I know I said this was going to be a two-shot, but I needed to get this chapter up. This is dedicated to Perseus the Assassin of the old because I broke a promise. I repeat, I am so sorry. And I found a way to get more chapters up. You might noticed later in You Belong With Me that I mashed some chapters that were short together with others to make me have room with the 15 documents limit thing. Enjoy this chapter, next one will be up sometime this month or so. I have high school registrations and they're a pain in the ass.
~ Valentine's Day, 2015~
~Percy's Palace~
I couldn't get her out of my mind, not even once. Every time I swordfight, she just pops up and I immediately stop. Apollo and Aphrodite keep telling me to call her, but I keep reminding them I gave her my number instead the other way around.
I felt bad making a bet that involved a woman who had nothing to do with us gods, but it was because of me and my stupid brain that I agreed to Athena's deal. I thought carefully about what Zeus had said about gods not able to love mortals. My father fell deeply in love with my mom and asked her to stay with him, but she turned him down.
First thing I promised to myself when I became a god was to not fool around with women and leave them with my child without doing something for them. Is that going to happen in the future? Most likely. I felt bad admitting it but it was the truth. I didn't want to spend eternity without ever getting a girlfriend . . . that would kind of suck.
Aphrodite was throwing this big Valentine's Day ball. That meant I had to wear a tux. That also meant there would be woman. Demigod and Goddess. All trying to get my attention. Oh joy.
"Perseus, at least consider talking with Diana before making your choice." My father took me out of my thoughts. There was this mermaid named Diana who he wanted me to marry. But, I really didn't want a fish for a wife.
"Dad, please let me choose a wife for myself. It's not that I don't trust you, I just want a say in which I get for a bride." I explained to him. He didn't seem too happy about it, but he considered it and walked away from me before we started a fight.
Few hours later I was sitting at a table all by myself, poking my uneaten cake with a fork.
"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food?" someone asked. My head shot up to see Aphrodite standing in front of me. She was beautiful as always; her make-up was perfect and matched her red silk dress. "Why don't you stand up and dance with someone?"
"I'm not really in the mood for dancing Aphrodite." I sighed, stabbing my cake. The vanilla cake and the pink frosting mashed together and filled the space I was in with the scent of strawberry.
"Oh sure you are. Come on," she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor. Aphrodite guided one of my hands to her hip while the other was holding her hand in the air. Her free hand was on my shoulder.
"So tell me, God of Heroes, why are you so sad on Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year?" she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. I didn't answer for a few moments, just kept swaying to the music with the Goddess of Love.
"I have one year to decide the fate of one girl who I don't even know. Watching her with those kids, her siblings, and seeing what she does to keep them safe and protected," I couldn't finish. The Goddess I was dancing with stared at me for a few more moments.
"Go on Perseus," she persuaded.
"I don't want to do something that will ruin her life and make me regret in a few years. Aphrodite, you saw the way she took care of those kids and how much stuff she has on her plate! I would just screw that up and do something that will put her in danger." I explained, looking at her. What I saw shocked me. Aphrodite was smiling at me. No, she was grinning at me.
"You don't want to burden her, put her in any kind of danger? In my rule book, that means you love her." She laughed. Her laughed sound like musical bells.
"How do I love a person I don't know and just met?" I questioned as the song ended. She put one finger up, telling me to give her a minute. I watched as she walked away and hugged Ares, her lover. She whispered in his ear and kissed him on the cheek. He nodded and started to talk with Hermes and Apollo again. Aphrodite walked back over to me, taking my hand again, and brought me to her room.
"What are we doing here?"
"Just shut up and follow me." She replied. I did what she told me to do. We wondered around for a few minutes until we were in a room full of diamonds. They were everywhere, on the walls, ceiling, and the floor.
"What is this place?" I said in awe.
"Every diamond in a person's soul, even the gods have one. This is how you find your soul mate. Two diamonds have to fit together like a puzzle and stick." The Goddess showed me around.
"Where's mine?" I thought out loud.
"Right here."
She tossed me a medium sized diamond which had a weird crack down the side. I raised an eyebrow as if to ask why was in shaped weird.
