Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson world or characters, or anything related to the Greek Mythology world etc., I'm just a fan :)

Short A/N

Again - another lengthy chapter today (most of what I have written) and then a break. More on that in the A/N.

Penny

Mortal high school life proved weird to Penny. Percy and Penny would navigate the supposed normalcy of their days, but their head was filled with images of monsters, and their real friends and loved ones were all a part of the ancient Greek Mythology, so they felt weirdly disconnected to the rest of their class.

"What was she crying about?" Penny asked Percy as the two passed a crying cheerleader, comforted by her band of friends.

"Er… I think it's over a Chemistry test," and then they both started to laugh hysterically, masking their laughter as they walked away from the group of girls.

"Oh gods, if we were to cry after each time we failed a test…"

Mortal worries, mortal dreams, mortal's proportions - they were all off to Penny. In career day, everyone spoke of high aspirations they had deep into the future as Penny buried her head in her hands and thought how lucky she'd be to reach 18. It was her and Percy's most beloved joke.

"Would you rather die by Medusa or by the Hydra?"

"Come on, you're not trying with this one," Penny rolled her eyes as the two strode home, "of course Medusa. That one's painless. Oooh, I have one. Would you rather be killed by Dionysus or Ares?"

They ignored the thunder that rumbled.

"Hmm… difficult one. They both seem to like playing with their prey, and they both loath me."

"See, this is a high quality question!"

"I think Mr. D," he decided, "yeah, he'll be bored with it earlier. 'A' would have a field trip, and probably have me dying in a grotesque way."

"Sounds about right."

"Would you rather have Persephone turn you into a rose or have Hera turn you into a peacock?"

"Ah, peacock, easy one. They live longer."

"Yeah, and then you'll be able to spend some time with your boyfriend too as he'll probably transport you around at some point."

She giggled. "That's right. Hey, wouldn't it be out of this world tragic? I mean worse than Romeo and Juliet. Hera gets too sick with me to bear it, ends me, and then has Hermes transport me around without him knowing."

"It's not just tragic, it is the least romantic tale I have ever heard."

They both laughed.

/

That night, she met up with Hermes. He grinned at her his impish smile, took her hand, closed her eyes, and just like that they were hurled into darkness and reappeared somewhere else, their earlier clothes long gone.

He started to be all extra with their dates, taking her to crazy places. She was never even out of the tri-state area before him, and now they were roaming Europe and going to all these fancy restaurants.

"Where are we?" She laughed as he led her in with a grin, wearing a suit. She was wearing a purple, sleeveless, fitting evening-dress that twirled around her ankles. She was also on heels, but he was sensible enough not to put her in too-high heels, for that was a painful experience. "And where did you even get this dress?"

"Madrid," he answered her first question and grinned as they were swiftly escorted in and sat down. "And I have my ways."

"You're spoiling me," she raised her eyebrows, "when we'll pass the honeymoon phase it'd be a big fall."

"Are you kidding?" He snickered as they were handed menus, "I'm not stopping any time soon. It's not even about you anymore, I'm using you."

She laughed, "are you now?"

"You're my excuse to actually use my titles for fun. When I was dating casually it never lasted long enough to thoroughly enjoy it."

"Ah, the joys of monogamy."

"It's underrated these days," his eyes twinkled to her as he placed his chin on his palms and leaned closer to her. "You've decided what to order yet?"

She bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stop from giggling. It would be frowned upon in this posh, upper-class restaurant. "It's in Spanish, Hermes."

"Oh," he laughed softly as he glanced back at his menu, "right. The knowing all the languages thing, I never notice when it's a different language."

"Poor you," she teased.

"Poor me? Poor you for not knowing Spanish. It's the language of love."

"It is not," she laughed, "that's French."

"Pfft, overrated," and he smirked, his voice lowering down and becoming husky, "Buenas Noches, hermosa dama," he wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.

"Cheesy god."

"A cheesy god you love. Now, if you're so into cheese there's a course here you'd quite enjoy…"

Hermes

"I need to tell you something," he admitted after they were both done eating, and she wiped her lips softly with a napkin, gazing at him worriedly as he played with his fork, sneaking glances at her.

She looked beautiful that evening. Well, she did always, but that night especially. Her brown hair fell down in soft waves, a few curls framing her gentle features, and her bright green eyes glinted in the restaurant's soft yellow light. Her lips were colored deep red and her eyelashes were thickened (she must have applied makeup before their meeting, because that wasn't him, her makeup), and the purple dress he picked for her sat on her well (very well). In conclusion, the next time he was to see Aphrodite, she'll probably wear a different look than she did up until then.

