A/N: this would eventually be a Percy/Dino. A slow burn where Demi-gods don't have flames.
Chapter 9
Persephone 'Percy' Jackson was tired of being the go-to hero the gods preferred to get things done, at least for awhile. After the whole ordeal with Kronos, she just wanted to lay low for a bit.
"Why don't you travel? I bet you could learn a lot of amazing things while you do." Annabeth suggested, prompting Percy to wrinkle her nose.
"Traveling sounds great, learning? Not so much. I think that's more your thing." She admitted. Annabeth grinned at her before pulling a box out from her bag and handing it to Percy.
"Here I've been putting together a bunch of iteneries for places I'd love to visit when I get the chance. You should look through them before deciding anything."
Percy opened the box and grabbed the first sheet with much amusement, only a child of Athena would do something like this when they weren't even interested in being a travel agent.
"Would you like to join me? These are awfully thorough for you to just let me do all this on my own." She said, sitting down on the ground to start sorting through what she liked or not, thankfully Annabeth had written it all down in Greek so she didn't struggle as much to read it.
"I can't. I have so many things to do in order to rebuild Olympus! I've been working on the plans for a week now and I'm about ready to start talking to some of the Gods and Goddesses to get their input on what they'd like. It'll take me at least a year or two to get it all finished up. But you have to keep in touch and tell me all about the places you visit, and try not to get into too much trouble?!" She pleaded. Percy just rolled her eyes.
"Of course I'll try, it's not like I enjoy being hounded by monsters. Anyways, do you mind if I show this to mom and Paul? I think they might like coming with me for one or two of these places, maybe go on a honeymoon they didn't get to really go on the first time."
"Of course! That's a great idea. Are you going to ask anyone else to go?" Annabeth asked curiously as she also sat down and pulled out Deadelus laptop to work some more on her blueprints for Olympus.
"Yeah, I think I'll ask Nico if he wants to go. Maybe Thalia will go with us and we can make it a cousins trip. I'd ask Tyson, but he's busy learning the ropes of being a general in dads army and Grover already has plans here in the states for helping restore the planet and he hasn't really wanted to leave Junipers side for very long." She said.
Annabeth bit her lip, "I don't think Thalia will be able to go. She's busy with the other hunters tracking down the last remnants of monster armies."
Percy nodded thoughtfully, "eh, your right. Like always. Well, I'll still invite Nico."
Annabeth hummed to show she was listening before the two fell into silence, one creating while the other looked over iteneries. After a while Percy nudged Annabeth.
"Hey, I think I kinda have what I wanna do, wanna look it over for me?" Annabeth put the laptop down and took the small pile of papers that were left, absently noting the rather large discarded pile. She looked over the countries and raised her eyebrow.
"You don't want to visit anywhere in the Americas?" She asked, noting that the two continents were left out. Percy shook her head.
"Nah, I feel like it would be too close to camp and Mount Olympus. I really want to visit Australia after Europe. Other than not wanting to visit the Western Hemisphere I also don't want to visit Russia, the Koreas, or Africa. Well, I might want to visit Egypt, but other than that… also probably not India, I hear scary things about their driving abilities. Like, the Grey Sisters, but more of them."
Percy laughed at Annabeths cringe of the reminder of the crazy sisters driving. The two sat in silence once more as Annabeth looked over the pamphlets, humming every once and awhile before arranging them.
"Here, assuming you go to Italy first, this would be the most cost and time efficient way to travel." Annabeth finally said as she handed back the pamphlets. Percy laughed and shook her head before noticing her mom and Paul walk into sight.
"There's my parents. I'll see you later, call or IM me so I know you're not drowning in your work ok?" Percy waved as she gathered her things and walked down to hug her parents.
"Hey mom, Paul. Did you enjoy the rest of your summer?" She asked. Sally laughed and kissed her head.
"Yes we did. And more than usual because we knew you were finally out of troubles way for a bit. How was your birthday? The big sweet sixteen?"
Percy grinned. "It was great mom. I helped win a war, got the gods to see where they went wrong and even got a cupcake with blue frosting after all was said and done. Next year though, I think I want to have a nice calm birthday party, with no monsters and no war."
Paul laughed and swung his arm over her shoulder. "I think that's doable. We might have to send warnings out to the monsters so they get the memo."
The trio laughed as they got into the car.
"I suppose." Percy conceded the likelihood of that happening. "Hey, I wanted to suggest something to you two." She said. Sally turned in her seat to give her daughter a questioning glance.
