Chapter Text
Percy woke early, sweat rolling down his forehead as it did more often than not. It was dark in the tent and for a moment, Percy felt trapped again, falling through the Earth to Tartarus.
Then Rachel grunted in her sleep.
Wood pigeons cooed outside, welcoming in the morning.
And Percy relaxed, remembering where he was. There was water nearby - the constant rolling ebb and flow of the waves reached him -, there was moisture in the air where the tent's lining had trapped their breath inside. Rachel's blood pulsed through her, steady and heady and there . Percy ignored that that comfort came from the Pit he had constant nightmares about.
Instead of lingering in the darkness of the tent, Percy crawled out and over his sleeping bag. He winced as the sharp grind of the zip opening up pierced the peaceful twilight.
He hopped out and rezipped the tent before walking through the darkness. The stars above had blinked out into an inky blackness as the sun began to rise.
The sea looked like it was on fire as the sky warmed up into pure gold, then blue then black.
Percy paused to stare and remember he was here and alive. The waves lapped over his ankles, soothing the charred, fractured edges of his mind.
He could hardly believe he was travelling through the wilderness with his friend just because they could.
No quests.
No tragic epic prophecies.
No Oracle of Delphi and Twice Hero of Olympus.
Just Rachel and Percy.
Just peace.
Percy sat down, drawing his knees to his chest, and let the water and foam encircle him. His green eyes focused on the dot that was the sun. He let his thoughts wander to how it worked once more, he knew the complicated, half-arsed answer Apollo had given him once but there were too many gaps.
The dot had become a disc and the clouds had morphed from a tie-dye explosion to brilliant white by the time Percy moved. He wasn't hungry - hadn't been in months - but the urge to make sure Rachel had food and coffee had been hardwired into him after years of his Mom's hospitality.
The fire from the previous night was mostly ash and charcoal ringed with slightly damp logs. But it took barely a thought to spark a new fire from some fresh kindling that Percy's tired mind didn't remember putting there.
He licked his lips, smiling at the salt gritted there. He ran calloused fingers through his hair - he’d been growing it out since his involuntary buzzcut, courtesy of the Roman Legion. He frowned momentarily at the shells trapped within the curls and the random pearl.
Fuck, he groused. The problem with his siblings attempting to be his siblings was they frequently aimed for pranks that were likely to kill him and any mortal within a five-mile radius. Given the low chance of seashells suddenly becoming a health hazard, Percy decided it was most likely Rhodes this time.
He hoped it ended there but he couldn’t shift the concern lodged in his chest. Memories of the previous night flickered in and out of focus. His focus hovered on a conversation that happened somewhere between Rachel howling at the moon, arms wide open and spinning, and Percy pulling her into the sea for an impromptu midnight skinny dip they ended up lying on opposite sides of the fire.
Rachel’s grin was wide and happy. From the pain in his cheeks, Percy’s wasn’t any smaller.
“You know I’ll miss you right?” Rachel had said. Something was shifting in her evergreen eyes, and her smile became a little smaller. Her hair looked like it was on fire from where he lay.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Percy murmured. He refused. He hadn’t survived everything - school, Gabe, his quests, both wars - to die now.
Rachel just hummed.
That night she had said goodbye not goodnight as they staggered out of the water and into their thermals and pyjamas.
Now, he was making coffee and debating which meal pack to rehydrate when there was a tug in his stomach. It was similar to when he used his powers but sharper. Then another. Harder. And another. Until he was hunched over and wincing. Breath shallow.
Searing hot hands landed on his shoulders, making him jump.
Rachel was still asleep.
He felt warmth trickle through him from those hands but it did nothing. The thin, fragile glass in his chest quivered.
“Percy? Perseus, can you hear me?” A familiar lyrical voice curled in his ear as the body behind him shifted until they were hunched in front of him. Trying to get Percy to make eye contact as he wheezed.
His racing mind cleared for a moment, he knew that voice - had enough fantasies on lonely nights about those burning hot hands - to recognise Apollo. He wished Apollo wasn’t there. It shattered the illusion that it was really just Rachel and Percy, friends since fourteen and hiking in the wild because they could.
Percy forced his neck to move, despite the knotted muscles screaming at him. He looked into Apollo’s eyes, they were sky blue and narrowed in concern.
Percy tried to speak, to say anything, but the words caught in his throat. His brain scrambled for anything and snagged on the gentle pulse of Rachel’s sleeping heartbeat. In a panic he lurched away, tumbling backwards and narrowly avoiding the fire thanks to Apollo.
His focus flitted from Rachel’s heartbeat to Apollo’s ichor, the birds in the trees blood.
Percy whimpered, his stomach lurched hard again and the glass in his chest shattered. Heat so warm it felt cold, his nerves overloaded, consumed him. The last thing he truly noticed before the darkness consumed him was Apollo’s eyes matched the sky as his lips moved soundlessly.
Fuck .
-
He didn’t open his eyes the minute he woke up. Instead, he let the strength in the water surrounding him wash over him, delighted in the flexibility and darkness. The tumbling emotions. The whispers from millennia ago, from millennia to come.
It was calming in a way he hadn’t expected. Instead of bursting anxiety, the whispers soothed him, letting him push them aside instead of drilling into his mind until he wanted to scream.
He jumped fully awake when he felt a consciousness brush against his. Something - or someone - larger and older and darker had noticed him.
“Son,” A deep rumble pulled his attention to the left-hand side of the bed. Poseidon stood over him, his weathered face frowning down at him. His mouth was set in a line like he’d eaten something sour. “Apollo brought you here.”
Percy nodded although he was struggling to remember anything after dancing on the beach with Rachel.
“Apollo?” Percy asked. He felt like he’d had too much caffeine, sluggish and calm, but he wasn’t going to sleep.
Poseidon looked even more irritated. His image stuttered momentarily, Percy caught a glimpse of tentacles and living waves, flashes of bioluminescent warning signs and scales appearing and disappearing before he was looking at his Dad again.
He had a horrible feeling that he was never going to unsee that.
“He returned you on one condition,” Poseidon grumbled, if Percy focused it sounded like waves crashing against a cliff face. “That he gets to ..."
"To…?" Percy drawled, concern knotting his stomach. His limbs didn't feel right; too heavy and too light at the same time.
Poseidon didn’t answer, instead his eyes bored into his son.
Percy swore they momentarily flickered from green to flames to swirling tides and back again. Whispered names flutter in the back of Percy's mind, giving him an untimely history lesson.
"Come here," Poseidon said, suddenly seeming smaller. Less like an ancient god or eldritch horror and more like his Dad who wears too many Hawaiian shirts. He looked tired.
Percy was concerned as he moved to stand in front of Poseidon. That concern grew into alarm as Poseidon pulled him into a hug - the second they ever had.
What the fuck did Apollo demand? Percy thought, arms slowly coming up to return his Dad's embrace.
"He asked for your hand in marriage," Poseidon finally admitted, arms tightening until Percy thought his ribs would give. Despite that, Percy still tried to squirm out of his hold. "I argued him down to: if Apollo can convince you by the next Summer Solstice he had my blessing to try."
"What the actual fuck?" Percy squeaked.