Summary: Perseus, Heir of Poseidon and Amphitrite. God of the Northern Seas, of Frozen Waters, of the Tides and of Currents. Commander of the armies of Atlantis and next in line for the throne. After thousands of years the turn of the Age approaches, and the Fifth Age comes to a close. Nothing is certain, and waging war against Olympus is never something to be done lightly – even for a God.
A brief note ahead of the story:
This is going to be my second PJO fic, and is going to be a secondary project alongside Astraeus, which is still my main focus if you're familiar with it. Legacy is currently on hold. This was chosen by popular vote within my discord server after I'd posted some rough drafts for various story ideas. People expressed interest in another version of a God Percy story, this time as a sea deity.
This will not be the same – in plot or in other ways – as Astraeus, and instead will be a completely separate work. Do not expect thing which are true in that story to remain true here.
It's obvious that this will be an AU and will have very ooc characters. I don't follow canon material unless it suits me to do so, and I won't apologize for it. Anyone who has an issue with it – I wish you the best, but my writing probably isn't for you, and that's okay.
discord. gg/Z7udeJpDBt (Remove Space)
A link to the discord, Astraeus, for those of you who may find yourselves interested. We have an active community and regular conversations about all types of fanfiction and other media, as well as a recommendations channel for some good or great reads. I also do Q&A and general discussion about my work, and you can sign up for alerts to update you when new chapters are posted. Hope to see you there.
Preface
Immortality.
A strange and unfathomable concept to the mortal mind, and yet it's all we gods have ever known. Time only has what meaning we allow it to have, and its mark never touches us, but instead affects the ephemeral mortal world around us. Short-lived souls who struggle and claw to create some type of meaning before their end finds them and hope to leave some piece of themselves behind so that, at least for a little while, their names aren't forgotten.
There is a distinct beauty in their struggle, and in their courage to keep walking forward even knowing for certain that each step leads them closer to death. It's something that's difficult for me and those like me to wrap our thoughts around. To know that you won't even see the next century, or perhaps the next decade...or the next sunrise. Though I couldn't say for certain, I imagine that it makes their perception of the world completely different than our own, where reality and nature bend to our will and we want for nothing. Well, nearly nothing.
For years beyond count – since the very first generation of mortals were born to the world – they've captured our fascination and no small amount of awe. They look up to us for our strength and our power and they call us their Gods, and yet even that word meant nothing until they engraved their own meaning upon it. God was a title we chose, for certain, but it didn't really mean anything except that we were slightly different than our precursors. Only the mortals gave weight to the title we bestowed upon ourselves, and whispered from their mouths in worship it became something great.
Our existence is meant to be separate from theirs in the same way that they separate themselves from the insects and other innocuous things which crawl through the underbrush of the world, and yet always we find ourselves drawn to them. The light within their souls shines all the brighter for its transience, and though they likely don't understand it, they often pull us in as the brightness within them flares with the essence of life itself.
Some of us find only pleasure in their flesh and in carnal desire, while others...we find ourselves unable to stop from actually loving them, and all the more for their brief impacts on our eternity. We gods are, for the most part, predictable, and so when we stand beside a mortal lover and see the world from their lens it is truly something special, something epic and exciting. I've lived for more than ten-thousand years, though that's an estimation as we only really began counting them when the dying began, and in all that time I've come to love and live alongside many of them as much as our rules will allow.
Beautiful, shining souls who bring a spark of excitement and life to an otherwise unchanging and endless journey. Each of them are unique, and it's the smallest things which seem to catch my attention. The quiet joy of a life well-lived, the courage of a weak body housing an unbreakable spirit, and especially the blinding and endless light which they give birth to as a combination of my own divinity and their inexorable hope for a bright future.
Yes, I've loved many of them, and the children they've gifted me have become a beacon through which my strength and the regard I hold for their mothers can make it's way into the world. In my children who are a part of myself, I give something back which I hope to be equal to what they've given me.
It isn't something my wife has ever thanked me for, certainly, and yet by my very nature I'm drawn to them. Even though she and I have a connection that runs even deeper than the pull I feel to the mortals, and even though she gifted me the most beautiful daughter in Sais I could have ever asked for, still I feel pulled astray.
The most recent was a stunning, intelligent woman who hailed from a Native background. Kaiah, a woman with dark skin and even darker hair, and yet the light that shone within her was like a beacon upon the shore, a lighthouse even. It called to me, and despite the knowledge that it was a betrayal to my wife of so very many years, I loved her anyway.
It is said, however, that love and tragedy walk with clasped hands, and my regard for the human lovers I've taken over the years has echoed the truth of that turn of phrase.
