When it developed, Perci couldn't say. Maybe it was during their first meeting. Zeus had stood tall and proud next to her father. He was beautiful. What more could be said about the King of the Gods?
Perhaps it had been during her trip to the Sea of Monsters, he'd come to Perci in a dream and had begged her to save his daughter, Thalia. Before she thought him (any God) incapable of emotion, but those few minutes of conversation showed that even the mightiest God loved his daughter.
Perhaps it had been after her short stint spent under the sky, taking the burden from the Lady Artemis and holding it for as long as she could. When she felt she could hold on no longer, his voice had whispered in her ears with a simple caress, "Fear not, for you shall see tomorrows day." Maybe then she'd fallen. (Perci had never felt stronger than she did in that moment.)
Perhaps it had been that same night, returning the ophiotaurus, or Bessie if you prefer, Zeus stood strong even when his wife, Lady Hera, and daughter, Lady Athena, had been adamant on her and Thalia's death. He'd called for a celebration for the return of Lady Artemis and the return of Atlas' imprisonment. Not long into it, he asked Perci for a dance. Standing in his arms had felt right, his words of praise had reached her ears and Perci blushed. Standing in his arms, with the gentle hum of voices and music in the background, she couldn't help but wonder what tune he heard. (Perci heard Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift)
Perhaps it had been in the labyrinth, when all had thought to have been lost, and Annabeth and Rachel had all but given up, his words of encouragement once more fell upon my ears with only me to hear them, "Even the best navigators took wrong turns. Keep moving Perci and never give up."
Perhaps, perhaps it had began after the final battle, after Luke had come back from the brink and redeemed himself? Perci had to go through losing Luke all over again, her first everything died in her arms. The Gods stormed into the throne room in full battle regalia, no doubt expecting a fight; what they got was a broken half-blood and her friends mourning the death of the Titan's host. Perci doesn't believe that's when it began, but there is always so many great perhaps to take into account.
Perci truly believed that perhaps it began at an indecipherable time in an indecipherable place. That's something that she accepts. Because he's that great perhaps.
"You have done well," she doesn't need to turn to realize who stands behind her; she can feel him in her bones, she can smell him in the air, she knows his voice as if it were her on.
"But at what cost?" Her words were nothing but a mere whisper in the silent night. "I lost many friends, from both sides. And for what?"
For a bunch of Gods that couldn't honestly care, they had children before them and they'd have children after. Regardless, she would do it over. She would do it, for Zeus.
"You regret your choices?" His tone held a silent fury, it was deadly and one wrong move or one wrong word would surely be her demise at his hand. No, she could never regret her choice.
"I wouldn't change my decision for the world because in the end it was all for you." Her voice hitched with the slip of her words. "All done for you." She whispered, turning to face him. She knew she looked no more appealing than a wet cat, but after battling Kronos, she figured he would cut her some slack.
Zeus stared at the demigoddess with something undecipherable hidden in his stormy gaze, eyes appearing almost brighter against the night sky. "For me?" She nodded, not sure what to say- what he wanted her to say. He did not respond to that. He stood silent for several minutes, he watched her with eyes of dawning comprehension. "Yet you denied my offer of becoming a Goddess?"
"And be subjected to an existence of torment watching the ones around me die? An existence of loneliness?" She stared him in the eye, almost daring him to object to her reasoning, "what kind of existence is that?"
She thought it unfair how he dared to look this appealing after an almost endless fight against Typhon. Yet he managed and it didn't fail to make her heart speed to a dangerous tempo.
"Most would not hesitate to accept an eternity living as a worshiped Goddess, a Goddess who felled Kronos and simultaneously ended the Second Titan War." She laughed without humor. It was Luke who ended Kronos, not her.
"If certain things were different, I wouldn't have hesitated to live an eternity with..." She cut herself off, a frown tugging her lips down.
"Me. You wouldn't hesitate to live an eternity with me." Zeus finished her sentence. She turned her face away, not being able to stomach watching his face while hers flamed with embarrassment. "Do not hide your face from me!" His voice was soft, yet commanding, as he reached a mighty arm out. His fingers brushed against her cheek delicately, coming to a rest under her chin. Thumb brushing across her chin, he gently tugged her face so she was facing him fully. "Do not hide from me."
She felt confused with his words, why would he care if she turned away? (Other than the fact that it is extremely rude to face away from someone whilst speaking with them.) He didn't retract his hand from her face and his smell was so dizzying to her. She was stumped and she didn't enjoy being so. "I don't understand?" It came out questioning. She could hit herself! A chuckle left Zeus' lips, his breath fanning across her face intoxicatingly. "I feel like I'm drowning." Her words were low and nothing more than a soft whisper, she hadn't expected him to hear her.
"Imagine that, a child of Poseidon drowning. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" His words were spoken teasingly and with no little thought to it, Zeus leaned down and place his lips upon hers.
She didn't breath, she didn't move, she was frozen. Her eyes stayed locked on Zeus, his lips press down onto hers, urging her on. Eyes fluttering closed, she kisses him back.
How many times has she dreamed of this? How many times has she fallen asleep only to dream of this exact moment? A demigods dreams are never usual, so perhaps all the times she'd dreamt of this kiss, the words spoken between the two muffled, it was of what was to come. The kiss- it held a promise of the future.