"Okay," she eyed him, waiting to hear him out.

How will he even bring this up? And what will he do if she'll dislike the idea?

"There's… there's this thing I've been doing way, way before I've met you, and, er, I would like to keep doing it, but it'd feel wrong for me to do it without your knowledge."

She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes and looking uncomfortable, and well, he could understand why - he worded it poorly.

"It's… it's about May."

"Oh," her eyes widened with realization and a bit of relief, "May, okay. Wow, it sounded bad there for a moment. You're… you're checking up on her every once in a while, right? Is that what you feel uncomfortable with? Because that's really really fine." She seemed very honest. "It's even… sweet. And, and good of you. I actually appreciate you immensely for it."

"You are just something else," he beamed at her and kissed her hand fondly. "But, well, it includes… hugging her to sleep, sharing a bed, a lot of things you might be uncomfortable with -"

"No, no, not uncomfortable at all," she said decisively and shook her head, "no. Anything you must do to help her, do."

His heart pulsed with intense, passionate appreciation for her. "You're incredible."

"I'm not doing anything special," she laughed, "it's just the right thing to do. Hey, would it help if I come too? Would it help her to see more faces?"

"I - Penny, I can't ask you to do that."

Her smile softened. "You're not asking anything of me. I'm offering it out of my free will. Would it help?"

"Well - yes. Yes, it would. She's a kind soul, just like you, and she likes people. She'd like the company."

"Then I'll come," she nodded with determination.

"You really don't have to do this, just allowing me to go is a lot -"

"I would like to help her however I can, Hermes."

His heart fluttered happily and lovingly as he shook his head in astonishment. "You're incredible," he murmured again.

"I'm just a decent human being."

"Then that's a grim mirror to society," he grinned at her, his eyes twinkling in amusement, "it means there aren't a lot of decent human beings out there."

Penny

They went that weekend.

Her mom was really supportive of her going. Sally thought it the right thing to do, and the similarities between her and May saddened her greatly. Both were clear-sighted, both fell in love with a male deity, and Sally even confessed that once she even considered becoming an oracle, so it could've ended just as badly for her as it did for May.

"Come back for dinner, Pen, but I am very happy you're going. I'm proud of you, my kind daughter."

"Thanks mom, it… it feels right. Er, what time is dinner?"

"Eight."

He met up with her at the bottom of the stairs, looking very nervous as he kept moving his hand through his curls and walk in place as his feet tapped the floor agitatedly. "You can, you can say you want out anytime, and I'll take you home," he said immediately as he took ahold of her hand.

"I know, Hermes," she said gently as she smiled and pulled him down to kiss him, before pulling away and staring into his eyes, "I want to do this, okay? I want to make her happy, and to have her less lonely."

He stared back at her before his nervous gaze melted into one of adoration. "You're the best, you're the best."

"You're exaggerating!"

"Look, I…" he seemed nervous again, "after an hour or so, I'll take you back, okay? And, erm, you don't mind me staying the night there?" He squinted his eyes, wincing.

"Let's see how it goes and decide later when to go. And no. It's not cheating, you're comforting her, aren't you? It's not for pleasure."

He nodded.

"Then no. Let's go." She closed her eyes, and he made sure they were closed, as he always did, before transporting them to Westport.

They landed on the grass and he eyed her unsurely. "I'm… I'm leaving your hand now. For, for May."

She smirked. "I'll manage it."

He snickered, less nervous as he shook his head. "Don't lie. I know you're heartbroken over the loss of physical contact with me."

They walked in slowly, him leading the way. He knocked softly.

The door swung open rapidly and May Castellan looked out excitedly, her graying hair stuck out in tufts all over her head, and her face which Penny knew was pretty all those years ago now lean and wrinkled. "Luke? Luke? My son is back?"

Hermes' eyes saddened, and Penny saw him forcing a smile. "No sweetie. It's Hermes."

"Hermes! My love!" And she pulled him into her arms. He hugged her back, his eyes traveling to Penny to make sure she was okay with this. She smiled softly to him and shrugged as she stepped forward slowly. His shoulders sagged in what she assumed was relief at her indifference to the hug and the enaderments as he stroked May's back.

"How are you, May?" His voice was quiet as his eyes scanned her face worriedly. His hand reached to her forehead, his fingers tracing a red bruise on it gently.

May recoiled. "I - I fell. I hit my head. It - it doesn't matter, Luke is coming back today!" She declared cheerfully and Hermes smiled.

"Is he? That's, that's great," he looked back to Penny who stood on the side awkwardly, and nodded to her to step forward. "May, this is Penny. She's… Luke's friend."