You see...there are rules. Rules that we must follow in order to stop the havoc which would be unleashed should we find ourselves too immersed in the mortal world. Carelessness and pride are dangerous weapons, and both are fully capable of destroying the fragile life which rests within humanity. The forces of nature are best kept at a distance, and so while we are drawn to them, we can never stay. The tragedy of our parting, often leaving behind young children and empty promises creates a wreckage all on its own.
We've tried, before, to stay at least for the duration of their mortal lives. It only leads to misery for those we wish to surround ourselves with. A bad day for a human doesn't have much impact on the world, and yet a bad day for a god could see a city burned to ash. It isn't wise to stay so near them, especially not when they're capable of bringing out passionate responses from us such as love and, of course, jealousy.
Khione...she's never understood the captivation I have for them, not completely. By the time she was born the mortal world was already expanding rapidly, and I'd already found several human women whom I'd loved and lost. I'd tried, for her sake, to stop interfering with the mortals. My wife more than deserved a loyal and faithful husband, and she hated more than anything that the male gods seemed to have their way as they pleased. Hundreds, and perhaps even thousands of stories were whispered about similar circumstances to Khione's conception, and the brutality of it.
Some gods weren't willing to believe that they should be denied.
Khione wasn't born a goddess, and instead only became one upon our marriage when I allowed her to take from my energy and ascend. Originally she was a nymph born from Boreas and a mortal woman named Orithyia whom he refused to turn aside from, whether she wished it or not. After Khione was born, he'd repeatedly forced Orithyia to birth him children, a pair of sons, until finally her mortal life failed her. Perhaps it was her own conception and the brutal treatment Boreas leveled against her mother which caused her to believe as she did.
Some of us aren't so cruel or careless, and many of us never found the need to force our presence on anyone who didn't wish for it. Even so, Khione always hated the fact that I still found myself on occasion drawn to mortal women, and her jealousy and heartache had caused disaster in the past – all of it my own fault.
She'd retaliated, in a sense, and showed me exactly how much seeing a child born between her and another man could ignite such rage and pain within me as well. We'd both been sorry, afterward – she for knowingly dooming an innocent man, and me for what I did to him in my own anger and wrath. In my hypocrisy I destroyed him for daring to touch the wife I both loved and betrayed.
That was long ago now, and I thought perhaps I could stay away from the mortals...and then I met her. Kaiah caught my attention and I was lost. I knew quickly that it couldn't be hidden, for she was with child early in our time together. Soon after, she birthed my daughter Piper, and I love them perhaps just as deeply as I still love Khione and Sais.
Soon after she was born I had to leave, as I'd stretched the boundaries of our rules to their absolute limits. I still visited from time to time, both Piper and her mother, though usually I did so without them having knowledge of it. Each time I made my presence known it only caused more grief when I had to leave again, and so I kept my distance.
However, my very nature was pulling at me once more, and this time I knew I couldn't resist. They were deep within my own realm, both of them on a ship in the northern seas, and so very close I could reach out and touch them. I knew I should stay away, but here in the ocean, perhaps just once more…
Chapter One
In the deep northern reaches of the sea where the Atlantic met the Arctic, dark waters gave way to blinding white ice, and where they met the water was so blue and clear it was nearly mesmerizing. Frozen chunks of sea-ice were scattered endlessly, and eventually they would merge together to form large sheets which could range in thickness as widely as they ranged in size. Only the hardiest of creatures could call this place home, and the ability to swim in the frigid waters was a must, as the terrain could change from ice to water quickly.
Hidden within this frozen landscape, in a large cove which was surrounded by sheer walls of snow and ice, and right next to the water's edge was a palace which looked very out of place. The stairs exiting the mansion led right down to the frigid sea, and it was so very deep that even on days with full sunlight and crystal clear waters the bottom remained out of sight. There was no chimney or smokestack which would indicate heat from inside, and instead thin layers of ice seemed to form on every surface.
Within the walls of the palace the temperature was something beyond the limits of human endurance. Cold was not a strong enough word to describe it, and it was only made worse by the draft which often seemed to rush through the large, open rooms and carry with it flecks of snow or near freezing water. This was not a place of warmth, and yet the masters of this palace found it to be quite to their liking.
On one of the upper floors, Perseus stood near the open window and stared out past the mouth of the cove and into the endless sea before him. He could feel them – both Kaiah and Piper – and though they were many miles away, they'd never been so close. There was a storm surging out there as well, and on the distant horizon he could both see and feel it.
He could taste the sharp sting of electricity, feel the swelling waves and the driving winds. His father and uncle had allowed their feud to get out of hand once more, and while the storms weren't quite reaching him so far north, they were most definitely reaching the large ship which carried his two girls. Piper would be fine, she was born from him and the sea would cradle her gently like the most fragile infant, but her mother had no such protections.
