Somehow, Percy had become an uncle… twice over.
Ariadne I-didn't-like-kids-when-I-was-a-kid became the official guardian of one Leo Valdez and one Drew Tanaka. [Actually, it was more like she shared custody with Beryl for Grace and shared custody with May for Luey, Trav, & Con whom the woman took in. She also shared custody with the Chase family as Annie would accept nothing else. That made Ariadne stare in confusion because she was not raising her brother's future girlfriend.]
[He didn't have the heart to tell her that he caught the younger version of him kissing Trav behind the stables the other day. It was shocking in the first place. They hadn't even hit double digits!]
Still, after all the arguing with the aunt that made Hera look like a saint, Ariadne had gained custody of Leo. Which was honestly just at the right time since as soon as they got everything settled, they came back to discussions about opening formal communications with camp.
[Ariadne was way too smug about the fact that she managed to break Chiron and Annabeth's precious relationship. The bias he held for the small girl was quite irritating.]
There was a lot of debating going on. Ariadne was content with dragging it out because she not only wanted to keep Gleeson close, but also because Leo was entertained by the goatmen and she was very annoyed by the fact that they managed to sneak into their kingdom.
[If they could get in, what about monsters? Castellan was supposed to be a safe haven. She'd destroy the world before she let any monster touch the kids.]
She was like a real mother to Leo. He had a bedtime like the other children, a full schedule to follow, and with Nico's help, she talked with Esperanza to get an understanding of his favored foods and allergies. It was to the surprise of no one that she bypassed the Chase and spirit teachers all together and asked Apollon to tutor him personally.
[Percy knew that their father was already trying to work out a way to explain that a fire-user was a member of the royal family.]
When they learned he had control over fire and that he was traumatized to use his powers again, they started a plan to place him in control environments to get him comfortable with his gift but also with the knowledge that he does not have to use them if he didn't want to.
[When Leo recognized Hera as the Tia that tried to kill him since he was little, Olympus and the Netherworld, and Atlantis had been closed completely down as the gods fought against each other.]
And then, Palphian approached them.
Percy knew it was something to be huge, but the way that Ariadne gasped in realization caught his attention. "You're her mother," Ariadne had stated, Silena's ghost hovering curiously at the sight of her mother's other form. Love was eternal and unchanging, but Palphian was whom Aphrodite was born from. Palphian smiled, "Hers and another. It is not time for one to know her lineage, but this one… you care for this one. You love this one."
Percy had been startled to see the tears in her eyes. The way realization washed over Clarisse and Silena, the Stolls, Chris, and Beckendorf. "Many of my children born with this gift come from me as Palphian. I do not have all my memories from that life, but I do know she was bitter and angry and hurt. I know she lashed out at everyone including her own siblings to soothe her pain only to hurt herself more. I know that I didn't manage to save her the first time. Growing up with that man who only saw me in her, who gained a wife that only saw a threat in her, throwing her off to different boarding schools with a credit card with the out of sight, out of mind concept. The Ancient Laws prevented me from speaking with her and healing her. Her siblings helped heal the pain in her heart and taught her how to love. How to be. Until the one sibling she loved above all others betrayed her… I do not want her to go through that again."
Ariadne's eyes narrowed, "It's going to take the most magick we can spare. I'll need lethe water, rosemary, and basil. I'll wipe her so far out of his mind that he'd forget he had a daughter. Do not worry, Lady Palphian. I'll save Drew and then we can talk about this other daughter of yours."
Palphian smiled, eyes twinkling, "I'll make it easier for you. Jin Tanaka has a sweet tooth. There's a certain chocolate shop that I favor dearly." Silena had laughed delightedly.
Percy had been at her side when she went to kidnap Drew. Leo had been on her hip, curly head hidden in her neck as she walked into the store like the rich socialite she appeared to be. Mr. David Beauregard had already known who they were when they walked through the door. Percy handed over the elixir that Hermes and the ocean's mages whipped up. The man gave them a nod before heading off to his kitchen.
And the twins tensed up.
Because peeking from behind one of the doors was a younger version of Silena. There was chocolate around her mouth and all over her hands. It was weird. They hadn't felt like this seeing Grace, Trav, Con, Annie. JackJack and Luey were different since they had seen them as babies. But looking at Silena like this—it was very weird.
