Very very early update 'cause I'm not gonna be able to update as usual tomorrow. There is one full chapter-and then the one after that is a short snippet of Poseidon, and then we are done with the KC plotline! Onto TLT.
Replies:
Thickneck: You are not wrong about that lol- they are very useful.
guest2.0: Honestly I haven't decided- I do kind of like white haired Percy if I'm honest.
JjlovesPJO: Yeah, and she has a twin! And the next fic will follow the start of the PJO plots.
Undeath9087: Hades and Poseidon didn't notice anything, Hades because he doesn't exactly bother with the mortal world much and Poseidon because of reasons which will be explained. The others all know something happened but they were to ignore it by Zeus because he refuses to acknowledge stuff he doesn't like. Look at the Kronos thing. And Carter and Sadie will have their parts to play but they won't be as central, at least not in the first one- mainly because they're not aware right away.
Drizzle: Estelle was Sally's mother actually. Though I understand the confusion.
Guest: Setne always schemes. It's who he is.
rage2091: She's definitely not normal.
MKDemiGodzilla-Warrior: Eh, you'll be surprised by how much I change up the Lightning Thief stuff. To give you a hint, Percy does not actually get in a fight with a god. And also, if Percy cannot see it she will forget it and this causes intense panic for Walt at one point. I will not elaborate.
As Percy pulled away from Julius Sadie was walking towards them- she looked a little shaken but- in a good way maybe- and Carter raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Nothing." Sadie giggled before shaking her head. And Ruby was drifting along beside her.
"Once your mother gets back you three will have to head home I think." Ruby smiled at them, "After all, Brooklyn House is waiting."
"Feels kind of weird." Carter's expression was soft. "After everything that's happened. I wasn't sure if we'd make it home. And- and I was pretty much convinced that we'd lose one of us."
"But you will, all three of you will make it home. You did amazing." Ruby nodded, "And you three should enjoy yourselves while you're waiting for Sally. You've earned it."
"We do deserve to celebrate." Sadie pointed out after a moment, a smile playing across her lips, "You wanna dance you guys?"
"I can take Estelle." Julius offered, and Percy hesitated before grinning and nodding.
"Yes please daddy!"
And barely a minute later Sadie was dragging her and Carter out amongst the other celebrating- and Percy let out a bright laugh as her sister let go of Carter in preference of grabbing both of Percy's hands and swinging her wildly.
"Wahoooo!" Percy laughed as she and Sadie danced, and then Sadie let go of Percy's hand, spinning and yanking Carter in before he could get away.
There was something wild, something freeing about it as the span and laughed and bumped into each other.
Percy could feel months worth of tension easing away. Nine months. Nine months almost to the day since it had all started.
That was a dizzying thought, to say the least. It felt like a lifetime ago, not less than a year. Everything had changed so completely and so fast that it was hard to take in.
But as Carter twirled her and Sadie across the dance floor- Percy was willing to admit that in a lot of ways things had definitely changed for the better- oh it did suck that their dad wouldn't be with them all the time- but they could still visit him.
Their family was whole now, now broken as it had been before, admittedly it was a strange family- with a godly dad, a ghostly- Percy wasn't sure what Ruby Kane was to her really but she was definitely part of the family- and on the living side of the family- well, the Kanes were never going to be normal would they?
At one point Percy almost tripped over Ammit, who let out a growl- but Percy laughed as she dropped to her knees and started fussing over the demon- which Sadie joined her at as Carter laughed at them.
And soon enough their mom returned.
Carter spotted her first- and Percy and Sadie both got to their feet and looked when he told them-Sally was gently taking Estelle from Julius, bouncing both of the babies gently in her arms.
The three Kanes joined her quickly as another door of darkness appeared by the throne- and Percy, Sadie, Carter and Sally all stepped through.
They emerged on the terrace, and Sally smiled tiredly, her gaze focusing on the three kids as the door blinked out of existence, "Now my beautiful brilliant savers of the world. I am going to take the twins and get some sleep.
Percy laughed despite herself at that, "You do that mom." she paused, "Is there even-"
"We set up a nursery and there's stuff in mums room for the baby too." Sadie piped up, tossing her arm over Percy's shoulder, "You don't have to worry about a thing mum."
"That's really sweet of you both." Sally beamed widely.
"Well duh." Sadie grinned, "We're total sweethearts right Percy?"
"Of course."
"And Carter totally didn't do most of the work." Sadie gave a devilish grin.
"Uh huh." Sally smiled, "And just for today you kids can gorge out on snacks outside-" she glanced towards the sky, "And look at that-" and Percy turned her head, blinking slowly. "I guess the time difference means that you'll get to see two dawns in one day."
"I guess it does." Percy blinked, staring at the sky- and sure enough the sky was a soft golden orangey pinkish color and the sun was just peaking over the horizon.
Percy let out a soft slow breath as Carter moved to stand beside her on the edge of the terrace as Sally headed inside.
"We did that." Sadie spoke after a moment, "I mean- it's happening because of us. Because we stopped Apophis."
"I'd like to take some personal credit." Percy giggled, "I mean, I'm the one who blasted Ra out of Apophis's slimy snaky throat. It was gross."
"Ah yes." Sadie laughed, "Percy Kane, the girl who wasn't swallowed by Apophis, but swan dived down his throat like a mega badass."
