Co-written by Vanadium Oxide

Beta'd by PraetorFable (and Lys this time I guess?)


The Sixth of June

Thirty One Days A.B.M

Percy was woken up in the middle of the night by a foreign sensation, a tingling in the back of his skull. Well, foreign wasn't quite the right word for it. It was intimately familiar, but he knew he hadn't felt it before.

Sitting up quickly, Percy felt Nico standing several feet away near the foot of his bed like a sleep paralysis demon.

"I felt like shaking you awake might not be the best for my life expectancy." Nico said, and Percy chuckled, swinging himself out of bed.

"You're probably right about that, but what was it you just did to wake me up?" Percy asked him, taking a glance at his clock to see the time was 12:15, not twenty minutes since he had fallen asleep.

Nico smiled slightly. "Something I've been working on recently. You weren't the only one that got Zeus' lecture on how to hide yourself. I haven't had nearly as much of a chance to work on it as you but I thought I'd keep myself occupied with all the time we've spent together, so I found out how to mentally… poke you, I guess. Can't figure out how to do it to anyone else yet, but I know you the best so I can do it pretty easily."

Percy blinked. "Okay, that's cool I guess. So, what's up? Another nation threatening nuclear war? I usually don't have to be awake for those." Percy joked.

Nico's face went from a small smile to a blank face. "We found her."

Percy was on his feet the next second, throwing on his clothes.

"Where."

Nico winced. Though Percy couldn't see it, he could feel it, and it was enough to make him feel concerned.

"Where?" Percy repeated, throwing his shirt on and turning to look Nico in the eye.

Nico just offered his hand, and Percy took it without a second thought.

The next moment he was enveloped in shadows and spat out on a street. Percy looked around, confused. They were on a street in the suburbs; it took a moment for Percy to use his senses to tell, but they were now just outside of Houston, and nothing seemed to be wrong.

Percy then came back to himself, taking in his immediate surroundings, and looked across the street at the building dimly lit by the street lights Nico gestured towards. Percy stared at the building for several moments, his brain fighting to read what was before him.

Leo and Calypso's Cafe and Auto Shop

"What?"

Percy stared at the building in front of him in disbelief. It was one of those live-in shops, where the actual store was on the bottom floor and the living space was on the second.

He had feared the worst. Titans, minor gods, Olympians, anyone could have kidnapped her and kept her anywhere from Olympus to Tartarus, torturing her every day for… some reason. They could have even killed her until she reformed anywhere from a few centuries to a few millennia from now. He was… prepared for that. He hadn't been prepared for her to be willingly in the mortal world, completely fine.

Percy stared at the building for several moments, confused. Was this actually her? Nico wouldn't make such a simple mistake; it had to be.

Did that mean that Leo was alive as well? It had to, right? So his dead friend and his lost love were shacked up together in metropolitan Houston.

Percy didn't think about whether it would be better to wait until morning, if he really wanted this to go down this way, or what any of this meant. He just walked across the street and loudly knocked on the door, almost numb in his actions.

He didn't have to wait long. A light flickered on upstairs, and a few seconds later the door opened, revealing caramel hair and startlingly black eyes.

Percy didn't say a word, and neither did Calypso. Percy stared at her, and she stared right back. For a long time, that's all that happened. It probably wasn't more than a few seconds — minutes at most — before someone broke the silence, but it felt like forever. Like time didn't exist in the moment, and they stayed silent, staring at each other from opposite sides of the door frame.

"Percy?" Calypso broke, in hesitant recognition; her voice crisp in the humid Houston night. Percy suddenly had a lack of air in his lungs. He didn't know whether he had forgotten to breathe or her simple calling of his name had expelled the air from his lungs.

It was for only a moment, but for him, it felt like a century. "Why?"

It was all he wanted to know. There was such a range of emotions going through him that he didn't know what to feel. Anger, sorrow, love, happiness. It made his mess of emotions one which was impossible to understand. He just wanted answers for any of the million and one questions running through his head.

Calypso remained silent, unable to answer, herself. Nevertheless, Percy repeated his question.

"Why didn't you tell me you were free? Come see me? I don't know… Something." He stumbled over his words, still wrestling over which emotions within him would triumph.

Leo was the next to appear, popping from behind the door, apparently curious about whoever it was at the door that was taking so long to talk to. They locked eyes and Percy let himself fall into resigned acceptance. It was impossible for his emotions to get any more jumbled, so he just… added it to the list he'd have to resolve emotionally later.

"You shouldn't have come, Percy," Leo told him, his expression cold. Percy couldn't even remember when it was the last time Leo had a cold expression. Never. The son of Hephaestus was never the type to show anger.

