A/N: If you recognize it, it's not mine. Simple as that.
Chapter 20
Perci POV
We only had a few minutes to stand at the top of Half-Blood Hill looking over the camp before the sound of hooves beating against the ground reached our ears, and Paul and I turned to face the direction they came from. I grinned widely, while Paul's jaw dropped at the sight of Chiron coming up to us with a smile on his face.
"Perci, welcome back." He said, coming to a stop, spreading his arms as I approached him for a hug.
"Good to be back, Chiron. I've got someone to introduce to the camp." I said, pulling back with a smile as I reached for Paul's hand to gently pull him forward.
"Paul, this is Chiron, the immortal trainer of heroes, and one of my uncles. Chiron, this is Paul Lahote, wolf shifter, and my fiancee." I introduced, smiling shyly as I listed that last title. Chiron looked over at him, and raised an appraising eyebrow as he looked him over, before giving a warm smile and extending a hand.
"Nice to meet you, Paul. Congratulations on your engagement." He said, making my wolf sigh in relief as he accepted the hand and gave it a shake.
"Nice to meet you too, Chiron. And thank you for your congratulations, I count myself a very lucky man." Paul said, making me blush lightly.
"Well, you two are just in time for lunch. Why don't you sneak into cabin 3, while I get Blackjack back into the stables and inform Mr. D that you two are here." Chiron said, making me laugh lightly.
"Sounds good. Oh, by the way, Felix, son of Ares wants me to give you his best." I said, waving as he paused in taking Blackjack in the direction of the stables while I lead Paul the sneaky way to my cabin.
"Should I be worried?" Paul asked in a whisper as we passed by cabin 9, and an explosion went off, making him jump, while I continued walking without flinching.
"No, explosions happen all the time in cabin 9. Most of them are Leo's, but a few of them can be credited to his siblings." I said calmly, sneaking past cabin 5 to avoid catching Clarisse's attention, and slipping open a window of my cabin, pulling myself through easily. Paul followed me in with only minor difficulty, before shutting the window behind him.
"That's not what I meant. Back at Sam and Emily's you mentioned threats, should I be worried about anyone trying to convince you not to marry me?" He asked, making me pause in my assessment of my cabin to whirl around to face him.
"No one can convince me not to marry you, Paul. Yes, you will receive threats here, likely a lot of them, but those that threaten you are those that care about me. You managed to get my father's approval, and got Triton to like you, not that their opinions matter. I love you, and you love me, that's why I'm marrying you. I don't care what other people say about it, because they're not the ones who I will be spending the rest of my long life with, you are. And to those that really care about me, the fact that I love you, and you make me happy will be enough." I told him, making his shoulders slump in obvious relief.
"You always seem to know what to say, Perci." He said, taking me in his arms to give me a hug.
"That's because you're my wolf. I have to know what to say to calm you down." I joked, earning a small smile in response.
"Out of curiosity, who do you think will have the worst threats?" He asked, and I pulled back slightly to think about it.
"Well, I know everyone I invited to graduation threatened you, I've seen the videos of that. So, I'd have to say it's a toss up between Clarisse from cabin 5, or the Ares cabin, and the Stoll's from the Hermes cabin. Jupiner can get creative, but I don't think she's more creative threat wise than a daughter of Ares, or two sons of Hermes." I told him honestly, watching him stiffen in response.
"Great, that's comforting." He said, just as the the horn for lunch blew, making me quirk my lips into a smirk.
"No, that's lunch." I sassed, waiting for everyone to go by, before exiting my cabin and walking with Paul into the pavilion late, just as Mr. D was giving the announcement.
"And Priscilla Johnson is visiting with a guest, Peter." He said in a bored tone, making every head snap toward the entrance to the dining pavilion to look at us in shock.
"Or, Perci Jackson, and her guest Paul, her fiancee." I corrected casually, smiling unrepentantly when Mr. D did a spit take of his Diet Coke at the word fiancee. Everything was silent for about a second before a loud squeal came from Piper at the Aphrodite table, the rest of the Seven who were present voicing their excitement, Annabeth actually running up to us to hug me. I laughed as the others followed, and soon Paul and I found ourselves in the center of a hug from Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Nico, Will, Grover, Leo, and Calypso. After a few minutes, Chiron's voice broke into the little happy bubble that we had been in.
"Alright, everyone can give their congratulations later, it is still lunch time, so back to your seats please." He called, breaking up the hug. While the others took their seats at their tables, I dragged Paul over to my table, and sat down, waiting for the meal to be served, offering the usual toast to the gods. Paul sat, speechless as the nymphs emerged from their trees, bringing the meal to everyone, only giving a startled 'thank you', when his plate was suddenly filled.