"It means your soul mate is harder to find. Sadly, some people never come close to ever meeting their soul mate, therefore moving on with someone else." She sniffed.
"Then what does this have to do with me falling in love with a mortal I don't know?" I got back to the subject that brought us here in the first place.
She grinned again. She tossed me another diamond. "Put them together."
I did. They fit perfectly like they were made for each other. The two, now one, diamond started to glow red and a sea green color. I watched them closely to see my face and Andi's, smiling and laughing in happiness. I looked at Aphrodite.
"You knew who she was, didn't you?" I asked her. She nodded. Andi Turner was my soul mate and I felt a pang of joy overcome me. I grinned, putting the diamond down, getting ready to walk out of the room until Aphrodite stopped me.
"I must warn you Percy; this girl has had a rough life. A life filled with pain and misery. You break her heart, those two diamonds shatter forever and cannot be fixed." She warned me.
"What if she breaks mine?" I said.
"The same thing happens. But Percy, she's a fragile girl. She needs someone to be her Knight and Shinning Armor. You need to tell her you love her before it's too late." She said sadly, transporting us to the ball room once again. Before I could speak with her, she was gone, slow dancing with Ares like nothing we ever said happened.
~Midnight~
I lied in bed, unable to sleep. What did Aphrodite mean she was fragile and I needed to be her Knight in Shinning Armor? And I needed to tell her I love her before it's too late? What did that mean?
I sighed in boredom, rolling over to my side. On my nightstand was a picture of me, Grover, Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, Tyson, Clarisse, the Stolls, and Chiron. I missed Camp Half-Blood with my heart, waking up in the morning and going to breakfast to find everyone at camp happy and laughing, sword fighting, and Capture the Flag games. The picture was taken after we won the Second Titan war, our arms wrapped around each other, clothes torn and shredded, weapons in hand.
There was time when I missed being a kid, having fun whenever I wanted and just relax with my friends. Now that has changed. Clarisse and Chris are now married and expecting twins. Grover and Juniper are expecting their fifth child already. Tyson met some harpy named Ella and now they have a crush on each other. My baby brother is now in love!
The Stolls had their own prank shop in Brooklyn, Travis and Katie Gardner are now engaged. Connor . . . well, he's had a few girlfriends. Nico and Thalia just started going out when she quite the Hunters for him and they couldn't be any happier. Chiron still has to deal with Mr. D's whining of new campers and trains them to be heroes like he has done for three thousands years.
And Annabeth. Oh Annabeth. Every time I saw her on Olympus I didn't get that flutter feeling in my stomach like I did when I was younger. She told me she met some mortal named Brian who is also an architect. Athena even approves of him for her daughter. I was happy my friends have moved on, but when my mind wonders to the friends I have lost during battle, like Beckendorf and Silena, makes me think that taking immortality was a bad thing to do.
As my mind kept wandering to random things, my cell phone rang. I looked at my clock to see it was 2:34 in the morning. I checked the number to see it was one that I've never even seen. I reluctantly picked it up.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Percy?" a little girl's voice cried.
"Izzy? What are you calling me at two thirty in the morning for?" I said. My heart pounded against my chest as I heard her sobbing, trying to talk but she was unable to. My mind went back to what Aphrodite said. "Izzy? Are you okay? Where are you Izzy?"
More sobbing. I heard Andi's voice screaming something in the distance.
"Percy, mommy's going to hurt me." Izzy's voice cracked. I rushed around my room, getting on jeans and a shirt, slipping on my shoes and jacket.
"Izzy, what do you mean?" I started to panic. I saw the way their mother treated them. "Stay on the phone with me Izzy." I ordered her.
"Help us Percy! I'm scared!" she broke down crying. I heard a crash on the phone.
"Listen to me Iz," I said calmly as I walked out of my room. My father stood in front of me, eyebrow raised. I put the phone on speaker. "Iz, you stay where you are and I'll be on my way."
My father nodded, he was already dressed and we made our way out of Olympus. We both stopped dead in our tracks as we heard a gun shot. Then two. Then three. My breath stopped as my father and I listened to the screams on the phone.
"Percy! Help us please! Andi's hurt and everybody is gone!" Izzy screamed in terror into the phone. I heard a door bust open and Izzy screaming in pain.
