The Palace
Percy Jackson was drunk. Three empty containers of wine lay shattered around his room. He was drinking from a fourth. He swayed as he stood on his balcony. The city below him held temples to all the gods. He saw two of them, the moon illuminating both the sea and the statue of Athena on the hills before him. "Damn you," he muttered. The gods were not to blame for his drunkenness. Nor were they to blame for his one infidelity. Well, mostly not to blame. Who else could be responsible for him going to bed with Annabeth and waking alone in a palace. Who else could have caused him to go to sleep in shorts and a t-shirt after having played video games and to wake up in chiton with torches as the only light in his residence.
He looked to the balcony below him and saw a woman speaking to the result of his one infidelity. As much as he hated himself for the event, when he looked at the five year old little girl he could not even bring himself to call it a mistake. She was already beautiful. Her hair was a rich dark brown, a perfect blend of Percy's raven locks and her mother's. "Zoë," he whispered and immediately a wave affection rolled over him. She was his savior and his downfall. Even with Annabeth he had never understood Athena's warning about his loyalty. With Zoë he knew, there was too much he would give up to keep her safe.
He had been living this life for nearly seven years now. He looked at the Athena Parthenos in the distance. Rome hasn't burned Athens and taken it yet, he thought, and I won't fucking let them. Part of him knew Annabeth would be impressed he remembered the details. More of him missed her so much it hurt and he used the wine to numb it. In four years he had felt the need to numb it many times. He had lost track of the number of battles he had fought for the city.
There was a knock on the door to the room. An armored hoplite entered. It was Demosthenes, one of the Athenian generals. Percy knew if he wore armor something was wrong. He was also the only one who knew the situation Percy found himself in and the incredible guilt that he carried at the indiscretion that gave him the daughter he loved.
"Whaaaa is it, Demsthnes?" His words were more slurred than he expected.
"Carthage has fallen. The reforms the new group of legates installed allowed Scipio to carve through the Carthaginian lines. Rome will turn east next, Illyria, Macedon, Epirus, and Thebes. And then here, your alliances have proven most fruitful. But soon, we will have to test them.
"I had a good teacher." Percy muttered.
"So you have said, King Perseus." King, thought Percy mockingly, what kind of king drinks himself to sleep at night?
At least he thought he had thought it. Demosthenes answered what Percy had believed to be a mental hypothetical. "The kind who never wanted it. The kind who has sacrificed his body and mind to protect these people and not just the people of Athens. You led the Greeks to overthrow the yoke of the Macedonians. Never forget, you are not the king of Athens. You are vasiliás ton Ellínon."
They were speaking in Greek, but Percy translated his words. "King of the Greeks," he muttered. "Demosthenes, why do you trust me as your King?"
"You are the son of Poseidon." Demosthenes paused and then spoke again. "And no man who tears himself apart for a single instance of infidelity, yet cares for the daughter it produced like you do, cannot not be trusted. If you care for this kingdom a tenth as much, and I have seen the measures you are willing to take to protect it, you are a better king than we deserve."
"Will the army be ready in the morning?"
"They will, the raiders landed on Salamis. They have barely five hundred there."
"But they razed that village. Killed or raped everyone."
"Yes."
"Five hundred hoplites, three hundred light troops." It both amazed Percy and terrified him how quickly the talk of battle and death sobered him. Have I become so accustomed to death?
Delphi, The Temple of Athena, the same night
Athena could feel the rage rolling off of Poseidon. He spoke without turning. "Are you hiding your daughter from my son?" The gray eyed goddess glared at her rival. Worry fueled his rage. Pride fueled her answer.
"Why? So that she can simply serve as the vessel for your grandchildren?" The anger flared across Poseidon's bearded face. The floor beneath them began to tremble. It had been many years since she had seen the anger pulsing off of him in such a way. It was a reminder that he was indeed one of the Big Three.
"To save his fucking life." Athena believed the heat coming from his eyes could have matched the Greek fire with which they shared a color. "He needs her by his side."
"So you admit he's not intelligent enough…" Another tremor shook the temple.
"His mind is more than capable of ruling, despite your comments to the contrary. The intellect to rule a kingdom wisely? That does not concern me." For the first time, an emotion other than rage entered his voice. "My concern is he is killing himself. Carving out the only safe haven for half-bloods throughout the entirety of Greece." His eyes narrowed, "And the daughter you dumped on him. So do not tell me you think him unworthy. I've seen the girl. It is most definitely his. You had a FUCKING CHILD WITH YOUR DAUGHTERS BOYFRIEND!" The most violent tremor yet shook Athena, though not as much as the words spat at her in disgust.
