When he stopped walking he found himself in a closed off spot of Hera's Garden. He leaned against one of the trees and slid down to his knees. He began to weep not so silently as he held his knees to his chest. He sat there for gods know how long before he heard a soft, musical, slightly familiar voice ask, "What is wrong hero?" Percy's head snapped up and he laid eyes on an extremely beautiful goddess. She had long black hair that reached down to her back, soft brown eyes, and an hourglass figure.
Percy's eyes widened when he realized who it was. He quickly got up and bowed saying, "Lady Hera. What are you doing here?"
Hera just rolled her eyes and said, "This is my garden is it not?"
Percy blushed in embarrassment and said, "Oh."
Hera just rolled her eyes again before stating, "You never answered my question. What's wrong?"
Percy's embarrassment quickly turned to sadness, something that Hera noticed. Percy looked like he didn't want to say, but one pointed look from Hera made him whisper, "Annabeth cheated on me."
Percy said it quietly, but just barely loud enough for Hera to hear. Hera's eyes widened for a second before they softened. She knew what it was like to be cheated on, and how much pain it caused. She had dealt with it for thousands of years and it still hurt. She looked at the weeping demigod in front of her with pity and understanding. She had been in this very same situation multiple times. She knew from personal experience that he needed comfort, someone who could help him heal, he needed a friend.
Hera walked closer to Percy before getting on her knees and pulling Percy into a comforting hug. Percy tensed for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around her and melting into the hug. As they hugged Percy cried into Hera's shoulder. As Percy cried Hera gently rubbed his back and whispered comforting words into his ear.
After a few minutes, Percy pulled back sniffling slightly. He looked up at Hera with gratitude and confusion in his eyes. "Um, Thanks. No offense, but why are you helping me, I thought you hate me?" Percy asked.
Hera smiled sadly and replied, "I do hate most demigods, but I understand the pain of being cheated on."
Percy nodded slowly, trying to comprehend that Hera was being nice to him.
"OK, makes sense," Percy said.
Hera rolled her eyes slightly, something she seemed to do a lot around Percy, before standing up. She offered her hand to him. Percy cautiously took her hand and she lifted him up with more strength than her body should have had. Percy guessed it had something to do with being a god. When they were both standing up Hera offered, "Would you like to come to my temple, I know some good ways to help with the pain."
Percy looked at her cautiously before he decided that it wouldn't hurt, probably. He shrugged and said, "Sure."
Hera smiled slightly before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Close your eyes," Hera ordered.
Percy obliged and closed his eyes. As soon as his eyes were closed he saw a flash of light on his eyelids and felt his body shoot forward at incredible speeds before stopping suddenly. Percy groaned as his stomach churned from the godly travel method. He opened his eyes and was surprised at what he saw.
He was standing in a room with simple white walls, a tan carpet covered floor, and simple brown couches. There was a TV, probably 40", sitting on a wooden shelf. In the shelves below the TV, there were movies, lots of movies. They ranged from Disney movies to romance movies. There were a few small tables around the room and two doors. All in all the room radiated a comfortable feeling.
"Where are we?" Percy asked looking around the room.
Hera rolled her eyes, yet again and said, "I already told you, we are in my temple."
"This isn't what I expected. This looks more like what I thought Hestia's palace would look like. I expected yours to be more..." Percy trailed off looking around the room.
"Royal?" Hera finished for Percy. Percy just nodded his head as he looked around him. Hera just chuckled at Percy's response. "While I may be a queen I am also the goddess of family, thus my palace looks like a family home." Percy just nodded in understanding before turning towards Hera. "So...What are we doing here?"
"Watching movies and eating Ice cream," Hera said while summoning two tubs of chocolate ice cream.
Percy just stared at the Queen of Olympus like she had grown a second head.
Hera just frowned at the way Percy was looking at her. "What?" She asked annoyed.
Percy just kept staring at her for a few seconds before saying, "Who would have thought the Queen of Olympus eats ice cream and watches TV..."
"Hey! I'm the goddess of Women, their habits rub off on me." Hera explained indignantly.
Percy just shook his head In amusement and grabbed one of the tubs of ice cream that Hera offered and sat down on a couch. Hera put her tub down on one of the corner tables and walked over to the TV shelf. She turned her head to Percy and asked, "What movie do you want to watch."
Percy blushed slightly and said, "I don't know. I've never watched a movie before."
Hera stared wide eyes at Percy. How had he lived for 16 years and never seen a movie? "Why not?" She asked, trying to hide her surprise.
Percy just chuckled slightly and said, "Demigods attract monsters when they use technology, including watching TV."
Hera just nodded in understanding before turning back to the shelf. She looked through the movies hoping to find something that Percy would like. After a few minutes of searching, she saw "Finding Nemo" and decided that Percy would like it, seeing as he was a son of Poseidon.
