Empire State Building/Olympus

December 21st

Winter Solstice Meeting

For being all-powerful gods over humanity, their meetings sure were boring.

Poseidon was slumped on his throne scowling at the unblemished marble floor with his head supported on his hand, while the other absentmindedly twirled the shaft of his trident in his palm. He watched bored as his young brother, Zeus, "King of the Gods" (hardy-har-har struggled to get control of the meeting, only snorting in amusement when Zeus's demands were ignored. Classic meeting shenanigans.

But Poseidon quickly lost interest in watching Zeu's about to blow a vein and shifted his attention on the rest of his fellow immortals. Athena had long since stopped arguing with him about Athens (something they did every meeting - but having the same arguing over and over for centuries upon centuries was beginning to lose its fun) and was now talking to Artemis about the uselessness of a water fountain. Pfft! Whatever, that fountain was the coolest thing those "Athenians" were ever going to see. Ares and Hephaestus were arguing over Aphrodite, who was dabbing her lips with some lipstick, coyly smirking as she eavesdropped on their arguments - as per normal. Demeter and Hades were in a heated discussion about whether or not Persephone should get more vacation time up on the surface with her mother. Hermes was on his phone taking messages and calls, occasionally muttering something about sales and refunds. Apollo was coming up with horrible Haiku on the beauty of sports car. Hera, who managed to get Zeus's attention, was talking about their family issues. And, finally, there was Hestia, who was sitting by the hearth with a peaceful smile on her face as she silently stoked the flames.

Yep, just a regular ol' solstice meeting.

He was honestly surprised with how easily everything flowed back to normal after the Giant War. The Giants were defeated, Grandma - er, Gaia - was back in her earthly coma, and the two half-blood camps were getting along really well. Poseidon felt a painful jolt in his mind just thinking about the Romans, feeling the Neptune side to him want to come out and go destroy a couple fleets of cargo ships. Which was an odd feeling in itself. No cargo-ships had offended him or anything, and he wasn't sure why a part of him wanted to simply upturn them in the middle of the ocean. Sure it was kind of fun to watch the mortals flail in the water, but it still gave him one heck of a mess to clean up afterward.

He let his thoughts shift to something more pleasant. A certain son of his who was over in California, studying up in anything ocean related. Percy was a little to close to the Roman camp for his Greek persona's liking, but everything seemed okay. Not that he was watching Percy or anything. There were rules. Rules that he had to follow. He wasn't watching his only half-blood child, the kid of the most amazing and beautiful mortal he's ever met, to make sure everything was okay...that'd just be crazy...Percy can take care of himself...

Out of nowhere, an odd feeling suddenly overcame Poseidon. It was a weird sensation, sudden and intense, and so itchy and uncomfortable that it bordered on downright painful. Sure he's always been able to feel if something was wrong in the ocean - it came with the job. He could sense things like ships on the waves, pollution in the water, and the odd sea monster or two in the depths - but that was all normal. This feeling...this feeling wasn't natural. The itchy, prickly feeling fell away and was instantly replaced by something cold and sinister. And, if he was being honest, kind of familiar.

He didn't need to feel itchy in weird places to know something was seriously wrong.

"Poseidon?"

He shivered, despite the warm feel of Hestia's fire. Something sparked inside him, a feeling that he felt only when a battle was going horribly wrong. Was that, panic? Ugh, he hated that feeling. But it was undeniable. He wondered why he was freaking out. He wasn't supposed to randomly freak out, he was a god for crying out loud. But it was there, and his panic of not knowing why he was panicking left him feeling even MORE panicked felt panicked because he had no idea why his sensation was so familiar?!

"Poseidon?!...Poseidon!?" His head snapped up when realizing someone was yelling at him.

He looked up, noticing for the first time that all the gods and goddesses in the room were looking at him. Some seemed worried - Hestia - and others annoyed - everyone else.

"Are you alright hon?" Aphrodite asked, she wasn't looking at him though, but gazing into her mirror as she added more mascara to her lashes. Poseidon realized that he had gone as tight as a snagged line and was gripping the arms of his throne so intensely that cracks were starting to appear. His face was probably pale too.

He shook his head, "S-something's wrong..." he muttered, hating the shake in his voice. This got more of their attention. He added, "In the ocean, I mean." and put his head in his hands, thinking of anything big that could've happened while he was away.

"Are you sure?" Apollo asked where he was lying casually across his throne, strumming a few strings on his guitar. "Maybe you're just sick or something. I can give you a check if you like,"

The last time he got a checkup with Apollo it ended with him badly sunburned for weeks and Apollo so water-logged he wouldn't go near any water for a decade. It wasn't exactly the best experience.