Her voice trembled as she spoke. "Poseidon, you brought me to the very temple where you fucked Medusa. I assumed it was to apologize, but instead let me tell you this." The tremors stopped, but she could still see the anger in his eyes.
"Speak."
"Your son is more than worthy of my daughter. But I did not have a child with him. I presented Zoë to him for the sake of a goddess and two women, and as a way to protect him. I knew people would assume she was mine and I let them. He has always known who the mother was and knew it was not me, but understood why I brought her forward. The pain in his eyes when he thinks about where she came from is only tempered by the love he has for that girl, regardless of who her mother is. Remember Poseidon, just as the demigods did not appear and wake up together at the same time. Neither did any who followed us. He was alone for two years without anyone from our realm, someone else was as well. Her mother isn't a goddess, but in desperation she was given to one. That goddess could not bring her forward, the insinuations would have been too severe." Relief that his granddaughter was not Athena's daughter appeared on his face with a flaring of his nostrils and a flash in his eyes. Athena added the next statement softly. "I would not betray my daughter as such, nor you."
His eyes flicked to her hand, which had rested on his softly. He did nothing to cease the contact. Athena spoke again. Her voice returning to her usual tone, despite the single tear escaping from her eye. "I cannot find my daughter, or any of my children. But I will help Perseus. Fighting monsters is easy for someone like him. Killing other Greeks or Macedonians or whoever else in war is something different. But I ask something of you." More tears escaped her eyes and her shoulders slumped. "Your domain covers much more of this world than mine, find my children."
She felt Poseidon shift and assumed he was going to remove his hand from under hers. Instead she felt his arms wrap around her and the few rebellious tears turned to sobs. She had been holding in the pain and worry for years now. Even with her riotous dark hair buried in his chest her gray eyes looked upward and mentally she apologized.
Athens, the next morning
"Where the fuck am I?" muttered Annabeth Chase. Her grey eyes were blinking heavily in the sun that should not have been striking her face. I went to bed with Percy in Cabin 3, where the fuck am I now? As her mind raced she was relieved to find she was not wearing what she had fallen asleep in considering she had just recognized her brother looking at her. She had gone to sleep in nothing, have fallen asleep curled into Percy the sweat from their love making the only thing separating their bodies. She looked at Malcom, her expression clearly showing she expected an answer as to their predicament. He merely pointed at the mountain to her left.
"Mother…" her voice trailed off as she saw the forty-five feet of stone rise above the 377 feet of the mountain. And in front of the that temple, thirty-seven feet of gold and ivory. "Mom," she whispered.
"Annabeth," started Malcolm. "What the hell is going on?" Around them the other children of Athena were still in slumber. "I've been up for hours. No one speaks anything but Greek. They act like they know us. Like they know who we are. I watched over a thousand troops march out this morning behind someone they called the king. When has Athens ever had a king? But that is the Athena Parthenos and it is still standing on the Acropolis. I don't think where is the right question Annabeth. We're clearly in Athens, we need to know when we are?"
Throne Room of Olympus
"I sense her!" Gasped Athena. Her head snapped to Poseidon, whose eyes were closed as a grimace covered his face. She sensed her father's anger rising and the fear from a third Olympian.
"Poseidon, what is your son doing?" The voice boomed across the throne room. He waved a hand and a scene appeared in the smoke above Hestia's hearth. The Athenian army had surrounded the pirates. Fucking loyalty, she thought. Instead of using his army, Percy was walking toward the raiders himself. He looked so much different than the young Hero of Olympus. A son of Hephaestus had created his armor. Bronze and beautifully molded leather showed a trident flanked by two rearing horses. He was nearly six and a half feet tall. He had always been lean, but a wolfish amount of muscle had grown upon his frame. He attributed it to the fact that he honestly trained more now in armor than he had as just a hero.
In front of his army he stopped. With a flourish he dropped to a knee and drove Riptide into the ground. With the blade as an epicenter the ground began to ripple. The frequency rapidly increased and soon the sandy soil beneath the pirates lost the ability to support their weight. Athena watched in horror as the five hundred were swallowed by the very earth. Even in the display in the smoke she could see tears falling down Percy's face.