Percy kept his attention on her as Ariadne forced herself to look away. [He knew that despite everything that had happened to her, a part of her had still been hurt to find out that Silena was the spy. That Silena was plotting against their lives. It was hard to look at those eyes free of guilt and not think of the moment that the careful illusion around them had been shattered.] His sister walked away quickly, urging Leo to look up and point out treats he wanted.
And he knew that she was still paying attention when Silena eased out of the backroom, eyes glittering with knowledge too heavy for her age, "My sister," she had said. Voice twinkling like little bells. There was no magic infused into her words, but Percy could still power in her. The call and demand for all eyes to be on her.
["Beauty can be found in anything, guppy," Aphrodite had once told Ariadne. "There is beauty in class and grace, in lust and shame, in creation and destruction. There is beauty in love and love in beauty. I am the embodiment of that, and my children are created in my image. Whenever I or my children walk into a room, call and demand for all eyes to reside on us sings through the air. Some may try to fight it like Athena and Artemis. Try as they might, no one can resist me. Love and beauty comes in many forms; weapons wielded with only precise hands. My power is infinite, little one. A part of me lived here long before my actual birth cradled into the hands of the primordial Eros, and even before he… and I will be here long after the sea swallows the sun."]
"You're going to save her," the girl continued. There was a demand in her tone. A kind that spoke that there was no other option to consider than saving Drew. Still, Percy nodded in confirmation. "We won't let anyone hurt her ever again," he promised. He may not have known everything about the relationship Drew shared with her siblings and friends, but she had him in his corner now. And Percy didn't let his friends get hurt. Not if he could help it.
And then her father emerges from the back, two baked goods in his hands that he places carefully on the display.
["Jin loves sweets. And if you have samples for him to try, he will try them," Palphian had stated. There was murder in her eyes. Hera and Leto had sniffed out their little revenge plot and came prowling around. He knew that without a doubt; Jin Tanaka and his wife would die.]
They barely had to wait ten minutes when the family of three walked into the store. Ariadne and Leo were by the chocolate fountain, trying out the little desserts that Katie did not usually let him gorge on.
[The boy was going to be so hyper but the mini-forge that he had would provide a decent workout for energy. Ariadne and Clarisse and Annabeth were still a little stumped on his fighting style. No knives or swords, definitely. But after seeing him put down Theseus' ghost with a hammer had been a little surprising.]
[And gods, was it hard to keep Trav and Con away from him. Percy was going to scream the next time he found them sneaking away with Leo to hotwire the boat. The last time had them appearing in the labyrinth and if it wasn't from the sheer rage that flowed from Ariadne, the monsters would ate them for breakfast. Daedalus did the smart thing and ran away from any room that could bring them near him.]
Percy kept his eyes on them all. He saw the moment that Silena made eye contact with her little sister and the way she set her shoulders. It was like watching the shadow of her older self, draped in stolen armor, standing before an enemy that she couldn't beat.
She had the sample plate in her hands as she walked forward, Drew hiding behind her pitiful excuse of a father.
It was with baited breath as the man and woman took the samples in hand. He could feel the tell-tale strength of his sister's power in the air as she held Drew back. [The demigoddess watched with fear as she was stuck in her own body.]
David slipped out of the shop and headed for the mustang sitting in the parking lot. Leo looked on curiously, a chocolate smear around his face. The couple shook and shuddered as the magick encased their whole being. Percy moved over to take Leo into his arms as Ariadne moved carefully around them until she stopped in front of Drew.
"We can save you," she told her. The child stumbling back with wide eyes, flinching violently "We can stop it all. They'll never hurt you again. He'll never touch you again." Percy wasn't sure he liked the implications that she was implying but he knew that look on Drew's face.
[Did it really take going back in time to see that Drew always looked at Ariadne as if she placed the stars in the night sky? Did he not realize that for Drew, his sister was the one to hold her heart in her hands? It made the nights that Drew and Connor spent randomly drinking at the beach much more understandable. They weren't just two kids grieving their older siblings that hurt them; they were two people sharing their heartbreak as the only person they loved loved someone else.]
"You can come with us and we can give you a family. We can give you a safe place. No one will hurt you again or I'll kill them myself."
When Drew opened her mouth to speak, she spoke in what sounded like japanese? He wasn't too sure. But his sister apparently did.
