Chapter 2

Aphrodite POV

The party celebrating the end of the Giant war and the fall of Gaia was one of the best times of my immortal life. I relished in ability to freely interact with my children, many of whom I'd never actually met in person due to the ancient laws. I had never been able to interact with this many of my children at once and it made me happier than I think I'd ever been before.

I was loving making light conversation with two of my daughters - Drew and Lacy – when I noticed a pair of the greatest demi-gods to have ever lived break away from the celebrations. I smiled, the love between Percy and Annabeth was the strongest between any couple that was on Olympus. In particular I could tell that the love Perseus had for the daughter of Athena was some of the purest love that I'd ever encountered, I knew he would do literally anything for the girl -as he'd shown following her to the depths of Tartarus.

I thought nothing more of the couple as my attention was taken by a tipsy satyr who was trying to seduce Drew. The former head counselor of my cabin at the Greek camp was not interested in his advances and quickly rejected him. It felt amazing to laugh with my daughters as we watched the satyr stagger away, bumping into a nymph carrying a platter of drinks causing them both to be drenched in a cocktail of various beverages.

Lacy's gaze found its way to a demi-god who was wearing a purple Camp Jupiter t-shirt that his muscled form filled out nicely. I could tell she wanted to talk to him but remained beside me, it was unlike one of my daughters to not go after a man she liked the look of, they're not exactly the shy type.

"Well what are you waiting for?" I asked her, she immediately knew what I was talking about.

"I don't want to leave you." She explained finally taking her sight from the boy and turning towards me. I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Don't worry about it." I said pulling back, my hands still on her shoulders as she looked at me. "Now go make me proud." I said winking before spinning her around and giving her a light push towards where the boy stood. I caught a glimpse of a blush rise up her cheeks, but she started walking towards the guy who'd caught her eye anyway, leaving me alone with Drew. My half Japanese daughter was currently smiling at an attractive redhead whose hair fell in ringlets down her face framing it cutely. The redhead gave a wink to Drew who gained a look of determination.

"I love you mom," she raised herself onto her tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek. "But that cutie is gonna be mine." She walked off towards the girl, purposely putting extra swing in her steps. I smiled at the sight of my daughter flirting with the other girl before turning away.

I was in desperate need of a drink and stood in front of a table of glasses internally debating between nectar and champagne. Fuck it, this is a party. I justified to myself, about to grab a glass of each. Suddenly a wave of emotion washed over me. It was less of a wave and more of a tsunami and the emotion didn't belong to me. I dropped the champagne flute I'd just picked up leaving it to smash on the floor and turned around. I saw Drew -one of my more powerful children- break from a kiss with her new friend, evidently she'd noticed it too but to a lesser extent. While my daughter wasn't able to figure out what it was, I knew instantly; somebody had just had their heart broken and by broken I meant cut into a thousand tiny pieces before being thrown into the Styx.

Only one person was capable of having their heart broken to this extent. Only one person loved somebody so much that it could have sent this wave of devastation across Olympus so powerfully that even one of my daughters felt it. Only one person relied so heavily on another.

"Percy." I breathed quietly worried for the son of the sea god. I rushed through the throngs of people that had gathered to party, ignoring various cries of 'hey!' and 'watch it!'. I followed the aura of emotional pain weaving my way through the streets, each step I took closer to Percy's location I could feel his heartache more. I didn't think about where I was going, relying solely on my powers to guide me.

I'd soon left the party behind and found my way completely clear of people allowing me to break into a run. While I was more than comfortable walking in heels, after a couple steps trying to jog I stopped, changing my four inch ruby red stilettos into a pair of fashionable sneakers much better suited to running. Normally I'd never been seen in the ungodly combination of a cocktail dress and sneakers but right now that was the last thing on my mind.

I sprinted through Olympus and found myself in what I'd recognized as Demeter's fifth garden (a lovely place for a picnic). I didn't slow down as I transferred from the stone streets onto the gravel path of the garden. Cutting across the many lawns -Demeter would be mad but she could go shove it for all I cared- I soon found my way blocked by a hedge that was formed into the shapes of gods. Cursing to myself in Ancient Greek I looked along the hedge looking for a break in the foliage, I could tell I was right next to the heartbroken demi-god without my powers, his cries echoing around the gardens.

When I saw no way through I cursed again before taking a few steps backwards aligning myself with a low point between the leafy shapes of Artemis and Apollo. Running as quickly as I could at the hedge I jumped at the last minute, the toes of my shoes clipping the leaves at the top. Thankfully my dress was so short it didn't impede my movement. I landed on another gravel path, the stones digging into my skin painfully as I fell onto my hands and knees.

