A Man Without A Hearth
Ch. 7
Fall to Death and Rise Again
Immortality is a blessing and a curse. It makes it so that you can't die but it makes you unaware of so many things and mortality is the biggest thing that immortals fail to grasp. Watching others die around you makes you feel stronger if you don't care about them enough and for most of the Olympians that is true, some just accepted the nature of themselves and those that died and then there was Hestia. She always cared, for everyone she ever met and never did accept that she had to live through the deaths of any mortal she met. But what none of the Olympians was ready to accept was the fragility of their immortality. They had lived for eons and to see any of them fall for good was just too much. And so all the gods had returned to be with Hestia in case it was too late.
The Olympians were waiting, they knew that it would have to be soon if Perseus was found and were only hoping to get a call from the group or even for them to burst through the door of the throne room. But the ancient laws refused them access to interfering with the quest itself, limiting them to their current state. Artemis was itching to flash to her lieutenant and help in any way, just as any of the gods would but it was the fidgeting Poseidon that was probably the worst. He sat in his throne still and stared at Hestia who was lying just out of her hearth and was being given treatment by Apollo.
It was these surges of godly energy that were keeping Hestia alive at all but still she was in her comatose state waiting for her knight in shining armor. Many could only hope that he would arrive.
"We have to hurry. Can this go any faster?"
"I know that already! I am going as fast as I can but more importantly, how can he run so fast?"
"He just can but try and catch up I am losing him while he isn't on the roads."
The quest group was using Thalia's hunting sense to track down Percy while trying to follow him in the jeep, but Percy had maintained a lead on them and it was increasingly difficult to follow him as he was running off the roads and they were confined to them.
"Thalia can you manage a whistle, Maximus might be able to hear and come help with this." Lacy called from the back seat while Thalia was literally hanging out the window.
"I'll try!" A sharp whistle was unleashed, obviously enhanced by control of the winds.
For a few minutes it was all the same, a fast pace racing through back roads with Thalia yelling directions to Ellen in the driver seat while Lacy worried that Maximus was too far away and wouldn't make it to them in time. But they were saved by the sound of beating wings not minutes after Thalia's whistle.
"Come on Lacy we can catch him now," the ever impulsive daughter of Zeus yelled as she climbed farther out the window before jumping onto Maximus who had gotten down to the height of the jeep.
Lacy threw a glance to the other two in the car before following Thalia's example but only on to her pegasus. This left Ellen driving her jeep at an accelerated rate with Jedidiah sitting directly behind her.
Jed then heard some mumbling from the driver seat about being left behind as he began to lose any sight of the girls as they were over the trees.
"Pull over, we can catch up on Tiberius and then we'll come back later for your Jeep."
Ellen was weary of this because she had a sinking feeling she would never see her car again but she decided that she would rather be able to catch up and so slamming on the brakes she pulled over. Jedidiah climbed out of the car and in a fluid motion threw his leg over the back of the landing pegasus. And this caused Ellen's eye to open wide, she had never seen a winged horse up close before and then the fact that she never rode a horse before came to her. If she hadn't ridden a regular horse how could she possibly ride a winged horse?
Jed could see the conflict in Ellen's eyes when he looked at her but he had to go quickly so throwing on the most comforting smile he had he said, "Come on, I'll help you."
Ellen couldn't help but trust that smile and moved closer to him reaching for his hand tentatively. And she was lucky that the horses at were so well trained because any normal horse or even the younger of the foals at camp would have skirted away from her with her shaking and the sent of fear on her.
And right when her hand was about to close in on Jed's a lightning quick movement from the son of Tyche grabbed her wrist and threw her up on the back of the pegasus right behind him followed by a quick kick and the pair of teens went from grounded to soaring in 2 seconds. And for the next minute Ellen was clenching her eyes and screaming as she wrapped her arms so tight around the boy in front of her that it felt like she was giving him the Heimlich.
But once the flight leveled out just slightly in which Tiberius was galloping over the tree tops and the girls were in sight Ellen was able to regain some of her composure and start hitting Jedidiah in the back cursing his existence to the both the Roman and the Japanese deities. Jed would have laughed if he wasn't still gaining his ability to breath and having his back pounded wasn't helping. When it was finally settled Jed was able to direct Tiberius on a course just off of the girls. He could see that they were about to turn because of an upcoming mountain face and hopefully with his directions they could catch up.