"Come on, at camp, we make offerings with every meal, so we have to do that before we eat." I explained, standing up and grabbing my plate. Paul followed, to the apparent shock of some people, and walked with me up to the fire.
"Poseidon, and Nike." I murmured, tossing in a buttery roll and the leanest piece of barbecue on my plate, standing aside to wait for Paul, who offered to the same as me, before walking with me back to our table.
"How do the glasses work?" He asked, grabbing his empty one and looking around at the ones that now had something in them.
"Just tell it what you want, and it'll give it to you as long as it's not alcoholic." I explained, whispering to mine for blue cherry coke, with him getting a regular coke. Lunch passed quickly, and I only felt the slightest bit of guilt abandoning Paul to those that wanted to talk -read: threaten- to him, to show off the ring to my friends who had been at graduation.
"Well, I suppose I should offer you congratulations, Miss Johnson." Mr. D said, coming up behind us startling Grover.
"Thank you, Mr. D, it's most appreciated." I accepted with a nod, watching as he walked off afterwords.
"That was weird." Leo said, shaking his head as he stared after the retreating god. I shrugged, and continued telling Piper, Calypso, and Annabeth about how Paul proposed.
"Wait, he put the ring in an apple, and threw it to you just before a battle? Jeez, Perci, that's just weird, but perfect at the same time." Annabeth said, shaking her head in amusement.
"Speaking of your fiancee, do you think we should rescue him from Clarisse and the Stolls now?" Will asked, gesturing over to the three who had apparently teamed up to scare the whits out of my wolf.
"Well, he is looking rather pale, so, I guess we should." I said airily, before walking over to the four.
"Hey, what's up guys?" I asked, as though I had interrupted a casual conversation about the weather, rather than a likely very terrifying threat session.
"Just telling wolf boy here what will happen if he hurts you." Clarisse said simply, offering me a smirk, while Conner and Travis smiled innocently. I nodded, slipping an arm around Paul's waist, hoping to calm him down before he ended up phasing in a panic.
"That's nice, but we probably need to go. I've got to inform the council about this, and then likely go with my father to tell Atlantis before we can go back to La Push." I said, making the Stolls groan in disappointment, while Clarisse narrowed her eyes.
"I better get an invite to the wedding, Jackson." She said, making me smile.
"Of course. But seriously, we really do need to go." I said, earning groans from my friends who had walked up to us by this point.
"She's quite right. Mr. D just informed me that Zeus is calling a meeting about your engagement, so Argus will take you to Olympus." Chiron said, making me sigh.
"You guys will get invited, I promise. Tell Frank, Hazel, and Reyna for me, will you, Superman?" I asked, getting a smile and a nod from Jason.
"I will, Perci, don't worry. Have fun, and good luck." He said, before they waved to see us off, while Paul and I followed Chiron back up to Half-Blood Hill.
"I will do my best to attend your wedding, Perci. Congratulations again." He said, giving me a hug, before turning to Paul.
"You treat her right, young man. If you harm her, nothing will save you." He said, making my eyes widen at the threat.
"I'm gathering that, sir, I'll treat her right, I promise. She'll be treated like the goddess she is to me." Paul said, making me blush again, and Chiron chuckle.
"Good. Now you two had best be off, you don't want to keep Zeus waiting Perci." He said, giving me a look. I rolled my eyes, but nodded anyway and started walking down to the van, where Argus was waiting.
"Do I even want to know why Chiron told you not to keep Lord Zeus waiting?" Paul asked once we got in and Argus started the drive.
"Let's just say, I've prided myself on pissing off the gods, Zeus especially." I said, making him chuckle, and I caught Argus give me a wink with one of his many eyes. Go figure a creation of Hera's would find me pissing Zeus off funny.
I kept my eyes on Paul, watching as he took in the sights of Manhattan as we made our way to the Empire State Building, smiling at the look of awe and wonder on his face. Expressions that quickly turned into confusion when Argus pulled to a stop outside the famous building.
"Why are we here?" He asked, following as I got out.
"We've got a meeting on Olympus." I said, giving no further explanation as I walked in, going right up to the desk.
"Perci Jackson and her guest. We have a meeting on the 600th floor." I said, ignoring Paul's look of confusion. The guard simply nodded and handed me the card, before going back to reading the newspaper.
"Come on." I whispered, grabbing Paul's hand and taking him over to the elevator, sighing in relief when I saw nobody else inside.