I quickly got back to my feet and pulled the hem of my dress back down; it had ridden up giving the leafy imitation of the maiden goddess a rather intimate view of myself. I started running once again, following the sound of crying. Less than thirty seconds later I found a dip in the hedge that housed an ornate wooden bench.

Sitting on the bench was the broken form of our savior. His hair was a mess like always. His amazing sea green eyes were red, hollow and blurry behind a heavy curtain of tears. The river of tears running down his face was so intense they'd started to pool in the creases of his jeans where they'd landed.

I was overwhelmed by my own emotions, mainly, shock, anger and sadness. What in Zeus's name caused Annabeth to break up with him? How dare she throw away such pure, unyielding love. Does she not know how lucky she was? I knew I told Percy that I'd make his love life interesting but this was definitely not my work, I'd never do anything to break up what I'd thought had been the perfect couple.

The Percy's heartache was so strong it actually started causing me pain, in the form of a dull throbbing headache. Ignoring my pain I sat next to the shell of a hero putting my arm around his back, pulling him slightly towards me. I rubbed his upper arm trying to give him some form of comfort yet I remained silent, I knew that nothing I could say could help him right now, I just hoped he was able to deal with his emotions. I knew the power Percy held within him and if he delt with his emotions poorly he could cause a multitude of different storms and natural disasters without meaning to. I trusted Poseidon would deal with those should they occur down in the mortal world while I sat in the city of the gods with his son.

After sitting with Percy for probably a quarter of an hour I shifted us into a more comfortable position. I wiggled myself further away from him then gently pulled him down, laying his head in my lap. His eyes remained unfocused as they faced out towards the beautiful garden, tears continued pouring off his face down across my bare thighs. I paid no attention to the increasing wetness in my lap and started running my fingers through his soft black hair careful to not let my long red nails scratch his scalp.

Shortly after assuming our new position Percy's voice started to fail him, his cries becoming hoarser and hoarser until the sound died completely. He seemed oblivious to this as his shoulders still heaved and the tears still streamed freely. Soon the only sounds audible other than the din of the party was the occasional sniffles that escaped Percy. I noticed his nose running and I summoned a white silk handkerchief into the hand that wasn't in his hair. I tried to get him to take it from me but he still didn't seem to register I was there. Giving up I started to dab lightly to his upper lip, I thought about trying to dry his eyes for him but he didn't seem any closer to ceasing his weeping so it would be pointless. Instead, I just laid the silk square down on the bench next to me knowing that it would be needed again in the near future.

I sat with the weeping teen for the next few hours, continuing to run my fingers through his hair and occasionally dabbing is nose for him. I was desperate to know what had happened between him and Annabeth and part of me wanted to go and find her, interrogating her about what had occurred. The larger part of me however felt a strong need to stay with him even though he hadn't changed his actions at all the entire time I sat with him. I'll find out what happened later. I promised myself.

I picked up the handkerchief once again but noticed it had gotten rather disgusting so vanished it and summoned a new one. As I was wiping his nose for him again I heard light rapid feet rush along the gravel path. Looking up I saw a familiar young girl with light brown hair and warm eyes that flickered with flames. She was dressed in a simple, modest mahogany dress with a high neckline and it reached down to her ankles. An orange ribbon that seemed to be made of flames tied her hair back, away from her youthful yet wise face.

"Hello Hestia," I smiled sadly at one of my favorite beings that lived on Olympus. She was one of the few people that treated me as a person rather than a piece of meat despite my reputation.

"Aphrodite," she greeted me as I set the silk handkerchief down again. "Hello Percy," she greeted her nephew softly, his eyes still closed yet they remained crying.

"It's no use," I explained to her. "Olympus could fall and I don't think he'd notice right now." I sighed sadly, twirling some of his hair around my finger.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked seating herself on the other side of Percy. "There is so much hope and happiness back with the others I only just felt his hopelessness." She explained.

"It's been a few hours, I think." I looked up at the night sky above us. "I've kind of lost track." I admitted.

"Do you know what happened? I'm rather surprised to see you here."

I looked up from playing with Percy's' hair, his well sculpted face still contorted in distress and looked at the eldest child of Kronos. "I felt his heart break." I explained simply before looking back at the boy in my lap.

Hestia gasped. "But… I'd never have thought. Him and Annabeth were so good together. Are you sure?"

