A/N: I must sincerely apologies for doing this again so soon, but there will be no chapter posted next week (April 6, to be exact). I suppose we are in the thick of the "Camp" arc now, and doing it all justice has been giving me fits for almost a month now. I really need to nail that down, and the extra time will hopefully let me get it right. Thank you all for your patience and understanding! And, as always, thanks for reading!
The first thing Percy noticed about Camp Half Blood was how loud it was.
Well, to be fair, it wasn't just the camp itself that was generating all of the noise. It was more like the entire state of New York was doggedly determined to pierce his eardrums. That idea tracked, at least from what little Sally had described of his childhood. The discomfort, therefore, was more born from how the combination of everything assaulted Percy's ears all at once instead of anything specific.
The camp was still loud, though. And he couldn't even see it!
From the instant Aphrodite had flashed them away from the manor, the young god's divine senses were bombarded by a completely new level of auditory stimuli. It was a boon that Percy had already become partially used to his heightened vision and extended sense of touch, otherwise things would have turned bad rather quickly. That was still a distinct possibility - whether or not the overload of sensation was fending off or encouraging his building nervous breakdown was anyone's guess.
"Percy?" Aphrodite was hanging onto the young god's arm again, her sultry voice a soothing balm. It was a familiar and welcome position. "Are you alright, love?" Swirling eyes peered up at him, the question obviously hypothetical. If Percy could feel how scrunched up his face had become then his goddess could certainly see it.
The son of Poseidon hadn't realized just how peaceful Olympus had been. It was never really silent, but most of the time it was at least quiet. The top tiers of the floating mountain led a pretty laid back sort of lifestyle. A lack of cars helped with that, but there was certainly more to it. The whispers were muted, all that distance above the clouds. Filtered, screened almost. Always present but, as long as he kept his cool, never completely suffocating.
There was nothing of the sort down in the mortal realm. Those ethereal voices were the loudest they had been since his escape from Othrys, so piercing Percy could almost make out snippets of words. They were garbled, constructed of nothing but broken syllables. They lay underneath the cacophony like a buzzing undercurrent, as if the son of Poseidon had a beehive rather than a brain between his ears.
Plea- Percy tried to ignore the incomprehensible messages. Per- I wan- goo- ime- for hi- Even trying to decipher any sort of meaning was exhausting.
The stark difference in noise level was something Percy felt like he should have remembered. It was hard to imagine a world where the whispers weren't pricking at the base of his neck, where their voices weren't ever-present. Another part of his mortal existence, lost to the sands of time and the weight of the bottom of the sky.
"Talk to me, love." Pleading rose-chocolate eyes caught Percy's attention, as gripping as the feeling of Aphrodite's touch on his arm. "Are you alright?" The love deity's face was smooth on top but raw underneath, the texture one of stress and sympathy. The repeated question helped the son of Poseidon center himself, wrench his mind from the fog of panic and noise.
"Maybe." Percy's grunted answer was delayed by several seconds. His voice warbled. "Probably not." The sky bearer's hands clutched to each other in front of his stomach, the turning engagement ring like a tiny, spinning lifeline.
Ignoring the whispers and Percy's extensive list of emotional hang-ups, standing with his back to the Long Island Sound was like staring at the stage of a concert from the front row. It was much less pleasurable than that simile made it sound. The sky bearer could have sworn his hair was even blown back, though that was probably just his own natural breeze. The mortal world just . . . felt different. Was different.
The air tasted strange when Percy breathed. It smelled, the scent stronger than he had thought possible. His perpetual wind only heightened each inhale - it was grass and leaves and distant rain but also sewage and pollution and acid. The combination was somehow both pleasant and nauseating. The two warring emotions were tearing Percy's brain into bloody pieces.
Despite Apollo's sun beaming down on his hair, the connection to the god in question was muted. Distant. Even though he hadn't moved a muscle during the transition, the young god acutely felt like they had descended several distinct levels of existence to be here.
He hated himself for it, but Percy found he could understand why some immortals held so much disdain for the place.
"Would you like to sit down?" Aphrodite spoke up again. After her suggestion, the love deity eyed the sand for a moment. Her regal face twisted just a fraction. "I could summon a chair, je suppose. Or a couch." His goddess' grip on Percy's elbow had only tightened. The young god supposed he did have a penchant for falling over.
"Can we just stand?" Percy eventually requested, his voice small. "I . .. I don't want to touch anything."
The sky bearer hoped that didn't come across as pompous. He really wasn't anything like that, but it was like the sky bearer's brain had become a toddler pointing at every single thing in sight and screaming 'no' at the top of its lungs. All of the hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up like a frightened cat.
Had Aphrodite's beach been this bad? Certainly not. It was beautiful there, the same kind of peaceful atmosphere that her manor embodied. But that place was undeniably on Earth, not Olympus. Maybe Percy had just been so new to his divinity that he never noticed.
"Of course." The goddess on his arm soothed, expression gentle. Her ghostly fingers were parading across just the tips of his curls, as if aware that a heavy touch would set him off. "Standing it is." She was a saint, truly.
"Thank you."
Percy wished he had a better way to express the sheer depth of that sentiment. The love deity merely dismissed his thanks with a little shake of her head. Like it had the previous morning, Aphrodite's hair started doing something that was new to this post 'I love you' world. A few of the silken strands floated up to gently wrap around Percy's left wrist like a tiny russet bracelet.
The locks were slow at first, nervous and visibly jittery in the air and across his skin. When they finally completed the motion and the young god hadn't pulled away or thrown up or something more extreme, they settled. The grip was light, just enough that if Percy pulled away there would only be the tiniest fraction of resistance. The smooth sensation and the possessive emotion behind it was calming, somehow. A delicate intimacy freely given and freely accepted.
While Aphrodite's hair was doing its . . . thing, Percy was mentally thanking Aphrodite's mysterious wardrobe for choosing shoes with thick soles. That was a thought he never would have guessed he would have, but the sky bearer knew that the feeling of a million individual grains of sand on his feet might have made him vomit from the overload.
