When Perseus Jackson was born, the ocean had rejoiced. Perseus was the son of Poseidon and his mistress, Sally. It had been long before the sea had a child to spoil and needless to say Perseus Jackson was spoiled indeed.
Even though he was not a legitimate son of his, Poseidon found his son adorable. Even Amphitheatre and Triton succumbed to his charms. He was trained by the best swordsman and studied under the best scholars. He was the pride of the sea. He was kind too. A trait he got from his mother. But as all the sons of Poseidon were, he was reckless and arrogant. A thing which overshadowed his kind nature. Nevertheless, he was loved.
He was loved by the mortals too. The mortals had caught a glimpse of him when his mother had taken him to the land. The small kid the mortal saw was different. And by the jewels, he had recognized him to be an offspring of Lord Poseidon. He had spread this to the villagers and soon everyone knew him.
Poseidon had addressed the mortal world and told them about Perseus. The cause of his joy. Due to Percy, the sea remained calm. Poseidon was in a great mood half of the time. As growing up Perseus had noticed a peculiar thing.
His father would sometimes visit his mother's chambers and sometimes Amphitheatre chambers. He was confused. One day when he saw his father visiting his mother's chambers again, he sneaked out to go to his step-mom.
He found her crying and it made the baby god sad. He slowly went closer to her and wiped her tears off her face with his chubby fingers.
"Who hurt mommy?" He asked. His step-mom was one of the people who loved him the most. Therefore, he had agreed with himself that she deserved to be called her mom.
Amphitheatre looked at him sadly. Even though her husband now loved his mistress more than her, she couldn't bring herself to hate Percy.
She pulled him closer and whispered.
"Love"
"Then I'll go beat 'love' up. How dare he hurt my mommy." The little kid was fuming. His face had turned red and he was pouting adorably. Amphitheatre laughed. She felt really nice that at least if not her husband then her sons cared about her.
"It's okay." She said chucking. "Now you go to sleep young man or someone will be in trouble." She sing-song.
"Okay mommy, but if someone hurts you tell me and I'll go beat them up, okay?" He said gesturing with his small little hands.
She nodded.
At that time, he was too naive to understand what his stepmother had meant. But as growing up he had realized what hurt her.
He started to hate the prospect of love. He hated that his father hurt his stepmother and his real mother. But never did he say anything to him. He couldn't. It wasn't his place to say anything.
When his father introduced him to the Olympians, there were only some of them he liked.
He hated Athena, she hated him too.
He hated Zeus; Zeus hated him too
He hated Hera; Hera hated him too
He hated Dionysus; Dionysus hated him too.
But he despised Aphrodite. He despised her because she called herself the goddess of love while all she did was hurt other people for her own entertainment. It was true the gods thought of the mortals as toys. But Aphrodite was a monster. She would not hurt you physically. She simply could not hurt you physically, but she broke you down with an overwhelming number of emotions. She could make a person fall out of love in a second. No matter how long you two loved each other. If Aphrodite didn't like it. Boom. Your love story has ended.
The only person he really liked was Hestia. She was the goddess of hope and the hearth. She was the one who maintained peace between the Olympians. She was the only person who didn't look at him like he was a weirdo.
That was well his life as a god.
One day, he was attending a party with his father. Olympians liked to throw parties a lot. They liked to get wasted, get away from their responsibilities. Percy was often there as well because of his father who insisted that he could not handle his brothers without his son. So with no choice, Percy had to go.
But today was different. There were no satyrs and the mode was too sober for a party. He left his father's side when he started to talk to some minor god. He sat next to Hestia who was tending the flames.
"Lady Hestia." He said respectfully and bowed before sitting down. It had angered him when other gods did not respect Hestia. So even though Hestia told him that it was okay not to bow, he did it anyway.
He was going to ask how her day was. "Going" before someone decided to interrupt him.
"Let gather around." The mighty king of gods said. Note the sarcasm.
Gathering around meant sitting around the hearth. Near Hestia. Believe it or not, once in a while the Olympians got tired of the drama, they were somehow always involved in. Go figure.
When this time came, it was suddenly family time, with Hestia making a lot of heavenly cookies and marshmallow. The gods were chattering. Hestia was looking at them with a warm smile. She loved it when her family came together and seeing her smiling made his mood a lot better. That is until the gods decided that he needed to be a part of their conversation.
"So, Percy when are you going to solve the problem of Argos?" Asked Hera sweetly. Disgustingly sweet. Being Poseidon's assistant meant cleaning up his mess on the mortal world.
He smiled one big fake smile. He knew better to anger the gods. All he would get by angering them was unnecessary problems in life. That was an opportunity he would have to pass.
