"Honestly I would prefer it if I could just stay here with you all day." I say sweetly as I kiss her forehead. A small smile played on her lips as I moved away.
"I can't start a story and not finish it I guess. I know this story is dark and That Percy isn't good or anything but soon we'll get to the part where you know the rest. Then everything will make sense"
After I finished my meditation process I set out in the general direction of the Doors of Death. The River and Arachne behind me, I set my sights on something more. Gaea is not working alone and it can be surmised that she has followers. Immortal followers. Giants, Titans, perhaps even a few Primordials! I hunger… and what better tasty snack than the screams of a god. Or something close enough to it.
As I walk, a piece of my mind always on my surroundings and my destination, I recede once more to reflect on my life and new power. I do not truly know when I first joined with Perseus but I know it was soon after our Mother married Gabe. My mother never knew that he beat us and we didn't tell her either. Young Perseus got close a few times but I would always urge him against it in the subtlest ways I could find. Subterfuge and manipulation are easy things to learn at such a young age as we were, adults did it all the time. By the second day of "Beatin' and Bathtime", as Gabe referred to it, Perseus couldn't take it anymore. He cracked. He broke down crying as Gabe came closer, crying for his mother and sobbing through clenched fists "please not again, please…" (Gabe warned the first time that making noise would result in more pain). For a second, Gabe seemed as if a small portion of his humanity might return. That hope was shattered as his fist broke our nose, held our face in one hand and stated "You're scum, weak. Man the fuck up. If you can't take it I'm sure mommy will."
A cold chill spread down our spine. Percy sobbed harder than ever but in that moment I refused to let him control us. I knew the man was stronger but I had different ideas. As I assumed control, my eyes grew cold and defiant. Lifting a hand, I wiped away tears in even strokes without rubbing and stared him down.
"Touch my mother and I will tear your throat out." (At the time I had no idea how to do that or even a plan but anything to keep him away from her.)
"Tough guy? Got your grit back I see." Gabe said.
His fist came down again. Another on my face. One to my ribs, a definite crack. This continued as he tore skin and broke me in the most imaginative ways for a drunk. I sheltered Perseus from much of the pain. I shut off as many of the receptors as I was able but in the end I had to take it and I did. I do not know why but I did. Gabe realised, after he saw that we healed in water 2 weeks before the beatings, that bathtime is perfect afterwards. It tired us out and his marks. We had nothing on him and this continued for years to come. He slowed down by age eleven and stopped completely near our twelth birthday.
Perseus remembers it and it haunts him but not like it should. Not like a victim of abuse. He remembers pain, although much less. He remembers anger and dread but always the soothing feeling of water afterward. I gave him that. I made sure he got calmed down in the bath to stay happy for our Mother. Most of what he remembers is just feelings; pain, relief, anger, sadness etc. But he only truly remembers it because the first time it happened, he took it because I did not react fast enough. I lived with that rage from that day forth. That was the first day I came out. I became more active after that. I started learning, reacting to the world around us. Sure I got into a few fights but it was for the good of us. We learnt, we developed. I retained all the knowledge thanks to being left awake in his mind and scouring his memories repeatedly as he slept. He did not need me again after the beatings stopped for some time...
That is, until the Minotaur came around. We were still normal then, but a year before this I started picking up on certain patterns. Small spikes in power would occur around certain places or people. Almost like it was feeding on it. I always felt at peace with Chiron around and I knew from day one that Grover was not normal. I could never tell Perseus though, I had no evidence beyond the power spikes and he couldn't feel them. So I kept to myself more. Until the Fury attacked. It was like a drug, such a huge adrenaline charge along with the immense power spike