As it was, his tight pair of black jeans and equally tight silk shirt had him coming close. The threads of the embroidered trident/heart/cloud symbol over his chest itched against his skin. Riptide was heavy in his pocket, the gold locket like a cold stone against his sternum.
"Hmm." Aphrodite hummed, her gaze flickering over his form. "Perhaps I should have insisted on sharing the bed last night. La prochaine fois- next time, then." She inclined her head, a heated flame beneath her hypnotic irises. "I can assure you that I would have made things suitably . . . relaxing, dearest." The way her tongue swiped across her bottom lip promised the exact opposite.
"Sorry." Percy was sure that when he was done weathering the current emotional storm he would actually feel a good deal of remorse for having turned his goddess down. "Next time, yeah." The sky bearer almost didn't hear his voice dimly agree. It would be something to look forward to, at least.
In truth the young god hadn't been able to sleep at all - the looming threat of this visit had foiled any attempt at real rest. The son of Poseidon had ended up spending most of the night and morning at the bottom of the pool, doing his best to hype himself up. A lot of good that had done, clearly.
Aphrodite seemed to understand because she simply squeezed the sky bearer's arm in solidarity and gave him her best comforting smile. If someone as divinely inexperienced as Percy could track her with their vows, then the love deity had certainly known where he was. The fact that the young god went unbothered all night was probably intentional. He would have to thank her for that later.
"It's a bit overwhelming." Percy almost managed a chuckle. The sound came out pinched and hoarse at the same time. The muscles in his face felt stiff, like he was more wax than flesh at the moment.
"You will get used to it, dearest." Aphrodite's voice was somehow both a practiced reassurance and also completely sincere. "Vous êtes fort- you are strong, Percy. This too will pass." Beneath the mask, the love deity's expression was bursting with deep affection. Percy leaned on that feeling like he was clinging to a rock during a storm out at sea.
He was almost physically leaning on his goddess already, so it was an apt visual.
The sound of lapping waves, of distant boats, of birds chirping and bugs flying and gods there was so much shit happening within just the nearest hundred feet. Even the rustle of the nearby trees had been cranked up several decibels. Had Olympus really been so devoid of life, of activity, that this was so jarring? Percy could feel and taste and smell and hear it all, like a completely new universe opening up before him.
That wasn't even counting the view across the water, or the evidence of closer half-mortal activity. People shouting, weapons clashing together, the beating of hooves on soil and the smell of campfire smoke. Far beyond he could hear cars he couldn't see and planes high above the clouds. Oh, and the whispers too, of course.
Help- if we- mean to- sorry-
If the sky bearer really focused, it was like even the rotation of the planet made its own humming noise. There was chatter and laughter and crying and screaming and Percy had never felt so intimidated by the thought of being in proximity to so many people all at once. Not even the engagement party had been this bad.
The son of Poseidon knew that if he turned and actually laid eyes on the towering glass and steel of New York City that it would not end well, distance be damned. Percy's sense of new vision didn't even diminish before the horizon line anyway. The city's presence was like an iron weight to the senses, a sheer explosion of sound and life that was impossible to ignore.
The sky bearer couldn't decide which would be worse - to look at the city and feel something, or to look and feel nothing at all.
"Careful, mon amour." Aphrodite's fingers tapped in sequence across one bicep, catching on where Percy's pale green sleeves were rolled up to his elbow. "You're glowing." He could tell. The young god's skin was practically bursting with teal. Percy could see his own nose flaring like a star in the center of his vision. "Take a deep breath, with me if you must."
To a man who was actively forcing himself not to fall apart, the love deity appeared remarkably put together as she demonstrated a deep inhale and exhale. It was hard to even picture a time when Aphrodite was equally ruffled by the mortal plane. Percy tried to not let that weigh him down too much - if the comparison was so unfair that even he was aware of it, then following that train of thought wasn't helpful for anyone. A few more velvet threads of hair snaked around the young god's wrist, and his ring kept turning. Back and forth.
Part of Aphrodite's unflappable aura stemmed from the effortless way she carried herself. Despite not being clothed for the beach, she still somehow fit into the scenery like a puzzle piece long missing and finally found. The love deity was dressed somewhere between casual and formal, business and pleasure. Her outfit's colors were a vertical reflection of Percy's own, with black up top and light down below.
The ensemble was something out of a fashion magazine, although with a decidedly modern spin that Percy hadn't quite expected. He didn't think he had ever seen his goddess wear jeans before. She certainly made it look good. There was something appealing about how almost casually and yet also completely sinfully that the thin denim wrapped around her thighs and backside. The faded, pale-blue color went nicely with a darker pair of relaxed, open-toe heels.
Aphrodite was also modeling a flowy, sort of poofy pink blouse with half-see through mesh sleeves that cinched at the wrist. Of course, the love deity had chosen that same rose shade for her nail polish. Wrapped around her hips was a tan belt that accentuated her waist, studded with sparkling diamonds at the buckle.
When she had first appeared that morning Percy had found himself caught up in the way the Aphrodite's eyeshadow brought out the wings of her eyeliner. Even more captivating was her decision of lipstick. Not the dark, almost maroon shade itself, but rather the choice to paint only her upper lip and leave the bottom light and bare. It only made the motion of his goddess tongue across the soft skin even more pronounced.
Percy had found it exceedingly difficult to not wonder what the color tasted like.
In the spirit of experimentation, the sky bearer had given into his urges and sampled it a bit before they left. He found the flavor more than satisfactory. Though, with Sally watching, not even the love deity had allowed things to get too steamy in the main foyer. That wasn't to say they didn't get a little heated, but certainly nothing nearing the bedroom incident of the previous morning. No groping, humping, or anything of the sort.
Percy wasn't quite sure if the main entrance counted as a hallway, anyway. From a purely academic standpoint, obviously. It was connected to several . . . better safe than sorry on that front.
Percy's goddess had gone with those darling dangling clouds for her lobes once again, though she had swapped out the studs higher up with sparkling silver hoops. The slightly larger earrings tinged the whole outfit away from the strictly professional into a more flirty direction. Once again, to the surprise of nobody, it looked perfect.
