Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the late update this week! We got some of the aftermath of Hurricane Helene which was hell on both our power and my chronic illness. But according to AO3, we are officially going to reach 400k words with this chapter, so hooray! Ngl tho, that kind of (and by that, I mean really) boggles my mind. Especially since we are undoubtedly going to reach 500k words before the end of this story...
Something I'd like to note on for this chapter: Aphrodite makes a comment that I vehemently do not agree with. I included it because I think it is true to her character in PJO, but that's not the same as approval. So, yeah.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Until the next chapter,
~TGWSI/Selene Borealis
~The Finding Home Saga~
~Finding Home~
~Chapter 109: More Dreams That Aren't Dreams~
I didn't sleep for very long.
Only, like, an hour later at best, so sometime around four in the morning, I was stirred awake not by the sound of Luke Jr. and/or Rose crying, but a faint, bluish light in front of my eyelids. So, I opened my eyes.
I wasn't sure I could believe what I saw.
"Luke?" I breathed.
He was standing right next to my bed, in front of the bassinet that was holding our son. His hand was hovering just over his little t-shirt, which was light blue and read something like FUTURE TROUBLEMAKER; it'd been a gift from Travis and Connor. He had a diaper on underneath it, of course.
Luke was the source of the bluish light, he looked to be made of it, which made me sure of two things: 1) it was really him, and 2) as much as I wanted him to be, he wasn't really here. Physically, I mean.
"They're beautiful," he murmured.
I moved to sit up, wincing as I did. Everything below my waist felt like I'd been run over by a truck, between giving birth and clenching the muscles in my legs while going through contractions. "I – I don't understand," I said. "How – ?"
"A gift from Rhea. She found me, and told me that you were in labor. She said she couldn't – you wouldn't be able to see me as long as other people besides our children were in the room. But I've been here, the whole time," he said. He grinned crookedly. "Hi, Percy."
"H – hi, Luke," I choked out, quelling the urge to give a surprised laugh. "So you saw – ?"
"I saw everything," he confirmed.
Tears fell down my face. I sniffled. "I wanted you here. I wanted you so bad. Things weren't – it wasn't supposed to be like this."
He reached out to cup my cheek. Since he was a hologram, or something, I couldn't really feel his touch, just the warmth of the light. But that, I supposed, would have to be enough. "I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you."
Some anger brewed within me. "Then why didn't you?"
"Because I was scared of how you would react, of what I would do based off of your reaction." He said it so casually, so honestly. He shoved his hands into his pockets – he was wearing some sort of t-shirt, jeans. Clothes that were his style, not Kronos'. "I told you that Kronos forced me to make promises that I would have to keep."
I hiccoughed. "I thought that meant he made you his champion or something!"
"He did. I am, technically, the champion of Kronos. He just wanted a lot more than Demeter has wanted from you – so far," he said. He made an interesting face. "Rhea, too."
I wasn't surprised that she'd apparently told him about that. It tracked, what with how she'd done this for us.
Shakily, I brushed my tears away as best as I could. "What are we going to do, Luke?" I asked. "Our kids and I need you, now more than ever. But...I don't know how I'm going to be able to save you. Even my dad didn't know, when I asked him."
"I don't exactly know how, either. I tried to find a way out of this that wasn't just going to Alaska before the true point of no return happened; like I told you, though, I wasn't successful." He glanced back down at our kids. "But I don't want to talk about that right now."
"What? No. We need to talk about it, because – "
"No, we don't."
" – If we don't, I don't know when I'm ever going to see you again," I said over him anyways.
"I'm still in here, Percy." He pointed at his skull, then tapped it a couple times. "I swear to you, I am. Yes, I'm hidden deep, but I'm sure you can find me, bring me out once you've gotten things covered. You did it once before."
"When I called your name."
"Yeah. I have faith in you; I'm sure our kids do, too." He laughed bittersweetly. "I never could have imagined meeting them before they were already born like that."
