So, I recently rediscovered Avicii's great song Without You and Martin Garrix's So Far Away and also saw the HIMYM scene where Barney meets his daughter, and this is what they inspired. This isn't meant to be analogous, so don't complain that it deviates. 'Tis my first one-shot, so I don't know if it feels like one. So tell me your thoughts, okay?
The Love Of My Life
Artemis' moon, though dull in mourning, exiles from the arena the little darkness that wasn't already scared away by the raging fire in the center. The shroud is a faint source of light on its own too, signifying that the Hecate cabin had something to do with it: Chiron's idea of having the children of Magic spell each camper to return to camp upon their demise worked a bit too brilliantly at times.
But it is that very idea that permits Her funeral at all.
The crowd starts to thin out soon. The Veterans realise the importance of crying yourself halfway to Hades while grieving, so they depart first. Cabin 6 leaves next, knowing that she'd want them to keep the camp on its feet while the real leaders mourn the Heroine of Olympus. Chiron herds the rest out soon after, his heart heavy but unyielding to even the loss of the little girl he raised, for he knows that Thanatos loves demigods.
And thus the trio of cousins is all that is left: the huntress orphaned but for the ones standing by her, the king of ghosts weeping for the only one who could fuss over him and get away with it, and her Seaweed Brain with yet dry eyes.
Thalia's wails of agony, of despair, echo into the night, with semi-inaudible sobs from Nico accompanying them. Percy quietly lets them celebrate their festival of sorrow while trying to contain his rage.
The lieutenant of Artemis finds her way into Percy's embrace somehow through flooded eyes, but it's not much comfort: she knows this's the last they'll see of her, for a demigod's death doesn't allow a grave to cry at.
Through bleary eyes, she hence watches the gray-eyed brat in her fiery resting place, as she burns to heavens and Hades' simultaneously.
Percy knows he'll never love again. She'd said that she'd recovered- that his company had helped. She'd told him she'd be alright- that they would go on that trip to Alaska in a week. She had lied.
Daybreak stings the son of the underworld and he ushers the others to his cabin to mourn in peace: Thalia's hyper-joy on hearing of Annabeth's death had caused the destruction of cabins one through four.
The daughter of Zeus removes her head from where it was buried in Percy's chest, shifting a little so that they can get a bit more comfortable on the short bunk beds which haven't seen residents since their manufacture, "Is she-" she tries to speak without breaking down, "is she waiting?"
"What question is that?" Percy snaps, the most emotion he has shown all night, "You know she promised she'd wait! Wise Girl promised all of us she'd-"
"Percy," Nico cuts him, gentle yet full of fear, "she isn't waiting."
Perseus woke up groggier than ever. Or rather groggier than all the states of grogginess he could remember. And those were few.
His dream had been so over-run in his sleep that he'd forgotten to suffer when experiencing his love's funeral. He rubbed his eyes open and yawned leisurely- he'd once have called it a privilege to wake up at your own time, but then again, that was Percy, not Perseus.
The slant, weak rays of the autumnal sun of dawn collided with the freezing floor in a small area, but reverberated through the room and served to light up the room enough to let him locate the container on his bedside table- one of the few things that he had inherited from his teenage self- and drain it in one go.
The flavor of his mother's signature chocolate-chip cookies (blue, of course) and the liquid magic soothed his senses. It reduced his tiredness better than sleep could and destroyed his mental state a little worse than nightmares could. Of course, one could say there was no need to be nostalgic, since he could have the cookies in real form whenever he desired: Hestia, being the cruel goddess she is, had blessed him with a projection of his mother to tail him and act exactly like Sally Jackson. But what the witch didn't realise was that the gift continually reaffirmed his mother's death, and thus made the tears harder to restrain.
He got off the bed, cursing its comfortability, and walked to the full size mirror nearby. He looked at his form for a while, frowning at how tired and old he seemed- he almost thought he was looking at a Forsaken. He tapped the mirror's amber edge twice and waited for the blessing to clean and dress him up perfectly. It had been so long since Aphrodite had gifted him that he wondered if she even remembered him... but then he realised, his father had probably arranged for the goddess of Love to forever remember him as the cause of her misery.