"Yes," Penny said immediately as the older woman grinned at her, "Luke is great. The bravest hero."

"You know my Luke?" May pulled her into a hug, "oh my dear! Come on in, I have some cookies for Luke, but you can have some too!"

"Thank you so much, Ms. Castellan."

"Call me May, my dear," May smiled fondly as she pulled Penny with her inside, Hermes entering as well and closing the door after them.

"Here dear, here, have some!" May grinned as she pulled a tray of burnt cookies from the oven. Penny sat to the kitchen table as Hermes looked around him with a sigh. The kitchen was messy, with mounting piles of sandwiches and cookies, dozens of each, the sandwiches molding and the cookies wholly burnt, the floor dusty and filled with crumbs.

"May?" He called out as the woman pulled out a plate and prepared a meal for Penny, "I'm gonna clean the kitchen, is that alright?"

"Of course, my dear Hermes," May smiled at him lovingly, and Penny's heart fluttered painfully at the obvious way she loved the Messenger God. She was clearly capable of loving deeply. Not for the first time Penny wondered how May was before this whole thing happened.

Hermes snapped his fingers, and almost all the sandwiches and the cookied in the piles disappeared, leaving only the freshest of each. He snapped his fingers again, and the floor was spotless, looking like it was washed thoroughly.

"How are you?" He whispered to Penny then.

"Perfectly fine," she assured him, "go, be with May for a bit. I'm okay."

His eyes twinkled at her as he smiled warmly and shook his head, appearing wordless. He went to lean on the counter next to May as she piled two sandwiches on Penny's plate.

"How are you, my May?"

"Hermes," she smiled at him, "I missed you. Thank you for coming to visit me."

"I wasn't here a while," he said regretfully as May put the plate in front of Penny with a grin.

"Don't fret over it, my Hermes. I'm glad you came. There you go, sweetie," she turned back to Penny, "I hope you like it! It's my Luke's favorite."

"Yes, he, he told me he loves your sandwiches," she lied, but it was a white lie. Hermes smiled approvingly at her from the counter as May positively beamed.

"Really? Oh my Luke!" Her entire face brightened, "he's coming today, you know!"

"Yes," she nodded as she picked up one of the sandwiches. She chewed into it, and it really wasn't that bad. She swallowed and smiled at May. "This, this is amazing, Ms. Castellan."

That one wasn't a lie, really. An exaggeration, but not a lie.

May beamed again. "Oh, sweetie, call me May. And anything you want! I love Luke's friends as my own kids!" She ruffled her hair fondly, "and aren't you a pretty girl."

"Thanks, er, May," and she smiled back, an idea popping in her head as she remembered one of her dreams, in which May dragged a little Luke to play a game, "I heard you have some fun games in your house."
"Oh, honey!" She beamed again, her eyes alighting happily, "yes! Would you like to play a game?"

"Yes, very much."

"Wait here, I'll go fetch us one. My Hermes, would you like to join too?"

"I'd love to," he smiled fondly, and as May left the kitchen, Hermes stared at Penny with some very warm emotions, his eyes blazing.

"You never cease to amaze me," he murmured genuinely.

"I'm not doing much."

"You're making her happier than she'd been in a long, long time."

"Good," she smiled to him, "that's my intention."

They've played a game, and despite the choking sadness for the kind woman that was May that she felt during the entire visit, she still managed to enjoy herself. Hermes cheated them both in all the card games, and the none involving card games as well, winning them all, May chattered happily all the while, not noticing the games at all but instead telling Penny all about Luke as a baby and as a child, and Penny chose the sandwiches over the cookies, and they were indeed quite alright, so she wasn't hungry either.

The hours passed, and May babbled on happily and pulled out more and more games. Hermes got up at some point to clean up the house, returning a few minutes later and leaning on the doorstep. "May, do you need anything? Is your TV alright?"

May nodded distractedly. "Yes, yes my love, don't worry."

"What about your radio? Is it working well?"

"Yes."

"And the shower? Is that where you slipped and bumped your head?"

May paused her happy chatter to concentrate in thought as if trying to remember, and Hermes frowned worriedly and went back into the house, muttering something about putting a plastic carpet inside the shower.

Penny's heart warmed at how clearly he cared for May, and when he returned to the room she smiled at him approvingly. He smiled back, shrugging.

"Have you been eating?" He added as he glanced at May.

The woman was thin - too thin if Penny was honest, with almost no flesh anywhere on her body. May didn't answer him, looking as if she couldn't quite comprehend him.