It was enough to set his teeth on edge because it wasn't outside the realm of possibility for his father to take notice of a ship and tear it downward to the sea floor in his tantrum. For someone who was so old, he could be terribly petty in his wrath. To be fair, his wrath was well earned this time, but Perseus felt it should be aimed slightly higher than the mortal world, and to be truthful, Poseidon had also brought it on himself.
They'd made an oath, the three brothers, and Zeus was the first to break it. Thalia Grace was born from his broken honor, and Poseidon and Hades had both attempted to kill her. They'd failed due to interference by Artemis, but Zeus found the attempt insulting enough that the moment Poseidon discarded the already broken oath and impregnated a mortal, Zeus struck her and the unborn child from the world. That he did so right on the beach and at the edge of Poseidon's realm was even worse, and the fact that her body was found floating on the edge of the Atlantic, while Thalia Grace lived beneath the protection of Camp Half-Blood…
Perseus wondered if he'd ever seen his father so furious.
War had been declared for less heinous crimes, and yet while Poseidon fought back slightly, there had been no official declaration. There were storms which ravaged the mortal world, and a lot of shouting and threats, but nothing official.
Now, his lover and their daughter found themselves in actual peril just because his father and uncle vented their anger at the mortal world, rather than each other. After all, Piper may not face any danger from the sea, but she certainly did from Zeus, and he wasn't above striking a ship at sea in order to repay Poseidon for the planes which had dropped from the sky when they flew over Atlantis.
As he thought of them, Perseus closed his eyes and extended his senses to their location. They were in a very bad position, and the mixture of warm and cold water was a dangerous and explosive combination. The waves alone were harsh enough to capsize them, to say nothing of the storm and the wind.
He could feel them, and their essence called out to him like it always had. If only he could just…
Light, bare feet padded behind him, and a pair of slim arms slowly encircled him from behind. Soft, pale skin nearly the color of snow, and deep red fingernails which stood out starkly. He felt her press her face into his back gently, and for a moment he allowed the thoughts of his wife to override the thoughts of his mistress.
"They're still at it, then?" she asked quietly against his back. Her arms snaked upward toward his chest, and he captured one of her hands with his own, bringing it to his lips in an affectionate greeting. For the moment the love he felt for Khione overcame the love he felt for her, and slowly he twisted around to wrap his arms around his wife fully.
"Of course," he answered. Her beauty was, perhaps, without equal in all the world. She was certainly the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, and she'd managed to capture him immediately. Smooth skin and glacial blue eyes which glowed faintly in the low light. Dark red lips and jet black hair which fell like a waterfall past her waist.
More than four-thousand years ago he'd met Khione in the frozen north, and she'd taken a single look at him and fled. It was a reasonable response, as she was a nymph and she'd known the stories of the gods just as well as he did. Instead of chasing her, like many of his relatives were known to do, he'd waited patiently until he saw her again. And again. And again, until she no longer feared him or ran from him
Only once he had her trust had he approached her, and the wait was most certainly worth it. Now, thousands of years later, he still found himself entranced by her. It only made his own guilt cut deeper.
Her arms quickly found their place over his shoulders, and she pulled slightly to bring his face down where she could reach. Kissing his wife was never a hardship, and he complied easily, his own grip on her tightening, and he felt it more than he saw her smile.
"Sais sent a message," she muttered after she'd pulled away just enough to rest her forehead against his. "She's been in Atlantis, and claims that there's been an uproar in the palace."
"Mhm," Perseus muttered. "Triton says the same. I've been to the city, but only to the barracks. I've had the cyclopes running drills just in case. There's no need to watch my father throw a tantrum, not unless he actually plans to declare war officially."
Khione closed her eyes, tilting her head so that she was resting it on his shoulder, her face buried into his neck. From the open window a harsh and frigid wind rushed through, whistling as it passed over them and made its way through the rest of the house. It must've been getting slightly warm for her taste.
As she rested there and he spoke of war, his own thoughts inevitably turned back toward Piper and her mother. Slowly, he rotated them so that he could look over her and outside the window again. They were still there, so very close, and his arms tightened faintly around his wife at the thought.
"This storm is troubling you," she muttered, her voice muffled by his own skin, and her icy breath rushed across his neck and down into his shirt, though it didn't bother him any. "You've been watching it for days, and tonight you haven't taken your eyes away from it for more than a moment. You should be taking me to bed right now, and yet you still stand here and stare into the sea."
There wasn't much he could say to that, and while he hated lying to her, he didn't want to speak the truth either. How could he tell her that, once again, she'd been betrayed? That his focus was split between his love for her, and the proof that he loved someone else as well? His daughter was like a beacon out on the sea, shining with a spark of his own divinity like a lighthouse which called to him.
