A/N-All right y'all
This chapter has a scene of nightmare related PTSD, one where's it sort of talked about but not detailed as such and vague mentions of torture. So if it seems like something that might trigger you, then you can skip that scene as well and just let me know if you want a summary of that particular scene if you don't read it :)
Hope you enjoy the chapter though! Do let me know!
Percy, Leo, Beckendorf, Tyson and Nico made their way to follow Annabeth to the map room.
"Why don't you eat something first?" Amphitrite asked Percy worriedly. Percy gave her a small smile.
"Gonna check this out and then I'll eat calmly." He said.
"He means the Dumbledore calmly." Nico snickered.
"I do." Percy clarified and they rushed to the map room. Once they were all inside, Annabeth locked the room.
"All right, so, I came up with a basic plan for the infrastructure of the Underworld." Annabeth informed and everybody grinned. "I understand that we all want to keep this as a surprise from your parents?" she asked Nico who nodded without giving a second thought to the fact that Annabeth had begun to refer to Hades and Persephone as his parents. Everybody else also nodded in agreement, not giving a second thought either.
"That's what Percy's idea was. That even though dad and mom know that there is some planning that's going on, the fact that its actually been executed would be fun to keep as a secret and then surprise them. The reason that I know is because I can map the Underworld." Nico shrugged.
"Does anybody else from the Underworld know?" Leo asked. Nico nodded.
"I asked Hecate for help. She normally stays in the Underworld itself and she's pretty damn good at keeping secrets." He informed.
"That's all the people that know, I believe. The ones in this room, Grover and Hecate." Percy mused.
"Well, we're going to need some more help to finish this whole project in time. I mean, we can do it pretty fast but it'll be great to have some help." Annabeth sighed.
"You sound like you got somebody specific in mind." Beckendorf chuckled. Annabeth grinned at him.
"I was thinking Castor, Pollux, Grover and Katie. They can really help out with the scenery and atmosphere." She said. Everybody nodded and Beckendorf rubbed his chin.
"I genuinely think that Silena would love to help. She told me once when we were talking the initial times that this came up." He said. Annabeth nodded.
"The more the merrier." She said. She walked up to the table which was obviously holographic and had a state of the art software. She opened up the design that she had planned which made everybody suck in an amazed breath.
"This is basic?" Percy chuckled fondly, making Annabeth blush to the roots of her hair.
"Yeah because there is one thing that I am just not able to crack." She admitted. Everybody looked at her and nodded, understanding that there was no need to be surprised. They were here to help, after all. At everybody's questioning glances, Annabeth explained.
"So we all know that there is a major flow of traffic at the gates of the Underworld from where the souls enter into the realm after crossing the Styx. Now in order to provide a solution to that, we need to figure out a way to divert that traffic and make it much more fast moving than it is." She said. "That's what I'm not able to figure out. A way to do that." She said. Everybody pulled a couple of chairs and sat down as they thought about it. Finally, Percy spoke.
"I have an idea. I'm pretty sure its crack as shit but just hear me out." He said, holding up his palms.
"That means its going to work." Beckendorf laughed. "You've already got me interested." He said with a grin which Percy couldn't help but return. Annabeth looked at her boyfriend fondly.
"What if we use something like escalators?" Percy suggested. Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows and opened a new model for Percy to show what he meant. Percy got up and walked over to the table.
"So, lets say that the current level that they use is a ground floor. I'm saying that we construct two more floors above this. Its not like there's a height issue." He said and pulled up a model of two more floors above the current one and then divided them into two.
"But we divide them into two. Sort of like they're towers and connect them with a bridge similar to what we see in movies of castles and stuff. We connect all the three floors with escalators with two escalators to each tower from the ground floor." He explained, pulling up the model as he talked.
"And on each floor we have like a check point like those that are currently on the ground floor. All the souls get verified and even the crowd is divided pretty efficiently seeing as there are about 5-6 checkpoints now. After they get verified they go forward and there is another set of escalators that just sort of lead them directly to the judges' place and they can all join the queue." Percy finished, making the model and then looking at Annabeth. Everybody stared at the son of Poseidon in awe. Annabeth pulled her boyfriend in for a kiss who then looked at her with wide eyes.
"That. Is. Bloody. Brilliant." Annabeth said with the widest grin ever.
"But will it work? Seeing as they all are going to end up joining the same line?" Tyson asked Nico who rubbed his chin as he thought and then nodded.
"It ideally should. The main problem for the traffic is that they all go through the same checkpoint. This would remarkably solve that problem. The judges are pretty fast with their work. There are only a few cases that take slightly longer but that is only when the judges need any of the Underworld gods' or my advice but even then its actually pretty less time." Nico said at last. He chuckled and grinned at Percy.
"I'll be honest, this whole solution would speed things at such a level that you have no idea about." He said. "And its not like we don't have enough people to spare at the checkpoints." He added.
"What about Cerberus? Isn't he supposed to be guarding the checkpoints though?" Percy said suddenly. Nico nodded.