Percy knew before he'd even stepped into this neighborhood that he'd be lost for words. It didn't make sense. How did Calypso leave? Why didn't she come?

But now it made even less sense. They'd thought Leo had died and held a funeral for him months ago. Hell, Nico even confirmed he'd felt his death. But now Leo stood before him, a bit oily and bronzed, likely from working, sure, but perfectly healthy and alive. How was he alive? Had he gone to save Calypso? But if so, how?

And why hadn't they returned to New York? Why hadn't Leo let them know he was alive?

For the last few weeks, Percy had felt as powerful as a god. His heart and mind had hurt when Annabeth had died. He'd been torn; shredded from within, the only light in his life sputtering in the darkness. But this — seeing his friend now look down at him with distant, tempered eyes, it felt like he'd been sucker-punched. Betrayed, even.

"...Why...?" Percy managed to repeat.

Leo glanced between Calypso and him, and in a moment, he pieced it all together.

He knew Percy hadn't expected him to be there.

"Why didn't Calypso come to Camp Half-Blood once she escaped Ogygia? Why didn't she come running back into your arms?" Leo growled, stepping in front of her. "You promised her that you'd come back and free her, didn't you? You promised her, and left. Do you have any idea what it does to people, giving them a false sense of hope like that?"

Percy's mouth opened, but no words came out; shocked at Leo's outburst.

"No, you don't. It's all an afterthought to you, isn't it? You really never got to know Calypso, did you? The gods imprisoned her for who knows how long! Why would she ever want to come to New York? To you?" Leo continued. He pulled out a wrench from who knows where and held it between them. "Calypso's done. I'm done. Fucking Abuela Gaea is done and we're out! We don't want to be anywhere near the sick games the gods play, and I'm not letting you suck us back into it. So before I make you, get the hell out of Texas."

In a way, it made him want to laugh. Despite the indignation he felt, the anger, sorrow, one emotion finally managed to pull itself on top. His disbelief.

Here, Leo was earnestly threatening him with a wrench to get out of Texas. Percy had no doubt in his mind Leo could do more with just a wrench then an entire squad of heavily armed marines, but still, both of them knew, it was no contest. He glanced at Calypso — in half hope she'd say something otherwise, but she only stepped back from under his gaze, and looked away.

She couldn't even look at him now.

Percy whipped his head towards Leo. "You're done with the god's games? You don't think I wish I had that choice? That every demigod wishes they had that choice? That Jason, or Annabeth wished they had that choice? They're dead, by the way. Along with hundreds of other demigods. And you just decided that you were done, that all of your friends could risk their lives because you don't care anymore, that you wouldn't even bother letting them know you were alive. Well I hope you're fucking happy that you weren't there for your best friend's funeral. He died thinking he had failed you."

"And you!" Percy rounded on Calypso. " I used my wish to free you, you know. I could have been a god. Undying, all powerful, above the bullshit. But I asked that you be freed. I demanded it swore upon the river Styx, actually. Then I'm kidnapped, lose half a year of my life, am drawn back into another great prophecy and fall into Tartarus. Sorry I had other shit going on as well.

"You weren't on Ogygia when I finally had the power to get there myself. I've been searching, searching. But gods, damn! I'm stupid. I've been chasing someone who's been fleeing from my sight." Percy growled out, a storm churning above them.

"You know what? An Iris Message would've been nice — letting us know that you two were alive. Or use just the fucking Postal Service if you're so commited to hiding from the gods. Just… Just fuck this, fuck all of this. You say that you're fucking done with the god's games? That's a fucking joke and a half." Percy turned around and stormed away, the water drops in the air brimming with energy. "Fine, fine. Enjoy your fucking lives!"

"Percy." Calypso whispered for him, finally. The air turned silent between them, then. Drops of water frozen in mid air, waiting for their master to unfreeze.

His feet stalled; the storm between them brewing.

It took all his will not to turn around. Every ounce and shred he could scrounge up to keep his eyes trained down at the asphalt street. Because if he did turn around, he wasn't sure what faces he would see. It had scared him to see his friends look at him like that.

No.

That was a lie. Rather, it had maddened him, enraged him to no end.

How could they dare question the trials he went through; thinking he didn't have his own share of things to deal with. Those questions had spiraled through his mind mere moments ago; nearly causing Houston to be erased off the face of the Earth.

Maybe that was what scared him more than anything.

Himself.

And so, he was scared to turn around; but not to their faces and reactions, but rather what would happen if he didn't accept what they had to say.