"How old is the child?" she whispered quietly.
Perseus tensed and began to pull away but she gripped him suddenly, nails stabbing into his shoulder and the back of his neck like needles, and he stilled. Khione held that position for only a moment, before she released her tight hold and brought one hand up to tangle into the back of his hair. Soft lips pressed against his neck, and she brushed her fingertips over his shoulder blade with her free hand.
"How old?" she questioned again.
Closing his eyes, Perseus pulled her tighter against himself. "Thirteen," he whispered truthfully. "A girl, Piper."
Again she pressed her lips to his neck. "Unless you have something to say about the child, don't speak of this anymore," she said. "I don't want to know her mother's name, and I don't want her mentioned in my presence. Ever. If you speak her name to me, her life is forfeit. I'll freeze the blood inside her veins, and I'll place her sculpture in my father's foyer."
"Of course," he whispered in return, confused and slightly off balance. She'd never taken his children well, and she'd certainly never been this calm about it. "You should know, while I don't always hold to my promises, I do love you and I wouldn't show disrespect by speaking of her to you."
The sharp nails were back for just a second, and he shut up again.
"I'm trying," she said, and he could feel how tense her body was. "I'm trying to be understanding. I spoke with your mother several years ago. The last time. She claims that many of you...that it's outside your direct control. I don't believe that, not completely, but...you love me. I do believe that. And so I'm trying."
Perseus moved, bringing his hand upward so that he could tilt her face where he could see it. "What do you want me to say, or to do?" he asked seriously. "Just tell me, and it's yours."
What she was offering him was a salvation and a sense of forgiveness he didn't deserve, and they both knew it. Perseus had no idea what she and his mother would have spoken about, but it was true that Amphitrite was more understanding about Poseidon's mortal children, though she tended to avoid speaking of them openly. There was an embarrassment and a humiliation associated with knowing that your partner of so many years had looked elsewhere, as if you weren't good enough. Perseus had felt it himself, and the guilt he felt for inflicting that feeling on his wife again was enormous, even if his own guilt could never fix what he'd done.
She showed him a shaky smile, though it wasn't fully formed. "She's out there, isn't she? In the storm? I can feel her. She feels just like you."
His jaw clenched, and he nodded. "They're endangering her with their feud, and I don't appreciate it. I just...if something happens, I want to be there as soon as possible. So I've been watching." He wasn't going to mention the fact that he was watching over both of them. She probably knew already, and even if she didn't he could at least honor her wish. He'd never speak of Piper's mother in her presence. Though he still loved the mortal woman, he would pretend as if she didn't even exist to his wife.
"Who else knows about her?" she asked.
He heard what she didn't want to say. Who else knew about her humiliation? About the fact that he'd broken another promise.
"Zeus," he answered honestly. "I...I asked him for an exception. Not for...only for Piper, so that I could see her and know her. He denied me immediately."
"You told Zeus?" she asked, her lip curled slightly. "He's an animal and everyone knows it. What he's done to your father's lover was only the most minuscule of his crimes. A barbaric and cruel creature who lives only to hold himself above the rest of us."
"I know," Perseus agreed, and found himself glad that their home was protected by its very nature. Zeus could no more look upon them than he could watch the goings-on in Atlantis or the Underworld. It wasn't much, but their home was theirs and the Ancient Laws protected their sovereignty. "But I couldn't risk him finding out on his own and assuming I'd broken his laws."
"You mean we minor gods who might dare to have something he doesn't command or control?" Khione asked rhetorically. "There's no such thing as a minor god, only his need to place himself and his children on a pedestal from which they can look downward and sneer. By his own definition, Hades is a minor god. They pretend as if the throne room they sit within makes them something more than we are."
"I know, love," he repeated, resting his forehead against hers again in an attempt to calm her. She wasn't the only one who felt that way, and in fact it was a much more common sentiment than the Olympians could possibly imagine. "I know. Their seats give them authority, but not power. It's something they should remind themselves of. However, Zeus does have power and authority in endless supply, and so I must bend the knee."
"For now," she said softly, staring directly into his eyes.
"For now," he agreed.
Already word was spreading about the potential for a war between Zeus and Poseidon, and many eyes from the divine world were taking notice. Those who'd been crushed beneath the weight of another tyrant king, many of them having felt the boot of the Crooked One and found that the foot of Zeus was not so very different. He was most certainly his father's heir.
Should war break out the sea wouldn't stand alone, though many were hesitant to believe that Poseidon would be any better. He and Zeus were quite similar, and both of them had been known to be brutal and greedy, taking whatever they pleased as the years faded by. Poseidon had mellowed some since the ancient days, but nobody had forgotten that he'd been known more than once to savagely rape a priestess in the temple of her own patron.