"Well, to be fair, you didn't know that Rose was going to be a legacy of Kronos until then."
"True. Listen, Percy...I need you to promise me something."
I scowled. "If you're about to try and make me make some stupid promise, like you did with Ethan and Mia – "
"You know about Mia's promise?" He frowned. "Wait, never mind. This is more important. I – " Abruptly, he cut off, groaning.
I sat bolt upright. "Luke!"
My shout had our babies stirring, too. They began to mewl.
"I'm okay," Luke gasped. But his form was flickering, in and out. He put a hand on my bed to steady himself. "I guess – I'm out of time. Rhea said I would only have so long."
While I knew I should say something to that, no sound left my mouth.
He re-steadied himself, then cupped both of my cheeks, this time, with his hands. "I love you, Percy. Never forget that."
This, I could say something to: "I won't. I love you, too."
He smirked, despite the pain he was in. "I know."
Luke pulled me into a kiss. Like his hands, I couldn't feel his touch like I usually could, but it was tender and beautiful. I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, he was gone, leaving me alone with our kids.
After feeding Luke Jr. and Rose, I fell back asleep, and I didn't wake up again until after seven. Once I did, I laid there for a few moments, staring up at my ceiling. A part of my brain doubted that that conversation with Luke had truly happened; it was trying to make me think that it had been nothing more than a dream, like the regular ones that regular people got.
Either way, my attention was diverted rather quickly. The twins wanted to be fed again, it seemed, and my mom knocked at my door and came in with my own breakfast: a bowl of yoghurt and fruit, something light in case, from what I presumed was my mom's perspective, I wasn't ready for anything more.
"How are you feeling?" she asked me.
"Tired," I said. I debated on telling her about my conversation with Luke, biting the inside of my cheek. "Man, and I thought I was a bottomless pit as a kid."
"It'll get better," my mom said. Her expression was incredibly soft. She folded her hands in her lap. "There's no rush, you can take things at your own time, but I think your friends would like to see you, and Callie is wondering about when she can come over. I think Bianca said Will will also be coming over some time this afternoon."
Callie and her mortal dad had been visiting some of his family in upstate New York yesterday; that's why she hadn't been around.
"Silena and Katie can come in," I said. "But only them for now. And after that, I need a shower. Like, absolutely need it." I didn't have the strong desire to take a bath yet; my insides still felt too rubbed raw for that.
My mom smiled. "Of course."
Silena gushed over Luke Jr., as I'd given her him to hold upon the twins finishing nursing. She held him like a pro, even though I was almost certain this was her first time holding a baby, a spit-up blanket thrown over her shoulder to prevent any potential mess from getting on her clothes. She was prepared; that was for sure.
"Oh, you and your sister are the sweetest things I've ever seen," she cooed. "Yes, you are."
"It's crazy to think that I already know what they're going to look like when they get older," Katie mused. She glanced over at me with a smirk. "Not that I couldn't already have a good idea."
"Yeah, yeah," I said.
The twins had their first poops, the meconium, as soon as Silena and Katie left, and probably went to go tell everybody how cute the babies were, and so I had to change their diapers for the first time. My mom surveyed my work, but didn't step in or anything. "Good job," she told me when I was done.
I grinned at her. "Well, I learned from the best."
She'd made me practice on so many dolls before and after my most recent quest, I was pretty sure I could do them in my sleep.
My mom watched over the babies as I took my shower. There was gunk coming out of me; I tried not to think about that. I let the water run down my skin as I lathered my hair with shampoo, then worked on the rest of my body as I waited before I put in my conditioner. I made sure to scrub myself clean; just thinking about all the sweat and grime I'd accumulated since my last shower was gross.
I dried myself off with a combination of my powers and a towel, and put on the fresh clothes I'd taken in with me. Then, I opened the door to my bedroom –
– And just about had a heart attack.
I got over it quickly, though, at least as much I was able to.
"Lord Hermes," I said.