"I would really like to take some time off and travel. Annabeth gave me a bunch of Iteneraries to look through and I chose where I would love to go the most. I'm thinking of inviting Nico to join me when I go to Italy and France, but I wanted to know if you two would also like to go on a trip? Or maybe look through the pamphlets that Annabeth put together and choose where to go for a late honeymoon?"
Paul and Sally traded a look before Sally's smile widened. "We would love that Percy. Why don't you show us what you have planned when we get home and we'll talk about it? Don't forget that we'll have to find a way to cross the ocean."
Percy nodded. "I've already thought of that. I was thinking of doing a cruise to Europe then touring it for a bit with you guys and Nico, if he comes, before sending you and Nico back and continuing on my way."
"Hm. Well, we'll talk about it more at home, though it does sound like a fun idea." Paul said, allowing the car to fall into a comfortable silence as the trio made their way home.
Once the group got home, Percy put her things away and came down to see her parents talking at the kitchen table.
"Wanna see the pamphlets?" She asked, setting down the small pile in her hands.
"Why don't you tell us your plan first? Then your mother and I can look through them and discuss what we might want to do." Paul suggested.
"Well I wanted to travel around Europe first, have Nico and maybe you two join me, I figured we could either take a cruise ship or I could secure a ship and I could sail it myself but that would require us buying the necessary supplies." Percy said, watching as her mom looked through the pamphlets carefully. "After we get there, we could go our separate ways or we could tour Italy together and I could secure you a ship back, sail you back myself, or Nico could shadow travel with you before he and I head to France to explore. I plan to continue to travel Europe, before heading down to Australia and coming back up to visit Asia. I might or might not visit Egypt somewhere in there."
Paul frowned as he considered all this.
"What about the rest of your schooling? The school year starts soon and this is defiantly a trip that will take more than a year."
Sally also frowned at that.
"That's true. I really want you to finish schooling. Your so close and your grades are finally starting to come up for once. The school year starts in a week and a half."
Percy nodded thoughtfully, scowling at the table. While she didn't care about school all that much, she really only had two years of high school left and she knew Her mom and Paul went through a lot of work to keep her at Paul's school.
"Well," she said slowly, "I'd have to ask Annabeth about it, but I remember her talking last summer about having wanted to do a high school exchange program type thing in Greece, you know, to visit the place where the gods started out, but it was a tour type thing but she wanted to be close to camp because of the whole war coming closer. Maybe I could do something like that? Or I could wait till next summer I suppose. I could get a part time job and earn up through the year. Hmmm," she trailed off in thought. She really didn't want to wait to take this trip, she felt it was important to do.
"What if we signed you up for homeschooling?" Paul finally asked. Percy blinked and tilted her head, glancing curiously to her mom.
"I wouldn't mind, I'm… not entirely sure why I haven't done that before now. Mom?"
"Mostly to help hide your scent. It would be easier to do if you weren't always holed up in one spot, and also because I always needed to work and couldn't take the time to be with you and I certainly didn't want you around Gabe more than absolutely necessary". Sally explained, her face twisting at the thought of her ex-husband.
"Ok, yeah, that would be great then! I could do my school work and travel at the same time!" Percy exclaimed, excited.
Her mother, however, still looked conflicted. "I dunno Percy, what if you need help? Who will you ask?"
"I can always IM you or Paul or Annabeth right? Don't worry mom!" Percy said.
"I think we should let her, and we don't have to worry about if she can take care of herself, she could probably take on anyone." Paul pitched in. Sally gave a bit of a pained laugh in agreement.
"Alright, why don't you let Paul and I look through these and talk about it, you should probably ask Nico if he wants to come before you plan any further." Sally said. Percy grinned and jumped to her feet.
"Good idea, see ya in a few." She said, giving both her parents a kiss on the cheek before running up to her room to IM Nico.
When she got to her room though, she was only semi surprised to see Nico already lounging on her bed, reading one of her Captain America comics.
"Nico! I was just about to IM you!" Percy exclaimed. Nico blinked in surprise and sat up.
"Really? What for?" He asked.
"I want to go traveling the world and wanted to know if you wanted to go with me, at least to Italy and France. I know last summer you were talking about going." Percy said, flipping down next to him. Nico scooted over to make room for her.
"That sounds fun, have you asked anyone else to go?" He asked.
"Ya, everyone else is busy, but mom and Paul are thinking about going for a second honeymoon to somewhere, even if it's not with us. Paul is gunna help me enroll in online school and if I go by myself I'll probably just take a small boat."