The differing levels of brutality and insult in an act like that were truly foul, and the sheer disrespect it showed for both the woman and her chosen deity were difficult to swallow.
People could say what they wished about the three brothers, but from a moral standpoint Hades was by far the best of them as far as Perseus was concerned. It was no wonder, then, that he was cast from Olympus – he would likely never stand for the way that Zeus ruled. His sense of justice was ironclad, and as the one who was tasked with weighing a soul, inspecting both the good and the bad, his nature was one of balance and fairness.
The keeper of the dead was by far the more honorable of the three, and the least likely to cause chaos and destruction within the mortal world. Perhaps his image was tainted by the circumstances of his marriage, but modern humans only viewed history in that light because they no longer agreed with the practices of antiquity – a fair decision. However in ancient Greece, once a bride had been asked for by the man, and her father agreed, he could take her as he wished. Barbaric and outdated, certainly, but within the rules of the era it was performed in.
Perseus had long hoped for a sign...a sign which would indicate that Hades might make his own move for the throne. He likely didn't realize it, but much of the divine world would lurch to his banner immediately and he would have all the support he could ever wish for to take the crown. The views of the mortals – who saw the gods as myths and Hades as the boogeyman – did not reflect his image among his own kind.
Instead, Hades avoided the mortal world mostly, as well as the divine. He seemed to hold little interest in ruling, and so over the centuries the hope had dwindled to nothing. Now, it looked as if they would be forced to rely on Poseidon – the only other god who could truly match Zeus – if they wished for relief from their king's oppression. Perseus had little hope that his father would follow through.
Drawing him from his thoughts, Khione tangled both of her hands into the back of his hair, and suddenly her blue and silver gown shimmered until she was wearing nearly nothing at all. "Take me to bed," she whispered. "And afterwards...go and see the girl to ease your mind. Just don't stay...please…"
She didn't have to ask. The attraction he carried for his mortal lovers was one he found himself unable to cast aside fully, but if she could find it within her to be understanding in this situation which ultimately warranted the opposite, then he could at the very least not slip from her bed into another woman's. Just seeing his daughter would be enough.
Miles off the coast of Newfoundland where the North Atlantic meets the Labrador Sea the world was seemingly tearing itself apart. Lightning split the skies nearly without end and massive waves that could easily swallow buildings swelled from seemingly nowhere. It was almost as if the sky and sea were locked in a furious battle, each of them attempting to consume the other. Rain enough to cause a natural disaster on its own pounded into the ocean with abandon and the temperature plummeted far lower than was normal for the month of May.
In the midst of it all a large research vessel seemed to ride out the storm on a razor's edge, the RV Thomas G. Thompson. It was a rare sight to see this specific vessel so far from its home port in Seattle, but with the sudden and unexplained turn the weather had taken since mid-December it was decided that data had to be obtained and recorded. The Labrador Current was moving abnormally, and where it met with the Gulf Stream the mixture of cold and warm water was wreaking havoc on the climate.
The vessel was filled to capacity, plus one, and while it was getting late in the evening the conditions made it so that the crew who operated the ship were hard at work to keep them afloat. The scientists were also doing what they were there for and many were excited and a little terrified at the readings their equipment was showing. Their expedition was under the authority of Dr. Kaiah McLean, a field Oceanographer that reported to the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. She was, at 41, one of America's leading scientists in the study of Circulation and Climate, and explaining how the differing currents and movements of the sea had major effects on weather patterns across the globe.
Currently closed in her quarters and studying the reports over the last several weeks, as opposed to the ones they were receiving by the hour during the storm, the woman couldn't seem to wrap her head around the data. It didn't make sense, and currents which had been behaving a certain way for so long didn't just change so suddenly.
Kaiah's jaw flexed in aggravation as the ship lurched to one side suddenly and sent her coffee tumbling over once again. She decided in a moment of petulance to ignore it completely. Behind her on the bunk her daughter slept peacefully despite the violent movements of the ship and the sea it was sailing on.
It wasn't a surprise, really. Piper was never more comfortable or at ease than she was out at sea, and the further north they'd sailed, the more noticeable it became. It was in her nature, Kaiah knew, and it was for that reason that she'd fought the Captain tooth and nail to allow her aboard. He'd refused, at first, as they all knew they'd be sailing dangerous waters. However, after signing waivers and very nearly refusing the voyage, she finally had her way.
They couldn't possibly know that Piper was safe whether the rest of the crew was or not, and her presence alone granted them all a security net that they couldn't even fathom. These waters were her birthright, in a way.
