Gone | PJO oneshot
They all remembered the day he killed Gaea. Angry Eyes aflame with the swirls of the tides, he advanced, broken yet stronger than any. She had killed his Wise Girl and she would pay for that, he promised himself. 'You killed her.' It was a statement, not a question, and his voice was not loud yet it struck fear into Gaea's ancient heart. He was the loyalest of them all, and he was at the limit, with her dead there was nothing to live for any longer.
He brought his Riptide down, she parried the thrust, but he was and would always be the best swordsman of all. After a few feints and dodges, not caring or noticing the hurricane he had brought, he found an opening and stabbed with all his heart, his worth, his loyalty. Perhaps the Fates had not wanted it this way, perhaps it violated prophecy, but he didn't care. His will pushed it deeper and made it more deadly than it should have been.
After a moment all that was left of the Earth Goddess was dust and ash, her spirit long gone, reforming in the deepest pits of Tartarus probably.
They stared at him, in horror, awe, pride - all of them; gods, demigods, he was their savior yet again.
He could have had anything he wished. Immortality, weapons, anything they could ever grant. But he wanted nothing but his Wise Girl, and that was the one thing they refused to give him, shattering his dreams of them together finally. Crushing his last hopes forevermore.
He was a hero, and his flaw was loyalty, and the last thing he could ever want was immortality...
Now that his lifelong love was Gone.
So he asked to be left alone, and never bothered again by gods or demigods or any Greeks or Romans ever again.
And he did not see past his father's mask, and glance into his eyes to notice the unshed tears.
It was only later he found out his mother and stepfather were dead and Gone.
Just like Annabeth.
He had nothing to live for, but no-one except himself wanted the Greeks and Romans' greatest hero dead and he knew if he killed himself, he would have been a coward, so he stayed the blade, and the end he wanted so dearly.
He left them.
He went to Alaska, and made his home by the sea, alone, sad, plagued by the dreams of the Hell he had once fallen into and could never escape from.
Unknown to him, and all the gods, the Fates wanted his life as tragic as the rest, and so, as no hero, even one with the namesake of Perseus, could ever have a happy ending, he was made immortal by them a few years after, and he realized one day, after giving into the pain, and trying to end his misery, only to find droplets of gold running down his throat, that he would never die, and never see his love again.
His father never realized, and true to their words, possibly the one oath that was ever followed, they never visited and found out their mistake, and he thought he would be lonely for eternity, and so forth traveled to the Underworld, not caring for the Ancient Laws that should have restricted him, to barter as he could with Hades, for his loved one's soul.
Hades was curious, and interested, and Perseus was one of the only demigods he had ever respected, but he was angry the man had found his own way to everlasting life, though the demigod wanted immortality not, and having not the heart to tell him she had passed on to another life, refused the pleading man with the swirling eyes that reminded the God of Death so much of his brother, who later caused such chaos and annoyance to Hades to try to free his Annabeth, a tragic love who would never remember him again, but he supposed he would have done the same for Persephone.
After he searched all Elysium and Asphodel for her, he realized what Hades had kept from him, and sobbed tears of salty water and vowed never to love another again, as Hades looked on, not even trying to be impassive, and comforted his nephew as best he could, in his own charismatic way which had made Persephone so enthralled with the normally cold God.
Hades never told his brother that his son had lived, as Perseus made him not do so, but he did his best to comfort the grieving Sea God, slipping a hint that Percy would ever get Elysium when he died, if he ever did so.
"'If?' The father was puzzled, and moody, and sad and a bit confused, but Hades simply told him that his son had done great things, and he doubted the Fates would let him die if ever anything were to threaten them again, and Poseidon acknowledged over the years that his brother knew more than he let on, and although he always loved his son, he made peace with the fact that he was Gone to him, and stopped searching for him eventually.
The son of the Sea visited his dark Uncle much, as did his father, and Hades began to appreciate his brother and nephew more, over the decades.
Perseus was never truly happy, and he never could be with his true love dead, but although he never forgot, he accepted that there was nothing he could do, and made his life in Alaska by the roaring sea alone, except for those times he would visit his Uncle.
And that was how it stayed.
For Eternity.
I thought up this sad oneshot today and just had to write it down. It's the first one I've ever shared here, so I hope you guys enjoy it :)