[I present to you Ariadne Lady of the Sea of Japan and Perseus Lord of the Yellow Sea.]
The child threw her arms around Ariadne and his twin lifted her into her arms. David walked back into the room with her bags, carefully picking anything that could link her back to them. Aphrodite appeared before them with Silena on her hip. "Thank you for saving my daughter. It is not time for you to meet my little flute player. Her fate is still delicate, but I know that you will love her all the same."
Ariadne tucked Drew's head into her shoulders when Phobos and Deimos walked forward. Percy knew that they were overgrown jerks, but Ariadne stopped them when they grabbed the couple. Her glare was carved from marble, "Make it hurt." she had said. The twins nodded gleefully before they disappeared with their precious cargo.
And that was how Percy became an uncle and how little Silena found herself at Castellan. David had eventually moved the two of them to the kingdom. Katie had taken offense when he moved in, but his little cardboard chocolates were a hit with the children.
With them there, and the scent neutralizers that they kept placing around the kingdom… they eventually had no choice but to acknowledge the satyrs.
They were once again in the council room. Against their better judgment, they allowed the parents and children to sit in. They all appeared fascinated by the idea of camp. All except Leo who sat on Ariadne's lap reading an engineering book that was definitely too advanced for his age.
[Percy wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him because it looked like the boy was making corrections.]
It was a little weird for Percy to see Grover. It was different than looking at Annie. He met Annabeth when she was 12. Grover, however, was always older than he appeared. He looked very much like the same satyr that hit one of the furies in the face with aluminum canes and the satyr that used panic and the satyr that turned a titan into a maple tree and the satyr that scratched Apollon's lyre. He looked just like the satyr he knew, but he also looked so vastly different.
He wondered if this Grover would be best friends with JackJack. Looking at the way, Jackjack glared at the satyrs as he stood closely to Annie and Gracie… it was going to take some work.
"Let me get this straight," Ariadne stated, lips twisting in cruel amusement. "You want to take our charges away from us to Camp Half-Blood." She was delighted in the way that they twitched. They weren't supposed to know of it after all just like camp was not supposed to know of them. "This supposedly safe place for demigod children when they are perfectly safe here."
"You have hellhounds and ghosts roaming around," Grover protested. Percy couldn't stop his glare at the tone of his words. Ariadne, voice much cooler than before, raised a brow, "And here I was considering the idea of opening communications with your precious camp. But I know that I am not interested in my kids being around such prejudice. Now I do not know if it were just me, but it seems like you have an issue with netherworld beings."
Gleeson shrugged uncaringly, "Sure, they're creepy. But all of you little cupcakes are weird. That's the human in you. Grover is still just a kid. And is still very afraid of the dark. He hasn't gone out much, you see. He didn't mean any harm."
Ariadne hummed, sharing a look with the others. Percy looked around the room before his gaze came to rest onto the kids. They deserved to know camp. To know their friends and family. To understand why when the day comes, the twelve of them will fight to their dying breath for a place that hadn't been home to them for years.
As much as he disliked the tone of Grover's words, they all also knew it had nothing to do with the underworld in the first place. The satyrs were working overtime after all to fight against Hekate's power as they pushed more and more nature magick into the air around them. She was the enemy. It was understandable, but they also didn't want that behavior to linger.
Whenever the DiAngelo siblings wake up, they didn't want them going to a "safe place" that hated them.
Percy sat forward, looking into the pleading eyes of Luey and Grace. Their parents were willing to defer to them on this. "Standard school breaks. Summer and winter and spring and fall. They'll visit the camp only. They'll spend two weekends out of the month there because they're still kids. Major holidays shall be spent here with their family. We have kids of mixed races within these walls."
Rachel smiled, "There is also the fact that as you can see from Thalia and Percy as being children of the Kronides. There are holidays from their respective realms that they will cater to. Leo and Drew also will participate in any holiday for the sea as they are the children of Queen Ariadne."
His sister's features twitch at that. She still wasn't used to being a mother. Percy clapped his hands, "Well since that's settled, kids go pack your bags. We leave tomorrow. Parents and guardians, you are also very welcomed to come. I'm sure some kids there are due for some more parental love."
Percy took Annabeth's hand in his and followed the others out.