"That's not an issue. He'll still be stationed at the gate. The checkpoints follow after the gate. The souls will still have to cross him." The ghost king smirked.
"That's amazing then. Let me just incorporate this into the final design." Annabeth said with a happy glint in her eyes as she compiled Percy's design into the one that she had made and saved it.
"Nico, take a look at it once. If there's anything that needs to be adjusted, we should probably do it now before we print the blueprint." Beckendorf said to the son of Hades who nodded and went over to the table. He zoomed each and every part and everybody in the room could see the happiness grow on his face as he did so. Once he was done, he looked at the group with the widest smile ever.
"This is perfect. Thank you so much." He said. Beckendorf punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"Come on now, there is nothing to say thank you about. We're family after all." He said with a smile which Nico returned and didn't protest as the son of Hephaestus pulled him in for a side hug.
Tyson grinned and printed out the 2D blueprint as well as the 3D one that could be rolled up as well. Yeah, Olympus had the coolest tech ever.
"So when are we going to start working on it?" Percy asked Annabeth.
"After your birthday." Nico said. "I don't want that we don't celebrate your 18th because we were working." He said to Percy before anybody else could pipe in but even they all nodded in agreement.
"But-" Percy started to protest but Nico stopped him.
"The infrastructural development has waited for millennia. It can wait a few more days. Your 18th birthday comes only once, brother." He said and Percy grinned at him and gave his brother a side hug.
"All right. Now that we're done here, I'll talk to the twins, Grover and Katie and Beckendorf will talk to Silena and we'll get started after 18th." Annabeth smiled.
"Great. Lets go now. Even I'm hungry now. We've been here for almost an hour." Beckendorf chuckled. They all nodded, closed the plans and left the map room.
Percy and Nico went over to their table and sat down.
"Ah, you guys done with all the secret business?" Thalia teased them.
"Yep." Nico answered.
"What was it though?" Triton asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Ah, there's a reason why its called 'secret business', brother." Percy said with a raised eyebrow and Triton nodded.
"I see, I see." He said with a chuckle.
"Well, Percy, now you should eat something. You've not eaten solid food since 4 hours or such and its becoming increasingly concerning especially since those 4 hours include that you haven't had breakfast." Amphitrite said to Percy who nodded.
"Yes, ma'am." He said and got up. He really didn't want to make anybody especially not anybody in the sea gang, suspicious. He highly doubted that they knew about what he saw. In fact, he suspected that the only people who knew exactly what happened would be Hades and Zeus. Percy sighed as he put waffles into his plate and went back and grabbed the maple syrup, pouring almost half the bottle onto the waffles. He raised an eyebrow at all the amused looks that he got from everybody at the table.
"I already told y'all. I can't drown and neither can my waffles or pancakes or any other food." He shrugged. He then proceeded to put an entire quadrant of the waffle into his mouth comfortably and sat back as if nothing happened. Everybody now stared at him in amazement or amusement or a mixture of both.
"How many of those do you think you can fit into your mouth at once?" Triton asked with a squint, really wanting to know the answer.
"Ah, sadly, only two but I take pride in the fact that that's still considered half a waffle." Percy grinned.
"You two have a talent." Nico shook his head as he gestured to Thalia and Percy who nodded in agreement.
"You know what? This makes me curious now. What's you biggest food achievement?" Persephone raised an eyebrow. Percy rested his head against the back of his chair and put his hands behind his head while Thalia leant forward as they thought. Hades, Poseidon and Zeus arched their eyebrows at the similarity.
"I'd have to say the time when I fit the whole pizza slice in my mouth. That was something very pride inducing." Percy said finally.
"Yeah, for me it'd have to be when I fit 10 Oreos into my mouth." Thalia nodded. Everybody stared at the two of them and shook their heads fondly.
"You two really do have a talent." Triton chuckled.
"Hey, we never denied it." Percy shrugged
Eventually, Apollo walked up to their table and grinned at the entire Big Three gang and gave a two fingered salute to the demigods and pulled up a chair near Percy.
"So Perce, I hear you finished your law book?" he grinned. Percy nodded.
"How'd you find it?" the god of music asked.
"Brilliant. A couple of things that I didn't essentially agree with and couple of things that I found loopholes in." Percy answered. Apollo chuckled.
"Well, cousin, that can be used to your advantage as well but also your disadvantage and that's where you have to be cautious about how you play." He said. Percy nodded in understanding.
"Also, I had a doubt about one thing in particular?" he said but it came out more like a question. Apollo nodded.
"Shoot." He said. Percy pulled out his copy of the law book and flipped to a page that he'd saved and showed a particular line to Apollo. Even Zeus had walked over to Apollo's side to see what Percy had a doubt about. The demigods seemed interested in how this mentorship thing was going to work with their own mentors as well.
"So this, I mean isn't it a little contradictory to part III? Technically, if you used part III to justify yourself, you could easily get screwed over if the opposing counsel quoted this one line." Percy questioned, doubt ringing in his voice as he showed the two gods the said line. What he didn't expect was Apollo's wide grin and a smile on Zeus' face.