"IZZY!" I yelled into the phone as we entered the elevator. The line went dead. I bean to panic more. That's when I realized I could teleport to where they were. "Dad, do you know where they live?" I asked him franticly.
"24th street." He nodded and I was gone.
In less than a second I was standing in front of an apartment building. I ran inside, looked at the mailboxes for a Turner. When I found it, I ran to the apartment to only find that it had no door. It looked like it was kicked down.
I carefully walked inside, Riptide in my hands. The place was trashed. My eyes stung with tears as I saw a trail of blood leading to every room. I went to the first room, no one was in there. Second room, nothing, third, nothing. The fourth was bloodier than the others.
"Izzy? Andi?" I whispered, my grip on the hilt of my sword tightening.
"Percy." A weak voice answered. It came from under the bed. I knelt down to see Izzy all bloodied and bruised, tears staining her face. She painfully crawled over to me and hugged me tight. I dropped my sword, wrapping my arms around the trembling four year old. She started to sob again, saying things like there were scary monsters and that mommy and Charlie laughed as a man with a gun and a whip hit her.
"It's okay Izzy. I'm here like you asked." I soothed her as she cried. Her red hair was wet with tears and blood. I gently rocked her back and forth, patting her back and humming lullabies like my mom would do. She soon fell asleep in my arms after a while, still trembling in fear.
"Percy?" a male voice called out. I looked up to see my father and Aphrodite in the doorway of the room with a horrified expression on their faces. "Oh dear gods."
I stood up carefully with the sleeping girl in my arms. I handed her to my father, telling him to bring her to Mount Olympus so Apollo could heal her. He did as I asked and teleported to Olympus without a word. I turned to Aphrodite.
"You should go too; I'm going to look for the others." I declared. She didn't say anything, but she left anyway. I sighed as I looked through every room. No sign of Andi or the other kids.
I stopped when I heard a thud. I heard another one, and then another. It was coming from the closet. I raised my sword, my other hand on the doorknob. I cautiously twisted it and swung open the door. My eyes stung with more tears as my eyes widened.
There lie Andi, hands tied and gagged. She was unconscious and bleeding to death. I dropped to my knees and took a closer look at her. She was shot in the stomach, once in the shoulder, and another in the ankle. A pool of her own blood surrounded her whole body.
"Holy shit," I muttered as I gently pulled her head onto my lap. "Andi, please wake up." I begged, caressing her face, running my fingers through her hair, anything to get her to wake up and let me know she was alive.
I sniffed as I picked her up bridal style and stood up, transporting us to Olympus. When I appeared in the throne room of the gods, they were all staring at me with sympathy pouring out of their eyes. Apollo led me to the infirmary and let me set Andi down on one of the beds.
What happened next was a blur. Everything moved by so fast my brain didn't have time to register what was going on in the room. It was a few hours later when Andi was sleeping peacefully, I.V. in her arm, wires on her chest that attached to a heart monitor, and one of those oxygen tubes that went in her nose.
"Will she be okay?" I had asked Apollo once he was done putting the IV in her arm.
"She's a lucky girl Perce. Judging by the previous scars she has from other beatings, she's been through so much her body has gotten used to the pain." he had said.
As of now, I'm sitting in a chair next to her bed, waiting for her to actually wake up. I bit my fingernails to the nubs from nervousness and worry. As I stared at her, I guess that sounded stalkerish, I noticed she still looked beautiful in her sleep. She was gorgeous every time she opened her mouth slightly to take a breath or exhale, the way strands of brown curly hair would get in her face making her look so sweet and innocent.
I was so deep in my thoughts; I didn't know a person had come in the infirmary.
"Percy," a small, soft voice called. I turned to see Izzy with a pink cast on her right arm, a few bruises on her face and arms, and a few gashes on her legs.
"Hey Izzy. I thought you were sleeping?" I asked as I looked at the clock. 6:52 am. Great.
"I had nightmares." she muttered, innocently crawling into my lap and snuggling against my chest. In a few short moments I could hear her light snores, letting me know she was fast asleep. For the next hour, I played with the little girl's hair, wrapping the curls with my fingers and petting her hair in comfort.