From what she knew her time with her daughter was short, and soon she would enter the world of her heritage, at least partially. She was home-schooled anyway due to the nature of Kaiah's career, and so her studies wouldn't be affected, and maybe it was a fool's hope but…
She began to return her attention to the reports she'd been focused on, but she'd no more looked at them when something about the world was just...different. It was as if the air was rushing from the room suddenly, and all at once the heaving motions of the ship lurched to a stop. Everything was level again, perfectly calm, and Kaiah felt as if she might be sick.
The lights dimmed, flickered, and the next moment she and Piper weren't alone in her quarters. A fool's hope indeed.
Seated across from her was a handsome man that didn't appear older than his early thirties. Black hair and eyes as green as the sea, with a well trimmed beard that lined his strong jaw. His shoulders were broad and though he was sitting Kaiah knew his waist was narrow, his entire body rippling with dense muscle. He wore clothes that were familiar to her – a deep blue long sleeved t-shirt hiding most of his tanned skin and a pair of faded jeans, brown leather boots peeking out from underneath them. Exactly what he wore the last time he'd visited.
"Kaiah," he said. The man spoke her name as a greeting, a small smile twitching at his lips as he looked upon her. It was as if his very presence had halted the motions of the sea, and while in any other circumstance that would be ridiculous, she knew she was correct.
"Perseus," she said, her voice barely seeming to escape her despite her best effort. He smiled at the sound of it, running a hand through his hair and allowing some of the tension to drain from his shoulders. He appeared stressed, she noticed, and the sound of her voice seemed to change something in the set of his shoulders.
"I've missed you," he admitted, his eyes locking with hers. "I listen to you, you know. When you speak to me at night. It's not the same, but…"
His voice trailed off, his eyes turning from her own to spy the bundled, sleeping form of their daughter behind her. Meanwhile, she was glad for the brief pause in their conversation, because she felt as if her throat was closing. Heat stung at her eyes, and she wondered for a moment why she'd wished for him to come. Gods, she felt stupid. She was a grown woman, in her early forties and with a career that should've been enough. She had everything she'd ever dreamed of, and even her daughter, their daughter. Why couldn't she seem to shake off the swelling tightness within her heart at the sight of him?
They met early in her career, when she'd only just achieved her masters degree and he took her to a tiny little beach on the northern coast of Maine. They'd spent the days swimming in the sea, the nights laying next to a fire and staring at the stars above. They spoke on everything, and his knowledge of the world's oceans had left her starry-eyed as Perseus mentioned things that he seemed to treat as insignificant but were groundbreaking to her scientific mind. They fell in love, or at least Kaiah did, and at the time she thought he did too. It wasn't long until she found herself alone with an infant daughter.
He'd visit, from time to time, until those infrequent moments seemed to fade altogether and he stopped coming at all.
"I do," Perseus said suddenly, though he was still staring at Piper with an intense expression. "Love you, I mean. You shouldn't ever question that."
She couldn't stop the flinch at his words, and she watched him cringe as he seemed to realize what he'd just said. She told him about that, about reaching into her mind and just taking what he wished. It was obvious he regretted it, though whether he regretted the action or just the fact that he was caught was another question entirely.
"As I've said before," she said firmly, her back straightening as she realized, once again, he wasn't taking her feelings into account. Once again, the great Perseus was just doing whatever he wanted and never-mind the fragile mortal. "You don't just leave someone you claim to love, it isn't that simple."
This wasn't an argument she wanted to have. Despite the fact that she wished it wasn't true, her thoughts betrayed her and she was so happy to see him after so very long. He didn't say anything for a moment, and instead he rose from his seat and walked slowly over to the bunk. He brushed aside the blankets just slightly to reveal a face which was a mixture of theirs – skin darker than his but lighter than hers, and a beauty which she felt would one day outmatch nearly any other girl she could be compared to.
"You're right, it isn't simple," he murmured. "I would've stayed longer if I could. I wanted to be there, watching over the two of you. I went to my uncle, asking for a favor – one that I was sure I'd earned after countless years of service. I just...I just wanted to see her grow up." Perseus shook his head briefly. "He wouldn't be swayed, and in some ways I tipped my hand by asking. After that conversation he decided to keep a closer eye on me to make sure I wasn't disregarding his decision."
"And now?" she asked, trying desperately to wrap her head around the fact that his 'uncle' could only be Zeus, and the realization seemed to tweak something in her brain as it always did when she thought about the impossibility of it all. Somehow she had caught the eyes of a literal god, and that's exactly what her daughter was born from.
"Now he's preoccupied," Perseus answered, gesturing vaguely around with his hand. "He and my father...well, let's just say things are about one step away from being truly out of control."
The storm, the strange weather patterns that were wreaking havoc on the world at large. Planes were going down in the Atlantic and hurricanes were forming far too early and far too often. People were dying, and it had something to do with the gods...what? Arguing? Fighting?