"What?" Percy asked, his confusion furthering.
"That was an intentional error that we put into your copy of the book. We didn't really think that you would find it and we'd have cleared it later but we still put it in to see if you'd figure it out. It's something that you'd need an eye for detail to figure out." Zeus explained. Percy stared at the duo of gods with wide eyes.
"Oh." Is all he said, making a couple of the others chuckle despite their amazement with Percy. It genuinely was not often that anybody managed to impress the two gods in the case of law.
"All right. Now listen. Seeing as you're done with the Olympian Law Book and you've already started some extra reading-" Apollo started and grinned at Percy before continuing. "-Here's how your internship is going to work. So basically, you're going to be with me and dad on alternate weeks. Dad's going to be dealing with most of the practical applications like the paperwork and a lot of the cases and stuff while I'm going to be helping you out with the entirety of the theoretical part which not only includes law but also everything that's going to help you out in the practical applications." Apollo explained. Percy listened with rapt attention and nodded. Wow, he was really looking forward to this whole internship thing.
"Any doubts?" Apollo asked and Percy nodded with a small smile.
"When do I start?" he said and Apollo grinned.
"After your birthday. First week's with me. I'll going to give you the basis of stuff before you and Apollo can start working on it." Zeus told Percy who nodded.
"Brilliant." He said.
"Well, this is going to be fun." Apollo said with a grin, clapping his hands together and got up, putting his chair back.
"Any of y'all interested in any of my domains?" he asked the remaining demigods and Nico and Jason's hands shot up, surprising everybody especially Apollo who grinned.
"Damn, I did not expect that." He chuckled. "What are you guys planning?" he asked.
"Trauma surgery." Nico answered, leading to more raised eyebrows from a few people but nobody commented but Nico noticed and rolled his eyes.
"Just because I work with ghosts and stuff, doesn't mean that I like watching people die. Working with souls makes you realize more and more that you want them to spend as much time as they can with their loved ones. I'd like to help them do that." Nico answered and everybody nodded in understanding with pride shining in Hades and Persephone's eyes. "And anyways, didn't dad tell y'all that there's a lot of traffic in the underworld." Nico said with a small smile, making everybody laugh.
Apollo nodded and looked at Jason. "What about you, bud?" he asked.
"Pediatric surgery." Jason answered. Zeus gave a smile to Jason and Apollo nodded again.
"Great. We'll start that soon as well. But I feel like it's my responsibility to warn you guys about one thing in particular." Apollo said seriously. Nico and Jason looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"Guys, surgery…its great. You get to save people and that's amazing. It feels awesome but sometimes you can't save people and because of that there are some instances where you hate yourself. I'm talking from experience, I'll give you this." Apollo told them, a fair amount of pain in his eyes.
"You're going to lose people but you're also going to save many more. If you think that you can handle that, then I'm going to do everything that I can to help you guys become surgeons." The god of healing said to Nico and Jason who looked at each other and then back at Apollo, determination shining in their eyes.
"We've dealt with seeing our friends die in front of our eyes because we couldn't do anything about it and that hits hard. At least this way, even if they do pass, then we'd know that we did everything that we could. And if they live, then they get to have a second chance." Jason said finally. Nico nodded in agreement and Apollo smiled while their respective parents gave them proud looks.
"Then we start on Monday." Apollo told the demigods as he grinned and went back to join his kids and sister.
"Wow. I'm looking forward to this." Percy grinned.
"You bet." Nico and Jason agreed.
Percy was hacking at some dummies at 2am as he worked out. He'd somehow managed to sneak out without any of the other members of the sea gang finding out. His hands might be focused on ripping the dummies to shreds with his sword but his brain was focused entirely on his dream. It had been a day and yet the memories stayed as fresh as if he'd been watching them in a loop.
Percy wasn't able to understand whether or not he should tell Poseidon that he'd seen him literally be tortured. Firstly, he really wasn't sure how that conversation would go. Hi dad, I had a dream about you get tortured by Kronos? Aw, that's all right, son. It was long back and I don't even remember it now! Like, fuckk nah. Life ain't that easy.
Percy knew that what he saw did not come shitload of trauma and there was no way that anybody could ever forget that stuff. Honestly, they couldn't come up with those methods of torture even in some completely messed up prison in a totally fucked up movie either. Furthermore, Percy remembered the time when Aphrodite's therapy had triggered all Kronos related trauma for Poseidon. There's no way that you get out of all that without some of the worst mental scars. Percy did not want to bring up Poseidon's trauma for absolutely no reason. Yeah, maybe he should tell his dad that he knows but he'd never do that knowing that there was a complete possibility that it'd hurt him. But then again, it was something that doesn't show up in your nightmares so often.
Percy growled and stabbed his sword into the dummy, making it collapse into a pile of hay. He reduced his shield back into its watch form and Riptide back to a pen. He'd hoped training would clear his head but it'd clearly done the opposite. He decided to go to the one person that he knew knew about this for sure. Percy poured a bucket of ice water on his head before he made his way to the Hades quarters. The timing really was perfect because Percy knew that Nico was staying at Will's and this was one time that Percy didn't want his cousin being there because he knew that Nico would worry and get suspicious.