Perseus got to the kitchen and picked up the plate of enticing blue pancakes that Not Sally had created and dumped them into the sacrificial fire for his father. Then he took a sip of the water to aid his body for a while, which was very much mortal and hence needed to have sustenance beyond ambrosia and nectar.
As he walked down the unnecessarily long hallway, the demigod wondered where Hestia's gift was: he hadn't seen it in any room he'd passed, and that was most of the rooms the projection could be in at the moment. He shrugged it off, not really caring if Hestia had finally taken mercy on him.
The blank pale walls really needed a more indulging and active owner- as it was, the house resembled further an empty interrogation room than a home. He didn't understand why even was he living in it, for the sole reason he had for a lively home has abandoned him to darkness far too many years ago.
Reaching the room he liked to call Study, he plopped down in a seat, reclining it a bit, already liking the idea of evaluating his emotions and checking whether they needed release. He couldn't have his 'mother' catch him brooding or crying or screaming again, so now was the perfect time.
However, when he glanced at the tiny table standing proudly a little ways off, he dismissed the idea. He reached out to pull the stand closer to himself. The air pockets in his back popped- the girl last night was quite the bender, and expected him to follow her strange forms as well, which didn't quite agree with his forty-two year body- but he reached it and dragged it to beside him. Uncapping the container, he poured himself a little, relishing the soft sound of the brown fluid as it fell to the glass in a 'waterfall'.
As the liquid burned his throat lightly, he thought of how the lives of mortals are wasted on petty arguments and pleasures: all a mortal's life ever resulted in was to either slightly enhance or deteriorate mortal society as a whole for its inheritors. A demigod's, on the other hand, contributed in more tangible and drastic ways. That, he inferred, was probably why the gods had done such a splendid job in ensuring that half-bloods had neither the means nor the desire to help them out. Jason would probably have had a speech to give about that- about how the gods were correct in mysterious ways and how sons of Poseidon having any sense of self-preservation should keep their words (or thoughts) restricted when reaching the subject.
But he wasn't quite in the health to orate his cute prepared speech- seeing as he was Hades' property now- and that was why Perseus didn't give it more thought.
A sound travelled through the house. A weird sound. Then Perseus realised that it was the front doorbell: as he'd spent a infinitesimal amount of time actually awake at the house, he'd forgotten the noise the device made. Which was stupid, since it was so generic that even someone living in the heaven of Isolation wouldn't call it weird.
He got up slowly, half-attempting to impress upon the person that he was antisocial, and lumbered to the front door- sometimes he wondered whether navigating his residence counted as cardio- not betraying a single hint to his presence to the One At The Door.
He opened the door to find a beautiful women at his doorstep. He rarely got any unplanned, uninvited visitors, and he got none of the kind currently in front of him. So, that could only mean...
"Look, I clearly told you when we met that it was a one-night stand." Perseus produced his unused rehearsed speech, "If you wish to have the child, just check your bank account once: I've made you wealthy enough to convince you to leave me alone. Otherwise," he readied his fingers, prepared for her to deny so then he could snap away all current problems in his universe, much like that Giant Purple Man, "I have more convincing arguments."
"I," the female spoke in a gentle voice, "have no interest in how you use the Mist to make rich the potential bearers of your seed. Nor do I think Hecate hates her queen enough to let her be manipulated by that parlor trick of yours."
Perseus was dumbfounded, but only for a moment, "I thought my father convinced Zeus to guarantee me isolation."
"When our world is untouched by you, yes."
"What did I do wrong Hera? I've always kept my distance. I didn't even help heroes on quests!"
"I am not Hera, Percy Jackson." The lady's expression turned slightly sour, as if being compared to the queen of the gods wasn't to her liking.
'Nobody can blame her for feeling so, though.'-"Perseus," he corrected stiffly and somewhat automatically, while trying to process who could the female be.
If it wasn't Hera... The other 'queens' who could walk without getting in trouble and command a Titaness could only be either Amphitrite or Persephone. And neither of them seemed appropriate, since he'd touched neither Pontus nor Erebus in the last gods-know-how-many years.