"I'll, I'll make dinner," he sighed and his eyes landed on Penny, "but er, not before we take you back. What time is it?"

"7:45."

"Right. We told your mom you'll be back by 8, right?"

Penny nodded mutely.

"Alright. Er, May -"

"I'm gonna go now," Penny stood up and then turned to hug May.

The woman was surprised, but clearly happy as she hugged the girl back, pulling her closer into her body, her bony arms holding onto Penny tightly. "My girl! It was so nice to meet you again! You came to visit me with my Luke, right?"

"Er, yes," Penny mumbled, pulling away, "anyway, it was great to see you again, Ms. - er, May. You're, you're amazing."

"My dear!" May beamed, "aren't you a sweet girl."

"The sweetest," Hermes agreed from the doorstep, his eyes blazing again, "come on, Pen, let's get you home. May, sweetie, I'll be back soon, and I'll make you dinner."

"Alright Hermes! Take care of my Luke!"

Hermes winced, and they both stepped out of the house.

He closed the door behind them and was about to kiss Penny when the girl stopped him and gestured with her head to the opened window. "Not here. Take me back."

He nodded, closing her eyelids with soft fingers, and soon enough they were gone.

They landed back in her street and as soon as they did he kissed her, in an urgent, frantic way she identified as a way for him to speak his emotions.

Even though he was the God of Orators, he was never prone to romantic, overly-emotional words, and he always seemed to prefer to speak his emotions with actions and gestures. She liked that about him, actually, it felt honest to her.

As he pulled away, he kissed both her cheeks, and then looked at her with some deep, heated emotion that made her look down nervously.

"It's official," he murmured, "you're the most exceptional woman I've ever met in my life."

She flushed, smiling as she grabbed his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "May… May was pretty exceptional."

"Yeah," he agreed as he looked away, his gaze wandering on the buildings across the street, "for the longest time I worried and worried I'll never find a soul as kind as May's. Then I met you, and today has been the ultimate proof for me."

There were more unsaid words he looked like he wanted to say. But to her relief he stopped himself, smiling instead.

"Let's go up, I'll say hello to your mom and Percy before I go back to May."

"You, you have the time? She's expecting you back."

"Yeah, I'm gonna spend the night there, so it's alright. Come on."

As they entered the door, her mother, who already finished making the table, walked to them and immediately pulled Penny into a hug.

"Hey honey, are you alright? How was it?"

"It ended up being great," she hugged her back and then pulled away, smiling at Hermes who grinned back and shook his head, looking at the floor, "I think I'll go again."

"My kind daughter," Sally mumbled lovingly before smiling at Hermes. "Hello again, Lord Hermes."

"No 'Lord'," he objected as per usual, his eyes glinting at her, "no need for formalities. And well, Sally, I came to tell you, as if you didn't know that already - you have a special, kind-beyond-this-world daughter."

"Well thank you, No 'Lord' Hermes," they all chuckled, even Paul from the kitchen, where he was chopping vegetables for his famous salad, "I told Penny, and I'll tell you too that I appreciate you immensely for taking care of May. It shows you to have an amazing character."

He beamed back, his hand squeezing Penny's hand, and it was again so funny for her to realize how much he cared about impressing her family. "It's, it's my responsibility, Sally. You don't walk out on your loved ones, especially when they need you most."

"Words to live by… Hermes, do you want to join us for dinner?"

"You're very kind to offer, but I'm to go back to May's house and spend the rest of the evening with her."

"Oh, we won't keep you away from that!" Sally nodded approvingly at him, "go, you can join us any other night. We're having a nice Italian dinner two days from now."

"Ooh, Italian is arguably the best," Hermes hummed, "yes, I'd love to come."

"Great! Thanks for stopping by, and… and again, you're wonderful for your treatment of May, truly," and her mother walked away and rejoined Paul in the kitchen to allow them to say goodbye.

"And you," Hermes whispered to Penny as he pulled her with him to the hallway, "I'm not quite done with you. Tomorrow we're going anywhere you want, anywhere in the world. Just tell me where."

"Alright," she laughed as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him goodbye, "I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Go back to May."

"You're really okay with this, right?"

"Really okay with this."

"Okay. Goodnight Pen, say hi to Percy for me."

"I will," she laughed as he descended the stairs with somewhat of a spring in his step.

She closed the door and went to the kitchen to serve some of the food to the table.

"He is really besotted with you, you know," Paul smiled kindly to her as he finished making his salad and put the sharp knife away.

She flushed. "Oh, I…"

"I can always tell. A man in-love is quite easy to spot, and it looks like deities are not so different-looking in that aspect."