Her lips separated in a sigh of content, he'd taken it as an invitation as his tongue delved into her mouth. He tasted of rain and smelled of pine smoke. An intoxicating mixture. She felt drunk in his presence. Their tongues battled fruitlessly for dominance, a dance of power between the God and demigoddess. Her hand, which had remained at her side stiffly, slowly inched its way up the God's chest. Starting at his stomach, she created a path from his abs to his pectorals. Everything about the God was perfect!
Zeus' hand, that wasn't on her face, traveled to the back of her head in an attempt to get them closer together. An act that failed other than to make her step closer and press her chest against his, a moan slipping from her lips in the process.
He broke away eventually, having to remind himself that she was only part god. His forehead rested against hers, drinking in the sight of her face while she wasn't watching. She held a sort of elegance that seemed impossible for someone whom wasn't a powerful deity. It was an aura around her, beautiful and opaque in appearance. It's exuberance showed in the way it reached out to him. His responding in a way similar, the Sky and the Sea meeting and blending together in the way that only it could.
"Why did you kiss me?" She opened her eyes and looked deeply into his. She couldn't see what he saw. She couldn't see their auras meshing together in a sensual show of affection. Her power was great, but nowhere near a Gods.
"Because I find you stunning," he replied simply. "Were it up to me, I would have you with me, by my side all the time. Surely you've noticed how I'm always with you on quests. Never directly," he contemplates his words carefully, "but I am always with you."
"The Fates have certainly had a time with my sock..." She realizes how absurd that must have sounded and she curses herself for being such an idiot.
Zeus' laugh fills the courtyard around them, bouncing and echoing beautifully, the sound of music and nature combining with it. "Yes, I suppose they have." He pulls away from her and walks a few steps away, eyes settled on the horizon, on the damage that had been done to the once beautiful Mt. Olympus. "Would you reconsider my offer?"
She smiles sadly, "No." He turns to her sharply, eyes enquiring. "There is already one Persephone," I tell him, "There doesn't need to be another."
"I do not understand." He admits in annoyance.
"Like I said before, were the situation different... " she broke off and looked away, "perhaps then." A silence filled the surrounding area. Nature had sensed the powerful God's anger and had hidden itself away until it was safe to return. "I would like to live my life and try for rebirth," she trailed off once more, not sure how to take the God's thunderous mood. (Later she would look back and laugh at the word choice. Thunderous!)
"Yes, I suppose it is reasonable." He didn't look away from her, their eyes met head on. His were a swirl of dark grey, hers; a dark cyan. "I would remain by your side." It was a statement, a show of what was to come should this... relationship-continue. A thrill went down her spine at the promise held in his words.
Should you look at his past, that promise would seem like a mere fallacy on her part. An ignorant slip of belief of what she knows is his past shows of infidelity. She, herself, would become another notch on Zeus' very large bedpost.
Regardless of this, she finds herself saying, "yes." Simple. A done deal. Because in the end, she doesn't realize when her infatuation-her crush, becomes love. Perhaps it was just then? But she loves him.
Zeus surges forward and places his lips upon hers once more, a promise held in it. A promise being sealed.
Off to the side of the couple sits a dove. The dove watches the couple with something kin to endearment in its eyes. It watches the couple kiss for several seconds before it takes flight in the air. It flies through the open doorway in search of the God its seeks. Once it finds him, it swoops down in a graceful arc with a beautiful trill in greeting, and promptly transforms into the Goddess of Love.
"Aphrodite?" The God of War, Ares, raises an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "What have you been up to?" His words were full of curiosity and irritation.
She smiles beautifully at him, "I've been watching the fulfillment of love! I've only been watching this grow and bloom for five years! Oh Ares! It was so beautiful!" She croons to him, a delicate sigh on her lips.
"I swear, if you were watching that punk... !" He trails off, words holding threats, but they were empty. Regardless of his violent nature, (he literally has pits of fire in his eyes!) when it comes to her he becomes nothing more than a big pile of whipped! Yes, the God of War has fallen in 'love' with many people, but with her, he'd move mountains for her.
"Oh, you like her!" She teases him, moving closer as she does so and places her lips upon his ear. She takes aforementioned ear into her mouth in a show of how worked up she was.
Ares absentmindedly tilts his head to the side, allowing her better access, which she gladly takes advantage of as she bites his neck. "I don't like the punk, I respect her." Ares grunts when her teeth break the skin of his neck, golden ichor welling up around the bite. She smiles contently against his neck and licks the love bite.
"You should have seen them, babe! They were so, so-"
"Beautiful?" Ares cuts her off, voice full of condescension and fondness. He loves her, he really does. "Who is Jackson with anyways? Who'd even pay that brat any attention?" He ponders his thoughts as she begins to rub her hand against the bulge in his pants. He's not hard yet, but he's getting there. "Is it one of Hermes' brats? She seems to stick to his kids."
She laughs, a tinkling laugh and says, "That, my love, I cannot share." He sighs in agitation and flicks a cigarette butt that had been in his hand for a while away.
"Whatever, it's not like I care." Ares hands go to her waist and pulls her flush against him, lips connecting fiercely with hers. It's biting and rough and passionate. Something that makes up the entirety of their relationship.
"Do you really want to know?" She whispers as she pulls away, flicking her tongue out against his lips-he catches it between his teeth causing her to squeal.
"You know I do!" He growls, hang sliding up to her throat, gripping it tight. "You love it when I'm rough." he says, voice husky.
"It was Zeus." He pushes her away, laughter booming around them.
"Like fuck it was dear old dad!" He gets it out between laughter. Once Ares sees her displeased frown, his laughter cuts of abruptly.
What in the name of Hades was his girl talking about?