Because he was certainly still paying attention to her motions, and not at all ogling his betrothed, Percy watched as Aphrodite demonstrated another deep breath. The love deity's chest rose and fell slowly, his goddess even raising her free left hand over her ample breast to accentuate the motion further. Once she finished, Aphrodite caught the young god's eyes before pointing towards his sternum with a smirk.
"Your turn, beloved. Unless you require another . . . demonstration?" Gods, every movement of her lips was so distracting. Perhaps that was the point - the sky bearer could certainly use one.
Aphrodite's words came off teasing, obviously having noticed Percy staring. That wouldn't normally have been an issue, he didn't think. Instead of joy or satisfaction, however, he instead picked up on a not-so-small dose of worry buried beneath his goddess' perfect mask. The tells were half-imperceptible but not completely invisible. Percy found them in the way the red parts of the love deity's irises shaded towards a deeper umber and how her mouth lay a bit more flat than usual on one side.
It should have been nice to feel worried over. Maybe it would have been, on any other day. Unfortunately, that darker tinge only had the unintended effect of reminding Percy why he was freaking out in the first place, which catapulted him right back into the thick of the panic-inducing sensory soup. Eyes previously only for his goddess were suddenly accosted by sunlight and sand and sky, ears completely blindsided once again by the cacophony of life.
Still, the sky bearer tried. He really did.
Where Aphrodite was smooth, Percy's first attempt at breathing was stuttering and jittery. It was almost like he hadn't inhaled or exhaled in ages. That certainly felt true, even though it had probably only been a couple of minutes since the two immortals had arrived. Instead of silent, the sky bearer's gasp came out high pitched and strangled. Aphrodite made a sympathetic noise, and a few ghostly hands pat the top of his head for the attempt.
Percy wasn't deterred, though he could feel his cheeks heat in embarrassment. Still, his efforts were eventually rewarded. It took a second cycle to get his vision to stabilize, and only four breaths for the beach to stop rumbling. Even once his chest was working again, the smell of the salt and sea was so strong the son of Poseidon was surprised his father hadn't risen up somewhere nearby already.
Why did he ever agree to do this?
"Good! It would not do to disintegrate the first demigod we come across, oui?" Aphrodite's joke fell a bit flat when Percy's whirling air continued carving deep spiraling trenches into the sand around their feet. Thick, almost viscous streams of fog dripped from the ends of his nervous fingers. The conspiratorial smile Aphrodite had adopted dimmed by several degrees.
"Reign in your presence, dearest." The love deity dropped the humor for a more direct suggestion. "It will help. Trust me." Her voice was soft. The love deity's fingers began that little roll up and down his arm again. Their path tap-danced from the ends of his sleeves to the tops of the bands of russet hair circling his wrist.
It took several moments, and a great deal of mental exertion, for Percy to finally comply. Closing his eyes seemed to do the trick, although it didn't really affect much besides desaturate the young god's surroundings a bit. Even that small failure plucked at the thin wire of Percy's remaining patience.
It felt like he was having a relapse. Forcing the teal flame back beneath his skin was an exercise in both patience and willpower. It was hard, draining more than usual. With every advancement in control the young god made, the swirling gale in his core had grown in strength but right now it seemed like all his work had been for nothing.
Focus. Percy chided himself. No matter his own conflicted thoughts, Aphrodite was right. No disintegrations on his watch.
With enough effort, the absolute cacophony of noise dipped to more manageable levels. Percy's circle of awareness reduced towards the edges of the love deity's misting pink. That was still larger than he would have liked (and certainly less controlled than any other Olympian), but manageable. At least he was no longer liable to spook away any person or animal that came within twenty feet.
"Okay." Percy's favorite word came out wispy. "Okay." Finally, the sky bearer's skull had the courtesy to finally cease squeezing down directly on his brain. The whispers returned to that - whispers, rather than banshee wails.
Aphrodite hummed, the sound half-pleased. Percy's hands were still jittering.
The sky bearer's settling emotions had a tangible effect on the surrounding world in the way that only an Olympian could. The sand beneath his shoes was no longer jittering like poprocks, and the gale winds around the two immortals died down to a steady breeze. Percy could instinctually tell that the dark storm clouds that he had summoned overhead were quickly breaking apart.
When Percy finally felt ready to open his eyes again, he took it as a victory that he could no longer feel every nearby leaf itching the back of his brain. The sight that greeted him, when it wasn't inducing violet motion sickness, was honestly rather . . . pleasant.
The beach outside Camp Half Blood was no white sand painting, but it was still clean and pretty enough. From where he stood, the edge of the green tree line was only a few dozen yards away. The leaning boughs gave the place a sheltered, protected feel while allowing enough space to avoid seeming congested. The long shadows casting from the dark canopies added to the atmosphere, simultaneously sheltering a vibrant blanket of undergrowth.
Although, using 'green' to describe the scenery felt like a bit of an understatement. There was a sort of rich, verdant undertone to the leaves and bushes that stood in stark contrast to the almost neon of Aphrodite's perfectly maintained lawn. Here the plants had no order, no rigid structure. They sprouted where they wished, like a growing, tangled wall of bark and branch and leaf. Percy's eyes were unconsciously drawn to the random patterns, as if peering through them would unlock some hidden secret. The edge of the tree line was wild, untamed in a way nothing on Olympus had ever seemed.
Behind Percy's back laid the bay. He didn't even have to turn to see the water - the two immortals were standing at the inner edge of a great curve, where the land bulged out a bit but retreated on either side. The New York Sound was a deep, darker blue that reminded Percy of his father's eyes. It looked mixed, muddled, like a bunch of pigments all smashed together when compared to the manor's various clear water features.
Just like the birds and squirrels in the trees, the water too was filled with life. Porgy, butterfish, four different kinds of flounder, and many more little lives tickled Percy's perception. He could only be glad he hadn't accidentally lifted a titanic portion of the liquid again, though the young god's presence certainly had agitated the Sound.