She sighed, looking down. "He has, he has big plans for us, I can tell. I'm just hoping I'll live up to them."

"Sure you will," Paul said with confidence as Percy and their mom entered the room.

"No, Paul," she chuckled, her eyes sad, "I just hope I'll live, literally, for them to happen. We demigods are not the most resistant, and Percy and I are almost twice as bad in avoiding danger than your average demigod."

Percy smirked, unaware of the conversation as a whole but agreeing with the statement, ruffling his sister's hair. "I second that."

Apollo

Apollo had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and for a long while. A few months. It was the sensation he felt when the part of him connected to the Fates started to hum and buzz as if something big and important was going to take place.

"I'm going to marry her," was his half brother's hello as he delivered him a box.

"Hello to you too, Hermes," Apollo smirked.

"Hello, Apollo. I'm gonna make Penny my immortal wife."

"Oh? She consented then?"

She seemed quite nervous at the prospect last time Apollo saw her.

"Oh, no, I didn't tell her that. She's not there yet at all."

"And yet despite that, you seem weirdly upbeat."

Hermes grinned, his eyes glinting. "Had you found someone you want to spend the rest of forever with, wouldn't you be just as upbeat?"

Apollo chuckled. "What happened that made you all of the sudden… smitten?"

Hermes was going to object to his use of the word 'smitten', Apollo could tell, but instead, he shook his head and grinned. "Whatever. Call me smitten. Anyway, well, she… she insisted on coming with me to visit May, and she was just… kinder in ways I could never have even dreamed of. She doted on her, played games with her, talked to her about Luke as a baby… Apollo, I was so stunned I didn't know what to do with myself."

Apollo's heart warmed at that. "Penny is a kind girl."

"The kindest!" Hermes shook his head, grinning, "I love her!"

"Yes, well, you… have a type," Apollo laughed, "you like kind girls, like May and Penny."

"I have a type," Hermes didn't argue, smiling instead, and really, it was ridiculous to see him like that, extremely upbeat and grinning like mad, but as someone that cared about the Messenger God, he was also pleased to see that.

"So, so you'll wait for her then? Until she's ready to get married?"

"As long as she needs," Hermes nodded and Apollo shook his head, snickering.

"Hades, you're such a softie!"

Hermes laughed, rubbing his face. "I'm… I'm gonna go."

"Go."

/

Hermes was a changed being. Everyone said that. Even Ares said he was delivering things for him again, even though he formerly boycotted him.

Everyone wondered what was with him, but Apollo realized sadly that up until then, nobody really saw him… happy. Amused, busy, immersed, but never happy, and now elated Hermes was a bizarre sight to everyone.

All around Olympus beings tried to pinpoint what exactly caused the change, but Apollo knew without a doubt. And so did Aphrodite, it seemed.

"Apollo!" The Love Goddess singsonged to him as they bumped into each other on Olympus. She smiled slyly.

Aphrodite was beautiful, obviously. She looked to him like a mortal lover of his from a couple of years back, with amazing, deep blue eyes, along with another lover of his with dark skin and silky black hair. The combination of the two was breathtaking. "You're close with Hermes, right? Are you aware of any special reason he's been so… overjoyed lately?"

Apollo faked a confused smile and shrugged.

She then sighed. "The sweet, sweet highs. The lows afterward are quite painful, though."

Apollo frowned at her. "What lows?"

"Come on, Apollo, their story is not over."

He narrowed his eyes at the goddess. That's never good. "It's not?"

"No, come on, no great love story is so boring."

"I don't think either of them wants to be a… great love story."

"Well… it's not really up to them, is it?" and her eyes focused on his face as she smiled deviously, "you know it as well as I do given that you're the God of Prophecy."

True to her words, things started to go downhill very soon afterward. But not just for them, for everyone.

Hermes

His happy bubble burst in little to no time. Some beings were not meant to be content for long. He seemed to be one of them.

It began two days before the shutdown.

For the longest time, and mostly in the circles of Zeus, Ares, and Dionysus, a grudge, turning into real bitterness was formed against the Jacksons. How they both declined immortality and instead used their wishes to 'educate' the gods - it didn't sit well with most of them. Everyone was happy they've won the war, obviously, but the way they've won it wounded their pride. Hermes himself didn't enjoy the quite logical thought that without the heroes Olympus would have been lost, but he disliked it because it meant something in the way the gods handled themselves was faulted - his mind was rational enough not to blame the heroes for it.