The son of Poseidon knocked on the door of the Hades quarters and the god opened the door and looked surprised at Percy being there. He stepped outside and lightly shut the door.
"Hey, Perce. You here to talk to Nico?" Hades asked. "Because he's at Apollo's." he informed.
"Nope. Not here to talk to him. I had to discuss something with you." Percy said.
"Huh. Why are you awake, by the way and how on earth did Amphitrite allow you to leave the quarters after curfew?" Hades asked amusedly, making air quotes around curfew.
Percy couldn't help but laugh and answered. "I snuck out." He said. Hades snorted.
"Of course you did." He said. "Come on in. Its freezing outside." He said but then peeked inside the quarters.
"On second thoughts, I'll shadow travel you upstairs. Persephone's asleep. I don't want to wake her up." Hades said. Percy smiled and nodded but then his eyes went wide.
"I didn't wake you up though, did I?" he asked. Hades looked amused at the question.
"You know that I don't sleep before 4. Wasn't going to start today." He answered, making Percy sigh in relief and then chuckle lightly before Hades shadow travelled them into the quarters' home theatre.
"I was watching Fight Club." He informed and Percy grinned.
"Awesome." He said. Hades chuckled.
"One of your favorite movies, isn't it?" he asked and Percy nodded.
"Good choice." Hades chuckled. "The movie's interesting to say at least." He said.
"Straight up facts." Percy agreed but then his face turned somber again as he rubbed his head, really trying to get rid of the visions. Hades looked at Percy and furrowed his eyebrows.
"What's wrong, nephew?" he asked. "How can I help?" he said with a small smile. Percy looked at him and sighed.
"You knew my dad well before, right?" Percy asked quietly. Hades studied the demigod's face, not understanding where he was going with this but the god of the dead answered nonetheless.
"Yes. We actually used to act like brothers then. Best friends." He said, not able to stop some of the pain from leaking into his voice. "He showed you the vision of the day of the whole…banishment, right?" Hades couldn't help but ask, his voice bitter at that one word. Percy nodded.
"I'm really sorry because I didn't tell you." He said. Hades shook his head.
"There's no need to apologize. You and Nico are few of the people that I'd trust enough to see the memory in the first place." He shrugged and Percy gave him a small smile. "Anyways, continue, nephew. I believe that that is not all you wanted to ask me?" Hades said with a raised eyebrow. Percy nodded quickly.
"Did he…did he tell you everything about…the war and all?" Percy asked hesitantly. Hades furrowed his eyebrows. Where was Percy going with this? He seemed like he was waiting for verification that there was something in particular that Hades knew about or not.
"Yes." Hades said finally and then the realization hit him and he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and proceeded to rub his temples. "You know about Tartarus, don't you?" he asked Percy wearily and the demigod let out a shaky breath as he nodded.
"I suppose I'm not surprised. With Kronos rising again, my siblings and I are beginning to get nightmares about the first war again but your father in particular. He'd gone through hell and back, both literally and figuratively. These dreams hadn't come during the second time that my dear father rose because he wasn't strong enough to enter into the dreams of both demigods and gods but this time as the prophecy said, he's clearly stronger. I do not understand whether you're getting the nightmares because Poseidon is or if its just a nightmare taking you to the past." Hades said to Percy. The demigod slumped back in his chair.
"Dad's already getting nightmares?" Percy asked weakly. Hades nodded.
"I believe he even mentioned it accidentally during the reading and it alerted you as well. Seeing as nobody except my siblings and I know about Tartarus, it would have been problematic if that conversation would have continued." He answered.
"But, Amphitrite hasn't mentioned anything and if only you six know then she definitely would have as she's unaware of the reason." Percy said, his observance kicking in. Hades nodded again.
"My brother manages to control his physical reaction to his nightmares if somebody he cares about and feels safe with is next to him. They generally tend to keep him grounded, letting him know that he's not back in Tartarus with Kronos. There aren't many people who can actually keep him grounded because there aren't many who he feels safe with in the first place." The god of the dead sighed.
"Uncle, I-I'm not able to understand whether or not I should tell him. I don't want his nightmares to get worse. I'm pretty sure that they're already bad." Percy said, his voice cracking. Hades looked at his nephew, eyes softening.
"Perce, honestly, you telling him isn't going to make it worse. His nightmares are already as bad as they get and I know that this isn't really helpful yet but what you might find helpful is that if you tell him that you know then he's going to feel like he has somebody else looking out for him as well. The five of us haven't been there for him for a while and I don't really feel like we can help anymore because I highly doubt that he trusts us that much anymore. The only other person who can keep him grounded is Amphitrite and even she doesn't know about the time he spent as captive. You telling him is going to let him know that you're looking out for him. Don't worry about making it worse because its genuinely not." Hades said, squeezing Percy's shoulder reassuringly.