"She loves you, you know."
I jumped as Andi's voice brought me to reality. I looked up to see her on her side, facing me, smiling at the sight in front of her.
"Well look who's finally awake." I smirked as she rolled her eyes at me.
"How'd you find us?" she asked seriously, squinting her eyes in curiosity.
"You told me when we met. 24th street, remember?" I smiled as she began to remember. "Where are your other siblings?"
She bit her lip, closing her eyes tightly as if to hold back tears of the painful memories. "I brought them to Camp with Chiron before my mother found out." her voice cracked.
"What about Izzy? Why didn't you bring her?" I whispered as Izzy shifted in my lap.
"I did bring her. Once I left the camp, Izzy popped out from the backseat saying she wanted to stay with me. We were already home by then and soon my mom found us in the car." she said, anger seeping through her words.
"What the hell did your mother do to you?" I almost growled as I set Izzy on the couch across the room, striding over to Andi's bed. "Why would she do that much damage to you?"
"It's not any of your damn business!" she hissed. "I didn't ask you to come and save me! I was fine the way I was."
"Oh yeah, you looked perfectly fine locked up in a closet wrapped in chains and gagged. Especially while you were bleeding to death!" I snapped at her, our faces inches apart. Why was she acting like a bitch? I just saved her and her sister's lives.
I watched carefully as Andi struggled to get out of her bed. She was wearing a hospital gown; it was still stained with some of her blood. She gripped onto the edge of the bed for support, her knuckles white from holding on too tight.
"First off, Jackson," she spat my name in disgust. "We were fine until you showed up into my life! God, it's your fault the hydra came after them!" she almost screamed at me. Tears ran down her beautiful face, the dirt and grim rubbing off where the tears' path was. She carefully sat on her bed again, taking her head into her hands. I noticed bruises in the shape of chains around her wrist.
"What do you mean it's my fault? You have a group of young demigods, walking around New York City, and you didn't expect a monster to come and attack you?" I asked, still pissed off.
"The monster said it smelled the Son of the Sea God. And since I guessed you were him when we met, your scent got on me and I passed it onto should've o the group." she whispered, feeling ashamed of herself. "It's my fault. It's my fault they're not safe anymore. I didn't try hard enough to protect them; I should've brought them to camp when I had the chance."
"Andi, I know we haven't really gotten to know each other, but when I met you, I knew you would do anything for your siblings. And I knew you were trying your hardest to keep them alive, but Andi, taking care of nine demigods isn't easy. Hell, taking care of one demigod isn't easy either." I explained as she kept muttering things like it was her fault.
"You don't understand Percy. My mother wouldn't let us use our powers or train us to fight for our lives. Percy, if a demigod doesn't train with their weapons or at Camp Half-Blood, they have a more chance of dying! My mother knew that so she didn't let us go." More tears poured down Andi's gorgeous face.
"Why would she do that? If she hated you guys that much, sending you off to camp means she might never see you again." I said, giving a small smile to let her know I was joking a little bit. She just stared at me with those intense brown eyes, giving a Mona Lisa smile. I hesitated, but I sat next to her on the bed; we were so close our elbows and knees were touching each other's.
"She did it because she thought she could make the gods do whatever she wanted by kidnapping any demigod she could find and killing them in the eyes of the gods. She thought they would follow her because she was killing off their children." She spoke so softly that I almost couldn't hear her. All of a sudden, she shook her head as if to clear the bad thoughts away from her memory and changed the subject.
"Where am I anyway? A hospital?" she asked me.
"Actually, you're on Mount Olympus!" Apollo came in cheerfully. I flinched as Andi gave me a death glare.
"You brought me and Izzy to Olympus?" she said, anger clearly dripping from her tone of voice.
"Well yeah! You're demigods correct?" Apollo answered for me. Andi nodded. "Well we couldn't take you to a mortal hospital because you were stabbed with demigod weapons. Mortal doctors wouldn't know how to treat you guys."
"We're on Olympus? That is so cool!" We all turned to see Izzy giggling on the sofa across the room, her deep blue eyes sparkling. "Will I be able to see my daddy?"
Andi gave me a glare, and then stood up. Izzy's eyes widened, running to Andi and almost knocking her over by jumping into her arms.