With the girls it was a different story because they were just trying to stay on Percy, with the help of Maximus and Rosaline they were able to get a visual on him but what they saw wasn't promising. While Percy may be running away from them quickly and at an inhuman pace while he was running he was also clutching his head in pain. And to make it worse he was running with little consideration for where he was running. This was evident in the way that he was hitting his limbs continuously on passing trees and that was throwing off his trajectory by making him turn at near random intervals but it didn't seem to slow him down.
All in all the two were having a hell of a time trying to keep up and on top of him. As well as there being no way for them to land and still be close enough to him. And then the cliff side came out of nowhere causing the pegasi to have to take emergency flying maneuvers for protection.
That threw the girls off making them fall behind slightly as Jedidiah's calculations were right as he continued after the fleeing son of Poseidon.
"I see him!" Ellen called out from behind Jedidiah as he was searching a different part of the underlying forest area and sure enough there he was, having slowed down slightly from his previous pace and now that Jed could see him he could make out his arm or more importantly the bone sticking out of his arm from a compound fracture that must have been caused by hitting either one of the trees he passed or the cliff side that he had to turn at.
The air currents made it difficult for anyone to talk at the speeds and height that the pegasi were going but since Jedidiah and Ellen were both on the same horse they could still hear each other, if just barely.
So Jedidiah was able to hear when Ellen called out again, "It looks like he is slowing down we will be able to catch him!"
It was true that he was slowing down a little but then something caught Jedidiah's attention when he looked up from tracking Percy in his run, they were running out of land to track Percy on. "Look! He is almost out of land!" He called back to Ellen.
The terrain was mostly a northwest forest heavy with pine and fir trees but that was coming to an end because the trees were about to end and open up to a grassy area filled with tall beach grass, the type of grass that thrives in areas with high salt water content like the ocean side cliff that was coming up.
"Isn't that good?" Ellen called back.
"I'm not sure anymore." Ellen couldn't hear what Jedidiah said but he was becoming concerned how this hunt was going to end.
"We might be able to catch him there, start the decent!" Ellen yelled, as Percy was about to burst out of the tree line. And so Jed followed what she said aiming Tiberius to take them down to the grassy area and they were about to land when Percy did crash into the pre-cliff meadow.
Thalia and Maximus were just behind them though, the stallion pushing himself to keep up with Rosaline and Lacy were pulling up the rear. But Percy didn't slow down from his charge, his eyes shut and hands wrapped around his ears as if to stop himself from hearing anything.
As Tiberius was landing Ellen, who must have gained back her muster during flight was already off and running after the man. She knew she wasn't part of the quest but she had always been the adventurous type and she would always try to help her new friends in the most headstrong ways possible.
"Wait Ellen!" Jedidiah called as he jumped off his mount after her. But he couldn't catch the quick daredevil at her pace.
The Olympic council was having a terrible time, all of Olympus really. The anticipation and worry had been riding up on them; it had been over a week since they had found out about Hestia and the quest was on its fourth day now and spending most of that time crossing the country. It was deep into the night over Olympus, torch fires lighting most everything as the hearth's weak embers were dying along with the tender.
Minor gods and the immortals staying on Olympus were all quiet, many paying respect to Hestia before they retired, some already in Morpheus' realm and the council spending its 3rd night sitting in their thrones eagerly awaiting news.
All of the elder Olympians including Hades were acting like demigods while sitting, twitching every now again as if all of them had ADHD and ADD, Apollo was still crouched over Hestia doing anything and everything he could with his medical practice and great amounts of Ambrosia and Nectar. All others were equally worried and tentative.
But there was some things bothering a certain member of the council, and she was going over several scrolls that she pulled out of a sheath that is located in her throne. These particular scrolls were going over the seismic activity the world had been experiencing for the last decade or more precisely the increase of seismic activities that had been happening for the last 8 years since the end of the war. It hadn't been big differences in the beginning but many had noticed it. The world had been experiencing an increase of earthquakes that Athena had decided to blame of the after effects of Gaea's awakening and later Poseidon's thickheaded-ness, but lately she had even thought of using it to see if it had been the sea-spawn that had been causing it, but she had ruled it out due to it being so wide spread and the fact that it wouldn't have been possible for someone who would have been afraid of traveling over the sea.