"Thanks, uncle." Percy said with a genuine smile. Hades chuckled lightly.
"No thank you's. Remember. I believe it was your rule." He reminded Percy which just made the demigod give him a hug and Hades gave a small smile and returned it, glad that he was able to help his nephew.
"Now, you have two options. You can either go back to your room or you could stay here and I'll make popcorn so we can watch fight club. It just started and I think it'll help keep your mind distracted for a while." Hades suggested and Percy grinned.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm going to be able to sleep both because of my mind and because of the amount of caffeine in me right now." He said.
"How much caffeine did you even consume?" Hades asked as he got up to prepare popcorn. Honestly, that's the least he could do for Percy.
"You really don't want to know." The demigod said wryly. Hades snickered and unpaused the movie once the popcorn was done. The rest of the night passed with both Percy and Hades cheering during the fight scenes and making random ass comments during the movie especially since both of them had watched it before.
"Aaand you weren't in your room today morning. I came to wake you up and I see nada. Beds empty! No note!" Triton said, imitating Molly Weasley during the last bit and Percy snickered.
"Don't worry. There was adult supervision. I wasn't doing anything illegal." Percy assured Triton.
"That just worries me more." Triton told him dryly.
"Percy and I were watching Fight Club. Regular uncle-nephew bonding because like…that's the reason we're here in the first place." Hades said.
"Adult supervision, you said?" Poseidon smirked with a raised eyebrow at Percy who snorted in amusement.
"Still elder than you, brother." Hades said simply and this time Poseidon snorted in amusement.
"Also, we're not reading today either. Seems like everybody's tired so Hestia's saying that we can take another day off and rejuvenate ourselves." Amphitrite informed.
"Damn, that's cool." Jason grinned. "Another day of quiet reading. Love it." He said.
"Another movie marathon day." Thalia grinned and she and Zeus high fived.
"What are you planning on doing today?" Triton grinned at Nico and Percy both of whom shrugged.
"I'm reading too." Nico answered. "Got a really good book that I just have to read." He said.
"How was your red white and royal blue?" Percy asked Nico who grinned.
"It was good but if you tell Will that I said that I will hurt you." He said. Percy held his hands up in surrender but then grinned.
"That's the book you're reading isn't it?" he said and Nico turned red but glared at Percy, making the son of Poseidon grin satisfactorily.
"I'm just gonna chill." Percy said. "Read Annabeth's favorite book." He shrugged, answering Triton's question.
"Ah, the language of love. Read each other's favorite books." Nico nodded approvingly.
"Yeah, I mean, when Piper and I were surfing, she's like 'Percy, you should read Annabeth's favorite book'. She gave me some logic about fictional men or something and she's like you can express your love after reading her favorite book. She would love it. And well, I like making my girlfriend happy. So that's what I'm going to be doing, I suppose. Reading the book." Percy said with a smile.
"With this whole speech, you became one of those fictional men. I'm proud of you." Nico grinned and two cousins high fived.
"Learn something from them, y'all." Amphitrite said to Poseidon and looked around at the other two brothers. The three brothers grinned sheepishly.
"You're setting the bar a little too high, huh?" Poseidon teased Percy who snickered.
"Learnt from the best." He said. Poseidon grinned proudly. "I meant my mom." Percy clarified, making everybody burst out laughing and the sea god pouted at his son.
"That hurt." He said.
"Oh well." Percy said nonchalantly
The banter continued between all of them as they had breakfast and they eventually went to their own things for a while once everybody was done with their food. Persephone and Amphitrite had decided that they're going to have a movie marathon like the old days and so, they were staying at Hades' and had booked his home theatre for the day. Triton, on the other hand, had a date in Atlantis and had gone there, planning on staying the night at the underwater kingdom itself.
"Hey, Ty, whatcha planning on doing today?" Percy asked Tyson.
"Hephaestus and Beckendorf are teaching me some things about using sea powers and forge work. So I'm staying there itself for today." The Cyclops grinned happily.
"Damn, good job, bro." Percy grinned and Tyson grinned back toothily and went to join Beckendorf who was calling him excitedly to work on something new.
"Its nice to see him get along with the rest of the demigods especially after it being so difficult at the start." Poseidon said to Percy with a smile and the demigod nodded happily.
"He is family, after all. There's no reason that he shouldn't get along with all of us." He replied. Poseidon nodded.
"You really did step up when it was needed to take care of him. I'm proud of you." He said to Percy and Percy gave a dry chuckle.
"Didn't really start off that well now, did it? I didn't essentially have the best reaction to his claiming." He said. Poseidon tilted his head and sighed finally.
"It was something you didn't expect. Honestly, it would be difficult to deal with when somebody randomly gets claimed by your father at a campfire especially when there are already enough matters going on at camp." He said. Percy shook his head.
"Even then, there were things that I said which I regret and nothing's gonna change that. But that's all in the past. Tyson and I eventually talked it out and nothing's going to stop me from hurting anybody who treats him like an outcast again." Percy said, shrugging at the end. Poseidon chuckled fondly, not in the slightest unnerved by Percy's bluntness.