"Percy," he returned. He was holding Rose, smiling as he looked down at her.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"It's time, I guess?"
"For the Olympian Council meeting to decide your and your children's fates?" he said. "Yes."
I suspect that Hermes took extra care in teleporting me and my kids to just outside the building that housed the throne room on Mount Olympus, because it didn't feel nearly as bad as it usually did.
Still, I swayed a little on my feet, which wasn't exactly a good thing, with how I was holding both of my children in my arms. "Whoa."
"Careful," Hermes spoke, steadying me.
It was hard for me to look at him. He had the same sandy blonde hair as Luke, the same glacier blue eyes. As always, the only difference between him and his son was Luke's scar.
"You know," he began without any other preamble, not opening the doors for us to go inside just yet. "I have never truly thanked you, have I?"
I stared at him. "Well...I think you thanked me once before, for not giving up on Luke."
He smiled. "Yes, I did, didn't I? But that was a while ago."
"It was only last year."
"Not a while for me, but a while for you," he agreed. "Anyways, though, I must thank you for more than that. You've made Luke happy, in a way that I don't think anyone else has ever really been able to, including me and his mother. You've given him true and honest hope. Even now, as he's been locked away inside his own mind. And you've given him children, something that my mortal children also don't get to experience often. Luke, my favorite son. My greatest pride."
I startled. It was one thing to hear from my dad that I was one of his favorite children, but this was something else.
"Do not give up your own hope now, Percy," Hermes pressed on. "Everything will turn out fine today, I know it will."
With that, he led me inside.
For the second time, I saw the entire Olympian Council, though Hermes obviously wasn't in his own seat just yet, convened – except now, it was more than just them. Hades was sitting at his throne, off to the side, making it clear that he wasn't a true Olympian, like he should've been when I'd last been here during the winter solstice. Hestia was sitting at the hearth, but she quickly rose and walked towards us.
"Percy Jackson," she greeted me. "You have beautiful children."
I felt my ears tinge pink. It wasn't often that you got complimented by one deity in front of a bunch of other ones, much less ones as important as the Olympians. Not that Hestia wasn't important herself. "Thank you, Lady Hestia."
"Do you mind if I take them?"
I didn't really want to let her, yet I reluctantly transferred them over. She took them over to a spot a bit of a way's from the brazier, where a bassinet wide enough for the both of them was summoned. She placed them inside, and after she stepped away, a faint bubble appeared over the top. I guess it was to ensure that they stayed asleep, because there was undoubtedly going to be some commotion going on.
...Maybe it was also to ensure that I couldn't grab them and make a run for it. Not like I would get very far if I did.
I tried not to think about that, too.
A chair was summoned in the middle of the room as well. It looked like one of those you would sit on in court when you went to testify, with black leather upholstery. Hermes walked me over to it and let me sit down (and man, you would think for gods, the chair would be a lot more comfortable than it was. But maybe it was rather uncomfortable for a reason, like they wanted to punish me in advance or something), before he went to his throne, his body re-sizing as he did.
There was silence for a few, yet long and hard, seconds, the gods looking at me, and me looking at them.
Then, the meeting officially began.
"Percy Jackson, do you understand why we are here?" Zeus thundered.
"Uh, for you to decide on whether to kill me and my children or not," I said.
His nostrils flared. That must've not been a question I was supposed to answer.
"We are here," Zeus said, "because nine months ago, this Council decided to spare your life. Now, however, we are unsure if this was the best decision. Under our noses, you have engaged in an affair with Luke Castellan – "
I thought to myself that this wasn't the wisest choice of words for him to make, since he'd engaged in who knew how many affairs under Hera's and his other wives' noses since he'd gotten married to them. But I didn't say it out loud, keeping my mouth shut.