The goddess of Wisdom was now trying to busy herself, this was the seventeenth scroll she had read and studied since she had sat down in her throne after Hermes and Apollo had both concluded their runs over the world and the wind spirits had reported nothing.
But the reports were troubling because of the results of these earthquakes. Volcanoes were erupting, several tsunamis and shuffling of the shelves. It was like the world was mixing itself up, or as if it were becoming too chaotic in itself. Neither of which should be possible.
Now Athena was worrying more but there was nothing she could do about it now but chalk it up to Poseidon's emotional turmoil, which was usually seen in the ocean but now must have been far greater now and therefore affecting even more. And Athena may be calculated but she wasn't cold so she knew that it was for the best that she waits to approach Poseidon about it again until after his son had been collected and returned to Olympus.
Return…Hero…Death…Needed…Hope…Hero…Afraid…Please…Stop…Stop…Death…
Words were bouncing around Percy's head at the moment and that coupled with the fact that it felt like his brain was on fire didn't help. His soul and his mind were fighting each other. One was saying that everything was hopeless and it had been winning for the last 7 years but now the other side had been gaining strength because of the sisters and the Brodi's were both trying to call out to him. His throat had hurt for a little after he was able to get those two words out but now it was ignored over the excruciating pain from his head.
The sisters wouldn't shut up he didn't hear what they were saying just that they kept talking. He was in pain as these two sides of his warred on.
Percy was only just aware that he was running, he had no control over it but he just barely realized that he was moving forward.
He wanted it all to stop but there was something pulling him this way and he heard something like a voice from years ago saying something but he didn't comprehend anything that had been going through his head for the last few hours that he had been feeling this pain.
Maybe soon it would all stop, that would be nice for him. It was all that Percy really wanted, the calm and quiet serenity of nothing would feel very good to him and that is what he wants.
And his head was starting to become a slight amount clearer, and he was able to feel that there was something new in the air something incredibly familiar.
But there were many things that Percy wasn't aware of, like the fact that his arm was broken severely on the left side, he was mumbling everything that he found in his jumbled head and that the reason that he was feeling any peace was that the sea water in the air was trying to help. And another very crucial thing that Percy failed to notice was that he was sprinting, eyes closed, toward the edge of a cliff.
The ocean was calling to him, that is what his father had told him so long ago. That all things from the ocean are called to the ocean back and now it was acting on him. It was a strange experience but the proximity of his mortal enemy was clearing his mind enough to give him enough of a mind to open his eyes. And when he did it was just barely enough time to stop and fall to his knees as he slid forward and ended just at the edge, on his knees, arm broken and bleeding, his own body causing itself pain and he was staring down near 100 feet into the most horrifying substance he had ever seen, the water of the sea that had drown him so many times while he was with his grandfather.
It was a traitor in his eyes, previously it had saved him and healed him but while he was injured and near dying in Tartarus it filled his lungs and the salt burnt his wounds. It was as if the water itself had hated him as much as his grandfather had hated him. It tried to kill him and now he was seeing it again it was terrifying. He had just been able to drink some water not long ago, he was starting to see that water wasn't evil anymore but this sight of the water ramming into the land and reaching towards him with its waves and spray. The black color of the water like the rocks that had cut him, like the iron the burned his soul and like the doors that had locked him inside hell.
It was evil again.
"Percy!" Jedidiah called as he saw the man fall just short of the cliff edge nearly slide off, but in front of him was Ellen running towards the fallen hero and she would reach him before the son of Tyche, and she was almost there.
Thalia had just landed closer to Ellen than Jedidiah was and started her run and Rosaline was on her decent now but Ellen was already there, seeing he frozen son of Poseidon.
"Hey you, get up. Come on you have to help these people save a goddess." Ellen's brashness was coming out in strides now. It was a tactless approach that she was using but she was going more for the short and effective approach than the tentative pussyfooting that others would try.
But then the worst happened. The ground was shaking, and it was shaking hard. The earthquake was harder than most have ever felt and it threw all the questers too the ground and Ellen fell to her ass right next the oblivious son of Poseidon. Thalia and Lacy were also displaced to their derrieres but Jed was lucky enough to maintain minor footing enough to only fall to one knee. The shaking reminded Thalia and Lacy of the end of the Giant war, how the earth had shaken when Gaea had fallen to her knees but now it wasn't coming from Percy no, it was different and more unstable than the quake that Percy has caused.