In fact, he'd not touched a single aspect of the Greek world since he'd left Camp.
"Why, I quiet clearly remember a time when you'd rather not be called by your Greek name, Destroyer."
Perseus hissed, not liking that she'd drawn him into those memories, "It's what my mother named me, is it not? Who anyway are you?"
"I heard of what happened through Hestia. Poseidon wasn't quiet overjoyed, as I remember."
"Answer the damn question," His patience wasn't that great anyways. He used the whiskey in his abandoned glass to draw it to himself, stepped out a bit, indicating her unwelcome, and closed the door behind himself.
"Insolent as always, Perseus. Ask yourself, would your stepmother have any patience with you after you attaining the title of heir?"
"Firstly, Triton is heir apparent. And I don't think there are many scenarios where I get control over the seas. Secondly, almost all immortals are as stuck up. Thirdly, what is your business here, Persephone?"
"You would not mind if I beat around the bush a bit, though, would you?"
'Of course I will.'-"Is that meant to be a soft imperative, milady? 'Cause I'm not nearly naïve enough." He took a long drink out of the glass, thanking Poseidon for his powers.
Persephone grinned slightly, "Another imperative of the kind then: won't you invite me inside?"
"Received this from your father, did you?" Persephone asked as soon as they were seated.
Perseus nodded a bit in reply, but upon seeing that the lady of Spring was looking at the desolate walls and the ultra-clean floor, he said, "Yes I did. I decided to finally reap at least some of the rewards of a life of pain."
"Of two lives, you mean."
His expression turned the least bit guarded, and his voice hardened, "Yes, though I know you cannot in forever repay Her."
"Your hostility towards me is unrequited. It wasn't me who was by her side the night before she died."
His hand reached his pocket out of habit, to find it empty. He tried to pass it off as a movement to hide his clenching fist, but Persephone noticed.
"Ah, yes. I heard that you melted away your sword in the Olympian Hearth. I never quiet got the reason."
"I sacrificed it. To Zoë. It was hers."
"I infer that you no longer deem demigod and mortal lives worth saving: you could've as easily given Poseidon or Chiron Anaklusmos back for another great hero to wield it. Do you really think the half-bloods will survive without someone to take your place?"
"Why, though? Kronos is spread far apart to never be able to reform. Leo took down Gaia permanently. The only force demigods will ever need a great hero against is you and yours."
Thunder rumbled loudly at that, "Zeus is, I fear, quiet resentful of that assessment." At his small shrug, she questioned, "Why don't you fear? Why do you not allay your speech a bit?"
"Because I am telling the truth. I like telling the truth, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence."
"Is that the reason why you have a track record comparable to Aphrodite in bedding mortals?"
"Probably." Perseus said, "But enough sidetracking. What are you here for?"
"Have you forgotten yet? You allowed me to discuss other topics first."
Perseus sighed.
"So, tell me, what have you been doing these days?"
He sensed hidden motives behind the question. He wondered if this was the Olympian version of 'good cop, bad cop'. Persephone did have the looks to draw out answers (Aphrodite had lost access to her love magic for a few millennia as punishment for toying with the romances of four of the Seven, including her daughter, so she couldn't possibly seduce the truth out of him.) but lacked the attitude required to act seductress. He also realised that his father could have easily testified to his good behavior- there was no need for Olympus to conduct an investigation.
"Living like a mortal. An extremely rich mortal, I suppose."
"Without a spouse."
The Hero of Olympus nodded, "Without a spouse." He said without emotion, "I fear that I won't ever be able to love someone other than Wise Girl. And I don't wish to have a pseudo-detainee or gold-digger." He paused, "This, though, is getting really personal. I must fear for my life if Olympus is getting so interested in me. Or is it just your interest?"
"I just desire to know if you have the resources and temperament to handle the task I'll be assigning you."
'Finally, some business talk.'-"A quest? What did I do to warrant a death sentence?"
"No, not a quest." the child of Demeter paused, probably considering whether to reveal her motives yet, then continued, "First, tell me of your incomplete romance with the girl? Keyword being 'incomplete'."