Once she put the movie on she grabbed her tub of ice cream and plopping down on the couch next to Percy. They sat in comfortable silence as they watched the movie and ate ice cream, chuckling when something funny happened. As they watched their third movie Percy began to get tired. It was almost midnight and he normally went to bed early, so he could get up in the morning to train new campers.
Percy yawned and stretched before saying, "Thank you for doing this for me, it means a lot. I have to go now, it's getting late and I don't want to overstay my welcome."
Hera just shook her head and smiled, "You can stay here tonight. I have plenty of extra rooms you can stay in if you want."
Percy looked at her in shock for a few seconds before slowly nodding as a smile formed on his lips. "I would love to," Percy said.
Hera stood up and the ice cream tubs, that seemed to refill every time they were empty, disappeared and the TV turned off. She walked out of the room and Percy followed. They started walking down a long hallway that had many doors in it. After a little bit of walking, they came to a room with a wooden door. It had a sign above it that said "Guest Room 36"
Hera opened the door, revealing a large room. The room had white walls and tan carpet. It had a wooden dresser, and desk, with a queen sized bed. Hera turned to look at Percy and said, "You can stay in this room for tonight. The dresser has clothes that will fit you. On the desk, there are instructions on how to get to the dining room. I should have food ready by the time you are awake."
Percy nodded and said, "Thank you, I'll see you in the morning."
Hera just nodded and left the room. Percy sighed, tired from his long day, and flopped down on the bed. It felt like he was floating on clouds as he laid on the bed. A small content sigh left his mouth as he fell asleep.
~-~-~-~-~-Line Break-~-~-~-~-~-~
The next morning Percy woke up and sat up rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stretched as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He stood up and walked over to the bathroom before stripping and hopping into the shower. Thankfully this shower wasn't like the one in Poseidon's Palace, but rather a regular shower. Percy sighed in content as the warm water hit his skin.
As Percy got out of the shower he grabbed one of the towels and walked out of the bathroom. As he dried himself off he searched through the dresser looking for some clothes. He ended up wearing an orange shirt with a small peacock logo above his heart and slightly faded jeans. He looked around for a basket to put his old clothes, but they disappeared when he put them down on the dresser. Percy shrugged and guessed Hera did it.
He walked over to the dresser and picked up the note that had the directions to the dining room. As he walked out of the room he began navigating the halls, stopping every once and a while to read the note(His dyslexia was making it hard to read). After a few minutes, he finally made it into the dining room.
Like the rest of the temple, the ceiling and walls were white while the floor was a tan carpet. There was a wooden table in the middle that could fit six people. As Percy walked in he heard soft, mesmerizing humming coming from behind a door. Percy assumed it was Hera so he walked over to the door and knocked.
After a few seconds of waiting for the door opened revealing Hera. She was wearing a plain blue T-shirt and jeans underneath a cooking apron. She frowned slightly at him and said, "I thought you would wake up later, I haven't made breakfast yet."
Percy just shrugged and said, "That's fine, Lady Hera. I could help you cook if you want."
Hera seemed shocked at his offer. Only her daughters and sisters ever offered to cook with her, not even Zeus ever cooked with her. After a few seconds, she snapped out of her shock and smiled warmly at Percy. "I would love the help, and please, just Hera."
Percy nodded and followed Hera into the kitchen, grabbing one of the aprons on his way in. They walked over to the counter where there was a slew of ingredients including eggs, flour, milk, sugar, Etc... Hera pulled out a large bowl and started adding ingredients, asking Percy to do something occasionally. After a minute or two of silence, Hera decided to break it and stated, "So Percy, I never really listened to any of your quests, why don't you tell me about them."
Percy rolled his eyes, not at all surprised that she never listened to any of his quests. After a second he shrugged and said, "Why not."
With that, he began talking, telling her about all of his adventures and quests, carefully avoiding talking about Annabeth. By the time breakfast was prepared he had just begun telling her about the battle with Atlas on Mount Orthys. Percy finished telling her about his quests by the time they were beginning to clean up from breakfast. When he finished he asked Hera about her life, what it was like watching humanity grow and advance over the ages. She told him about major events in history from her point of view. She explained what it was like living in those times and how her domains were affected.
By the time they were done talking it was noon and they were sitting in the dining room playing PinoChle. Percy checked the time and noticed that it was noon. He decided that it was time for him to head back to camp before anyone got worried. When the finished the round they were playing, Hera won, of course, Percy stood up.
"Hera, I have to get back to camp soon. I don't want anyone to Worry about me." Percy said with a smile at Hera. He was kind of sad that he had to leave, he enjoyed Hera's company and would consider her a friend.
Hera nodded in understanding, also disappointed that Percy had to leave. No one ever really spends time with her other than her sisters, and even they are busy a lot. She walked with him to the front door of her temple. "Goodbye Percy, I hope we can do this again sometime," Hera said with a hopeful smile.
Percy smiled at the prospect of spending more time with Hera and responded, "I hope so as well."
With that Percy turned and left, heading to the exit of Olympus.