"Will I see my daddy Andi?" the little pouted. The brown eyed girl gave her a small smile, showing she loved her, and nodded.
"Yeah, you're going to meet your daddy." She sounded like it was a promise.
~Few Hours Later~
The gods ordered Chiron to bring Andi's other siblings to Mount Olympus to finally claim them. They all lined up, from youngest to oldest, including Andi who didn't look that much happy. Aphrodite gave her and Izzy some new clothes and must I say, the Goddess of Beauty did and damn good job. She gave Andi normal jeans and a red blouse that matched the red streak in her hair.
"For those of you demigods who don't know who we are, I am Zeus, King of the Gods and the Sky," he introduced himself. The introductions continued, ending with me. Was I supposed to tell Andi I was a god? Would this ruin the bet?
"Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon." I didn't even bother saying that I'd rather be called Percy.
Of course Andi was holding the squirming six-week old baby Sophia, who turned out to be the daughter of Hermes. He smiled at his young daughter, whom he gently picked up from Andi's arms and tickled her stomach making her squeal in happiness.
"Izzy, it's your turn." Joan, who was six, whispered. Izzy stepped out in front of the gods, still holding on to Andi's hand.
"In my opinion, she looks a lot like Aphrodite." I spoke up as the gods argued of whose child she was. The gods stopped arguing and stared at the little girl. I saw Aphrodite smile, knowing it was her daughter.
In the end, the gods figured out that Izzy was not Andi's real sister; she was kidnapped from her father as a baby. Izzy ran to her real mother, letting go of Andi's hand, and hugged Aphrodite.
Joan was a daughter of Demeter. I'm guessing when she started to grow flowers in the middle of the throne room kind of gave it away. The eight year old twins, Brad and Toby, were sons of Apollo, who gave them a high five and a hug each. The eleven-year old, Gabby, was Nike's daughter, and Nate, Gabby's real brother who was 18, was also the son of Nike.
Faith, twelve, was the daughter of Persephone which Hades didn't look happy about. Fourteen year-old Bob was a son of Eros, God of Love.
"You mean the guy who shoots people in the butts with arrows? What? I'm the son of the God of Love? How did that happen?" he cried out, causing a few gods to laugh, but before he could say anything Andi covered his mouth with her hand, whispering in his ear telling him to shut the hell up.
"Andi Turner, please come up to the council!" Zeus thundered (bad pun). Slowly Andi walked up to the gods, bowed at their feet, and stood up straight again. "Have you been claimed?"
"Yes I have Lord Zeus." She replied.
"May I ask that you tell us who you're parent is?" he sneered, probably still remembering what she did for a job.
"I am Andi Turner, daughter of Hephaestus."
Silence. I looked around to see most of the gods' mouths wide open in shock, some with their eyes wide as well. I must admit, I was shocked. I took another good look at her.
She was still gorgeous, more beautiful than Aphrodite, with her long, wavy brown hair tied into a high ponytail. Her dark brown eyes, which looked black as she kept staring at Zeus as if she was daring him to attack her, were the most beautiful thing about her. As I kept looking between her and Hephaestus, who looked happy as his daughter stood her ground, finally noticing that they had the same eyes. Besides that, you couldn't tell that they were even related. Ares was the first one to break the silence.
"How the fuck is that ending product from Hephaestus and his excitement?" he almost yelled, pointing at Andi and the Fire God. I saw Hephaestus scowl at Ares, Andi's hand was curling into a fist.
"How the heck do women even find you attractive?" Brad and Toby growled at the War God in unison. The gods and I stared at them in shock as Ares got his spear ready.
"Before you do anything with that spear, Lord Ares," Andi spat at him, stepping in front of the twins. "I suggest you apologize to me and my father."
Ares just scoffed at her. "And why would I apologize to you and the Ugly Duckling over there? We were all thinking it! How is he even related to a hot thing like you?"
"That's it, I'm leaving!" Nate called out, grabbing Gabby's hand and stomping to the door. The doors to the throne room slammed shut before they could even reach it. "Let us the hell out of here! We're clearly not wanted by you gods so why should we stick around?" he screamed angrily.