"What are we doing, there's no 600th floor." He said. I gave him a cryptic smile, before inserting the card into the slot, and pressing the button that appeared, making the elevator start shooting upwards. My cryptic smile seemed to keep him from asking anymore questions, and a minute later, the elevator came to a stop, opening to reveal the grand city that I had become familiar with.
"Welcome to Mount Olympus, Paul." I told him with a smile, chuckling as I reached over to close his gaping mouth, before leading the way to the meeting. I received smiles, waves, and a few bows as Paul and I passed people, which were kind of difficult to ignore. Thankfully, Paul seemed to sense my discomfort with all the recognition, and didn't say anything, just wrapped an arm around my shoulder and walked by my side. Unfortunately, this action caused the already small buzz of whispers to increase, making me groan quietly and pick up the pace. Soon enough, we were in Zeus's palace, and I went straight to the council room, not even pausing at the large set of double doors, and walked right in.
"Alright, we're here." I said simply, walking over to Poseidon's fisherman's chair throne and taking a seat on the couch he snapped up, pulling Paul down with me.
"Will you not address the master of this house, Miss Jackson?" Zeus asked, glaring lightly at me, making me, Apollo, Hermes, and my father snort.
"I thought you already learned the answer to that when I brought back your lightning bolt, uncle. Besides, you should know better than to ask me something like that by now, shouldn't you?" I asked, smiling at the snickers Apollo and Hermes gave, while Zeus just sighed.
"You are far too much like your father." He grumbled, making said god beam in pride.
"I'll take that as a compliment. And on the subject of compliments, Hephaestus, uncle Hades, my thanks on the work put in to make my engagement ring. It's a work of art, and I love it." I said, looking at each god, who gave a gentle nod in response.
"Now, why is a meeting needed, when I was simply going to leave a message with the guard at the desk to give to Hermes. It wasn't even going to be sarcastic this time." I said, making said cousin snort again.
"Aw, but I love delivering your sarcastic messages, Perce. They make father turn interesting colors." He said, making me and a few others laugh, while Athena, and Zeus huffed.
"A meeting was needed, niece, so that we could grant your wolf immortality. Unless you've changed your mind on that, Mr. Lahote?" Uncle Zeus said, looking to Paul, who shook his head instantly.
"No, sir. Perci means everything to me, and I'm not going to let such an opportunity slip through my fingers. I accept the offer of immortality." He said, standing up.
"Very well, it will be done." Was all the warning Zeus gave before Paul was suddenly engulfed in golden light, the same that I was covered in when I received my immortality. Once it faded, Paul looked slightly dazed, but I knew it would wear off.
"Thank you, uncle, is there anything else that needs to be discussed? I know my father is likely eager to get Paul and I to Atlantis to announce our engagement." I said, and didn't even have to look to know my father was nodding his head.
"Just one thing, I would like to perform the ceremony." Hera said, making me give her a deadpan look, before snorting.
"You erased my memories and kidnapped me from camp. If you want to perform our wedding ceremony, it's gonna take an actual apology to all those who were greatly effected by the switch between Jason and I. Don't worry, you've got time, it's not like we're getting married next week, but yeah, you're not doing it unless that happens. Bye!" I said, before grabbing my father's arm as he flashed us all to Atlantis. When we arrived, he gave Paul the ability to breathe underwater, while laughing hysterically.
"Oh, Hera will be pissed." He said, finally calming down as Triton and Amphitrite entered the throne room.
"What's so funny?" Triton asked, giving me a hug and a nod to Paul.
"I pissed off Hera by telling her that unless all greatly effected parties of the camp swap Jason and I went through were given apologies, she wan't performing mine and Paul's wedding ceremony." I said casually, earning nods from both Triton and Amphitrite until their eyes went wide as they realized what I had said.
"You're engaged?!" They shouted, making me laugh.
"Yep!" I said, flashing the ring, then blinking at the sudden change in attire. Instead of my jeans and t-shirt, and Paul wearing cut-offs and a camp tee, he was now wearing a suit, while I was in a Grecian style dress that was sea green, and a weight on my head told me I was wearing a tiara.
"Time to announce it to the people." Dad said, before walking over to a balcony, making me follow in confusion, Paul by my side, and the other two following us. When we emerged onto the balcony, my jaw dropped slightly at seeing what looked like the whole of Atlantis assembled below it.
"People of Atlantis! It gives me great joy to announce the engagement of my daughter, Princess Persephone, to her Fate-granted soulmate, Paul Lahote!" He called, voice echoing so loud, I had no doubt he was heard all the way at the back. Once the announcement registered in the minds of the people of Atlantis, a huge roar was heard as cheers erupted. Sharing a wide eyed look with Paul, I knew we were thinking the same thing. We were gonna be here a while.