Percy was quiet for a while before he said anything else, figuring out how to bring up the entire conversation about his dreams. He knew that now would be the best time to bring it up, seeing as it was still day and that nobody else was there but eventually he decided that there wasn't really any casual way that he could bring it up.
"Dad, I need to talk to you." He said finally. Poseidon raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?" he said.
"Not here." Percy said, looking around as there were still a couple of gods and demigods chilling in the garden. Poseidon furrowed his eyebrows at the seriousness in Percy's voice and nodded. He gestured to Percy and the two of them went to the pool.
"What's up? Am I going to need a drink for this?" Poseidon joked.
"You just might." Percy answered as he sat down on a beach chair but then got up again and decided to lean against a wall instead.
"Well, shit." Poseidon said and walked over to the bar and actually did pour himself a drink and went back to sit on a chair. He looked expectantly at Percy who sighed and seemed to be thinking about how to say whatever he wanted to.
"There's no easy way to say this, I suppose." The demigod sighed finally. Now, Poseidon looked worried.
"I…uh..I had a dream the night of the day before yesterday. It was about... I didn't know what to do so Uncle H told me that I should tell you." Percy started and then pinched the bridge of his nose and swore under his breath. Poseidon looked even more concerned now. He really didn't want his son to be having the nightmares as well either. He knew how bad they could get from personal experience and even though Percy had had nightmares before, he wasn't fond of the idea about him still having them.
"It was about you." Percy sighed finally. Poseidon looked taken aback. This was not what he was expecting when Percy said he had a nightmare. He'd figured it was something about the books.
"And Kronos." Percy said. Poseidon was still confused but he was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion about what Percy was talking about and those suspicions were confirmed with Percy's next words.
"I know about Tartarus, dad." Percy said. Poseidon froze and nodded slowly.
"Right." He said and chugged the drink that he'd poured himself. He was wrong. He didn't need one drink. He needed two and with that revelation he refilled his glass.
"I am so sorry." Percy said guiltily and that shook Poseidon out of his daze.
"You genuinely don't have anything to be sorry about. Nobody has any control of their nightmares. And honestly, its all right that you know about it." Poseidon said with a small smile, meaning what he said. Yeah, he didn't expect it and yeah, he probably wouldn't have told Percy or anybody else for that matter but Percy knowing wasn't something that made him twitchy. The demigod looked like he was about to say something but Poseidon stopped him, knowing what his son was about to say.
"I know that you're not going to tell anybody and that's the reason that its all right that you know about what happened. I trust you, Percy and I appreciate you telling me even though that was my brother's idea-" Poseidon gave a light chuckle and continued "-But it was your decision at the end. I'm glad you told me, honestly." He said. Percy nodded and grabbed a water bottle from the bar shelf and chugged it within seconds.
"Okay. Okay. Okay. Right." Percy said as he tried to figure out what to say but Poseidon chuckled.
"Come on, son. Lets follow through with the challenge of a FIFA match." He said and Percy grinned as the duo mist travelled to the Poseidon quarters, switched on the godly version of a PlayStation and opened FIFA. They spent the rest of the day switching between FIFA and Mortal Kombat. It turned out that Percy was just as good as Poseidon when it came to the two games because the score was pretty head to head. Poseidon won the last match and grinned while Percy groaned.
"How did you get that last goal?" he complained and Poseidon grinned.
"You try playing with Amphi someday. Nobody can beat that woman but you seriously gain a lot of experience." He said.
"Huh." Percy said. "Damn." He said.
"I lost 6-1 to her once. I play well but its like the match is water and she's controlling it." Poseidon chuckled, making Percy snort in amusement.
"You ever win?" he asked. Poseidon nodded happily.
"Won once. Pretty sure it was by accident. But needless to say, there was a party thrown in Atlantis that day." He said, making Percy burst out laughing.
"Delphin was so done that you have no idea." Poseidon snickered, making Percy laugh harder.
"He's always done with you." He said.
"I mean, he has known me since I started ruling Atlantis." Poseidon said fairly.
"He has remarkable patience then." Percy snorted in amusement and Poseidon snickered.
"That's true." He said.
Percy was highly reluctant to go upto his room to sleep for the night seeing as Hades had told him that the reason that Poseidon didn't get hit too hard by the nightmares was because Amphitrite was there and she was somebody that the god felt safe with and tonight, she'd gone to hang out with Persephone. But Percy had absolutely no idea how to make it absolutely casual that he was just going to hang out in the living room and neither did he feel like he'd actually be able to help Poseidon in not feeling the effects of the nightmares because again, like Hades had said, Poseidon would need to feel safe with the person so Percy figured that he might as well just go to his room. Its not like he was going to sleep anyways. It was way too early. 11pm. Percy scoffed at the thought.