"What's happening out there?" she asked, her hand trembling slightly. He was still focused on Piper but slowly he turned to face her once more.
Perseus looked at her closely for a moment, and just when she thought he wouldn't answer he finally did. "A precursor to war. This...as horrible as it all must seem to you, this is just the opening act. If war is truly unleashed between the sky and the sea... well, things will likely get much worse."
She swallowed harshly, unsure exactly what to say to that. "And...And your part in this?"
This time Perseus held his silence for much longer, simply staring at her. After a moment he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, stepping away from the bunk. He paused next to her, and looked as if he were about to reach out with a familiar motion, but his hand paused halfway. After a moment, he shook his head and returned to his seat.
"Long ago I was named Champion of Olympus – a mostly worthless title, just something to placate my father truthfully. I'm the eldest of the second generation of the Olympians, and when Zeus made his council, he wanted it to consist of only his own children. His wife, Hera, rules at his side but aside from her, only my father, Aphrodite and Demeter sit upon the council outside of his own children. Hermes, Athena, the twins Artemis and Apollo, Hephaestus, Ares and Dionysus are all children of Zeus. By rights, I should've had a seat on the council before any of them, and above me, it should've been both Hestia and Hades."
He shrugged slightly. "To be perfectly honest, if my uncle had his way my father would be removed just as Hades and Hestia were, and were that to come to pass both Aphrodite and Demeter would be removed as well. The point of this all is that, to placate my father for slighting me, he named me Champion of Olympus. Because of that I'm occasionally included in council though I do not get a vote, and I often work closely with the other Olympians when needed, though that is quite rare. On the other side of that equation, within my father's court I'm second only to him. I lead the armies of Atlantis in times of war and, in the extremely unlikely event that something should befall my father, I would take his place. Should war come between Poseidon and Zeus, I would stand at the forefront of the Atlantean armies, likely opposite to Ares and Athena."
"Should war come…" she muttered thoughtfully. "And what happens to the rest of the world in that scenario?"
This time his stare was solid, and she knew he wouldn't answer. She didn't really need him to. If this was just the precursor to war, then the actual thing would likely horrify her and she didn't want to know. She was about to ask another question, her mind seemingly full of them, when he began to speak, and his very words felt like they darkened the room.
"The sea is vast and more varied than you can possibly imagine," he started. "Humanity claims to have explored roughly five percent of it, and yet I would bet they haven't even brushed upon half of that number. There are things that you cannot fathom in the deepest trenches, where even my father dares not tread lightly. Should actual war come, then the world will know it immediately. There are several ways in which it could happen, but the most destructive..."
He stood, and paced over to the wall where one of the round portholes showed the inky darkness of the northern sea at night. "We would leave them no safe ground to flee to, no refuge for their weariness. Islands and continents would be swallowed, and all which belongs to the sea would return to it. The horns would sound in the deeps, summoning a tide of ancient things which are always hungry and never satisfied. The sky would find itself alone, hovering above a dark abyss which would swallow the entire surface of the world."
Her hand trembled as his deep voice seemed to paint an actual picture in her mind. Kaiah could see the things he was speaking of – cities swallowed by towering waves, hungering creatures feeding upon everyone and everything as the coastline moved ever inward. There would be no fight and no resistance, for humans had never found a means by which the sea could even be slightly contained should it try to come ashore. The best they'd ever come up with was to flee to higher ground.
Rivers would swell as the water of the oceans forced its way upstream, and dams would shatter under the strain, flooding everything for miles around…
"Olympus would be their only sanctuary, and many of them would fall before they could even retreat that far." he continued in a low, intense voice. "The armies of Ares would be swept aside like driftwood, and life above the waves would be confined to the meager ships which may survive such an event, though should our enemies attempt to take refuge there, they too will be pulled to the sea floor. The sky would be their prison and their tomb."
Perseus finally paused, seeming to collect himself, and turned to look at her. She didn't know exactly what he saw, but she knew her fingers hurt from the white-knuckled grip she held on the edge of the desk in front of her, She was scared, more scared than she'd ever been before in her life, and for the first time she truly understood the destructive nature that the gods could embody.
He tried to smile at her, though it was tinted with sadness as if perhaps he was reading her thoughts again. "This isn't what we want," he said quietly. He was lying. She could see it in his face, and she'd been lied to enough by him in the past that she could recognize it. He did want war, and the tone in which he'd spoken of it…
"And what of the people?" she asked shakily. "What of us? Me and Piper and all the rest?"
"Humanity would survive, and I could protect both of you from the sea," he answered, only it wasn't an answer at all. What was she supposed to take from that? Humanity would survive, but in what capacity? Certainly not in any acceptable form.