Thunder crackled through Houston's low skyline and slowly steadied alongside his breathing. He closed his eyes and breathed in, feeling the churning hammer of energy formulating above him. He could let go, and everything around him would be gone. But people were not going to die tonight because of him. He was in control of himself, at least for now.

"..."

Percy vaguely reached out a hand towards the nearest shadow, and the next moment he was in a hallway, on his personal floor in his tower.

Percy immediately leaned himself against a wall, taking shallow, rapid breaths. He finally managed a look down at his hands, only to find them shaking. He didn't know if he wanted to cry or scream, or just stand there and let the energy drain from him until he collapsed against the wall.

He knew something in him had broken. Or shifted, or changed, or something. It would be better to sleep it off, to not do something he would regret in a day or two.

Percy allowed himself to glance at what was in front of him, seeing two wide-eyed royal guards and Sasha staring back at him.

Nico held up a hand to them, to let them know that Percy was fine and didn't need help. His guards responded immediately, slightly relaxing and resuming their normal posts. If their emperor's right hand said it wasn't something they needed to concern themselves with, then as far as they were concerned nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Sasha, however, did not take to these queues as quickly.

Percy looked her over as she rushed to his side. She was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt, with a cloak loosely hanging off of her. She had taken to black as entirely as Nico, with the exception of her dark purple eyes. She looked good, too, Percy almost couldn't help but think. He had of course thought about that before, as had every red blooded male that had met her. It was wrong, he wasn't in the right state of mind, but didn't he tell himself that he'd take whatever he wanted? Eh, fuck it.

"Your majesty? Are you alr—" Percy didn't let her finish that sentence; instead grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in for a kiss.

Fuck, it felt good to let himself fall into his impulses. Also wrong, incredibly, incredibly wrong. For so many reasons he couldn't even count. His recently dead girlfriend, his ex lover who was crying about him on the other side of the country right now, or the fact that Sasha couldn't technically say no being the primary reasons. But Percy found he didn't much care.

Percy liked to think that if there was any indication Sasha wasn't completely into this that he would stop, but Sasha didn't seem to object, if kissing him back and pulling at him so hard he swore she was trying to merge them together was any indication.

But he didn't know why he didn't care. He was just done pretending anything could discourage him from taking what he wanted. If he wanted Sasha, who would stop him? She certainly didn't seem to want to, and nobody else could.

Nobody else would so much as question him, or look at him differently, either. He was in a hallway by himself right now. A hallway with four people who had all sworn themselves to have no ambitions beyond his will. What were they, if not extensions of him?

It was with that mindset that Percy pushed Sasha towards the door to his chambers, ignoring the royal guards who for all the world were pretending as if this was an everyday occurrence, and leaving Nico in the hallway. They belonged to him anyway. Their opinions and thoughts about what he did were irrelevant. They would wait outside if he wanted them to.


Percy knew he had made a mistake before he was even fully conscious the next afternoon.

He felt the blood of another body resting on his at the same time as he felt the pressure on his chest. He let his eyes remain closed, and let out a long sigh. Well, he had done enough moping about his mistakes recently, he might as well deal with one like the mature adult he wasn't for once.

He gently shifted Sasha's body off of himself before standing up, brushing his teeth, and throwing on some sweatpants. He chose what he wanted for breakfast off of a screen like he did every morning — and gods didn't that just seem pompous as all Hades — and ordered two servings for the morning, on account of the other person in the room.

After that, Percy made a mug of coffee, grabbed some paperwork, and sat down at his table. His 'second desk', as he liked to joke to himself.

He made himself busy until the breakfast was delivered to his table by a silent royal guard minutes later, every now and then glancing at Sasha, who lay still in his bed, gently moving up and down with her every breath.

He still had a lot of conflicting thoughts about the night before. No matter how he spun it, he shouldn't have done what he did. He had moved far too fast for anything slightly resembling an attempt at a serious relationship, (which he didn't even think he wanted in the first place, but that was a different topic entirely) and even if it was completely casual, it was 'casual' in between him and his subordinate, which would inevitably cause problems no matter what happened.

But fuck had it felt good. Not just in the physical sense, but in doing what he wanted, damn the consequences. Admittedly, he had tried to with Calypso, but that had quite obviously failed. He was selfish, did what he wanted, and took what he wanted.

That was it, that was his entire argument as to why it had been a good idea. That was every pro he could think of. There were quite a few cons, including the fact that it officially made him a shitty person, if looking for his old fling a week after his girlfriend died didn't already establish that.

But now it was official, Percy was a grade-A douchebag.