The others didn't spare him from their opinions, either - as time progressed and the bitterness became more widespread, many told him that his lover and her brother were disrespectful, insolents and even nosy-brats (that was one insult too much - he refused to deliver anything for Dionysus a whole week after that). But it became worse when rumors of an approaching shutdown started to spread. It was said that Zeus felt the need to return to their old values and demand respect for their godly status and blah blah blah. Besides the pride thing, Zeus thought that silence from Olympus would lull to sleep all the beings that were stirring.

Hermes knew it to be nonsense, and not just that. Regardless of his happiness being dependant on the mortal beings Olympus declared a cultural war against, his business depended on it too - if Olympus was to shut, and all the gods were in the same place, business would plummet and his status as the messenger between them would hold no meaning. He was among the few who actively objected to it, but in the end it seemed inevitable.

He called her as soon as he put two and two together and realized it was to happen, and soon. It was 4 pm, so she was supposed to be home.

"Hey," her happy voice answered, "we said tomorrow night, didn't we?"

"Change of plans," he frowned as he read emails of beings trying to hurriedly sell trades in ridiculous discounts, "are you up to it today?"

"Sure," her answer came quite quickly, "I'll meet you down at 7?"

"How about 5:30? I think we'll need more time today."

"Oh, er, okay," she sounded confused, "I'll go get ready."

/

As they met up, his eyes scanned her fondly as his heart fluttered sadly, missing her already. Not only did he think the shutdown very probable, but he also had a horrible sinking feeling that the shutdown was only the beginning and that worse things were to follow.

She wasn't wearing anything fancy, jeans and a jacket, since at this point she knew him well enough to assume he'll dress her up in something different soon enough.

She once told him laughingly that their little escapades were Hermes' way to let off steam and pretend there was nothing unusual about their relationship, just two equals (admittedly, fancy equals) having a quiet dinner, and doing so away from the rest of the Mythological world's prying eyes. He didn't disagree.

"Come on," he handed her his hand, and she held onto it, smiling at him.

"It's too early for dinner, you know. I'm not very hungry yet."

"I know. We'll do something other than dinner."

"Oooh!" Her eyes alighted with excitement, "okay! Cool."

"Cool," he agreed with a snicker, "close your eyes, sea-girl."

"Already ahead of you," she stuck her tongue at him and he smiled and hurled them away.

In an instance, they were on the top of a snowy mountain, on a bench he conjured for them. The snow was deep, reaching their knees, and it was white and bright, almost blinding, as it glistened in the light of the setting sun. Around the mountain-top towered other snowy tops of nearby mountains, in front of them a magnificent, gigantic waterfall streamed down, thousands of gallons of water falling down in a great noise. On a lower part of the mountain spread a large, green meadow, the green grass whistling with the autumn wind, moving and lurching. In the middle of the meadow, a lake as blue as the brightest part of the skies bubbled happily, the sun's last rays alighting it and creating different shades and colors in the swirling water.

"Wow…" she sighed in bliss, her eyes wide with wonder, "... wow."

"Yeah," he agreed with a smile as he leaned back on the bench, his thick coat limiting his movement a bit.

He spared no means in covering her up from head to toe - two layers of pants, heavy boots, four different layers on her upper body, the last layer being a thick, heavy blue coat, wooly gloves on her hands, a scarf wrapped around her neck and earmuffs on her ears.

And he held back. He was going to add a scarf to cover her face and a wool hat, but decided against it in the end.

'Penny, you look ridiculous,' George, his insolent snake, never spared anyone his opinion, 'can we snap a picture of you?'

"I probably do, and, and no," Penny laughed as the snake ignored her and the snap of a camera was heard.

'George, you can't photograph people without their consent,' Matha scolded.

Penny seemed to have let it slide as she looked down at her body and took off the earmuffs, "you overdid it a bit. But I appreciate it."

"It's like the opposite of salt. You can always take off layers, but too little would make you cold," Hermes shrugged as he turned his head to watch the view.

"The opposite of salt, huh?" She laughed as she watched the view as well. "You always have the best metaphors for things."

He laughed too as they went silent, watching the view.

Penny broke off the silence. "Is this… Switzerland?"

"Yes," Hermes smiled, "I've always loved it here. To me, it's nature at its best - beautiful, untamed, powerful, and serene. Doing, doing its own thing, in a way. Coming here have always calmed me."

"It's the prettiest place I've ever been in," she confessed honestly, her eyes wandering around her almost hungrily, "I can't even process all that I'm seeing."

"It, it gets amazing at nighttime," Hermes murmured, looking up at the skies, that for the time being were bright blue, "it's the clearest skies I've ever seen. Millions of shiny, colorful stars filling up the inky-black horizon."

