshh, you're not a stranger anymore," Anubis waved her off. "Besides, I'm the lord of this palace and I say you can stay, so you don't gotta worry about importing or whatever."

"Imposing," she corrected.

He shrugged. "Whatever."

Kebechet hugged her arm and looked up at her with wide, green eyes. "Daddy says you can stay so stay, pleeeeeeaaaasseeee?"

...Dammit, she was weak to children.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay, fine."

Father and daughter jumped out of their seats in collective joy. "WOOHOO!"

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Percy was exhausted after dessert, and was finally relieved when it was time for bed. To her amazement, a mummified servant guided her to the exact same bedroom she had been in before, the one she had always assumed belonged to Anubis. Before she could ask, the servant disappeared to go do it's next duties.

Guess this is my room now, she supposed, changing into a nice set of silk pajamas that had been laid out for her.

Temporary room, of course, she reminded herself. She knew Anubis was allowing her to stay here indefinitely—'forever' was what he had said, but she doubted he meant that literally—but she had no plans to stay here for too long. She still felt like she was imposing. She would leave after a week or two... and then find some place else in Helheim to hide away.

But for how long? A small, doubtful voice in the back of her head questioned.

However long I need, she snapped back and shoved the voice away.

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she turned off the lights and settled into bed.

She couldn't go to sleep right away. Instead, she laid there on her back, staring hopelessly up at the ceiling and wondering how her life had fallen apart so thoroughly. This was her life now, married to her own uncle, and now a runaway wife trapped in Helheim. She had no idea how long she could keep up with this, constantly running and hiding but she supposed it wasn't that different from before. Back then, she ran away from monsters all the time. At least this time she had Loki's magical cloak to help hide away her presence as long as she wore it..

It's not any different, she repeated. She lived her whole life being hunted down like an animal and had already accepted the fact that her life would be like that until she died. She was used to this. She could handle it. You've done this before, it's nothing new. Nothing new, nothing new...

Her eyelids started to grow heavy. The need for sleep was finally getting to her. Yawning slightly, she turned to lay on her side only to meet with the serpentine, wide-eyed stare of Kebechet who was laying right next to her.

"AAAAHHHH!" She shrieked in surprise, instinctively scooting back only to bump into another body.

She turned and saw Anubis lounging at her other side too and let out another yelp.

"AHHH—WHA—?! ANUBIS?! WHAT—?!" She had to stop and take deep breaths. "What are you two doing here?!"

"You were just gonna go to sleep without telling me a bedtime story?" Kebechet whined, kicking her little feet from under the blanket.

"Yeah, Percy, you gotta give Kebi a bedtime story first!" Anubis chimed.

"A bedtime story?" She sputtered. She turned over to Anubis like she wanted to ask, Isn't that supposed to be your job? But they were both looking at her expectantly.

"I... okay," she sighed in defeat, and had to rack through her head for a story to tell her. Then she remembered one of her mom's old bedtime stories that she used to give her, one of them was about the story of Perseus—the demigod son of Zeus that her mom was going to name her had she been born a boy. That was always her favorite story to listen to. She remembered the days when she was still young and innocent, tucked into bed and listening to her mom tell the story with rapt attention.

(I miss my mom.)

"Alright, I got it," she grinned slightly at the memory of her mother, before schooling her expression for the storytelling. She doubted she would even know what they were talking about anyway, since the history from her universe were either myths or nonexistent here. As long as she didn't specify any god's name, she was good to go.

"There once was a Princess named Danae," she began.

"Is she really pretty?" Kebechet interrupted.

"Yes, she was very, very pretty," she confirmed. "Now, one day, her father, King Akrisios, learned of a prophecy that he was destined to be killed by a son of his daughter!"

"Oh no, that's the princess!"

She nodded. "Yes, the prophecy was talking about Danae's future son. Unfortunately, her meanie father decided to lock her in an underground bronze prison. Danae was miserable and scared, she was trapped and couldn't get out! But then a god saw what was happening to her and, er... f-fell in love with her!"