He figured the fact that he found himself no longer caring probably only cemented it. He didn't want to say he was done caring if he was a good person because he genuinely did want to be one, and he genuinely despised himself for his actions. It just put things into perspective when he killed thousands of people on a daily basis with only a subconscious thought. Moping around wouldn't help those dead people, anyone that was going to die, or himself.

If anything, it would only hurt them.

It was then that he made his decision. He decided his answer to the question he had had since he started on this journey. It wasn't with some great epiphany, or sudden realization. He just knew, looking at the naked girl he barely knew but owned laying in his bed, that he wasn't strong enough to walk away. To leave what little he had and drop the crown on his head. He was too far along this path to turn back now.

Not only that, but he was addicted.

He had never wanted, craved, or tried to achieve power, because he knew it might be addicting. He was once a good enough person to resist the temptation to take the sweet drug of pure, raw power at his fingertips.

But now he had his crown, he had his throne, he had hundreds of millions of people praying at his altar for hours a day, seeking his approval and guidance. He had the power to do anything he could ever dream of with the twitch of a finger. He had powerful, devoted servants, and could to whatever he wanted to to whoever or whatever he wanted to.

It didn't matter how strong you were, how 'selfless' you were. With this sort of power within your grasp, it was impossible to let it go. Even if you were a paragon of virtue, the amount of good you could do with the power he now had was unparalleled. It would be more selfish to let the power go, in reality.

He really did hate it, considering the amount of evil it let him do. But he loved it far more.

Percy shook his head, deciding not to think about it anymore. He had promised himself that he would stop moping.

Percy stood up with a plate, walking over to his bed and gently shaking Sasha awake.

"Hngh?" Sasha asked, rubbing her eyes and opening them to see who had woken her, finding Percy staring down at her with a plate of eggs and toast.

She bolted up immediately, sitting up in the bed.

"Your majesty! I…"

Sasha trailed off, and Percy spoke up before she could gain a train of thought.

"Eat." Percy handed her the plate. "And how many times have I told you, call me Percy." he rolled his eyes, letting his hand fall to rest on the bed once she had taken the plate from him.

"Sorry." Sasha looked abashed, and decided to shovel eggs into her mouth instead of meeting his gaze.

Percy walked over to the table to retrieve his plate of eggs before walking back; sitting on his side of the bed to eat next to her.

They ate in silence. Whether it was a comfortable silence or an awkward one depended on who you asked, but it was only after they were both done and Percy had taken their dishes to the sink that the silence was broken.

"About last night…" Sasha sat up, using the sheets of the bed to cover herself, though it was a bit pointless after last night. It surprised Percy that she was the one to break the silence, considering her usual shyness, at least around him. He raised an eyebrow as he returned from the sink, sitting next to her on the bed.

"What… Did… What I'm trying to ask is what am I to you? Because before I thought I was just your subordinate and then last night happened, and I'm confused. I'm glad, I really am! And I'll be anything you want me to be, I just… need to understand my role. I understand if you don't want a relationship or anything. I mean, I really understand, but I just would like to know what I am to you, if that's okay. Not that you have to tell me or anything, obviously, your majesty — er, Percy. Not that you need me to tell you that —" She looked up at him, pleading with him to just understand what she was trying to say. Percy remained silent, content to stare into her panicked eyes for several seconds.

Did he want a relationship with her?

Well, he barely knew her. They had shared only a handful of sentences, and he definitely didn't love her, on any level really. Sure, he more or less liked her, and her flustered attitude could be anywhere from annoying to endearing depending on his mood, but there wasn't anything about her that would make him think he could fall in love with her.

But that wasn't the question. Did he want a relationship with her?

Percy looked at her barely covered form. Her body definitely wasn't a problem, and he more or less liked her. He definitely wouldn't mind getting to know her better or spend time around her, and once again his gaze was drawn along her body. A tiny voice at the back of his head was telling him about how wrong literally every bit of this was, but the rest of him didn't care in the slightest.

In the end, what did it matter if it didn't work out. He could stop it whenever he wanted to, and pretend as if it never happened. And in the meantime, it might be fun.

So as a response he leaned over to her and took her lips. They belonged to him anyway, and he planned to get his proper use out of them.

Percy pushed her down onto the bed and began kissing lower, relishing the feeling of her fingers in his hair. He wasn't thinking about what was right, or what the gods wanted, or what others would think of him. He was thinking about what he wanted. And right now, he knew exactly what that was.


Thalia couldn't sleep.

She hadn't slept last night, and she couldn't sleep this morning. She had a problem, and she couldn't stop thinking about it.

Really, her problem was that she couldn't stop thinking about it. The words Nico had said to her. She played them over over and over again in her head, and couldn't help but come to the brutal conclusion that he was absolutely right.