Percy picked up the first book of the hunger games. It was one of Annabeth's favorite fictional books and he wanted to finish the series in time for their anniversary. Percy was reading in peace for about an hour and a half and on not sensing any kind of nightmare induced reaction from his dad, he figured all was going well but then of course, that's when it all had to go to hell. Pun unintended.
Percy had heard demigods wake up in cold sweat, he'd heard them wake up crying their eyes out and he himself had woken up yelling a couple of times but what he had never heard was somebody screaming like the tortured souls in the Fields of Punishment and still not waking up. If Percy was being honest, even though he had gone to the Underworld and heard souls from the Fields of Punishment, he'd never heard a scream as painful as the one ripping through Poseidon at the moment.
Percy raced over to the stairs in order to come down, decided that they were too time consuming and slid down the railing like they do in movies when somebody was being chased by the bad guy. He ran over to the bed and tried to wake Poseidon up but that clearly did not work as the god was still shaking and turning, covered in cold sweat. Percy took a deep breath and got a bottle of water. He didn't see any other choice but to splash some water on Poseidon's face, making the god bolt upright.
His eyes were still glazed over, letting Percy know that he wasn't completely back yet. Percy figured that hearing a familiar voice might help him out because he knew it used to help him before.
"Hey, dad. Its me. Its Percy Jackson. You're home. You're not there." Percy told Poseidon gently and kept his hand on his shoulder. Poseidon was hyperventilating but the glazed look in his eyes began to fade. As he came back, he didn't stop hyperventilating and instead shot up from the bed as if he was shot from a canon, worrying Percy beyond measure and the demigod also got up.
"Dad?" he said. Poseidon raced over to the bathroom as bile found its way to his throat as the flashes of blood ran over his mind and memories of the pain hit him. Percy realized what was wrong almost immediately. He'd seen this happen to a couple of other demigods after the wars especially those who had lost somebody close to them in front of them. He crouched next to the god who was bent over the toilet and rubbed his back reassuringly. Once Poseidon composed himself, Percy helped him to get back to his bed.
"I'm going to be right here, all right? Just going to make some hot cocoa. Its gonna make you feel better." Percy told Poseidon softly and squeezed his dad's shoulder reassuringly. He went over to the kitchen which was connected to the bedroom and quickly made some hot cocoa with the recipe that Nico had taught him in exchange for Percy's Turkish coffee recipe.
Percy then took the coffee over to Poseidon who took it with shaking hands. Percy genuinely hoped that the heat of the hot cocoa would help calm down the cold that took over somebody after a nightmare like that. Percy didn't know if it had ever gotten that bad before. Gods, he really hoped it hadn't. Seeing Poseidon like this once was painful enough but having to go through it personally would border on insanity and he really hoped that it didn't get so bad every time.
Percy plopped down on the bed, next to his dad who was still shaking despite the hot cocoa. Percy then realized what he had seen during his dream might just compare to nothing if Poseidon had been stuck in some sort of cell in Tartarus at the mercy of Kronos. And whatever he'd seen today had clearly been one of the worst. Grover had been great at calming Percy down when he had been getting nightmares after Tartarus and he'd picked up a few tricks that helped in similar situations as well. The demigod rubbed Poseidon's shoulder reassuringly to let him know that he was still there.
He then remembered the one person that had told him that people in the Underworld missed the stars. Percy remembered feeling the same way as Bob when he and Annabeth were stuck in the Pit as well. He leaned over the side stool to reach the switch that opened the ceiling. That'd let in fresh air as well as provide an amazing view of the stars.
"Hey, look up at the stars. Look how bright they are. You can even see the constellations." Percy said to Poseidon with a small smile which widened when the god actually heard him and looked up. A sigh left the god, making Percy realize that he had done the right thing after all. The god's shoulders shook as he struggled to keep in his tears as he realized that he really was home. Percy noticed that and pulled Poseidon in for a hug, knowing that the god needed one.
Poseidon didn't pull back from the hug and instead hugged Percy tighter, afraid that his son would disappear again and that he would end up in the Pit again if he let go. Percy didn't hesitate to hug back tighter either, understanding the exact reason why. He rubbed his dad's back reassuringly.
"Its going to be all right. I'm right here. You're home. You're home. He can't hurt you anymore." He said gently. "I'm not going anywhere." He assured Poseidon who seemed to calm down after a few minutes. Once they pulled back, Poseidon's eyes were bloodshot and Percy handed him the hot cocoa again with a smile, making Poseidon chuckle a little which made Percy grin.
"It's a special recipe." The demigod informed.
"Did you put sleeping pills in this or something?" Poseidon joked, his voice still hoarse.
"Not that I'm aware of." Percy snickered.
"That's good enough." Poseidon nodded in agreement with a similar smile.
Once Poseidon finished the drink, he nodded approvingly at Percy.
"What recipe is this?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I know right! It was so worth negotiating my Turkish coffee recipe for." Percy said, throwing his hands up and grinning.
"You wanna watch a movie?" Poseidon asked after a couple of minutes. Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Or I could try to sleep?" Poseidon guessed, looking at the look that his son was giving him.