The son of Poseidon instinctively knew that, normally, the waves would have been smaller here than on Aphrodite's beach. Percy guessed that the crests wouldn't have even made it to his knees on a typical day. Now they crashed hard and fast at double that height. It was like the Sound was torn between reaching out for him and backing away in trepidation. The young god could acutely see where his shifting wind sent any nearby sea-spray into a brief orbit around his form.
Despite it all, there was something undeniably charming about the place. A sort of gritty realness to it that was grating at first, for sure, but also unique and distinctive. As Percy looked up and down the curve of the beach he could imagine himself here with Grover, running through the sand or building a fire pit on a dark summer evening. Back then he would have been bothered by thoughts of betrayal or love, politics and revenge. The images were nothing but wistful fantasy, but it was nice sometimes to pretend.
Better than having another breakdown, anyway.
"This is what the campers call the North Woods, my love." Aphrodite's voice shook Percy from his half-panicked musing. Her tone had taken on a sort of 'tour guide' cadence, one that he recognized from the beginnings of many of her stories as she set the scene. "We stand near the edge of the property, you see. To the west-" His goddess used her grip on his arm to rotate them a bit to the right, raising her free hand to point. "-lies Zephyros creek, named after a servant of my son, Cupid." The sky bearer recognized the distraction for what it was, and took it after shooting her a grateful look.
When he turned, Percy could only see the outlet of the stream. It was definitely small enough to warrant the 'creek' classification. The water snaked out from in between the cover of the trees, barely wide enough to float a canoe at its thickest and not much more than knee deep. It spread out across a rockier section of beach, before the wandering tendrils were absorbed into the rushing water of the Sound. Aphrodite smiled up at him, swirling eyes glinting.
"Zephyros embodies the west wind specifically, which now falls under your domains. That means he will report directly to you. Convenient, n'est-ce pas?" The ends of the love deity's hair swirled around their waists, a few more strands drawn up and around Percy's forearm by her words and his breeze. "With your status as king of rivers, I suppose that means it is under your purview twice over. I as his Lady, you as his Lord." Aphrodite's tone had taken on a soft and almost awed quality. Her finger's grip around his elbow was tight. "Even the smallest of details pointed to our union, love. Decreed by the Fates themselves." The sky bearer fought to ignore the way she had purposefully placed his arm in between her breasts.
"Hmm." Percy couldn't help but consider her words. They were biased, clearly, but not so much that the sky bearer was going to give her grief over it. "Maybe." He admitted instead. His voice wasn't shaking half bad as he had feared.
Besides, could he really rule it out? With the way life treated him, Aphrodite could have been right after all.
It was a nice idea, in a twisted sort of way. Percy didn't want to think that his six years of suffering had been nothing but bad luck. Even if the past week or so had been more good than bad, that idea seemed to just . . . diminish everything. All that he had been through, fought through, lived through. The sky bearer's pseudo-agreement earned him a beaming smile from his goddess in response, which made it worth it in the end.
"This seems more . . . peaceful than I expected." Percy wasn't sure why he admitted it out loud. The distant cheerful bird calls in the late morning sun made his point for him better than he could have stated it with words. He hadn't remembered how many variations there were, each somehow distinct from the previous and the next. Aphrodite seemed to consider the statement for a moment, her expression dimming to something more contemplative.
It seemed a bit strange in hindsight, but the young god had fully expected to be greeted by great towering walls bursting with armor and defenses - not gentle waves and rustling undergrowth. Sure, it was called a 'camp', but Percy had been picturing more of a fortress. The demigods living just over the tree line had just fought a war, after all. A great war that involved all manner of beasts and monsters and deities, many of which could level mountains or burn entire forests to the roots. Half-bloods hadn't survived for so long and been responsible for so many feats by being stupid.
At least most of the time.
"An astute observation." Aphrodite mused out loud, tugging lightly on Percy's arm to lead him to their left and away from the creek. Their footfalls made soft swishing noises across the sand. "I suppose, on first glance, you'd be correct mon cher." She peeked up at him. "As usual, however, there is more to this place than meets the eye." It was good to see her smirk make its return.
That last bit had Percy lifting his eyebrows a bit, but the young god held his tongue. Besides, Aphrodite was clearly mulling over her next words carefully. The breeze followed their path, stirring the deity's long hair around their waists and fluttering the edges of her blouse. Percy's footsteps dropped heavily onto the beach, while Aphrodite's heels barely left the ghost of an impression as she sashayed along. Now to their left, the surface of the Sound glittered like the diamonds in her earrings.
"I'll admit to being . . . apprehensive to mention the war overmuch, my love." Percy hadn't expected that sudden admission, nor the open honesty of his goddess' tone. He shot Aphrodite a glance, watching her catch her unpainted bottom lip between two sharp, white incisors. "The topic is rarely pleasant, as yesterday's morning can attest. I never, never wish to upset you, mon amour." Her eyes were wide and achingly sincere.
The sky resisted the urge to frown. He could only hope he hid it well enough. Apparently the fact that the love deity was also plenty 'upset' the previous morning wasn't worth mentioning. Percy couldn't even find a hint of such a thought anywhere behind Aphrodite's veil. He knew he would have to have patience, but it turns out he wasn't particularly good at, y'know, that.
"It's okay." The young god distracted himself from the dark pit in his stomach by focusing on the smell and sensation of the water just a few feet away. It helped, walking along the edge of the shore like this. "I don't need specifics." Percy tried to give Aphrodite a comforting smile, but only half of his mouth managed to lift upwards. Still, he had opened up an easy way out.
"Very well." From the spark behind Aphrodite's eyes, he could tell she knew what he had done. Somehow, the love deity had moved closer to Percy's side, her legs so near that their thighs brushed with each step. "The lack of defenses, then. Je vais expliquer- I will explain."
A good distance away, in the direction he was being led, the young god could see where the wooded area gave way to a grassy plain. Percy could make out a couple of taller landmarks above the trees, one of dark stone and the other of white marble. Their tops sat against a backdrop of blue sky with a strange, slight golden shimmer that obscured the world further beyond. The clouds directly above seemed sharp, felt defined, while those further away were blurry and indistinct through the wavering air. The walk continued on at a relaxed pace.
"This beach is one of the more defensible sides of the camp, believe it or not." Aphrodite began, her tone taking on that half-musical quality that always ensured Percy was paying rapt attention. "It was not always that way, but building walls on sand is a touch more difficult than on soil, non?" Aphrodite's phantom touch had lifted from his shoulders, though there were a few fingers playing with the small ashy curls on the back of the young god's neck.
"True." Percy nodded. That explained the lack of large defensive structures. "What changed?" He caught himself off guard by how genuinely intrigued he was. The sky bearer's hand hadn't stopped fiddling with his engagement band, but the speed of the rotations had become less likely to strip skin from bone.
Percy's interest was more than just the desire to quench some of his burning questions about the course of the great conflict. In fact, it was almost the opposite. The atmosphere that had settled on the beach was almost . . . domestic. It wasn't the first time he had experienced the phenomenon, not even in the last two days, but this time was certainly the strongest.
The son of Poseidon found that it was almost too easy to get wrapped up in it. If he closed his eyes he could almost let himself believe that they were just a normal couple out for a late morning stroll. In his mind the hair around his arm was just a bracelet and the thrumming power beneath his skin was just the consequence of a good night's sleep and a dark cup of coffee.
The image had a gravitational pull to it that sucked air straight from his lungs. Percy's worries seemed further away with each step, pushed along by the brush of the tide against the sand. Besides, Aphrodite had such a pretty voice that getting her to speak more was never an unpleasant outcome. They hadn't talked much since he had regained his freedom, had they? Certainly not like they used to.
It could be like your first date!
The sky bearer tried not to let his mother's words circle around in his head too much, lest he be reduced to a blushing and stuttering mess. Again.
"The battle for Atlantis. Fitting, isn't it?" Aphrodite smiled, bumping her hip against Percy's own in a way that certainly didn't help with his rising embarrassment. "In fact, seizing back control over the seas was perhaps the turning point of the entire war." Okay, that was a new and interesting tidbit.
"Having the Sound to the back of any defender reduced all possible avenues of attack," the love deity continued, feigning obliviousness to the red creeping up Percy's neck. "Logique, oui? Once the remnants of Kronos' navy was finally sunk during the fourth year, the number of water-borne threats diminished significantly." Her eyes flickered about, as if reconstructing scenes only the love deity could see. "Even when weakened, merely the threat of Poseidon unexpectedly appearing during a battle close to the ocean could not be taken lightly."
That was . . . really smart. There was a world-weary quality to the store that made it clear Aphrodite knew what she was talking about when it came to such warfare tactics. That shouldn't have come as a surprise but it almost did anyway. She was just as much a veteran as anyone else, even if her weapon of choice wasn't a sword or spear.
Actually, what was her weapon of choice? The sky bearer shelved that thought for later.
Sometimes Percy was guilty of forgetting just how cunning his goddess was beneath the shell of makeup and flirtation. Said cunning goddess was getting a bit too sucked into her memories, if the way her gaze had visibly dimmed was any indication. Instead of dwelling on the past, the sky bearer decided to keep the mood from dipping too far with a bit of humor.
"I knew you had a thing for beaches." Percy punctuated the joke by bumping his leg back against his goddess. It was far easier to conjure a real smile than he had feared. "They're painted on basically all of your ceilings." Despite being inches shorter and appearing several dozen pounds less muscular, Aphrodite hadn't budged an inch.
The love deity startled, then laughed out loud freely with a sound like ringing bells. The way she tilted her head back allowed for the sun to frame her features just right. Suitably rewarded, and also fighting down those damned stomach butterflies, Percy watched as Aphrodite's posture settled onto something more comfortable. Perhaps she was getting swept up in the atmosphere as well. With the birds chirping and the sun shining and the water settling, it would almost have been a crime not to.
There was an ease to this, this relaxed chat between the two immortals. That had been true even when the sky bearer had been actively flaying apart under the weight of The Burden. Percy felt no pressure to talk, only to listen. Maybe the mortal world wasn't so bad after all.
Sometimes those memories of Othrys felt distant, the dais and the void just artifacts from another faded life. And yet, when Percy found himself alone in those first few days, they had all been so hauntingly, horribly close. Shadows looming over his shoulder, reminding him that he had only been free for a number of days that could be counted on his fingers. Having Aphrodite near made that crushing fear fade away, the mere sound of her voice enough to push the demons back down where they belonged.
Percy would have to do this more often.
"You've caught me, mon coeur." Aphrodite tugged at Percy's elbow, the effort more a tease than an attempt to pull him off balance. There was an amused glint in her eyes. "I was born on one, after all." She flipped her hair with her free hand, though the action was wasted when Percy's circling breeze just tussled the silk threads all up again. The few threads that had detached from his wrist found their way back in no time at all.
"Oh yeah." It wasn't often that the young god delved that deep into Aphrodite's memories. Percy kicked absently at the tan grains beneath his shoes as they walked, noting how the white soles of his high-tops never dirtied. "You told me that story, once. It's a bit fuzzy."
Almost all of the images from that far back were hazy, distorted through the passage of thousands of mortal years. The love deity's grip on his arm was firm and anchoring, a few condensing clouds rolling across her knuckles. They were pale against her tan skin.
"It was a different time, then. Plus simple." Aphrodite hummed, contemplative. Their route had taken them off the small peninsula now, following the curve of the water. The trail of their footsteps stretched behind the two Olympians, slowly being lifted away by the wind. "When I washed ashore, only the Horai were there to bear witness. I still have that dress they gifted to me in my closet somewhere, I believe." Aphrodite's giggle this time was full of nostalgia, potent enough to warm the sky bearer's entire stomach. "It's rather . . . revealing." Percy's goddess' smile turned sharp. "Would you like me to model it for you, mon coeur?" A few ghostly fingers tugged at her low neckline at the same time she pushed her chest directly forward and firmly into his tricep. "Or would you rather I demonstrate taking it off, instead?"
The sky bearer coughed once, his blush returning with force. The image of that white sleeping shift immediately came to mind, as well as its obvious lack of coverage. Shirts be damned, he could almost feel the sensation of them touching skin to skin.
"Um, maybe." Percy managed, locking his eyes on the treeline to hide from his fiancé's dangerous gaze and even more dangerous cleavage. "Later?" The young god's face was already several degrees hotter than usual.
"As you wish." Aphrodite's answer was unashamedly pleased. She didn't back away, and Percy didn't protest. When the love deity spoke again, her voice had taken on a low, almost wistful quality.
"Beaches speak to me, I suppose." Percy turned his face back around, taken off guard by how her tone had turned. Aphrodite's gaze was distant. "Before the war, I likened the motion of waves to the whims of the heart."
Their pace had slowed as she spoke. The love deity swept her free hand out, motioning across the point where the tide was running up over the dark, wet sand. Aphrodite's slim fingers followed the furthest point of the water, dipping and rising like they were running over invisible piano keys. This far in there was barely more than a thin, filmy foam.
"See how the tide ebbs and flows? That was what love was to me, before." Aphrodite's ghostly hands reformed, gripping tight to Percy's shoulders in a way they only ever did when his goddess was agitated. "I figured it nothing more than a passing fancy for us gods. I certainly found no shortage of role-models for such an idea." There was a sort of self-deprecating quality to this new story, the sound of someone speaking on their past and finding their own actions wanting. "Even the deepest love between humans can only be measured in decades, after all." The normal swirl of Aphrodite's eyes had slowed, the pace counting in time to her feet's reduced rhythm.
"That meant I was unshackled from the same expectations I held for mortal kind. Relâché- free, in a way." Behind Aphrodite's mask, there was something heavy and unpleasant. "I was concerned with nothing but the pleasure, you see. The source did not matter, nor did the consequences of any actions I took in pursuing it." Aphrodite laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound this time around. "Time heals all wounds, non? What does an immortal have, if not all the time in the world?"
"What are you saying?" Percy took the chance to pull Aphrodite to a halt, using his grip to turn his goddess until they were standing nearly chest to chest. The sky bearer frowned at her, trying to peer through her veil to the emotion hiding beneath. "I'm not good at this philosophy stuff." He fought the urge to bite at his lips, a swirling nervousness in his gut. The strands of hair around his arm were tight enough to pinch, the volume thick enough around to creep almost a quarter of the way to his elbow. "Give it to me straight, Aphy."
The love deity considered him for a long, tense moment. One of Aphrodite's hands slowly lifted up to cup Percy's cheek. The pad of her thumb was hot against his skin, the gentle touch tingling like a static overflow. The sky bearer was almost glad to see that familiar yet strange and burning fervor break through the gray wall she had constructed with her musing. The way it brightened the love deity's expression was undeniable.
"Apologies, my love." She shook her head a bit, stroking a smooth thumb across his cheekbone. "I suppose the short way of stating it is thus: I learned." Aphrodite dropped her hand to sweep her arm across the beach once again, before rotating back around and meeting his eyes with a fiery grin. "You taught me this, Percy. The beach is not love because it is fickle. Non, my silver fox." The goddess returned her other hand to Percy's arm, now using both to grip his bicep with force that rivaled the passion in her eyes. "A beach is love because it endures."
Percy tried to not let his confusion overtake his expression, but there was no doubt that his goddess saw right through the attempt. He watched her search for different words for a quiet moment. Aphrodite's teeth began working her bottom lip hard enough to bruise.
"How many waves do you think have washed ashore here, Percy?" The question caught the sky bearer flat footed, and all he could do was shrug a bit. "The number is almost uncountable, je crois." The love deity's irises had begun to glow, a new expression dawning across her features that was caught somewhere between rapture and awe. "Over and over and over again, the water and the land come together." Percy cocked his head, trying to wrap his mount around the analogy.
"Like a relationship?" He posed, more guess than statement. Gods, this seemed a bit deep for a not-quite first date! "Despite the circumstances they always come back together in the end." That was correct, right? The sky bearer hoped he sounded a lot more inspired than he actually felt.
"Oui." Aphrodite's fierce nod validated his verbal flailing, and Percy hid a sigh of relief. The love deity continued, emboldened. "That give and take, that push and pull? C'est infini- it is infinite. Beautiful." The force of her passion pressed against Percy's aura.
One of Aphrodite's hands left the young god's arm to press a palm firmly to his chest, her fingers closing around the locket hiding beneath his shirt. The touch sent electricity roaring through Percy's veins, pink and teal flaring brightly around them. Cloud and wind circled the two immortals. It tore at their clothes and the sand beneath their feet, though both remained unmoved. The young god was stuck, silent and still as his betrothed built up steam.
"That is true love, Percy. That is what you taught me, what you have given me." Aphrodite's voice was a quiet sermon, a prayer spoken aloud. "It is as you say - this is us. Infinite." Percy could have sworn her eyelids were fluttering as the love deity's voice pitched upwards with her conviction. "I am the beach and you are the waves, dearest. Always linked, never apart, until the very end of time itself. Nothing to separate us." The rest of Aphrodite's hair was floating now, the red within like a dark flame with searing black tips. "You are my purpose, Perseus Jackson. My everything. Mon idée fixe." Her eyes were nothing but a neon, burning pink.
"My obsession."
Oh.
Percy gaped for what felt like several minutes. The almost violent unloading of emotion had practically stun-locked his brain. Apparently, the cunning side of Aphrodite wasn't the only facet of the goddess that the sky bearer had been guilty of overlooking. What had it been, six days since their talk at the guest bedroom window? How could he have forgotten?
Only now, instead of just a promise of future affection, Percy had outright declared it to Aphrodite's face. He had inevitably folded and given her what she wanted. As of that morning, the love deity had been nothing but rewarded for her current line of thinking. If he had asked, Percy would have guessed that she would answer that literally everything so far had gone according to plan.
The blame for that lay solely on the sky bearer's shoulders. He hadn't meant to reinforce the very self-dismissive attitude that he had hoped to help the love deity overcome.
While Percy was trying to build any semblance of a reply, Aphrodite's hair had remembered that gravity existed. All but a few locks slid down and off his wrist almost sensually, like a million little threads whispering their own goodbye. Similarly, his goddess' eyes dimmed back to their standard, only slightly mind-boggling whirlpool. That didn't mean she stopped smiling though. The love deity was apparently very content to stand and maintain her grip on his shirt until the son of Poseidon finally spoke.
"I-" Percy had to wet his lips when his voice came out hoarse. Maintaining eye contact was unexpectedly difficult. "There are other things that matter, Aphy." The sky bearer reached up to gently pry away Aphrodite's grip from around his locket, flipping his hand instead to entwine their fingers. The motion was half to keep her occupied and half for his own comfort.
"Well, of course there are." The love deity seemed genuinely confused, tilting her head at Percy's response. "But they matter because you believe they matter, mon amour." Aphrodite smiled at him, wide and bright as if the love deity had it all figured out. The flapping silk of her flowy sleeves tickled his arms in the wind. "What concerns you concerns me, Percy."
"That's . . . not what I meant." The young god cursed his sudden inability to string a coherent sentence together, as the words kept escaping his grasp. Of all the times for his mouth to decide to be useless. "I meant you are allowed to care about other things. For your own reasons." That was the best he could do.
"Quoi? Why would I ever want to do that?" The love goddess blinked up at him, innocent and confused. "I've admitted my faults, love. I'm more than content to follow your moral compass for such things." Percy could only stare, before shutting his jaw with a sigh.
"Nevermind."
Maybe he'd have better luck next time. The young god's defeated slump finally cued Aphrodite to disentangle their hands before casually linking their arms together again and restart their stroll towards camp. Despite the sun being a bit higher in the sky and the air being just as warm as before, the scene felt a bit less peaceful. At least the sky bearer had found a way to ignore the sensory overload, at least for a few minutes.
"Hey, Aphy?" Percy's question came a minute later, once the pair of immortals had actually made good progress across the beach. A wide dirt path had manifested from underneath the grass, the transition from beach to road marked by a patch of ground that was half sand and half soil. The path snaked around the edges of the trees, the kind only made from years and years of constant traffic.
"Hmm?" Percy's goddess hummed. Her face maintained that cheerful expression. The darker color of her upper lip only made her smile more distracting than usual. The sky bearer was honestly a bit surprised that she wasn't outright skipping.
"I like hearing you talk." Percy wasn't sure how his next gamble was going to be received, but it had a decent shot at least. The young god's right hand fiddled with the tiny strands of hair around his left wrist in lieu of Riptide or his ring. "About your past, and feelings, and stuff." Way to sound articulate, Percy. The sky bearer peered over at his goddess. The love deity was no less a sight, stunning from any angle in any position.
"I am very glad." With the way Aphrodite looked at him then, Percy could believe it. One of her hands lifted to tuck a stray fox-tail piece of hair behind one ear. "It's not something I am particularly used to, you see." Once again the young god was struck by a sense of vertigo, watching Aphrodite switch between amorous Olympian and an almost shy, relatable woman.
Time for the moment of truth. "So, next time? You can just tell me," Percy offered. "When you think about something from the war, or about . . . us. I want to hear it." He smiled at her, again surprised by how easy the motion came. Man, he really was whipped.
"Truly?" Aphrodite seemed taken aback by the very notion.
"Truly."
"Well! My word." When the goddess turned her head away, her cheeks were a shade darker than normal. "When put that way, how could I possibly refuse?" There was a pleasant, comfortable silence for a few moments.
"I love you, Aphy." Percy bumped Aphrodite's hip again, the words just as much for himself as they were for his goddess. It felt good, to breathe the emotion to life and still believe it after he had heard them out loud.
This time the love deity did actually stumble, stunning eyes wide as if still surprised to hear the words thrown out so casually. They had come out far more bold than Percy had expected. Still, Aphrodite's flushed expression made the sky bearer chuckle and then she was giggling also and leaning her torso into his arm before long the tension was gone and Percy was actually feeling pretty good about himself.
There was most definitely a little extra hop to Aphrodite's step after that. How she did that in heels without falling was beyond Percy. The young god allowed himself to be dragged on for the ride, trying not to think too hard about the fact that he kinda sorta maybe just manipulated the woman he loved.
Well, 'manipulated' might not be the exact right term. Nothing he had said was even a lie, but the young god could admit to himself that there was an element to his words that was calculated. But honestly? Clearer communication could only be a benefit in the long run anyway. Hades was proof enough of that, if his words about his own marriage could be trusted.
So really, it wasn't even such a bad thing to suggest. A little selfish, maybe, but that wasn't a crime. Percy was pretty sure his mother would have approved, anyway.
"I love you too, Percy."
The amount of warmth those words inspired was terribly, absolutely, completely unfair. Aphrodite's blinding smile only multiplied the force of it. With the sensation of her hands on his arm and the weight of her vow near his heart, the sky bearer was fighting down his own little high-step. Percy found himself so completely sucked in that he didn't even register the fact that they had made it to the road until his shoes were crunching on soil instead of sand.
That meant that, when the pair rounded the edge of the woods and turned towards the camp proper, Percy was basically jump scared by the appearance of two more immortals.
"Well." A gruff, almost growl of a female voice had the sky bearer stiffening to attention. "I suppose it was too much to ask for to keep the public displays of affection to a minimum."
The woman - wait a minute, was that a giant wolf?! - wolf, rather, observed the lack of space between Percy and Aphrodite with sharp eyes, silver irises shifting like sheets of mist behind her great muzzle. How a mouth that big with teeth that sharp could speak English, Latin, or any other human language was completely beyond Percy. She could have snapped up his entire head and neck with room to spare. The great canine was parked in the center of the road, as if daring them to approach within striking distance.
Despite no longer being mortal, there was some deep part of the young god's psyche that still tripped alarm bells when staring at the massive carnivore. Even sitting down on her hind legs, the tops of those triangle ears nearly came up to Percy's shoulder. With a coat the color of dark chocolate and paws wide enough to palm a basketball (if such a feat of dexterity were possible), the wolf was certainly a fierce sight. As Aphrodite pulled him closer, Percy did his best to keep his aura calm and controlled.