She hadn't actually been living her life for the last half decade or so, not technically. No, technically she was only there for the amusement of Artemis, something that was proving all too miserable when Artemis stopped caring about the hunt.

Not only that, but she had come to the realization that whether it was her intention to or not, she had absolutely thrown her cousin to the wolves when she joined the hunt.

She had sentenced her cousin to die out of selfishness, because she didn't want to be the one to stand up to the titans. How did that feel to him? Standing in the throne room of the gods as she chose immortality, as she signed his death warrant in front of him and then asked him to be happy for her. Gods, she was a shit cousin.

She felt bad about that, really, and she owed him one big apology the next time she saw him. But she had dealt with that, that wasn't what was keeping her up.

She didn't control her own life. In any capacity, at all. She had always heard some demigods complain about how they were just pieces on the Olympian's chess board; even Percy had made a snarky comment about it once or twice, and she more or less agreed. It just didn't hit home until she realized that Artemis could and would hand over the keys to her life to whoever she wanted whenever she wanted.

Pursing her lips, she forced herself out of the bed she had been given for the night. She would… she would give Artemis one more chance, and if she didn't take it, then Thalia knew where she'd rather be.


Percy sighed, reclining into his throne. It somehow felt better, now that he didn't constantly beat himself down for enjoying it.

He admitted it, he enjoyed the power. Who wouldn't?

Giving himself several moments to recline into his throne, he finally signalled his nearest guard, who banged his spear on the ground twice to signal the guards which were closest to the entrance that they could begin admittance.

He was holding 'open court' now, which made up the majority of his time each day. Of course, the court wasn't actually open. That may have worked hundreds of years ago when only a few thousand people lived in the city and travelling between cities took days or even months, but it did not work in modern day when every one of the seven billion people on the planet could be here within a day.

No, instead court for him was more or less just his meetings with various officials and influential figures. They'd usually ask him for something, he'd say yes or no. Rinse and repeat.

Percy dealt with the usual policy makers attempting to convince him that something needed to be fixed now, even before the congress could form. Considering it would form tomorrow, they weren't having nearly so much luck today. Of course most of them just wanted to convince one teenager rather than a large group of dozens of politicians, but Percy hadn't found himself caring much for their plights.

Percy sighed after his tenth hearing, considering just closing things down early today. He had yet to say yes to anyone. If they wanted something done, they could just wait a day and get it passed through congress.

Percy was about to give the order when he caught sight of the next person entering the throne room.

Percy grinned. He hadn't expected her to come here, but it was nice to see her nonetheless.

"Your Majesty." Sadie Kane gave a mocking bow once she reached the foot of his throne.

Percy's guards immediately stepped forwards to correct the disrespect, but a wave from Percy held them off. "Let her through."

Rolling her eyes at the bevy of mortals challenging her, she began walking up the steps, brushing shoulders with one of his royal guards as she passed through his 'last' layer of defence.

Stepping up right next to his throne, Sadie leaned over to whisper something into his ear, and Percy found his interest peaked.

"Things are moving, soon. I can't say when, but keep your ears open."

Percy let out a deep sigh. So, he would have to launch his assault on the pantheons soon. He didn't even have a plan yet, but what could he plan for? Really, all he knew was that he and Nico would have to get personally involved. Thinking back to the Greek gods pre-war (which were arguably the strongest of the various pantheons even then) Percy couldn't imagine anything that could stand in his or Nico's way, much less both of them.

"What should I expect?"

"I've got a list of Nomes. If you want to make sure they can't respond, you'll need to cut off the entire pantheon. The Egyptians are the only ones with such a long reach, though, so cutting off the head of the snake will be enough for most."

Percy nodded. "I have a cell phone. You can send the information to me through that. I'll make sure I'm made aware of any message you send, no matter the time. Is that all?"

"No, actually. Firstly, the nomes are protected by a relatively weak coating of magic, at least compared to you. But that means you'll have to be there personally to break the defenses, unless you have more demigods that are as powerful as you on call."

Percy hummed. He could just send Nico around and take out the pantheons himself. That would be a pain, depending on how many nomes there are. He knew there were at least twenty-one because of the twenty first nome in Brooklyn, but he had no idea how many more there were.

Percy decided to voice his question. "How many nomes are there?"

"Three hundred and sixty."

"Fuck."

Percy sat for a while longer, thinking of a solution that wouldn't take days. If he let Nico take them out one-by-one, the rest would rally and then shit would really hit the fan.

"I'll think of something," he finally said. If he and Nico had to go around eliminating each nome, then he would do that, even though he'd really prefer not to.