"May we have some time alone? Just us?" Joan asked the gods, referring to all ten of them. The gods agreed.
"Perseus, you go with them." My father stated. I nodded, walking towards them while Izzy hung on to my leg. We walked down the long hallway of Olympus and entered a room with a long rectangular table and twelve chairs. Everyone sat down, Izzy sitting on Andi's lap as Andi sat next to me on my right.
"Okay, since no one is going to start, why the hell do we have to respect these gods? They apparently have no respect for us." Nate exclaimed.
"Nate, they are our mommies and daddies." Izzy pouted, hugging what looked like a teddy bear to her chest, rubbing her small thumb against the ear.
"Izzy, they ignored us all of our lives. They haven't done anything to protect us!" Bob butted in. Izzy got off Andi's lap and stood on the table.
"That is not true!" she wailed, her arms thrown back and mouth wide open.
"Then why the fuck did you and Andi almost die today Iz?" Nate screamed at her.
"HEY!" Andi scolded at him. The kids all started to argue and yell at one another, ignoring Andi.
There were swears and cries throughout the room. In the corner of the room, I saw a camera with an H on the side. The gods were watching the fight. Nate yelled at Joan saying that her mother, Demeter, was a mean woman who killed the flowers every year during winter. Bob screamed at the twins that their father was a man whore. I tried to help Andi calm them down, but they just ignored us like we were just particles of air.
"They're gods Izzy, they don't love their kids!" Nate yelled at her. Everyone stopped their own arguments and just watched as the eighteen year old argued with the four year old.
"This is going to end in tears, I just know it." Andi muttered next to me, burying her head in her hands.
"They do love us Nate! Andi says that all mommy and daddies love their babies!" Izzy screamed at him with her high pitched voice.
"Andi was wrong to say that." he snapped at her. The rest of us just watched them like a tennis match. Whoever was speaking we would turn our heads to, then go back and forth until someone won the game.
"No, Andi is right. She's always right! Mommies and daddies love-" she was cut off.
"THEN WHY DOESN'T YOUR MOMMY LOVE YOU ISABELLE?" Nate screamed at her, shaking the whole room. I heard a few gasp around the room. Nate's eyes widened at what he had said. "Iz, I'm so sorry." She didn't answer him. "Izzy I didn't mean it -"
"Shut up Nate! You're not sorry! You know what; I do know a person who hates me besides Charlie and Vanessa! I- I HATE YOU!" she screamed. I could see the guilt in Nate's face as he watched the little girl bite her lip, trying to hold in her tears, but failing in the end. She jumped off the table and ran out of the room, sobbing into her shirt.
"What the heck Nate? Why are you being such a jerk?" Joan scoffed as she ran after Izzy, the twins and Gabby following her. After they were gone, Andi told Faith to go find the rest of the kids, asking Bob to go with her just in case.
"Andi, we're going to get lost in this place." Bob muttered as he left. Nate slid against the wall, landing on his bottom, and just tucked his face into his knees.
"I'm a horrible person." He whispered to himself. I heard Andi sigh in defeat. She turned to me arms crossed over her chest.
"Where are we staying?" she asked, her voice cracking.
"The gods said they wanted you guys to stay here since most of you are too young to start training at camp." I explained. "I would be happy to show you your rooms if you like."
She smiled a sad smile, tucking hair behind her ear. I even noticed her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "Are you asking me on a date Perseus?" she snickered. Nate was long gone, leaving us in the room alone.
"What? No, we, we just met," I stuttered, making her laugh. "Do you think it's a date?"
"Well you asked me to show me to my room, leaving us alone and wondering the palace together." She grinned.
"You do realize Aphrodite will pester us until the day we die, right?"
"For what?" she chuckled, leaning against the doorway.
"You seriously need to spend time with her to get to know her. You know, since she's the Goddess of Love, she's going to wonder why a man and a woman are walking around Olympus alone." I said, grinning like an idiot as she rolled her eyes at me.
"You really care what people think?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. I just smiled more and offered my hand to her like a gentlemen. She laughed, her laugh sound like sweet music, and grabbed it. When our hands touched I felt sparks throughout my entire arm.
"It's a date then." I wink and pull her out into the hallway.