To Thalia it felt like the world was falling in little burst that was the shaking but for Ellen and Percy it was different because right before Thalia appeared a crack in the earth and that stretched out quickly and in seconds the cliff side, including her cousin and new friend fell down in front of Thalia.
"NOOOO!" She screeched seeing the last of the two fall just yards in front of her.
But then something rushed past her, a boy that had regained his footing enough to jump off the edge after the two in a way that only an irresponsible and slightly insane boy would think that it was a good idea. Jedidiah hadn't even thought about it though, in seeing how his hero and the new cute girl had fallen he didn't even question it and his gut reaction was very simple. Go.
Lacy and Thalia couldn't move and only one line from the prophecy could go through Thalia's head, The son of Luck falls to Death. While the earth itself was still shaking, the time around these two girls had frozen as they could only stare lost completely in the grief and despair of the moment.
For Ellen though she was experiencing death for the first time in her short life. She didn't have snippets of her life flashing before her eyes or a cathartic moment of realization that made her answer the biggest question of her life but rather life itself slowed down and she felt everything a million times over. She was falling and she felt it the wind, the sea spray, the lack of gravity at that one moment, and the water that was approaching her in an agonizingly slow pace.
Looking to her right she could see Percy falling even with her but he appeared to be frozen still as if he was afraid to die and how wrong she was. Percy wasn't afraid of dying, he would happily accept it over his pain, no he had the realization of where he was falling to and that was terrifying him.
Jedidiah life slowed too, he was diving down headfirst after the two falling figures and he was only hoping, praying to get to them in time. He did realize that he had no plan for this but he was trying the only thing he could try. Throwing his self into the situation and trying for all the luck he could manage that he gets them out of it.
While Ellen was still falling she was starting to see something above the water and could only imagine that she was hallucinating, because hovering there just above the water was an angel, a beautiful, dark angel with wings as black as night. He held his strong arms open as if welcoming her and she couldn't help but want to fall into his arms. She felt a familiarity with this angel and she couldn't place why.
But Ellen wasn't the only one to see this 'dark angel' and he recognized the figure from his statues that border around the funeral pyres that are used to send off the fallen demigods at camp and Thanatos is just as ominous close up as in his statuary, which is to be expected but what Jedidiah saw was that he was looking directly at Ellen. Jedidiah had some hesitant feelings for this head strong and impulsive adrenaline junkie of a teenage girl but he would be a fool to not admit that he liked her and had hoped for a chance to get to know her better and he would be damned if he would give up on her without giving everything he had for the chance to try. And it was all the luck and chance in the world that had allowed him to even get close enough to wrap his fingers around her belt allowing him to pull her up to him wrapping her in his arms while he angled them so that he would be the one to take the brunt of the impact.
But they couldn't fall forever and just before they hit the winged man he faded away before Jed felt the crash into the water and it hurt. The pain was similar to the time that he had burnt the four-leaf clover on the climbing wall and fell onto the dirt around the walls hard. But even that was tiny compared to hitting the concrete like water.
Ellen felt the impact like the time she had done a bad dive off the high boards at the YMCA but she realized that it was the boy holding her that had saved her from even worse pain but the cold water was unforgiving. The chill was quick and unrelenting as his froze them to the bone in seconds making it so the little movement the Jed was able to do after the fall had stole him of his breath and coherence was moaning slightly even as he was under the surface of the dark waters.
But these two weren't like Percy because he felt nothing when he hit the water not really. But he did relive every second of the drownings that had occurred to him, in Tartarus and even in Alaska in the bog. It could best be explained as having a panic attack but as a son of Poseidon his powers didn't allow him to drown or get affected by the cold. But still he was having trouble breathing because of the panic and it was a dire situation that would surely lead to his death.
Jedidiah was feeling similar in this part about dying, he couldn't move and would simply sink until he was drowned and he could only hope that Ellen would make it because of him.
Ellen at the time was actually trying to save them both, she held onto the son of Tyche's arm as she kicked towards the surface but with the variables of clothing, weight and foot wear she was making limited if any progress and would actually put money on her sinking farther into the ocean. But she being the most aware of the three in the water felt the condensing water below her feet. It was as if she had hit the bottom of a cement pool but really it was the water itself that was creating a floor below her and was starting to rise with her and her savior.