"Don't kill anyone in the nomes. I'm putting my foot down on that." She turned from whispering in his ear to send him a small glare, "and save the artifacts if you can. There's thousands of years of history and progress of the entire Egyptian magical society between all of these nomes. From what I can tell, everyone will be recalled to the first nome for the day of the announcement on extremely short notice, so every other nome will be virtually undefended."

"You have to understand that while I can limit casualties in most nomes, the first nome will be a blood bath. A lot of people will die, Sadie. Unless you can convince them to surrender, I'll be forced to walk out covered in blood."

Sadie pursed her lips. "I understand that. Can't you… knock them out?"

"Not if they have a god in them or they are gods themselves. I can't risk it." He stopped to ponder for a moment. "For the mortals… I can try. At least then, I can instinctively feel for their lack of magic. They'll come away with some brain damage, but it's better than the alternative. I won't have time to give them individual care, though, with half a dozen major pantheons in attendance. If they don't go down instantly, they have to die."

Sadie nodded slowly. "I understand. I'll make sure the twenty-first nome isn't in attendance. Leave them where they are, they won't be a problem. And Carter…"

Percy tensed. "He's a friend. Or, was. I'll do what I can—"

"That's not good enough! He's my brother."

Percy let out a long sigh. "Yeah, I know… I can have Nico force him out of the area. You guys can't just teleport, right?"

"Not without an Egyptian artifact nearby, no. If you can drop him on some island somewhere, that'd be ideal. In fact, that would help with Zia and Walt as well."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Zia and Walt?"

"Carter's girlfriend, my boyfriend. Host of Ra, host of Anubis. Respectively."

Percy whistled. "Talk about power couples. Horus and Ra, Anubis and Isis. Speaking of which, what does she think about all this?"

"That's… not important."

Percy set his hand on her forearm, which was leaning on his armrest. "Sadie. If there end up being any… complica—"

"There won't be."

"Sadie, be honest with me. Will Isis be a problem?"

Sadie hesitated. "No. She thinks the gods should have never returned. She hates you more than anything, but she's aware that us doing the same thing is the definition of stupid. From what I can tell, Zia is the same way. Walt and Carter… they don't share our sentiments. It's causing… problems, to say the least."

Percy frowned. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to go through this because of something my pantheon has done."

Sadie straightened so she was standing next to his throne. "No, it's fine. It's nobody's fault but the gods. All of them."

"Zia. Can she be…"

"Turned to our side? Used? No. She's far too loyal to Egypt, and to Carter. She'll moan and complain all she wants, but at the end of the day she does what Egypt wants."

Percy nodded. "Take care then, Sadie. And let me know if you need anything."

Sadie nodded, before turning around and walking out the throne room doors, just like that.

Percy was about to call it a day when he was once again surprised at the next person waiting at his doors. He arched an eyebrow, confused as to why she would even bother approaching formally when she could just walk up to his room whenever she wanted to.

She approached the steps to his throne, the leather jacket, black jeans, rock band t-shirt and chains hanging off of her a sharp contrast to his normal guests formal attire.

But just like everyone else (with the exception of Sadie, it seemed) when she neared the foot of the stairs she got on a knee and bowed her head, waiting for him to address her.

Percy frowned and leaned forward. "What's this about?" Percy wondered aloud.

"I wish to swear myself to you, Your Majesty."

Silence followed her proclamation. After a few moments of staring at her, Percy gave up and decided to just go ahead and ask her. "What brought this on?"

Thalia kept her eyes on the ground. "My lady Artemis has decided that I am no longer of value to her. I wish to forsake my oaths and swear myself to you instead."

Percy leaned back, no less confused. He wanted to step down and comfort her, to ask her what was really wrong. But he had had this conversation with Nico before. She didn't need someone to talk to, or advice. She needed to be able to say 'yes, Your Majesty' and stop thinking. Everything weighed so much lighter when you didn't have a choice. It's why Nico had always fallen back to referring to him by title, not name, as far as he was aware.

And yet Thalia wasn't even in that situation. If anything she was seeking more freedom, trying to go from an absentee goddess as a master to her cousin and (sorta) best friend.

But that didn't change the fact that she was leaving the institution she had been a part of for nearly half a decade now to get herself into an unbreakable oath to him.

If only he had time to think about this, or to ask Nico for advice as someone who had been in a similar situation. But there was no time to ask him, or even to think really. So what was he going to do, tell her no? No, you can't swear yourself to me, instead you should keep serving the goddess who's been avoiding you for the last few months.

"Has Lady Artemis approved this?"

Percy felt, rather predictably, Artemis' presence snap to his position the moment he said her name.