"He is protecting his people, Brother. Just as we have done horrible things to protect our own." Athena heard Poseidon in her mind. 'He needs her, where is she?' As much as she agreed, after witnessing his power she was afraid.
"He is too dangerous. He needs to be killed." Ares perked up at the suggestion.
"What he needs, is someone with him. The woman he loves next to him and I feel that she has finally appeared." Everyone turned to Artemis. "Father," she began, "how often have you been calmed by a sister, your wife, or Athena?"
"I doubt Athena could do that anymore after mind-fucking her daughter's boyfriend to create his daughter." Athena and Poseidon glared at Aphrodite.
Athens
The army had left three days prior. Annabeth had learned from Lydia, the woman of the house she was currently staying in, that they were returning today because Lydia's father was a strategos and knew a son of Poseidon. She had taken it upon herself to meet the army when they landed in Piraeus and meet the Athenian general. Despite the returning force there was relatively little fanfare. She had naturally inquired as to why, "Because they always return with little casualties. The king protects them."
She stood alone watching the approaching ships. A hundred yards away an older woman was standing with a young girl and waiting on the same ships. The girl had dark hair with auburn streaks in it. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet and excitedly pointing towards the lead ship. The sail showed a rearing horse next to a grey owl. Will he know him? Will it be the right son of Poseidon? Will this be finding him in new Rome again and he won't remember anything? Oh gods, what if it's even worse? What if he's found someone new? Oh gods. Her mind was racing now and she pressed her palms to her temples. She did not look like the eighteen year old who was sleeping with Percy Jackson anymore. She had grown overnight, at least in her mind that was the case. Looking in a mirror she would have guessed that she had aged at least five years. If not more.
The ship had docked and the men began to disembark. First came a tall man with the wide blue horsehair plume of a strategos. Behind him was an even taller man with darker armor and a horse hair plume of tall green-dyed horse hair. She walked toward them.
"Who approaches?" The strategos spoke in deep voiced Greek.
"A traveler, searching for a son of Poseidon." The strategos stiffened. The taller man's face was hidden by his helmet. But the facemask had turned to her sharply.
"Why?" Before she could answer a shrill voice rang out and she felt a girl sprint past her.
"Patér!" She through her arms around the taller man and hugged him tightly. "I'm always afraid you will not come back. I have no mother. I need you." He dropped to a knee and returned her hug. She could not hear what he muttered to her.
"What is your name traveler? That you so seek to speak with the son of Poseidon."
"Annabeth, Daughter of Athena." The little girl spun and confronted her.
"Patér told me about you." The little girl seemed and sounded more intelligent than the five years of age that Annabeth guessed she was. "He told me about holding up the sky. About going through Tartarus, the labyrinth, defeating Titans and Giants. Finding the statue when it was lost. He was you were the bravest and greatest demigod ever." Annabeth knelt and smiled in front of the girl.
"I think there was one braver and greater than I." The girl's eyes grew wide. Annabeth's remained focused on the girl's father.
"Who? Who? Who?" The natural curiosity amused the daughter of Athena because she recognized it.
"He fought the Titans and Giants too, except he did it alone, and won. He held the sky for Artemis, turned down godhood twice, twice was named Hero of Olympus, carried me through Tartarus. Bore the curse of Achilles. And I love him very much, that much nothing will ever change."
"Who is he?" The girl was very insistent it seemed.
"He's tall, with wild black hair. He has the greenest eyes you have ever seen." The little girl's mouth opened. "A son of Poseidon," the mouth opened wider and she turned toward her father. "His name was Perseus, though we called him Percy."
"Patér," the girl whispered and faced her father. "Patér, is she talking about you?" The strategos was smiling and low laughter was coming from the helmeted man. The man spoke, she recognized the voice even as it spoke in Greek.
"Ask her about what happened before I blew up the mountain." Annabeth blushed as the girl turned to her. She had a very judgmental look on her face.
"He blew up a mountain?"
"Yes, and I kissed him." The girl looked vaguely disgusted, but motioned Annabeth lower. She complied.
"Will you make him happy?" Tears welled in Annabeth's eyes.
"I hope so little one."
"Patér," the girl said turning, "Take off your helmet and let the pretty lady make you happy."
Percy Jackson was laughing as he removed his Corinthian style helmet and opened his arms to embrace the daughter of Athena. "I love you, Annabeth." She had buried herself into his arms. "Don't flip me, Demosthenes will not take kindly to the king being thrown."
"I love you too, Percy."