It wasn't quiet a question by the tone of it. Perseus, therefore, said, "We both thought we were prepared for the incomplete factor: Annabeth had calculated the chances of having a normal life quiet early on, and they weren't quiet like Tyche or Fortuna smiling at us. Even with our godly parents looking out for us, the mortal and immortal dangers that danced around us were many, so we knew it wasn't to last. But then she died. And I was unprepared. It was one thing if it had been a mortal our a quest or a monster-"
"But it was a Titan that took her. And quiet violently, I remember."
"No you don't. You don't remember, and you won't in ever remember, for you gods are too great to care about what happens to one lowly demigod. Because you don't have the guts to take responsibility of your children. It wasn't Hyperion's torture and brutality that took her, Persephone!" His voice dropped to a cold whisper, "It was Athena's curse upon her, which was Olympus' to take back, or Dionysius' to get rid of. It, milady, was her own godsdamned mind."
"We didn't kn-"
"You knew! You all knew! Artemis knew as soon as she was harmed by him- it was her Domain for Hades' sake!- and yet she didn't even try to help my Wise Girl- the Heroine of Olympus- the one who saved ALL YOUR LIVES! No god told me where she was! No god helped her come home even after she escaped!"
The house and the nearby buildings were all shaking violently by now, "Athena knew what she was going through, knew that it was destroying her. Apollo knew. Hades knew she was about to kill herself. Nobody told me! NOBODY TOLD ME!" He was almost screaming most of it now, "And Annabeth, she betrayed me! She told me she was fine! That there weren't any nightmares! That being with me helped!"
Perseus composed himself, "Of course, it turned out to be a lie. She was so broken that she wouldn't even stay in Hades. The Judges told her it was her third virtuous life, but she rejected the Isles Of The Blest for the Lethe and rebirth." His voice dropped to be inaudible to her, "So much for 'our little infinity'."
"Tell me, how have you healed?"
"I was never wounded, my lady. Her death sure jolted me for a while, and I wasn't able to feel emotions clearly enough to identify them for a while. But now I know- I feel no pain. I feel angry, yes, but no sorrow. At least not because of Her leaving me."
"Quiet contradictory to your behavior, that statement. You probably mean you think you don't feel sad."
"Something like that. I am healed... I just have a permanent dagger sticking inside me ready to open the wound again. And it's free for use by anyone! I see the stars to be reminded of the anxiety I owned for Her health while I was enjoying at Calypso's. I see flowers to be reminded of our dates. I see- well, I see the world as if it exists to tribute the love we had. She once told me love is a rampage of hearts. I now conclude my love was a little too much."
He looked at her as if to say 'That enough for you?' Persephone nodded, finally satisfied. She snapped her fingers and, with a bright flash, a crib seemingly completely made of dark flowers and silver appeared next to the couch Persephone was seated in. The daughter of Zeus nodded towards Perseus, "I've named her Kori, meaning daughter. I've kept her as long as I could, but it's time she meets you."
And that was when Perseus saw that he was holding an infant in his arms, almost buried in a brightly colored cloth.
"Keep her safe, will you?" Her voice broke with unprecedented and sudden grief and worry, and the goddess flashed away, leaving the demigod and her daughter alone.
And Perseus was dumbfounded.
After reigning in his thoughts, he looked at her, scanning her features. "Kori...?" He said, simultaneously tasting the name, savoring it and calling out unsurely and hesitantly, as if not wishing to wake her up.
Looking at the baby, Perseus for the first time in his life, truly knew how Poseidon had felt towards him: he hated his self for cursing his child to the life and death of a half-blood...
The demigoddess did wake up. She opened her eyes in the slightest, her purple irises shining through the slits.
...and he knew she would be the love of his life.
Congratulations to any readers who caught the references to/plagiarism with respect to The Mortal Instruments, Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame and The Fault In Our Stars.
Once again, please, I need to know how you like this so I can decide if I'm good at one-shots... If I am, I plan on publishing a couple one-spots about parenting demigods from Sally's and Frederick's point of view. So, please review. I'll PM replies or post them here. Also, tell me if you see any issues with the language.
Reply to Reviews:
JP- Thanks...? How else can I reply?