"Yes, your majesty. She agreed to… gift the hunt to you just this morning. She will release us from our oaths, so long as I swear myself to you instead."

Percy held back a wince, knowing that Artemis was watching. Okay, so that sounded pretty bad. Realistically, though, if he took Thalia then the other two would end up coming along anyways, seeing as how they had nowhere to go. So while giving the hunt to him sounded really bad, in reality it was more a way to dissolve the hunt while giving the members a place to go. It was also conveniently a way to get in his good graces without actually using her powers, something he didn't miss.

Percy felt a message from Artemis' presence, but unlike the last time, he got a vague feeling of approval.

"Thalia…" Percy couldn't help but be worried. He waited until she looked up at him to continue. "Do you know what you're doing? Do you understand what your life is about to become if you go through with this?"

She just nodded slowly. Nodding back, Percy held in a sigh. "Then you are released from Artemis' service. State your oath."

Thalia looked back at the floor, swallowed, and began her oath. "I, Thalia Grace, swear on the River Styx to fulfill the every command of Perseus Jackson. To forever swear myself as his shield, his will to become mine, and to protect his life and wellbeing above all others."

Thunder sounded off in the distance, roaring across the sky as her oath was spoken, and Percy closed his eyes. Her oath was too similar to Nico's. In fact, it was almost word for word.

Percy threw his head back "Fucking, di Angelo," he cursed.

As soon as his name was called, Nico appeared next to Percy, kneeling. "Your Majesty."

Percy huffed, standing from his throne. He tried to ignore how much he already missed it's embrace.

He stared down on his two cousins, his two best friends who hadn't stopped kneeling. One right next to him, the other at the foot of his throne. He felt like he was scolding misbehaving children.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" he demanded, staring down at Nico.

"As I said to you before, Your Majesty. Only things she needed to hear."

Thunder cracked outside and Percy held his anger at bay, making sure that nobody in the city died for this.

"What she 'needed to hear' was convincing her to give her life away to me?" Percy asked incredulously.

Thalia interjected. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, I simply transferred between yourself and Lady Artemis. I didn't own my life in the first place."

"But you could have! I could have asked for you, if you told me you didn't want to be in the hunt anymore. As we've just seen, Artemis was more than willing to dissolve the hunt as a favor to me. There was no need for you to swear yourself to me. I thought you had some reason other than that, but if you just wanted to leave the hunt I could have done that without you giving your life away again."

"It seemed very clear from my conversation with her highness that she would only accept if I was given to you. Besides, where would I go?" she asked, looking up from the floor to stare defiantly into his eyes. "I'd want to be here with you anyway, and the only way you can trust me is if I'm sworn to you."

"No Thalia, not you. Never you. I know I can trust you, oath or not."

"No, you don't. Not even I know that. We both know that my ambition gets ahead of me sometimes. What if the gods compel me to give away one of your secrets, or I'm… tempted by something. You didn't even trust Annabeth fully, for good reason. But I don't want to be that. I want to help you as much as I can."

Percy fell back onto his throne. Another friend lost, for all intents and purposes.

"We're in this now, so accept it."

Percy looked down at Thalia, biting the inside of his cheek. "Get up here. And we're done with court today," he added to the nearest royal guard, who signalled to the door guards.

Thalia stood, making her way up the steps until she was just a few feet in front of him and making to kneel again.

"I swear, if you kneel before me again I'll beat the hell out of you in our next spar." Percy threatened. "And you get up too, Nico." He glanced at Nico, who was still kneeling to the left of his throne.

Both of his cousins stood before him as he sat on his throne.

"Sorry." Thalia shrugged. "New to this whole 'serving an emperor' thing."

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, you don't need to call me Your Majesty or anything unless it's in public, that's just a Nico thing. Between me and you, I think he gets off on it."

Thalia snorted, ignoring Nico's deadpan reaction.

"Basically, if we're in private then treat me as you normally would. In front of any sort of audience, just call me Your Majesty. That's it. I don't need any posturing or kneeling or anything, as far as I'm concerned you're now an extension of me."

Thalia made a face. "That doesn't sound great."

Percy shrugged. "That's what you signed up for."

She just sighed, but a glint of amusement shone through. "I guess you did warn me." Her expression hardened. "I know what I'm getting into, though. I am in this until the end, Percy. I mean it."

Percy nodded. "There's no changing that now. And for what it's worth, I am glad to have you here Thals. I just hate what that means. Hell, now we need to find a job for you. Fancy being the prime minister?" he teased.

Thalia mock gagged. "I'd rather die than be a politician, thank you."

"She seemed to enjoy training the royal guards." Nico mentioned.

They sat in silence for several seconds, considering that.