"I know it's hard to even think about sleeping but yeah, maybe, just for a couple of hours, at least." Percy suggested. Poseidon sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and finally nodded in agreement.
"You're right." He said.
"I'll make sure to wake you up if the nightmares seem to be getting too bad." Percy promised.
"You should sleep in your room, Perce. You really don't have to stay with me. I'll manage." Poseidon said with a small smile. Percy scoffed.
"I promised you that I'm not leaving and even then I wouldn't. I don't know how much me being here is going to help but at least I might be able to give some miniscule amount of help if not none." Percy said.
"Miniscule help?" Poseidon scoffed. "I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't feel much better, knowing you're there. It makes me feel safer, if I'm being honest." He said. Percy's eyes widened and he couldn't help but grin which in turn made Poseidon grin.
"All right then. Good night again." Percy said as he waved off Poseidon to tell him to go to sleep, making the god chuckle.
"Good night, son." Poseidon said. The god was asleep within seconds. Percy raised an eyebrow. Damn, Nico's recipe was good and now even he was doubting whether he missed the sleeping pills that were in the list in the haste of making the hot cocoa. But then, even Percy was asleep within seconds.
The duo woke up around 10am the next morning and headed over to the breakfast garden as fast as they could seeing as they'd both woken up to Percy's stomach growling in a way that made them both think that there was some sort of avalanche or somehow a bear had broken into the quarters.
"Jackson, you're teaching me how to make the Turkish coffee today." Nico said to Percy as soon as the sea duo joined them.
"Well, good morning to you too. How's your day going?" Percy said with a smirk.
"Oh shut up. I've been waiting since 5 am. I would have woken you up on my own if you hadn't woken up within the next ten minutes." Nico glared at him but there was no heat behind it.
"Didn't you sleep at 4am yesterday? I literally got your text telling me that I have to give you the recipe today at 4am in the night?" Percy blinked at Nico.
"Your point being?" Nico raised an eyebrow, making Hades and Thalia snort in amusement, both of whom related completely to Nico at that moment.
"Nothing, really. I just love your sleep schedule. Send it to me." Percy grinned at him and gestured to his cousin to follow him over to the counter where he pulled out the necessary ingredients for his Turkish coffee and proceeded to tell Nico each step of making the drink in detail.
"Well then, the pact has been fulfilled." Nico nodded at Percy who grinned back. They both shook hands as if they were two businessmen sealing some sort of deal.
"Was it a blood pact?" Thalia raised an eyebrow, inviting a lot of confused and weirded looks. Percy and Nico, however, understood what that meant and shook his head.
"I've been trying to get him to seal a blood pact for his recipe of Tiramisu for my recipe of Greek Baklava-" Percy informed "-But this son of a bitch is not ready to agree to it." He said with a pointed look at Nico.
"I need that Baklava recipe but I ain't giving out Tiramisu for that. You put in your virgin mojito recipe and it'll seal the deal." Nico shrugged.
"Bitch, I put extra mint in it. What else do you want to know?" Percy snickered. Nico looked horrified.
"That's the only thing that's different?" he asked. Percy shrugged.
"I don't know!" he said.
"Okay then. Put in the Pina Colada recipe." Nico suggested.
"Aw, hell nah. Baklava and Pina Colada. No godsdamned way." Percy shook his head. Nico sighed.
"Well, we'll figure something out." He said. Everybody else was watching this exchange in sheer amusement and quite frankly, they got so invested in the deal that they were really hoping that it'd yield a result and were extremely disappointed when there was no final decision so they decided to focus on something else instead.
"When'd you learn to make Greek Baklava?" Jason asked Percy.
"Ohh, that was when mom came home from the hospital with Estelle." Percy smiled widely.
"You made Greek?" Amphitrite asked. Percy nodded.
"See, my mom's favorite cuisine is Greek-" he started but Nico interrupted him.
"I'm sorry but hold on one sec." he said, mischief clouding his eyes. "Greek food?" he asked, gesturing dramatically towards Poseidon, making Zeus and Hades roar with laughter. Percy stared at Nico but everybody could tell that he wanted to laugh.
"You're going to get me killed and then I'm going to kill you." He said to him in Italian, making Nico snicker.
"But am I wrong though?" he said. Percy couldn't help but burst out laughing finally.
"You're not." He said and then looked sheepishly at Amphitrite who didn't actually look offended.
"It was clever." She justified and shrugged.
"It was a really good one." Poseidon said, snickering. Hades and Zeus were still laughing their heads off. Their laughter was so contagious that everybody was laughing within the next few seconds, making it seem like they'd all inhaled laughing gas. Finally, they all relaxed to the wheezing stage after a few minutes.
"We-still have to-read." Zeus wheezed out and everybody nodded, holding their stomachs which were hurting so much from all the laughter but they were still grinning.
They all made their way to the forest cabin and were joined by the others as well.
"I'll read first." Thalia volunteered and snickered when she saw whose point of view it was. "Percy XIII." She read out, making a certain son of Poseidon groan in annoyance.