Jed actually did feel the change along with Ellen when the water-floor began to rise because besides just hardening the water warmed to a comfortable temperature around them and his body began to fell better, stronger. Opening his eyes in the water allowed Jedidiah to see Ellen holding onto his arm as they ascended but not much else as there was no light to see with.
When the three broke the surface two of them realized immediately because they both took celebratory breaths of cool night air but Percy was still suffering from the panic. His eyes were shooting everywhere but it was like he couldn't see anything. His heart was racing and he still couldn't breathe but he was out of the water and the water floor below them continued to rise as a pillar up to the cliff. Lacy was the first to act in seeing them return from their watery graves, rushing forward and trying to pull them all back onto the land that had only just stopped shaking, all while Thalia couldn't move tears falling fast from her eyes, most from the grief and pain of loss but newer ones of relief in seeing them returned.
Jedidiah was helped up from laying on the water floor and both her and Ellen were escorted to land by Lacy before Thalia stood and the two female questers began to run to get Percy when a new figure rose from the water, this one a merman.
But this was a unique merman, not that any of them had seen many but this one had two tails and green skin but his eyes were the same sea-green as Poseidon's cabin at camp and the same color as Poseidon's eyes. His long black hair was tied into a ponytail and he wore a pearl encrusted crown that while elegant and grand still held a certain modesty to it that was unexpected. This was Triton, son of Poseidon, God of the Navy, king of Atlantis, and brother of Perseus Jackson.
The god picked up the panicking form of his brother and immediately his aura flared out and Percy began to calm slightly with what little ability of healing he had. What he had really done was force some of the senses of a calm sea into Perseus hoping to calm him enough for him to not hurt himself.
In seeing the god Lacy and Jedidiah immediately bowed in recognition, Ellen following their example with little hesitation but Thalia only walked forward with trepidation, hoping to see Percy safe and sound.
And Thalia did get close enough to see Percy, his eyes closed along with any injuries he had received from his running due to the water's healing nature on him. But he was still a new figure to her, he was sinewy and fragile looking. He was skin and bones and covered in now dry dirty clothes far too large for him, thick and matted black facial hair along with long scraggly salt and pepper hair.
"You have found my brother Huntress and I thank you for that." Triton spoke as he began to move forward, water quickly washing over his twin fin legs before revealing human legs still in his green skin color covered in khaki pants that would regularly be seen on the likes of Poseidon. "He has grown weak but the water saved him from immediate death, I believe."
Thalia couldn't speak as she was caught up in her emotions but she eventually found her voice. "Thank you for saving him Lord Triton." And in her own bold Thalia way hugged both her cousins, arms wrapping as far as they could around the taller god and her sleeping friend.
But the surprise visits from the gods wasn't done as a familiar figure reappeared in front of the questers when they were all on the land again. Thanatos stood tall and proud like he usually did his midnight black wings and his dark skin both blending into the night with the limited moon and star light shining down.
Jedidiah feared that the god had come to collect the soul he would have taken if not for him, or even he himself for interfering and subconsciously wrapped his hand around Ellen's next to him while again he and Lacy bowed this time Thalia did bow but Ellen didn't. There was something about this man that felt familiar too and she couldn't figure out why.
Ellen took a step forward before she was stopped by her left hand being held tightly by the new boy she was starting to like a little. After looking at their hands clasped together Ellen looked up at him and smiled before looking back at the familiar angel in front of her who smiled back at her.
And then Thanatos spoke in a deep, deep baritone, "My daughter, you have done well in a task from the fates." This shocked all present except for the god and the sleeping willowy man, neither of which showed any signs of concern, although one wasn't exactly conscious.
"Thanatos, I will leave this quest with you, I must return my brother to Olympus." Triton spoke to his fellow god who only nodded before the god of the sea and his demigod brother both melted into a sea mist themselves and were blown away, apparently to Olympus, leaving four demigods looking to the god of death with the trepidation any would feel in their position.
"daughter…?" whispered Ellen as she looked at the god claiming paternity over her.