I nodded in response. "Positive. It was so strong even some of my demi-gods noticed it." I had seen Drew's reaction and as Piper was more powerful than her, I assumed she had as well, although I doubted any of my other mortal children felt it.

"Have you seen Annabeth?" She asked, I could that like me she wanted to know what had happened.

"No. With how unresponsive he's been I assume they broke up here but she wasn't around when I got here." I had no idea how long I'd missed the daughter of Athena by, it could have been minutes or it could have been seconds. I hadn't passed her on my way here but that wasn't surprising if she wasn't planning on returning to the party.

"He's normally filled with so much hope, in fact once he was the sole hope of Olympus." Hestia paused, sadness evident in her voice. "But now I can feel hopelessness rolling off him, I assume it's a similar thing with you." Hestia half asked and half stated.

"I saw him maybe fifteen minutes or so before this happened, he was filled with so much love. It was so pure." I felt myself start to tear up. "But now… he's so broken." I had to stop myself from joining Percy in crying, I felt so bad for the young hero. He'd been through so much in his life and the one person he'd always had been able to rely on was no longer there for him. I more than sympathized with him, I felt his heartache almost as if it was my own. "He's so heartbroken, it's actually hurting me," I half sobbed, my headache from the intensity of his emotions had only worsened the longer I sat with him, but my sob wasn't from pain it was from empathy.

Hestia looked at me sadly. "It sounds like it's worse for you than it is for me. It doesn't cause me any physical pain." She handed me a tissue she had summoned prompting me to realize a few tears were running down my own cheeks. I removed a hand that was still combing through Percy's hair and took the tissue from her.

"Thank you," I wiped my eyes before blinking a couple times.

"You both must be exhausted, you two should get some rest." Hestia told me, she suggested it to me with so much caring that it felt like I couldn't refuse even if I had wanted to, which I didn't.

"I'll take him to my cabin at camp. No one will be back there tonight." The party would go on probably for the next few days; those visiting Olympus had been given places to sleep, mostly in their parent's palaces. I expected most of the demi-gods would stop partying after a day or so leaving only the immortals to celebrate.

Hestia nodded before placing a hand on Percy's shoulder before I flashed the three of us down to my children's residence in Long Island. I would have taken Percy to his father's cabin but gods couldn't enter each other's cabins without express permission and I was in no mood to go hunt down Poseidon.

The interior of my cabin was rather stereotypical of what you'd expect for children of the love goddess. A heavy smell of perfume constantly filled the cabin. The walls were painted pink with a white ceiling which was tinged pink as it reflected the color of the walls. The trim around the windows was white and they were covered by lace curtains. A large pink curtain the same shade as the walls divided the boys and girls. Each side had single beds with light blue and green bedding and they were all heavily laden with pillows and cushions. Beside the beds were dressers with the owners name in gold calligraphy on the front, these were all overfilled with various items of clothes that wouldn't fit in the communal wardrobes. There were mirrors everywhere, on top of the dressers, on the walls and full body mirrors sat every free space. Also on the dressers were makeup sets, high powered ring makeup lights, flowers and pictures of various celebrities of both genders. Each inhabitant had personalized their area with their own touch whether that was simply a couple of pictures or fairy-lights lining the bed or other things that reflected the owner.

I had flashed Percy onto one of the free beds in the boy's side of the cabin. Hestia walked up to him and placed a hand on his forehead.

"Sleep now young hero," she said as a soft orange light made its way down the boy's body which seemed to relax lightly as it passed. Hestia turned to look at me, each of us on opposite sides of the bed, "He should sleep until morning now. You go back to Olympus before your absence is noticed and questioned. I'll stay here until he wakes."

"Thank you Hestia," I said genuinely. I knew that I needed to get back to Olympus, not out of choice, I just had to make sure no one had noticed that I hadn't been around for several hours else I'd suffer the consequences. However I took reassurance knowing that Percy wouldn't be alone, there was not a being alive that came close to Hestia in terms of dealing with these sorts of situations. Her calming presence, soft personality and level head as well as her millennia of life experience made her the perfect person to confide in, simply sit in silence with or as a shoulder to cry on. I had on many occasions come to her for help with my own problems and I knew I wasn't the only god to have done so, maybe it was partially due to her domain of family.

"No one should enter this cabin so you won't be disturbed." I walked round the bed and gave the eight year old goddess a brief hug. "Thank you again." I said to her before flashing myself back to Olympus, not before returning my shoes to the ruby stilettos I had been wearing earlier and masking my face with a practiced fake look of happiness.

AN/: Thanks for the support on the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed this one.