Penny grinned at him as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Apollo is meant to be the God of Art and Poetry, but you're not so bad at it yourself."

"I'm the God of Orators," he smirked arrogantly, "he can take paintings and singing, but words are mine."

"Alright," she laughed, "words are yours. Got it."

His hand reached to hug her shoulders as he pulled her to him and sighed. "Pen, I… I fear we won't be seeing each other for a long time after today."

"What?" She pulled away and her eyes bore into his, "why?"

He looked down, playing with the hem of his coat. "Stupid… stupid reasons, really. Their… their damn pride. It rubbed some the wrong way, having you and Percy save the day and then tell them how they should act. And now Zeus has been making some -" he looked at the skies and rolled his eyes, "- some ridiculous claims about how we must 'return to our old ways' and 'regain the respect we deserve as the mighty rulers' and so on and so forth."

She frowned. "What does all of that mean?"

He sighed. "A… a shutdown. It's probable. We'll all be locked up there and forbidden to communicate with you."

She paled. "W-what? That's the opposite of what you should do! That's no way to connect demigods to Olympus!"

"Hey, I agree with you. I'm confident in my status and powers, I don't need you mortals groveling and fawning over me to make me feel superior."

"But you're not everyone," she completed him sadly and he nodded miserably.

"Not to mention I, I have nothing to do if they shut down Olympus. They want to forbid me from delivering mail! No dreams, no visions, no Iris-messages… I'll be out of job, bored, and worst of all -" his eyes met hers as he sighed deeply, "forbidden from seeing you and my kids, Penny. I loathe this. And I loathe how powerless I am to stop it or even resist it. My occupation, my… you, seeing you and my children will be banned, and I'm to follow those orders like a sheep!"

Penny looked down, kicking some snow with the sole of her boot. "It's like you can't win with them. Percy and I risk ourselves repeatedly, we enter a war with the firm knowledge that one of us would die by the end of it, and we dedicate our wishes to ensure another war would not erupt only to have them hate us!"

Anger rumbled in him as well, frustration swirling in him. "Don't look for logic in realms controlled by pride and distrust."

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she smiled bitterly. "I… I don't know what to say."

"It won't… it won't last forever," he looked down, "it can't. It makes no sense. I won't be the only one idle, Artemis would be too without her Hunt, Aphrodite would be too without stalking her beloved… toys, I wager she thinks of you mortals as toys, even Ares would eventually realize that we, the gods, are not so interesting to him as his beloved terrorists and dictators."

"But still… how long will it last?"

Hermes shrugged helplessly. "I don't know."

They were both quiet then.

"Will you be able to, er, still visit me, despite -"

"No," he mumbled miserably, "no. Once it's decided, Zeus will make it… binding. It'll be worse for me because I'm both a known rule-breaker and also God of Communication. Zeus is going to watch closely over me."

She groaned. "I just don't get it! So Percy and I declined immortality and dedicated our wishes to our fellow demigods. So, so we were technically instrumental in winning the war. What does it matter? Why do we matter so much? How can we be the sole reason for an Olympic complete shutdown?"

"You're not the sole reason," Hermes admitted, "but I, I can't say more."

Her breath hitched as a thought seemed to occurre to her. "Hermes, are things, are things starting again? Is someone rising again?"

"Olympus has many enemies, Penny. They always rise and attempt and conspire. I, I hope this saga will end quietly without anything escalating further."

"What… what kind of enemies?"

His eyes looked up guiltily and he shook his head. "You'll… you'll know soon enough. I promise. I just wanted to explain things before it all happened and I'm banned from talking to you. I wanted you to know it's not my doing and that I'm not ignoring you. It'd be forbidden for me to have any communication with you, any of you. As soon as it's over, one way or another, I'll contact you."

She nodded, her face still turned downward.

"Are you angry, my Penny?"

"Not, not angry," she muttered, "frustrated. Just when it felt like I had some, some grip on my life -"

"Ah, a great misconception," he smiled humorlessly as his fingers pulled up her chin, creating eye-contact, "I'm sorry, Pen. Believe me, if it was up to me -"

"I know," she cut him off, her eyes sad, "I know."

He hugged her then, and the two fell silent.

The sun started to sink further and further across the sky, and the air started to cool more and more. He tried to warm her, the thought of moving someplace else crossing his mind but he didn't want her to miss the stars. Soon, though, he felt her shaking in his arms.

"What do you prefer?" He said after a long silence, "peas or chicken?"

"A random question," she smiled, her teeth chattering a bit, "peas."

"Not random," he snickered and snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were both holding warm thermoses filled with hot, steamy soup.