(There was no way she was gonna explain Zeus' weird 'golden shower' part that knocked Danae up.)

"A god fell in love with a human?" Kebechet's jaw dropped. And then she tilted her head. "Is this story about Apollo? He always falls in love with humans and gets really really sad afterwards."

She heard Anubis suppress a snicker beside her and nudged her with her foot. He let out a small whine, but shut up real quick.

"Uh, no, this is a, uh, fictional story," she said, which wasn't exactly a lie. "This god's name is Zzzzzzoro!" She sent a mental prayer to Zoro of One Piece for downgrading him like this but she needed a name that started with a Z and his was the first to come to mind.

"Oh."

Kebechet settled down again and Percy continued the story.

"Wanting to stay hidden, Zoro entered Danae's prison in the form of a golden shower. When the golden shower touched her, she became pregnant with a baby boy."

"Just like what the prophecy said!" Kebechet pointed out.

"Yup! Danae soon gave birth to her son, Perseus."

"Hey," Kebechet smiled. "His name's kinda like yours! Percy, Perseus!"

She smiled weakly, remembering her mother. "Yeah... A-anyway, when her father found out about this, he became very very angry. He placed Danae and Perseus into a wooden chest and cast them out into the sea."

Kebechet frowned. "...He's a very bad dad."

"Yeah, he is," she agreed.

"What happened to Danae and Perseus?" Kebechet asked worryingly. "Did they die...? A lot of humans die when they enter the sea..."

"For a long time, they were alone and afraid. But at night, his mother would whisper in his ear," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "'Hold fast. Perseus. Brave the storm that was made to break us, for we are unbreakable as long as we have each other.'. And against all odds, he managed to find his way to a happy ending."

The only one, she thought bitterly. And here she was thinking she would ever have a chance to be like him. She was stupid to ever think something that good could ever happen to her.

Kebechet's eyes were sparkling. "Wow," she said giddily. "So! So! They live happily ever after? No more mean King?"

"No more mean King, no more mean anyone," Percy assured. "Danae and her son stuck together and remained brave and strong, and because of that, they got to live happy, fulfilling lives."

"That's great!" Kebechet kicked her feet up with joy. "Danae seems like a really good mommy."

"She was," Percy confirmed.

To her absolute relief, Kebechet didn't ask for another story. Satisfied with Danae and Perseus' happy ending, she settled back on the bed and snuggled against Percy's side. Percy blinked. She kind of expected Anubis to just carry the kid back to her own bedroom, but it seemed like she would be sleeping with her then...

She looked questioningly at Anubis, who was also settling down on her other side.

"Um... what are you doing?" She whispered to him.

He blinked innocently at her, grinning. "Whaddya mean?" The grin on his face made it look like he knew exactly what he was doing and was trying to tease her.

"Shouldn't you guys... sleep somewhere else?" She asked, hoping she didn't sound rude.

"Why?" He snickered. "This is my room after all."

Her eyes widened. So she hadn't been wrong, this was his room! But why had he given it to her?!

"This is your room? But why—?"

"Shhh," he interrupted her, gently pushing her down to the bed until her head laid over the pillow. "It's time for bed now~!"

But I don't wanna share a bed with you! She internally screamed. She opened her mouth to protest, but Kebechet was almost asleep now, her tiny arms wrapped around her arm to hug her close.

"Goodnight, mommy," she mumbled sleepily.

Percy wanted to correct her, but the little girl was already asleep and she didn't want to wake her up.

"Goodnight, I guess..." She replied drowsily.

"Go to sleep now," Anubis grinned. He tapped her forehead and she was out like a light with both father and daughter snuggling closely at each side. 

— author's note —

Meme from Fangirls_Unite after they googled Ancient Egyptian marriage practices hehe:

Continuation of QinZiYan Love and Deepspace Percy!MC:

Percy fanart from onethousandspringblossoms:

Percy in Hades' POV by stormystorms:

Beelcy fanart from hopelessly-romantica: