TW: Mentions of suicidal thoughts
When Julie was fourteen, she was in a car accident.
It was minor - well, minor for a demigod. She was in a cab on the way to a cheer competition when a van from Ohio slammed into the driver's side doors in the middle of an intersection. She walked away with just a broken collarbone from a wonky airbag. Sally called it a miracle.
Sitting in her hospital room that night, though, waiting for the ambrosia Sally brought disguised as lemon bars to kick in, Julie found the situation funny.
Like, there she was, a daughter of a mystical being who can turn into a creature from fairytales, laying in a hospital bed eating Jello because of something as mortal as getting T-boned by some tourist texting while driving.
Percy also found the situation ironic, but them laughing about it pissed Paul and Sally off to no end. They both refused to allow Julie to take taxis alone anymore and demanded Iris messages whenever she left the apartment and arrived at a destination. It even got to the point where they were grounding her for forgetting until Percy finally stepped in and sat them down for a talk.
"We're half god," He'd reminded them, arms crossed like a teacher. "We're going to get worse than a broken collarbone and not always be able to contact you about it. You guys need to understand that danger comes with the territory."
Their parents had reluctantly loosened up on their requirements after that, but there were still moments where Sally's anxiety would flare up and the two of them would be confined to the apartment for the day just because of a "feeling."
Despite the exasperated looks Percy and Julie would share on those days, neither of them could find the heart to argue her on it. They both put Sally through enough stress on the day to day to comply with missing functions every now and then so she could keep an eye on them. In fact, the only time they put their feet down and went ahead with their plans anyway was the weekend that Percy disappeared from Cabin 3.
Julie's not certain she'll ever be able to forgive herself for that.
Still, when they picked up Percy in New Rome, she was able to just crack a few jokes and pretend to be mad at him for getting kidnapped again. He'd laughed, passed her some ibuprofen for her wrench-induced concussion, and they went back to being inseparable like he had never left.
'Danger comes with the territory,' right? Business as usual for demigod brother and sister.
That isn't working this time.
When the meeting to decide who's going down to face Nike in Olympia disbands, Julie is on her feet as quickly as possible. When she'd first come in, the only seat available had been directly beside Percy. She took it, but sitting next to him for the whole debate...
She still can't explain it. It's almost like he isn't there, even though he's been smiling and laughing and devouring an ungodly stack of blue pancakes. For the weeks Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus, Julie mentally prepared herself for what she might feel from them once they got back. She'd been expecting waves of paranoia, floods of boiling terror, or even steady flows of grief.
And, she does feel all of that. From Annabeth.
She feels absolutely, entirely, all-consumingly nothing from Percy. Not a flash of hesitance. Not even a whiff of seaweed and saltwater in his aura. It's like he's not even in the room with her.
It's kind of freaking Julie out.
So, the second Annabeth declares the decision for Leo, Percy, Frank, and Hazel to scour Olympia for the rampaging goddess Juno sicked them after, Julie is out of her seat and skedaddling her wounded boyfriend back to the infirmary. Unfortunately, deadly wounds in the abdomen will slow a guy down.
"How are you doing today?" She asks, clasping Jason's elbows to help him out of his chair.
He grimaces and leans a fair amount of his weight on her as he struggles to get his balance. "Better than yesterday."
"Better like ready to do cartwheels? Or better like you aren't bleeding out anymore?"
They take a couple steps towards the door, Jason leaning heavily on Julie's shoulders, and then he stops to double over and catch his breath. His face looks like wet, white plaster. "Not doing cartwheels," He pants.
"Need a hand?"
Julie winces. Then, she shakes off the annoyance at not sensing Percy's aura again and turns to her brother with an awkward smile.
"That's okay. I've got him," Julie waves him off.
Percy frowns. He glances from her to Jason (who is still looking ready to teeter over) and shrugs. "I was going to ask you to look at my stitches anyway. I might've popped a couple."
Julie guesses she can't really say no to that. So, she purses her lips and nods, and Percy ducks underneath Jason's other arm to help her haul him back to bedrest.
They walk in sort of tense silence. Mostly because Percy and Julie are definitely confused on how to talk to each other, and Jason is too busy wincing at every movement to bother with conversation.
Once they get to the med bay, Percy kicks the door open and snickers. "Dude, you should just move all your stuff in here at this point."
"Shut up," Jason grumbles.
Percy and Julie deposit him onto one of the beds and help him scoot up to the pillows. "Shirt off," She orders.
Jason complies and lays back so that she can take a look at the soil level of his bandages. They're rank. She wrinkles her nose and huffs in frustration.
"That's not a good face," Jason murmurs, staring at her sheepishly.
Percy leans over Julie's shoulder to see and makes a disgusted retching noise. "Dude..."
"What?!" asks Jason fearfully. He starts to sit up, hisses in pain, and collapses back against the cot with a frown. "Is it bad?"
Juliette presses her lips together and removes the bindings as gently as possible.
They've packed Jason full of as much nectar and ambrosia as his body can handle. Julie's checked his wound often, cleaning and resuturing it fast as the wound festers and tears itself back open. Nothing seems to be working. There's still an oozing gash all the way through Jason's abdomen to his lower back. It's partially scabbed, but the clotted blood is dissolving at the edges again. The veins that spider from the wound are tinged yellow where the Imperial Gold has poisoned his bloodstream.
Julie leans away and pushes the hair out of her face with the back of a gloved hand.
This isn't a broken collarbone. Her eyes are heavy and stinging from the night she spent awake trying to keep Jason's body healing.
She really isn't a doctor. She's no child of Apollo. Julie is way in over her head.
Thrice will the Underworld steal Sons of Three...
She's scared. And, she doesn't know what to do.
"I've lived through worse," Percy says dismissively.
Juliette looks over at him in bewilderment. Worse? Than this?
Jason's looking at him too, but with an irritated frown. "Like what?" He snips.
"Uh, like, tons of stuff?" Percy scoffs, leaning casually against a nearby shelf. "Ever held up the literal sky before?"
He smirks and tosses the white streak in his hair. Jason bristles and narrows his eyes. "Oh, sorry, no I haven't. I did take out Krios single-handedly, though."
Percy nods, ginning. "Oh, wow. Good job. I wonder how he would have measured up to his boss, Kronos, who I, Percy, took care of myself. What do you think, bro?"
"I think it's a good thing you were invincible for that fight. Wouldn't want you to have gotten hurt, bro."
Juliette's head turns between the two boys like she's watching a very confusing, very dangerous match of tennis. Jason and Percy's faces are smiling, and yet she can't keep herself from wondering what would win in a fight: a wolf or a shark.
The image makes her laugh quietly. Now that her hands have stopped shaking, Julie ignores them and goes back to prepping Jason's wound to be redressed.
"This is gonna hurt, Soldier Boy. Why don't you tell me a story?" She says to him gently.
Jason gives her a half smile. He launches into a story Julie's heard a million times - the day Piper took him and Leo shopping and then dictated everything they were allowed to pick up. She ended up dressing them both like punk teen idols with ripped jeans and chain necklaces, and Juliette had laughed so hard when they got back to camp that the Apollo cabin thought she was having an asthma attack. Jason had clipped one of the chains around Julie's neck in the middle of her giggling fit, and she had worn it nonstop for weeks afterwards. It eventually became collateral to buy some movies and snacks for their little friend group off the Stoll brothers, but Julie smiles fondly in remembrance of its comforting weight against her chest.
"Do they still have that huge Pringles stash?" Percy asks, sprawled out on one of the open cots and tossing a bottle of Aspirin in the air.
"Not after us," Julie tells him wickedly. "It was a good night."
Percy snorts as Juliette removes her gloves and pats Jason on the shoulder.
"You're done," She tells him. He sits up, still looking a bit weak, and something in Julie twists unpleasantly. She plucks a paper cup of nectar from a nearby shelf and offers it to him. "Bottoms up."
Jason sighs, but downs the liquid. Once he's done, he offers the cup back to her, and she tosses it into a waste basket.
"I should go give Hazel a break at the helm," He decides.
Julie nods and retrieves his shirt for him. He pulls it on and stands painfully.
"Can you make it?" Percy asks.
Jason scowls at him, and the son of Poseidon smiles smugly and raises his hands in surrender.
"No cartwheels, okay?" Julie asks.
Jason gives her a soft look and kisses her on the cheek. "Yes, ma'am."
He nods at Percy and heads out towards the control room. Once the door swings shut behind him, Julie lets her shoulders droop and buries her face in her hands.
She hears footsteps approach slowly. She pulls away when a hand tries resting on her shoulder. It retreats quickly, but Julie can't get herself to feel bad. She just can't be touched right now. There's too much to deal with.
"He'll be alright, you know," Percy mumbles.
Something cold writhes in Julie's stomach. She stares down at the bloodied gauze in the waste bin.
"He's dying," She says, matter of fact.
Percy apparently sees where she's looking. He rounds the bed and ties off the trash so it's out of sight. "No, he's not," He tells her firmly. "Because we're going to find a way to help him. We're not gonna let your little boyfriend die on you."
Julie looks at him irritably. "It's Imperial Gold, Percy. What if there's nothing we can do?"
"There's always something you can do," Percy declares. He crosses his arms, and the blue overhead light catches on the new scar down his nose. His largest souvenir from Tartarus. "Sometimes, it just takes power you didn't know you had."
Julie looks up at him, a million thoughts racing through her head. That sea green is so tired. Regretful. She can see it so plainly, but she still can't feel any of it.
"Percy..." Maybe she just needs to ask. "What happened down there?"
The way he swallows looks difficult. He doesn't seem capable of eye contact anymore, either. He shakes his head and looks like he's going to say something, but then the infirmary door swings open, and Frank pops his head in.
"Hey, Percy, we're ready to go," He tells them.
Percy lets out a relieved sounding sigh. "Cool, yeah, I'll be there in a second."
Frank nods and ducks back into the hallway. Julie turns to grab her wound-care kit. "You said your stitches popped?" She prompts, gesturing at the cots.
Percy barks a laugh. Julie turns to him, perplexed, and he just smiles and shakes his head. "Nah, I made that up. Just wanted to hang out for a bit without you ditching me."
Oh. That'll make a girl feel guilty. She sets her tools down slowly. "I haven't been-"
"You have," Percy says quietly. He lets out a forced chuckle and shrugs his shoulders. "It's cool, though, I get it. I even make myself nervous lately."
Julie frowns in confusion. "Wait, what? Percy, that's not-"
"It's cool, Jules, really," He insists, backing towards the door. "I understand. I'll see you around, okay?"
"Percy-"
"Hey, Leo's getting impatient," Frank's voice says through the door. "We really need to get going."
"You heard the man," Percy grins at her. It doesn't reach his eyes. "Got to go back to hero-ing. See ya."
Juliette watches him slip out the door, blinking dazedly as the rumbling of conversation gets quieter once Percy and Frank head out onto the deck.
What just happened?
She looks down at the kit on her lap. At the needle and thread lying there unused.
What did she just do?
"I think Percy and Jason are warming up to each other," Annabeth comments a few days later, hopping down off the rope ladder to join Julie and Piper on the streets of Sparta. "I walked in on them playing cards in the infirmary when I got my go bag earlier. They both claimed they were playing poker, but I'm fairly certain it was just an intense game of Go Fish."
Julie snorts. When Hazel had put Percy in time-out for blowing up the Argo's plumbing at the thought of Annabeth going on a quest without him, the last place they'd expected him to hang out was Jason's bedside. She supposes they might be sharing some kind of solidarity right now or something, though. Jason was also less than pleased when Piper had announced the magically selected participants of today's giant-hunt.
"Well, they can brood together, then," Piper snarks, her thoughts apparently having gone in the same direction. The three of them start down one of the streets, heading for the giant pile of ruins in the distance.
Pro quester tip: When in doubt, evil things like piles of rocks.
Piper sighs and crosses her arms. "I don't understand how you both can handle having men try to tell you what to do."
Julie and Annabeth exchange a glance, eyebrows quirked.
"I mean," Annabeth starts. "Percy can try all he wants. I think the both of us know I'm going to do what I need to do."
"And Jason tells everyone what to do," Julie shrugs. "It's not a man/woman thing, it's a bossy Prince of Olympus thing. Plus, I rarely listen."
"Still," Piper wrinkles her nose, hands in her pockets. "It's annoying. Them, I mean."
This conversation is amusing Julie. Annabeth's funny smirk seems to agree. They exchange another strange look before squinting at their friend.
"Did something happen, Pipes?" Julie leads.
Her sister glances at her. "No?"
"Why the hostility towards Jason and Percy, then?" Annabeth asks. "You didn't seem angry at them earlier."
Piper stops on the sidewalk and frowns at them in confusion, brown skin starting to dot with sweat in the summer heat. "What? I'm not mad at them."
"Sure seems like it," Julie shrugs.
Piper shakes her head. "I'm not! I just don't like it when they...When men..."
Annabeth purses her lips in amusement, and Julie fights to keep from laughing at the confused distress on Piper's face.
"Yes?" Annabeth prompts.
Piper throws her arms up in frustration. "I don't know! They've just been on my nerves lately! I don't really know why."
Piper frowns. She looks between Julie and Annabeth, her eyes lingering longer on the blonde, and then turns around sharply to continue walking. The other two girls jog to catch up with her, and she huffs.
"Look, I might just be confused right now," She says. "It's not worth talking about. Let's just figure out this 'chained god's heartbeat' thing and get out of here."
"Sounds good to me," Julie agrees.
"I can't believe you just jumped into a random hole. What if there were spikes at the bottom?" Julie scolds, dusting off her hand cropped camp shirt.
Piper shrugs, and the two sisters watch Annabeth's nervous face appear at the opening to the pit they leapt into.
"Come on down!" Julie calls up, hands cupped around her mouth. "The gravel's fine!"
Her joke doesn't land, unfortunately. Annabeth looks like she's going to be sick. She leans forward to step off the edge...
Then, she gasps and retracts back to safety. Her usually sunkissed complexion is pasty and green.
"I-I can't," She chokes.
Piper and Julie look at each other in surprise. Neither of them have ever seen Annabeth back down from anything. Hades, Julie was pretty sure until recently that spiders were her only weakness - other than that, even the gods had to admit the girl is a force to be reckoned with.
"It's okay, Beth! The fall isn't as far as it looks," Piper calls up.
There are tears forming in Annabeth's eyes, and Julie starts recognizing the fear in the air. It confuses her. She's seen Annabeth leap off cliffs before. What about a little pit would-
Ohhh...
Julie's been a real ass lately, hasn't she?
"Hold this," She tells Piper, handing her older sister back the golden cornucopia they've been taking turns lugging around. Piper accepts it with a raised eyebrow, and Julie transforms, flying back up to the top of the pit and landing beside Annabeth.
The daughter of Athena looks at her with wide, tearful eyes, and Julie flattens herself onto the dusty ground to extend a wing like a stepping stool. The gesture makes Annabeth laugh a little. Julie watches her take a deep breath, nod to herself, and then clench her fists as she forces herself to her feet. The blonde climbs up Julie's wing and loops her arms through the bronze handlebar of the saddle Leo custom built.
Gently, Julie stands back up and walks to the precipice of the pit. Annabeth gives her a little kick of encouragement, and Julie does her best to stay steady and level as she flaps her wings and lowers them both to the bottom of the pit beside Piper.
Annabeth slides off of Julie's back, and the younger girl transforms into a human again. Sheepish is a strange look on Annabeth Chase.
"Sorry..." She mumbles. "It's just..."
"Falling?" guesses Piper.
Annabeth nods, eyes on the floor, and Julie pokes her gently in the ribs. "Hey, everybody's got something," She tells her. "At least that fear comes with a badass origin story."
"Seriously," Piper agrees. "Leo has no excuse for being afraid of clowns."
"Okay, Ms. Scared of Babies," Julie retorts, smirking.
Piper's jaw drops in horror as Annabeth laughs in surprise and looks at her. "You said you'd keep that a secret!" She accuses.
Julie grins. "I say that a lot. I thought you'd all know better than to tell me things by now. Really, this is your fault."
"My fault?!"
"Ladies!" Annabeth interrupts, shaking her head in amusement. "We're sort of on a quest, if you remember?"
"Yeah, Piper, stay on task," Julie jokes, turning to start heading down the most mysterious and darkest of the tunnel options (that's usually where the bad guys are).
"You're the most annoying person I know," Piper snips, cornucopia over her shoulder and a scowl on her face.
"Awww, do you mean it?"
"You taking that as a compliment is exactly the reason why-Wait a second, are you wearing my shorts right now?"
"No."
"Yes, you are! Those are mine, Julie. You have to ask before you-"
"They're literally not even yours. I bought these at the mall with Nico. If you don't believe me, ask him."
"Oh, yeah, convenient that your only backup is across the world right now. You think di Angelo pays attention to what clothes you buy?"
"You'd be surprised, actually."
Annabeth sighs. Seventeen, and already a mother of seven unruly demigods. What has her life become?
"Our siblings are so weird," Julie giggles, leaning back casually against a fence post as her companions pant on their knees on either side of her, exhausted and covered in dust. "That was a good fight! Gods, I love when enemies try to use fear powers and stuff. It's so funny to watch their faces when I just chow down on their energy like it's IHOP."
Annabeth flops forward onto the soft grass and groans. One of the sheep in the pasture Deimos and Phobos dropped them into comes to sniff at the back of her tangled blonde head.
"You're insane," Piper gasps out as Julie shakes out the muscles in her arms, feeling nice and warmed up.
Julie laughs and pats Piper on the head where she's trying to catch her breath, forehead wedged against another fence post. "Aw, come on, that was a good one! I mean, nobody got hurt. We beat the bad guy. We lost the cornucopia, but, as much as I wanted to honor Achelous, that thing was heavy as Hades," She pauses and looks down at the ground. "No offense, Mr. Underworld, sir, it's just a figure of speech. Anyway, I'd say it was a good day!"
Her words are coming out very quickly. Man, Julie feels good! Better than she has in ages! Maybe she should hang out with Deimos and Phobos more often. Those guys really know what's up. Julie feels like she could run a marathon right now and still be ready for another monster fight once it's over.
"Gods, it's like the time Travis spiked her drink with Redbull," Annabeth remarks, her words muffled by the grass as she watches Julie take a running start and then execute about twenty flawless front handsprings in a row.
"I can't do this right now," Piper sighs. She sounds ready to cry with exhaustion.
The three of them had found Mimas exactly where they'd expected to - at the end of the long, scary hallway beside the alters of some godly relatives of theirs. While Piper and Annabeth had been rendered nearly helpless by the overwhelming fear and panic unleashed on them by the temple and were forced to come to terms with their respective inner demons, Juliette had had the time of her life absorbing everybody's negative emotions and flying circles around their big bad enemy until Piper made a sacrifice to Phobos, and he helped them finish the giant off.
Julie had a great time. They should have girls' outings like this more often.
"Can you just call Jason so we can go back?" Piper pleads as Julie balances in a one-armed handstand. "I just want to go to sleep," She sobs.
"Yeah, no problem!" Julie chirps.
She summersaults out of her handstand and puts her hands on her hips, closing her eyes.
Heyyy, Misty-Mist...One collect call to Jason Grace?
Just as Hazel instructed, Julie visualizes the golden tendril connecting her to Jason. The light it emanates. The tug of it when Cupid pulled it forward. It leads her down a mental pathway where all the world is golden around her. She focuses on the color, reaching out to touch it, and she feels the temperature of her environment change.
Oh, sweet air conditioning.
Julie opens her eyes to see Jason crouched over some of the plumbing pipes, cranking a socket wrench. The water in the pipe he's working on is being held at bay, looking like it's frozen in time thanks to the outstretched palm Percy has facing it.
"Sorry again, man," Percy cringes.
Jason waves him off. "It's cool, dude. Just be more careful next time."
Percy grumbles something under his breath about hoping there 'isn't a next time,' irritably blowing black hair out of his eyes since his hands are busy controlling the plumbing. Julie clears her throat, and Jason jumps so hard he drops the wrench.
"Bro, are you-"
"Um, Jason-" Julie starts irritably.
"Oh, thank gods," Jason sighs in relief, turning to face her with a blinding smile. "Is everybody okay?" He asks her.
Julie crosses her arms. How dare he be pretty right now? She's mad at him. "Everyone's fine. We're done."
"I'll have Leo track your location," Jason beams.
Julie scowls at him and gestures wildly at the room they're in. "This doesn't look like the infirmary."
"Um...Well-"
"You're supposed to be resting, Jason," Julie snips.
He sighs and bends down to pick up the wrench, wincing at how it jostles his wound. "I'm just fixing some pipes. It's no big deal!"
Juliette glares at him, arms still crossed, and does her best to channel "angry Sally Jackson."
That's usually what works on her.
Jason sighs and rolls his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Fine. I'll go back to bed as soon as we finish this section."
"Thank you," She flourishes her gratitude with a curtsy for dramatic effect. Once she straightens up, her gaze drifts to Percy, who's looking a bit awkward where he's still holding back the water in the pipe and hearing only one side of their conversation.
He can't currently see her, and yet Julie finds herself staring at him. Percy's always been on the tanner side. Sally has hypothesized for years that their family has Polynesian roots, and that's always seemed plausible to Julie from their similar features and darker skin tone. Since he got back from Tartarus, though, Percy's been almost sickly pale. The wounds he came back with have healed for the most part - enough for Julie to remove the stitches, anyway, but he still seems completely exhausted. His lips are chapped, and his eyes are bruised underneath, looking like they have sand bags hooked to the lower lids.
He just looks tired. More tired than she's ever seen him. And, Julie still has no idea what to do about it.
So, she sighs and turns back to Jason.
"See you soon?" She asks.
He gives her a smile and nods, and Julie ends their connection.
This is not Julie's idea of a relaxing Mediterranean cruise.
She dodges another venti attack, barrel rolling in the sky above the ship as she spits venom at another wind spirit and dissolves it into thin air. Four more take its place, and Julie has to maneuver yet again to keep from getting torn to bits in their spiraling vortexes of rain and hail.
The rest of the crew is rushing around the deck of the Argo, completely drenched and wobbling from the strength of the storm. Piper and Annabeth are tugging on the rigging. Frank is currently a gorilla, frantically repairing splintered oars. Leo has himself strapped to the helm with bungee cords as he fights to keep the ship at least somewhat on the right course. Since Percy is busy keeping the ocean from completely swallowing them in one huge tidal wave, actual defense of the ship has fallen to Juliette.
She's probably taken out at least 50 of these suckers in the half hour this storm has been bearing down on them. They just keep coming.
Julie flaps her wings furiously, raking her celestial bronze tipped talons through another spirit before soaring off in a figure 8 to throw off the few that were about to get a hit on her. Out of the corner of her vision, she sees a flash of yellow that almost makes her drop out of the sky.
Jason, because he's actually the dumbest, most terrible person Julie has ever met, is on deck. He's zigzagging with the rocking of the ship as he makes his way towards the prow, one hand clutched to his gut and the other holding his gladius in a white knuckled grip.
Julie sees him set his sights on Percy mid-ship, but she has to dodge another attack before she can do anything about it.
That stupid stupid idiot. Can't he just stay in one place for five minutes?
One of the venti gets a lucky shot, pelting the right side of Julie's torso with razor sharp hail. She hisses and slashes her talons through her attacker, and the spirit evaporates, but the scrapes down her side still hurt.
This would be an excellent time for those ice powers you stole, Khione! Thanks for being the actual worst goddess in existence!
(Note to Khione IRL: Plz don't smite me. Juliette's opinions do not necessarily reflect my own. I'm terrified of you.)
Julie takes out a few more venti, and is right in the middle of spitting venom at one of the larger ones when she hears a shout behind her. Julie turns midair and hovers for a second to squint through the torrent of rain. Jason soars up in front of her and nods in greeting before slicing his gladius right over her serpentine head. Julie looks up in time to see a spirit she hadn't noticed dissolving into dust.
"I'M - BORROW - THESE!"
Julie has just enough time to think 'huh?' before Jason whips his arm like he's throwing a lasso and somehow manages to hook the largest ventus to him with a vortex of his own making. Jason, golden hair plastered to his forehead and collarbones glistening...FOCUS, JULIE! He sends her an apologetic, but clearly exhilarated tilt of his head before hopping inside the ventus' winds and dropping out of the sky and into the ocean.
Ummmm.
Juliette has zero time to process her boyfriend's spontaneous cannonball. She has five more venti hurling chunks of ice at her noggin.
She feels like she's fighting wind spirits forever. It has to be at least an hour. It's not until she slaps one aside with her wing hard enough to skip it across the ocean that she realizes...The waves have calmed down. Julie hovers midair and looks around. The clouds are quickly dissipating, the winds more gentle and carrying them away from the ship to make way for clear morning skies.
The venti look at each other. Then, they look at Julie, flapping there with her fangs dripping with smoking purple goop.
They're chasing after the clouds moments later, and Juliette finds herself victorious above a successfully not-capsized ship.
She starts heading back down just in time to see Jason and Percy emerge from the ocean atop a wave and drop down onto the deck of the Argo.
Annabeth runs to greet Percy, leaping into his arms. Jason gets a hug from Leo and Piper both and then starts looking around. Julie sees Piper point up to where she's hovering, and Jason looks up at her.
And smiles.
The. Fucking. Nerve.
You know how people say 'I got so mad, I saw red'? Yeah, well, Julie sees green.
Her temper control mimics an exploding gas tank. Julie takes extra satisfaction in the terrified widening of Jason's eyes as she picks up speed in the air on a crash course with the ship.
Leo and Piper scream and dive out of the way, but Jason remains frozen in surprise. Julie flies straight at him, fueled by rage.
At the absolute last second, once she can see Jason's individual eyebrow hairs, she changes back and drops with a crash onto her feet close enough to snag the front of his shirt and pull him into her space. Then, Juliette starts shouting.
"What the Hades were you thinking?! You have been on Thanatos' short list for the last week, and you want to go monster hunting? Are you joking?!" She snarls.
Jason just blinks rapidly, mouth hanging open.
"I have run out of almost all of our medical supplies just treating this one stab wound!"
His mouth closes, and his lips twitch into a smile.
Julie winds both fists into the front of his shirt, so angry she's shocked she's even still human. He lets out a surprised laugh when the action tugs him down the few inches to her height. "You think this is funny? You think putting your life at risk is funny? You think-"
He cuts her off with a kiss.
She's a little ashamed to admit how well this strategy works. His right hand comes to rest against Juliette's jaw, his left around her waist to pull her forward into him. Julie's grip on his shirt loosens. She's a little distracted by the salty lips fit neatly around her own. Her knees go weak, and Jason supports her as she falls into him.
When he pulls back, it takes about thirty blinks before Julie remembers what she was angry about. By that time, Jason is already talking.
"I know who I am," He breathes.
Julie is confused. He puts both hands on each of her cheeks, pressing his forehead against hers and laughing. The sound is bright and airy. Free. He runs his thumbs across the skin beneath her eyes.
"I know what I'm supposed to do after this," Jason beams. "I know what I want."
Juliette would have to be a monster to continue scolding him right now. So, instead, she unleashes the butterflies throwing a rave inside her tummy and laughs with him. "What is it?" She asks eagerly.
Jason just smiles, white and wide and sparkling and scarred. He kisses her again, this time with more giddiness than passion, and then drops another few pecks onto her nose and forehead while she laughs.
"You'll see," He promises. "But, for now..."
Jason reaches down to lift the hem of his shirt. Julie almost cries in relief when she sets her eyes on the smooth, unblemished skin of his abdomen.
"Hey, hey, hey," soothes a boy's voice.
Julie tries to stop crying long enough to see who it is. She freezes in terror when she opens her eyes, and it's Percy Jackson.
Even with how much she's bleeding from the cut across her belly, Julie finds it in her to scramble away, crawling backwards until her back hits a wall. The cuts on her face burn from the saltiness of her tears. She raises a purple coated hand in defense and sobs. "I-I'm sorry!"
Percy Jackson raises his hands too, dropping to his knees. "Woah, woah, there's no need to be scared. It's over now. You're safe."
She hides her head behind her tiny arms.
Safe? She isn't safe anymore. Luke's going to be so angry. He's going to hurt her again. Or kill her. If this boy doesn't first.
Gods, Julie wants to go home. She just wants to go home. Home, home, home home homehome-
"You saved my life."
She looks up, peeking out from behind her bloody elbows.
The boy is closer now, hands still raised with his palms forward and empty of any weapon. He smiles at her. Why is he smiling at her?
"You're pretty beat up. I'd like to help you back, if you'll let me."
He looks...nice. He's smiling at her like Azalea does. Azalea has always tried to help her. He doesn't lie when he looks at her like that.
Slowly, Julie lowers her arms. Percy scoots forward, reaching for her, and she gasps and flattens herself against the wall.
He backs up immediately. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I swear. On the Styx. I swear I just want to help."
Thunder rumbles above them, and Julie's eyes widen. That's the first oath she's ever heard. Aster always told her never to say those words unless she really means it.
His green eyes look tired, but honest. He offers her another smile, and this one she returns.
"My blood," She says quietly. So quietly, he has to lean in to hear her. "My blood will burn you if you touch it. I'm cursed."
He studies her. She sees a multitude of emotions pass over his face until his expression settles into a wide, sarcastic smile.
"Cursed? That's weird, I thought you were Julie."
She blinks. Then, blinks again. Then, for the first time in six months, she bursts out laughing.
Percy Jackson looks very proud of himself.
Something is wrong with Percy.
Gods, she's so stupid. She's known something was up for days, and she hasn't done a thing about it. She was too busy worrying about her powers not working that she didn't stop to think about the reason for it.
She's so stupid.
Julie watches him across the table as they finish debriefing what went down during the storm. Jason's already talked them through his and Percy's fight with Polybotes and his deal with Kymopoleia. It'd been amazing watching him go starry eyed at the idea of reviving the tradition of Pontifex maximus. She can't wait to talk to him about it.
But, right now, her focus is on the silence at Percy's end of the table.
When they adjourn for the night, he's the first one out the door. Julie sees Annabeth's face drop in concern when he doesn't even glance at her. She looks a little hurt. Juliette catches her eye across the table.
She and Annabeth aren't always on the same wavelength. Tonight, though, the blonde pleads with her eyes, and Julie just nods and races after her brother.
He's in his quarters fishing out a new set of pajamas when Julie knocks hesitantly on the open door. He turns, probably expecting Annabeth or Hazel, and goes rigid when he spots her. The energy in the room suddenly feels nervous. Julie folds her hands in front of her and smiles.
"So...Beat up another giant, huh?"
Percy puffs out his cheeks and blows a raspberry, looking down at the balled up pajamas he's holding. "Yeah. Y'know, all in a day's work," He jokes.
Julie chuckles a little and leans against the door. "Yeah...You and Jason seem like a good team."
He glances up, the direction the meeting room is in, and shrugs. "He's a good dude. Saved my ass down there. A couple times," Percy gives her a half smile. "You picked a good one."
Something about that stamp of approval makes her almost stagger with emotion. Julie swallows down the lump in her throat and sniffs back a wave of tears. "You too," She tells him.
He nods.
They stand there for a minute, neither of them knowing exactly where in the room to look but aware they're not really feeling eye contact right now.
"Well," Percy clears his throat. "I was gonna go shower. Actually got rained on tonight. Well, and there's probably poison in my hair."
Julie frowns. "Poison?"
And, there it is. The first flash of emotion that Juliette has felt from him in the week he's been topside.
Panic.
Outwardly, he chuckles and shrugs. Julie's smile slips from her face.
"Jason didn't say anything about poison."
Percy opens his mouth. His eyes land on her, bouncing back and forth between each of her own. A response doesn't seem to come to him. He gives up and shuts his jaw.
Julie's concern doubles. She stands up straight again. "Did something else happen?"
The question was supposed to come out more casually than it does. Her tone accidentally sounds accusatory, and that makes him frown defensively.
"Just Polybotes and Kym," He says.
Juliette crosses her arms. "So, when was there poison?"
"Just-" Percy grunts in annoyance, waving his arms about. "Just during the fight."
"When?"
"Oh my Gods, Jules. It was just during the fight. Why do you care so much?"
She scowls at him. "It's just a question. Why are you getting so twitchy about it?"
"I'm not being twitchy."
"You are King Twitchy," Julie declares. "Now, stop trying to be mysterious and tell me."
Percy groans, rolling his eyes and moving like he's gong to step around her. Julie snags his arm as he does.
There's a face. It's so wrinkled and pruned that Julie can hardly make out its features. Judging from the pitch of its choking and gagging, it's female.
Whatever it is, its nose, mouth, eyes, and ears are being invaded by a toxic, green sludge. When Julie follows the stream of it back to its source, she finds Percy Jackson smiling while his victim suffers.
Julie's first instinct is to pull away as quickly as possible.
There's an expression of horror on Percy that tells her he saw what she did as well. It's stopped him in his tracks. His arm is shaking in Juliette's grasp.
"Percy," She mumbles, tears in her eyes at the terror she so rarely sees painted on his face. "What was that?"
He looks at her. Sometimes, Julie forgets they're only two years apart. He's always seemed miles ahead of her in every stage of life.
Maybe she's been putting him on a pedestal just like everyone at camp always has. Since the day they met, Percy has been her superhero. The invincible force that can save her from anything.
She forgot that superheroes don't exist. She forgot the boy in front of her is seventeen and just as lost as she is.
"You can tell me," She says to him, grasping both of his arms. "Let me handle it for once."
Julie sees the moment his resolve breaks. She has the foresight to push the door shut before she's on the ground with an armful of Percy as he completely breaks down.
She gets snip-its of the story. Most of his energy is going into the guttural, painful sounding sobs tearing from his throat.
She hears about the fall - the nine days he spent wrapped around his only remaining reason to live as they fell through the earth in suffocating darkness.
He tells her about Bob. She remembers Nico telling her about him - how he, Percy, and Thalia had come to know the titan Iapetus. Hearing that the titan had done so much for the people she loves makes learning of his death all the more painful.
Percy talks about the Arai. About Calypso. About his closest brush with death before the master of the Pit.
About Akhlys.
Juliette is well acquainted with the goddess of Misery. She's a figure of nightmare for a Heartbreak. Many of Juliette's brothers and sisters have become her pets over the centuries, having their powers stolen and used to the deity's sickening whims. She can't exactly say she's devastated to hear that Percy gave her what was coming to her.
Percy is, though.
"I scared myself," He whispers, head buried in Julie's shoulder. "I scared Annabeth."
She knows that, to him, that is worse. Unforgivable, even. Julie squeezes him tighter, and Percy curls up beside her on the floor, hands clenched so tightly into the back of her t-shirt that she's sure the wrinkles will be permanent.
"You're not scary, Percy," She whispers back.
He shakes his head, and another dry sob chokes from him. "You don't understand...She begged me not to use that power again. She said some things aren't meant to be controlled."
"That seems...wise," Julie murmurs.
Percy laughs humorlessly. He pulls out of her arms and wipes his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "Tonight, Polybotes surrounded me with poison. He tried drowning me in it."
The image makes Julie's heart stutter fearfully. She keeps it from showing on her face, leaning back against the wall and resting her arms on her knees. "And?" She prompts softly.
Percy breaks their eye contact. "I'm tired, Jules. I'm so tired."
She knows. Gods, Julie just wants to take away all of this pain.
"I've been doing this since I was twelve. I just want..." He covers his eyes with his hands. "I wanted to rest. So, I let him drown me."
Julie doesn't know how to respond to that. She just stares at him.
He...let him. He let Polybotes poison him.
"I deserved it."
That one's too much. Julie doesn't have words, so she wraps Percy back up in her arms.
She doesn't know what to say. She has no idea what to say. Please, Gods, somebody tell her what to say.
"You didn't deserve it," She whispers hurriedly. "Gods, Percy, you didn't. You never could."
He's sobbing again. Her sleeve is completely soaked from his tears, and he's shaking like a leaf. All she can do is hold onto him like she's never going to let go. Like she'll never have to. Like he'll be right here forever, where she can protect him from ever having to feel like that again. If there is anyone on this planet that could never ever deserve something like this, it's him, and she hates Hera more than she can express for not allowing Percy the happy ending he fought so hard for.
"Don't tell mom," He cries against her shoulder. He sounds so little. "Please, don't tell mom."
Julie grips his back, finally losing control of her own sobs and running her other hand through his hair in a vain attempt to try and steal away some of this hurt.
"I won't," She promises. "I swear I won't. On the Styx. I won't tell anyone."
He nods, something similar to gratitude choking from him as he continues breaking into pieces in her embrace. Julie just holds him tighter with every new wave of tears. She can't steal his pain, so she tries everything she can to soothe it. She runs her hands through his hair. She tucks him under her chin and hums every Top 30s pop song she can think of. Probably really badly, but it seems to do something.
They've been sitting there long enough for Julie's legs to go numb under Percy's weight by the time he falls asleep against her shoulder. She doesn't dare wake him up, not even to move him to the bed. Instead, she steals Riptide from Percy's pocket and uses the reach of the blade to flick off the light switch.
The sword almost seems to hum in her hand when she recaps it and replaces it in the pocket of his sweatpants. Percy's asleep, so she doesn't feel too ridiculous whispering a quiet 'thank you' to the weapon before settling in for a night's sleep on the floor.