Athena rolled her eyes, "He's a god remember." she said, "He can't get ill so easily. Besides, he was doing fine just minutes ago,"

Poseidon ignored her as something clicked in his brain. Sick? ill? Everything came flooding back to him. His eyes widened in horror. He didn't even notice when all the water in the room started rippling and swirling with his agitation. Bessie, the Ophiotaurus, mooed nervously in his water sphere, swimming jerkily around in the water while tossing his head side to side as if sensing the sea lords mood. Poseidon knew why the feeling was familiar, and he knew why he suddenly felt so terrified.

"No," he whispered, "No, no, no, no, no," and without warning, he flashed away. Instantly, he reappeared in his underwater Kingdom. The merpeople skittered away at his sudden entrance, but smiled and swam closer once realizing who it was. Though, Poseidon could see that some of them seemed to notice the feeling of danger in the water. Dolphins moved skittishly, as if unsure of what was bothering them. Fish flocked closer together and sharks jerked through the water looking for danger. Even the merpeople eyed the shadows of the water, unconsciously moving closer together.

But Poseidon ignored them and their relieved greetings. "Amphrite!" he yelled. "Triton!" They weren't there. He hurried into his throne room, worry twisting in his gut, but no one was there either. He checked his and Amphrites' chambers, but it was empty. The same with Triton's room.

The sea life picked up on his distress. Several merpeople and creatures crowded around him. My Lord, they spoke, Is there anything we can do to assist you?

"Yes, find Amphrite and Triton," he ordered, mind too far gone to be polite. "Hurry!" they nodded and swam off, passing the word off to any other breathing creature that swam by. As did that, Poseidon searched the castle again. It was while rummaging through the kitchen when he almost gave up hope that they were nearby, until...Right there. He heard singing coming from the royal families personal garden.

"Amphrite?" Poseidon yelled, bursting out of the door. He breathed in relief when he saw Amphrite walking peacefully through the garden, hair moving elegantly around her as she sang an old sea lullaby, bent over and working on a few coral plants and sea flowers. "Amphrite." it was a sigh of relief this time. She glanced up at hearing her name and smiled.

"Poseidon," she greeted warmly, "Did the meeting end so soon?" Poseidon hurried over to her and swept her into his arms, feeling nothing but pure solace as he hugged her tight. Amphrite, on the other hand, gave a surprised yelp from the sudden embrace. After a second, she pulled away to look into his eyes, "Pardon my surprise but is something wrong?"

Poseidon had a moment to wonder why she thought him hugging were was so surprising before his thoughts returned to his original worry. "You must help me find Triton!" he said. His expression was straight and serious, but his anxious tone is what had Amphrite shiting into attentiveness as she nodded without question.

She said "I'll look in the Training Arena." and swam off as he searched the kingdom grounds. Finally, after what seemed like forever, a whale shark swam up to the sea god.

We found him, your Majesty. We found Triton. He was out hunting a sea serpent in the trenches. The merpeople are taking him to his room as we speak.

"Is he alright?" Poseidon asked.

The whale shark was quiet for a few moment, then said 'I'm afraid he doesn't look too good your Majesty, then beckoned for him to follow. Poseidon swam after the shark, letting it lead him back to the palace and to Tritons room, where a large crowd of merpeople and sea creatures alike huddled around the hall and doorway. They immediately parted for him, allowing him clear access into the room. Inside, Amphrite was sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked at him over her shoulder, eyes glowing with maternal fury.

"Poseidon what's wrong with him?" she demanded, voice shaking with worry. He didn't say anything at first but walked forward till he stood at the end of the bed, before moving around it to the opposite side of his wife. Triton's eyes were closed with his face pinched in a grimace, completely unaware of the crowds watching curiously from the hall. In the light of the glowing luminescent plants, his skin was pale. His veins could be seen under his skin, popping out and spread like a spider-web against the white. Poseidon watched as the skin seemed to crack and shrivel on his body as if it couldn't get enough water to properly sustain itself. He knelt by his immortal son and gingerly stroked the boy's forehead with his fingers. The gills on his neck opened and closed frantically as his chest stuttered for breath.

"I am so sorry," he whispered, to both Amphrite and Triton, the latter who didn't seem to even hear him. "I'll fix this, I promise."

Amphrites eyes were glued to his face. "Fix. What?" she demanded. He didn't blame her for being angry. She didn't know what was happening to her child. "What's going on?"

Poseidon almost couldn't even look at her, but he forced his eyes to meet her own. "A curse. He's caught the curse," he said. "I-I thought it was gone. It was..." he grimaced, shaking his head, looking back down at his dying son. "I thought it was gone, and now...None of my children are safe anymore."

He watched as blood began to trickle slowly from the corner of Triton's mouth.

I Do Not Own The Percy Jackson Series Or It's Characters. Only The Plot. Consider This Story Disclaimed.