Eventually, Thalia shrugged. "Yeah, they're in pretty rough shape. They work well as pretty pets, but if you want them to fight anything other than a defenseless civilian, they've got some ways to go," she said, eyeing up one of the guards nearest to her.

Percy chuckled. "I told you, you can't keep comparing them to demigods. And besides, they've only had a few months to train. I would appreciate the extra hand though." None of his royal guards bristled or tensed. They were far too devoted to him to do something like that in response to something a friend of his said, but he could feel many of their blood pressures rising all the same.

"This actually solves an issue I've been having recently anyway. My captain, Beason, is fine at managing the amount of men I've given him to command in battle, but he's no administrator. With how much the guard is growing, I need someone that's a bit more than a soldier."

Thalia nodded slowly. "It's not exactly my cup of tea either, but I can get to working on it straight away."

Percy stood from his throne. "I'll be going, then. I have other things to take care of. When you're done, find Nico. He has some tricks he might be able to teach you with regards to your powers."

Thalia nodded, turning to the nearest guard and asking to be led to the captain of his royal guard. Percy walked to his elevator and selected a floor, only having to wait a few minutes before he arrived on the floor he specified.

When he arrived, it was to a large, empty floor with a single person occupying it, hunched over a messy amalgamation of several desks all pushed together to make a large table. Hundreds of desks and chairs lay empty, all of them looking like they hadn't been touched since they were made, which was likely true.

Percy walked up behind the busy figure. In front of them on their collection of desks was a collection of ancient Greek scribbles and tomes. Percy tried to make sense of it for several seconds before giving up and just asking.

"What is all this?"

"Eep!"

Sasha squeaked, turning around to face him and holding a hand over her chest.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you," she let out a deep breath.

Percy chuckled. "My bad. You were really busy, huh? What are you doing?"

Sasha rubbed her head bashfully, sending a glance at her collection of desks. "Just some things my mother taught me that I'm trying out."

"Anything you can show me?" he asked, genuinely curious.

She paused for a moment. "I might be able to…" she trailed off, turning towards the table and shuffling a few things out of the way.

Seemingly satisfied, she turned back to him. "I can create and use basic elements, like fire and water, but that's not the most useful to you, so I thought I'd concentrate my efforts in other places." she said, putting her hands in front of her, palms pressing against each other.

She shut her eyes and pulled her hands apart. Her hands were shaking, as if she was pressing against some large force, but when her hands separated there was a wavy mirage, as if a large amount of heat was radiating from the area.

Switching to his more divine senses, Percy raised an eyebrow. Sasha had created a magical barrier in between her hands, one which Percy could break without a second thought, granted, but that wasn't saying much. After all, a barrier which was unbreakable a few months ago was now an afterthought.

It needed work, but it was certainly something.

Eventually, Sasha's hands clapped together, as if finally giving up on resisting some great force, and the girl herself was panting.

"That could certainly be useful. A defense which can't be destroyed by brute force alone is definitely an asset against mortals. And most demigods, for that matter."

Sasha nodded shakily. "I've also learned how to break weak barriers with an inscription."

Percy's eyes lit up. "An inscription. What do you mean by that?"

"Just… an inscription. Writing. I can write some runes and some ancient greek on a tablet and make it a mobile forcefield canceller, with the right application of magic."

Percy chuckled. "That's… incredibly convenient. I need you to make as many of those as possible. And see if you can get some more grunts to help you, but do not let them have access to anything dangerous this time. Hades, you don't even need to tell them what they're working on. Less risk that way. I'll assign guards to the floor as well, to make sure nobody's doing anything they're not supposed to."

Sasha nodded quickly. "I'll do that. They're not very strong right now, but I'll get better. I promise."

Percy grabbed her by the shoulders, making sure she was looking him in the eye. "The impression I got from the children of Hecate I knew is that pure magic isn't like a demigod's abilities. It's a subject to study, and you get better as you go. Don't hold yourself to such high standards when you're still a beginner."

Sasha nodded hesitantly. "Thank you."

He knew she didn't believe him, but it was the best he could do for now.

"Have you eaten?" Percy changed the subject, feeling himself beginning to get hungry.

"Oh um," she glanced at her table of artifacts and notes. "No, I haven't had time."

Percy snorted. "Nonsense. You make your own schedule, let's go get something to eat."

She just shrugged, taking one last longing glance at her work. "Okay." And like that, they walked over to his elevator to his floor.

Percy held in a chuckle as he pressed the button leading to his floor, only able to think about how technically, this was their first date.

Join the discord if you wanna talk, my channel's open: discord .gg/kYCPuAw

Next chapter December 30