"Yes my child. You are one of the few children I have spawned over the millennia and the only one living now. Not many of my children stay in the land of the living this long though, most have joined myself in the land beyond the Styx and experience life amongst the deceased souls that I have shepherded." Thanatos spoke, "Although you are also a child of my roman form Letus but as these demigods have explained to you we gods have found a certain harmony between our different sides although I find that death is generally constant and unwavering."
Ellen could only nod, she never knew anything about her father besides the few times her mother had made very fleeting mentions of him, him being powerful, important, and beautiful were the only things that really made it to Ellen and she could believe that Thanatos matched that description.
Jedidiah though didn't like this, he wanted to protect the girl from death and now her father was death. This made him very confused as well because he couldn't tell if he was supposed to fight the god or bow down and beg for him to let his daughter stay. But neither were necessary as Thanatos just glanced at him before smiling slightly in the same mischievous like smile that Ellen had been using most of the day, although it looked a little scarier on the beautiful death god.
"Relax demigods, you have all done well. I am only the first god that will recognize you all for your great work on this day and many will show their gratitude later for you all have found the hero of Olympus successfully and led to his return home." Thanatos spoke, "And I personally was happy to see my daughter accepted by three influential demigods as well offering her many paths into a better life than many of her siblings."
"Wait, you didn't claim me like you were supposed to." Ellen called out at her father, "These guys explained that all gods were to claim their children by the age of 13 and you didn't." She was angry, she had wanted to know her father and instead she was shunned and obviously forgotten by this rule.
"Actually I did claim you my daughter, it was just that Perseus Jackson never said how a demigod was to be claimed, it was nine years ago when you saw those kids in the purple shirts that took your harpy friend Ella away that I approached one of them after they rescued me from Alaska and claimed you as my daughter to him and simply asked him not to tell anyone as you were safe and I feared how anyone would treat a child of Death." Thanatos smirked slightly, another face that had been seen by the campers on the daughter of said god. "Perseus was hesitant but he agreed as long as I had visited you and I did, I enjoyed your flute recitals when you were younger and your performance as Lady Macbeth was superb in your sophomore year." Ellen was speechless, she had never imagined that she had a godly father but now knowing that he had attended her recitals when she played flute when she was a kid and even the time she was in the schools rendition of Macbeth, it was more than she could have hoped for.
The other demigods felt a few emotions at this, all of them had a small tinge of jealousy that this god had been able to be apart of his child's life no matter how small and theirs hadn't but then they also felt happy for her, they all knew who their parents were from early ages and realized what that meant and she hadn't ever known for all her years of life.
Ellen then realized one more thing, this boy, Perseus Jackson, who had been such a pain to find had also been the reason that her father attended her play and recitals and that to her was more of a reason for her to be eternally grateful than him saving the world, twice.
Ellen finally let go of Jedidiah's hand and leapt forward hugging Death fiercely, "Thank you."
"It is nothing my daughter." Thanatos said stroking her straight black hair, the same shade as his hair and wings. "Now I must continue my duties but I can arrange for my brother to transport you all back to camp where you can then contact your mother Ellen dear, she will worry when you haven't called. Although I did tell her to anticipate this if you were ever found by a group such as this." He said gesturing towards the questmates.
The questers bowed to Death again in gratitude, "Thank you Lord Thanatos." Lacy and Thalia said while Jed just stared at the ground definitely trying to avoid eye contact of any sorts with the god that could kill him by just touching him.
"It will be nothing at all, I find that I am in debt to you for helping what is mine. And I am thanking you in this way." Thanatos squeezed his daughter once more before releasing her. "Your pegasi shall return to the camp easily but my brother will make sure you are all there sooner for her shall use your sleep to do so. This meadow will be safe as you all rest; sleep here and you will wake up in the proper beds back at the camp in Virginia. Hypnos will deliver you there so for now sleep."
And with his words the demigods did all find themselves tired and moved into positions that would be much more comfortable in sleep and all of them passed out except for Jedidiah that is who was blushing that in her tire stupor Ellen had claimed his chest as her pillow. And he was also acutely aware that her father had yet to leave.
"You will treat my daughter well son of Tyche, or I will visit you again sooner than your time." And with those words Thanatos flew off silently and left Jedidiah with a fear in him that now battled the joy he had from Ellen's positioning. And this led to him taking quite a bit of time before he finally fell to Hypnos and was transported to Morpheus' realm.