What really drove the image home were the scars. Beneath her shining fur, the great canine was basically a patchwork of wounds. None were clean enough to have healed correctly, each dark like clotted blood. The evidence of battle was plain and obvious - circular pock marks from arrows, nicks and slashes from all manner of bladed weapons. The giant wolf leaned a tad to one side, as if favoring away from a previously broken hip that hadn't set properly.
Percy could help the bubbling of sympathy in his chest, even as it broke through the unease her initial appearance inspired. A slash across the center of the canine's chest, thicker across than his middle finger, looked particularly fatal. The worst was the one across the massive predator's face. A shiny, jagged line ran diagonally from the base of her left ear down and across her right eye socket. The iris beneath was no less alert, nor aware.
"Now, Lupa." A male tone interrupted, one Percy might have described as 'fatherly' once upon a time. "Love is Lady Aphrodite's domain. Allow the newly engaged this much." A spirited chuckle revealed a gentle smile above a scruffy brown-gray beard. "I doubt such things will be any more of a distraction compared to the arrival of two Olympians." An intense brown gaze softened as it swept over to meet the sky bearer's own. "Especially with such a celebrity visiting."
From Lupa's right side, a scruffy-bearded man stood with his arms folded behind his back. While usually not that strange of an action, it was made doubly so by the fact that said back was several feet higher off the ground and also that of a bright white stallion. Perhaps that additional height was the only reason that he didn't seem tiny standing next to a predator that might have nearly had him beat in the weight category. The centaur was actually taller than Percy by more than a few inches.
Despite the extra limbs, the stranger's human torso was dressed rather sharply in the top half of a three-piece suit combo. A few wispy hairs clung stubbornly to the top of the centaurs head, each a silvery color that denoted a great deal of stress might have been the reason for their missing compatriots. The centaur's beige coat and gray vest beneath gave such strong 'professor' energy that Percy was honestly a bit surprised that there weren't any glasses involved in the whole ensemble.
In fact it was the sky bearer might have needed his own vision aids - this new immortal was practically dripping with ghostly, murmuring afterimages. Percy had to wrench his eyes away.
"You're far too soft, Chiron." The newly named Lupa sniffed, shifting on her haunches and glaring down her scarred muzzle. "It seems all you Greeks are that way." She huffed a low breath, her canine face somehow expressing a very human level of distaste. "Sentimental to the last."
While it was clear neither of these immortals were Olympians, there was enough of a subtle aura surrounding them to ping sensors in Percy's head. Chiron's was earthy, steady like a rock foundation. Rather than his divine power, there was a deep wisdom in his eyes that reminded Percy far too much of his mother. Lupa's sheer presence was the stronger of the two by several magnitudes, flowing and dark like a shadowed forest at night. Both hadn't flinched when Percy's green had reached out to engulf them, settling around the quartet of immortals like a tinted shroud.
"It's good to see you too, Lupa." From Percy's arm, Aphrodite spoke up. The sky bearer wasn't sure where her words connected with the great predator's until he watched, a bit surprised, as Lupa's wolfish gaze softened just a hair. "And you, Chiron." By the time the love deity had turned her head to the centaur, the flash of emotion was gone. "Thank you for coming to greet us, mes amis."
Percy just nodded, finding that his mouth had suddenly clammed up. Chiron hadn't stopped smiling, but each successive moment where the sky bearer remained silent his grin dropped a few degrees. The son of Poseidon couldn't imagine that the centaur hadn't heard about his unique memory situation, so he tried to not take offense too much. Chiron seemed an optimistic sort, so perhaps he was just witnessing expectations and reality clashing behind his dropping expression.
That didn't make it any less awkward, though.
Percy couldn't help but shuffle a bit on his feet, fingers twitching restlessly. The nervous motion earned the sky bearer a chastising glance from Lupa. The wolf looked like she was fighting the urge to roll her massive, silver eyes. It wasn't until Aphrodite started drumming her fingers up and down his forearm again did Percy manage to stand completely still. That fact wasn't lost on Chiron, whose gaze flickered down and back up before he spoke.
"Well, it had to be someone." The tall centaur chuckled again, though the sound was a tad forced. Chiron's face wrinkled in a way that made him seem far older than his middle-aged appearance would suggest. "If not us, I think you'd have a whole army of kids out here already." The crows-feet around his eyes were deep and dark. "Grover and his bunch, at least."
"Not my brother?" Aphrodite seemed more amused than displeased. "I'm sure he was aware we were coming." The love deity's smile was free and easy in a way Percy couldn't quite replicate with his own facial muscles. The wrapping hair around Percy's left wrist, despite being clearly visible, never made any attempt to move even a single inch.
"He'd never leave the Big House if he could." Lupa's deep voice dipped to previously unheard levels of jaded disappointment. "And so, here we are. That man was insufferable even when he was just Bacchus." Her last words were as much a sigh as anything else.
"We will do our best in his stead." As he spoke, Chiron performed a smooth and practiced bow that had his torso bending and his equine half crossing and bending its legs. It was rather impressive that he didn't fall over. "Give Peitho my thanks for the warning, my Lady." His words were somehow both polite and entirely sincere. "My Lord." The last words seemed tacked on, not in a way that was malicious but more in a fashion that meant that the centaur found speaking them unfamiliar.
Lupa didn't bother echoing the motion fully, but she did incline her head a few degrees in Aphrodite's direction and then in Percy's own. Despite the clear displeasure surrounding the scarred canine, there was something about the subtle respect of the motion that had the sky bearer intrigued. The massive wolf hadn't hesitated to defer to Percy immediately after his betrothed, as many of the socialites on Olympus had done.
"Well, with the pleasantries out of the way-" when Lupa stood, she only became more physically intimidating. Even more than before, it was shockingly clear just how large and long she was. The fact that the wolf bore any scars at all was shocking with just how much muscle rippled beneath her frame. "-let us be the first to welcome you." The great canine turned leisurely, tail the size of a two-by-four waving with the motion. Lupa's movement opened up the view of the scene behind her, one that had Percy's breath catching in his chest.
"To Camp Half Blood."