"Oh, that's heaven!" Her eyes widened happily and he grinned, sipping from his soup.

"I promise you, the sight of the night skies here is worth the cold that might follow."

"I sure hope so," she smiled at him and drank from her soup.

/

"Alright," she murmured as her eyes watched the skies attentively, her head leaned on his shoulder as she looked up, "alright, it's worth the cold."

"Told you," he smiled as his eyes trailed the shiny groups, the cold, clean air allowing thousands more sparkles that disappeared in the city's light to gleam, and in various colors too - red, orange, and different shades of yellow, as well as giant clouds of gas surrounding some of the stars.

"It's beautiful, but… but it's not cheering me up," she mumbled and they looked at each other, "how, how long will the shutdown last? Do you want to... break up?"

"No!" His eyes blazed. The air around him buzzed as he felt his agitation and anger taking control of him.

He looked down and inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself as he knew how uncomfortable Penny was when his emotions got the better of him. As he looked up again, she didn't look scared, thank the Fates, but she still looked very upset. "That is, I don't want us to break up. To me, you're… you're it, Penny. You must know it by now. Zeus' passing whims will not dictate that to me. However, if, if you can't live with the uncertainty… I mean, I won't like it, but I can't very well stop you either -"

Her hand reached up and her fingers rested against his lips, shushing him. She shook her head firmly. "I can live with the uncertainty. Just give me an estimate of… of how long it will last. I trust your judgment enough to have you guessing that."

"Five, six months," he shrugged, "he can't hold us up there forever. Heck, your father can't stay in the skies for that long. It's impossible."

"Six months," she repeated sadly, "al-alright, I guess. I don't, I don't have much choice, do I?"

He didn't answer, frustration burning him inside as he leaned closer to her and placed his lips against hers and she responded almost immediately. Their kiss was raw, heated, passionate too, yes, but as she pulled him to her, her fingers in his curls, and he held on to her waist firmly they both claimed each other, angry at how little control any of them had over their own lives.

When she pulled away he buried his head in her neck and spoke against her skin. "This is not over. I hope you know that."

"You won't get rid of me that easily," she murmured back, finally smiling as he pulled away and they looked at each other again. He bowed his head.

"Ditto, sea-girl. Come on, let's get you back, before you freeze to death."

"No," her hand reached to stop him, "no, let's stay a bit longer. Six months can wait an hour."

"Won't argue with that," and they sank into another comfortable silence with some very uncomfortable thoughts of being pawns in someone else's game.

A/N

I feel like the momentum of this story is sinking. It took me a long time to get said momentum, I felt like I worked hard for each reviewer and follower, and that it took a while for people to actually regard this story.

This is truly one of the longest pieces I've ever written inside and outside of fanfiction - it is not even days of work, but weeks and months, and if the interest in it is lowering then I'm not too sure how long and hard I can work on it.

I'm really not writing this out of anger, especially not to all the lovely people that were there for the journey, but speaking of them I also feel like I lost a lot of them along the way, which saddens me a bit.

This is an anonymous website, people come and go, we owe each other nothing, I totally get that. I just feel like I poured my heart and soul into this story, and this mega-story of 260k words is what I got thus far, and yes, I want and intend to continue it to HoO, but maybe not... right now. I'm also not too sure about its direction yet, and need the motivation to continue.

I just can't seem to break the fanfiction glass ceiling, and I don't fully understand why. Not here, not with my Harry Potter story... and it just makes me think that perhaps I should put my efforts elsewhere. Maybe this site truly is dying and I was too late for the party :(

If you're reading this then you clearly didn't abandon this story, so thanks anyway. And if you do want to read more, you could let me know in some form. Maybe it will bring me my motivation back :)

I really didn't mean for this to be dramatic or accusing in any way, and if it came out that way I'm sorry. I'm just really confused about my plans for HoO and I need a lot of motivation to write what would probably be another 150k words at least.

Anyway, we're done with PJ and the Olympians and with all the chapters leading to HoO, so I hope you all enjoyed the ride :)

As always, thank you for reading, and I promise I will be back. You don't know me in real-life, but I'm a person that keeps his promises. I started this story to attempt to tell how different things will be if Percy had a sister, and to give a favorite character of mine, Hermes, more development. And that journey is not over, as far as I'm concerned.

Here's an interesting concept for those of you hoping for a quick return - do you have any special ideas regarding HoO? Review them, and maybe one of them will kick things back to place and connect all the pieces of the puzzle. Because right now I have many different parts of a whole, but not a clear route between them.

Anyway, I hope this writer-block is soon to end... up until next time :)