"It will be over in two days. A lot of drains were opened to bring the water level down. The people are provided with warm clothes, a place to live, and essential supplies. Although, I cannot take care of the nature that was destroyed." He said and went to get some drinks. He absolutely could not remain sober with such people in the vicinity.
Poseidon and Hera had competed for being the patron for the city of Argos. The citizens who had heard a lot about Hera and her wrath chose her. Poseidon was displeased and like always he lost control of his temper and decided to flood the city of Argos. It had taken a lot of persuasion on Percy's and Triton's part to stop their father's wrath. Needless to say, Hera had been furious. Because of the innocent lives lost? Pfft. No.
The gods thought everything revolved around them. They didn't care for puny mortals. They were far more superior and important than them. Hera had been furious because, in her perspective, Poseidon was trying to belittle the queen of gods and she couldn't do anything about it. What would she do? Send peacocks and cows after the god of seas? They would be turned into ashes in a matter of seconds. Not to mention it would officially start a war between the two, leading the other gods to take sides,s and let's just say, she wasn't on good terms with the rest of the family.
So, she took another opportunity. Cornering Percy. Triton was far older and more experienced than Percy and he didn't visit Olympus regularly. But Percy was there often. And in the eyes of gods, he was still a kid. But Percy was not dumb or naïve. He had seen all the cruelty of gods at a younger age. He had learned all about them and had gotten all the gossip from the nereids. What? A boy's gotta know. He had known exactly what type of approach each god made. Whether it be friend or enemy. He had learned to be cautious at a very young age. After all, trusting people was bad. But trusting gods? You might as well jump off a cliff because your friend told you to.
On his way, he saw the other gods and goddesses. Athena was looking at him like she wanted to murder me which wasn't something new. Zeus was busy with Poseidon and Hephaestus was talking with Hestia. Ares and Aphrodite were being disgusting and eating each other's faces. Apollo and Artemis were bickering again on who was the older twin and Hermes was keeping them from blowing each other to the end of the world. Dionysus was drunk. He was a outcast between them and he knew that. He was too weak to face the Olympians and too powerful for the minor gods and hence he was accepted nowhere. He preferred the company of satyrs and nymphs over the company of gods or even mortals. Mortals actually did die quickly and being the soft person, he (shhh tell nobody else) was it was a painful experience for him to get over a loved one. From then on he had decided not to get too attached to anyone who wasn't immortal or at least had more lifetime than mortals.
It was all going well until they all decided to gather around and play truth and dare. The gods had adapted a lot of games of the mortals. What can they say? It gets boring living a long and never-ending life. He was invited in by the great Aphrodite herself, note the sarcasm, and he couldn't say no to that. Not because he was charmed. Oh please no. He accepted because, once again he didn't want any drama in his life.
Once again, everything was going smoothly. He wasn't paying attention and everybody else had forgotten about him.
"Perseus, Truth or Dare."
Darn Aphrodite.
He thought for a moment before answering "Truth."
"Have you ever been in love?" She asked. What more did he expect from the goddess of love?
"No" he said before moving on.
"Hermes truth or dare?" He asked. "Dare" Hermes answered fearlessly. Time for revenge.
"Oh no no. Wait." Aphrodite said. He rolled his eyes. He had a perfect plan for Hermes but of course Aphrodite had to interrupt him.
He raised his eyebrows in order for her to go on.
"What do you mean you have never been in love, Perseus?"
Well, of course. That was what Aphrodite had to ask.
"Just never found someone good" He shrugged
"That is a lie."
"What if it is?" He challenged. He didn't like talking about love. He didn't even like the prospective of love. It was too changeable, made the people reckless and hurt too much. He didn't like it one bit.
And Percy being the son of Poseidon, was ... handsome. (Not to brag or anything *wink*). He was also surrounded by a lot of people. He was charming, humorous and easy going. He had been asked out a lot but he turned down every single one of them. He didn't want to hurt anyone and himself.
"You speak as if you will never fall in love." Said Zeus. It was a feeble attempt to ease the atmosphere on his part. Poor guy, was having his ass whipped by Hera for cheating. Again. Also, everyone noticed the spark in Aphrodite's eyes and the hatred in Percy's eyes.
"I will not. Not even Aphrodite herself can make me fall in love." He said boldly.
He knows. He knows he messed up bad. He of all people should have known how dangerous it was to challenge Aphrodite. But it was the alcohol in him that was doing the talking. Percy was reckless, yes. But Alcohol made him even more reckless.
"Is that a challenge young one?"
"Yes, it is a challenge."
And that was his starting to a doomed (but not very doomed) life.