They were silent for several moments as if caught up in their own thoughts, and once more he approached the bunk where Piper lay sleeping. She watched as he gently brushed his fingers over her cheek, moving a stray lock of hair to the side and the tender look on his face was so opposite to what she'd just witnessed that she felt a sense of whiplash. How could he talk about a war which would decimate the world in one breath, and look so lovingly upon his daughter in the next?
It wasn't human...and that answered her question on it's own. He wasn't human. Intellectually she'd known it for a fact, and yet she hadn't really understood. To him, the world could simply be remade, and he would continue on eternally. There was a disconnect there which she hadn't ever truly appreciated, or maybe she just didn't want to.
There were myths from Greek history – myths about the Five Ages of Man, which claimed that there were ancient races and people who were simply destroyed and replaced. Their conversation brought to her mind the tale of the Bronze Age, where the humans were said to have become cannibalistic and warlike, and displeased the gods. Then...there came the Deluge, or the Great Flood...and they were...gone.
As that thought crossed her mind, Perseus turned his head slightly and looked at her, and she knew. He'd done it, or perhaps he'd only been part of it, but it was true. The certainty with which he spoke of flooding the world, as if he knew it could be done. It'd been done before. Even beyond the Greek myths and history, nearly all religions had some form of Great Flood which had cleansed the world in ancient times.
"You shouldn't dwell on thoughts of what may never come to pass," he said, and his comment could be taken as a response to his previous remark, or perhaps a direct answer to her thoughts. He was being more careful about his words now.
"Should I be building an ark?" she asked sarcastically.
He smiled, apparently amused. "You should get some sleep," he said.
"And the storm?" she questioned absently.
"It still rages, there isn't anything I can do about that at the moment," he answered wryly. "That's a product of both my father and uncle, and I have no power to command them. Still, we're in my territory and so the ship will rest peacefully tonight. The waves won't bother you, and the storm will at the very least move far enough around you that it won't be noticeable."
"You say that like you aren't staying," she said shrewdly, her heart seeming to sink and shrivel. Despite the heaviness of their conversation, and despite the fact that she was looking at him in an entirely new light, she couldn't just stop feeling.
"I can't allow her to see me, not yet. Piper's old enough now that she might be capable of peering straight through the mist. For minor things it may still be shrouded from her, but a god cannot hide their nature so easily. She'd see me – truly see me – and at that point the mist would no longer protect her at all. She'd be open to the sight of all the divine world, gods and monsters both."
"I'd hoped you were here to finally meet her," she nearly whispered, because she didn't really understand what that meant. Open to their sight, implying that she wasn't at the moment. "She doesn't remember you, not really. The last time she saw you she was so young."
She watched him close his eyes and tilt his head back at her words, and she knew at least that they were hurting him as much as his leaving would hurt her. It wasn't a good feeling, to know that she was causing him pain, even if he'd done the same to her in the past.
"I'd apologize, if I thought for a moment that you would accept it, or that it could fix anything at all," Perseus said in return.
Kaiah wondered what it might be like, to have a daughter like Piper and be unable to even meet her. To watch from a distance as she grew older, and miss all of the most important and beautiful milestones of her childhood. The birthdays and holidays, the first steps and the first time she lost a tooth. The pride as she began to transform from a child to a young teen.
His expression slowly cleared, and his face nearly turned stoic. "I should go," he muttered. "Rest easy, and I'd advise ending your expedition in these waters. Make something up if you have to. It isn't safe, and while I'm able to protect you for now, it won't last."
The abruptness of his statement struck her as odd, for a moment, until she realized he was likely still reading her thoughts. He seemed to hesitate in leaving the side of the bunk, and then he swiftly walked over and brushed a kiss across her forehead. A moment later he was gone in a rush of cold air.
For all she knew, it may be years before she saw him again. She wished he hadn't showed up at all.
Author's Note: Tell me what you think of this. The pairing is a rare one and they are already in a relationship, so the story won't need to focus on how they get together. I will give context and history later, but this is just the beginning.
It's very different to my other work - aside from the God trope - and will have a focus on a godly conflict rather than the same old storylines about Titans/Giants. It will be completely non-canon, as far as the plot is concerned, and will have less of a focus on the demigods and more on the gods themselves.
I feel like there's plenty of room for a war between gods without the need for an ancient and reincarnated enemy. The oppression of Zeus toward the other gods is what caused many of them to turn toward the titans in canon PJO, and that still exists even without them.
Obviously, this is only an intro and a small piece of the whole. More context and depth will be coming in future chapters, and it won't do any good to ask about future events, because I won't answer.
Feel free to leave a review if you want, and I would appreciate if you did. I'm trying something new with this, so I am curious how it comes across. More to come later, though CH 18 of Astraeus will be posted before this story sees an update, as that is still my main focus.