"Have I thanked you for that yet?" Carter asked with a raised eyebrow as they sat down at the table on the terrace- all gathered up the same end of course. "You did save my girlfriends life."
"I did." Percy agreed solemnly. "Zia's my friend- I love her I wasn't gonna let some stupid snake kill her like that. No way- oh my gods!" that was because food had magically appeared on the table- and Percy let out a delighted noise.
They hadn't had a proper meal since... well, since before the dance really or Percy hadn't anyway. She let out a very pleased noise, leaning over and snatching up a slice of pizza from the large plate that had appeared in the centre of the table.
And as the sun rose the three Kanes laughed and talked and enjoyed themselves while the sun rose behind them.
The second dawn that day- but this one was much more hopeful than the last.
They stayed out on the terrace- Percy jumping into the pool to splash around with Philip, until maybe three hours later the others started arriving- still bright and full of their victory as they thundered down the stairs from the roof- where Percy assumed they have portalled from.
It wasn't everyone of course, Zia would need a day or so to rest before she was able to return home- and for some reason Walt was nowhere to be seen- though when Percy tugged at Sadie's sleeve and asked about it her big sister told her that Walt would be just fine- and Percy trusted Sadie's judgement on that specific topic.
Soon enough Brooklyn House was filled with life again- and Percy was slightly worried but Carter assured her that the house would make sure their moms room would be sound proofed so there was no risk of Sally or the babies waking up from all the noise.
So everyone was allowed to celebrate their victory.
Felix- being Felix decided to turn the stairs into an icy slide- which admittedly was very fun, and Percy ended up running and diving down it on her belly with a penguin on either side while Carter bellowed at her to be careful and Sadie cackled loudly.
They even managed to convince Carter to join in after maybe an hour or so- and the three Kane siblings slid down the slide down the slide clinging on to one another in a line, Carter at the front, Sadie in the middle and Percy at the back, which ended with the three of them shooting across the hall and piling on top of one another when one of the initiates summoned a gust of wind to push them down it faster.
That was the point at which Sally left her room, coming out to check on them- and much to everyone's joy instead of coming down the other set of stairs she sat down and slid down the icy slide to join them all at the bottom- where several of the other initiates instantly crowded her- most of them asking about the babies- who were still in Sally's room, with protective spells around them to alert Sally if anything happened or changed.
The celebrations went on for what felt like hours-though none of them really kept track- eventually Sally disappeared and returned with the twins, little Alexander and Estelle were instant hits among the eldest of the initiates- Jaz and Cleo both spent ages cooing over how sweet the little thing was.
Of course- it had been a very long day, and after a while the celebrations wound down- even the oldest of the initiates seemed to decide that they were exhausted and they headed to bed- ushering some of the younger ones off to their rooms with them.
Percy dealt with little Shelby personally when the four year old started to yawn- it was Carter who spotted it and pointed it out, and Percy- well, she did have a soft spot for the little girl so she'd moved towards her, swooping her up and holding her upside down by her ankles- which admittedly wasn't as easy for her as it would have been for Carter or Sadie, but Shelby seemed to find it hilarious, her hands brushing against the floor as she let them dangle down over her head.
"Percy!" Shelby yelped, "This is fun!"
"Uh huh!" Percy grinned, spinning her, which made Shelby squeal louder before Percy set her down, "C'mon Shelby- it's bed time."
"But I don't wanna!" Shelby pouted, "I'm a big girl now! I helped kill the snake."
"Yeah, but I'm a big girl and I'm super tired too." Percy told Shelby, "C'mon. For me. I wanna see your room anyway." and that won Shelby over- the little girl was very excited to show Percy her bedroom- and once they were there it wasn't difficult to coax the little girl into getting changed and clambering into her bed.
Percy even made a show of tucking the little girl in tight, like her parents and Carter sometimes had sometimes done to her when they were messing around when she was little.
By the time Percy was out of the room Shelby was already drifting off. And she was very pleased that when she got down the stairs again and joined Carter and Sadie they seemed very surprised that she'd managed to put the little girl to bed.
Apparently Shelby tended to have a bit of a talent for misbehaving at bedtimes, so the fact that she behaved so well for Percy was a minor miracle- but as Percy had pointed out, given the day they'd had, even being alive was a major miracle.
And eventually the great room was basically clear- there were a few initiates lingering of course- Felix had passed out in a pile of his penguins in the fireplace- which was a frozen paradise, and Percy spotted Cleo curled up on one of the couches, and she saw Khufu gently pulling a blanket up over the girl, very carefully pulling her book out of her hand before it fell on the floor.
The three Kanes eventually made their way out to the terrace again, and Percy climbed onto the railings, perching on them and smiling softly as she turned her head to look out at the sky- the sun was setting now- she was exhausted but it wasn't quite time to sleep yet.
Sadie had told them that Ruby had told her they'd have one more visit to do later- and so they were waiting for that. And Percy was kind of curious at to who it might be?
Were they being summoned to the Hall of the Gods again? Was it someone else who wanted to see them.
After all they'd saved the world, it was to be expected that they'd be very much in demand.
They weren't waiting out there long before a swirling sand portal opened on the terrace, and Sadie rose first, pulling Percy with her. "That's for us. Come on brother dear."
"Yeah Carter, come on." Percy shot him a grin- and together they stepped through the portal.