" – The traitor of Olympus, whose body Kronos has now taken over," Zeus continued. "We have no way of knowing what things you may have said to him, what secrets you may have revealed, purposefully or not. And not only have you engaged in an affair with him, but you have now had his children. One of whom, through your own lineage, is a legacy of Kronos. This has led to concerns that, even if you can prove that you do wholly intend to not betray us, you could still be used by Kronos to overthrow us in the end."
Athena nodded in agreement; she was the only one who did, although some of the others looked prone to agree, too. I wasn't surprised by it, but boy did it sting; she must've been one of the ones urging this meeting on, regardless of how I'd agreed to go on her daughter's quest despite not really wanting to.
"What do you have to say for yourself, demigod?" Zeus questioned.
I shifted in my seat. "I'm...not really sure what I can say."
"You have no defense?" Athena asked.
"No, it's just my defense hasn't changed all that much from the last time," I said. "'Controlling the prophecies never works,' and – "
"We are no longer basing this decision on things that you might do; we have to consider the things you have already done," Hera interjected, her dark brown eyes cold. "You have put our family at risk."
I stared at her. Hephaestus had been right, I realized; she really did only care about her perfect family, or at least what parts of it she thought were perfect. She didn't really care about me, or Thalia, or Callie and the di Angelo's, since we were proof of our fathers having cheated and broken their promise, in Poseidon's and Zeus' cases, of not having any more mortal children. She didn't really care about Luke, or the reasons why he had betrayed the gods. She didn't really care about Hephaestus, her own son, either.
Pardon my French, but I saw her for what she was now: a bitch.
"But I still don't see how what I've done should mean that I or my children should lose our lives," I protested. "Yes, I've been in a relationship with Luke when I maybe shouldn't have been, and I've had his children. But I love him. For a while, I thought that I could even get him to come back over to our side eventually, because I know he loves me, too..."
"A most worthy cause," Aphrodite encouraged me with a wide beam.
"Thank you. I was willing to do whatever I could to save him, and I still am. I know Kronos has taken over his body...but if I can save him, I will. And I know that's not why we're really here," I said hurriedly, when it looked like a few of the Olympians were ready to scold me for it or whatever, "but I just want to say it, because I think it's...relevant, or whatever. I haven't changed my mind about fighting for you, and I'm not going to."
"Would you be willing to kill Luke Castellan, if that's what it took for us to win?" Athena demanded.
I froze.
Aphrodite scowled. "That's cruel, Athena."
"It speaks to his state of mind," the Goddess of Wisdom retorted. "If he knows he cannot kill him, can we really trust him?"
"He just gave birth to Luke's children – the actual way, you know," Aphrodite said. She lifted her chin, to make it look like she was turning up her nose. "The way that you don't have any experience with. The hormones – "
"They are not a viable excuse."
"Oh, you would say that, wouldn't – "
"Aphrodite, Athena," Zeus rumbled.
They both settled down.
"We're focusing on him here, but what about the brats?" Ares said then, a vicious sneer on his face. "One of them is a legacy of Kronos, and their real daddy betrayed Olympus. How do we know that they won't do the same?"
"I'll raise them not to," I answered simply. I wasn't going to mention how I'd already met future versions of my kids, so I knew that I would, unless they brought it up, since it didn't seem like Zeus or most of the others knew about that.
Ares laughed. "You really think that's good enough? There is such a thing as 'nature vs. nurture,' you know."
"Perhaps we should go ahead and put this to a vote," Apollo said. "I don't foresee anybody's minds changing based off of his testimonial, and it is pretty cruel to be putting him through this so soon after giving birth."
"I second that," milady, Demeter, said quickly. She gave me a warm smile, which might as well have been a hug from the way it warmed up my heart.
"And I third it," my dad followed up. His voice was firm, yet when he saw that I was looking at him, he gave me a wink.
"Very well," Zeus grumbled. "We will put it to a verbal vote, this time. I vote 'yes' to the matter of killing Percy Jackson and his children."
I flinched at the way that he said it, how nonchalantly it was. Again, the cruelty was the point, I was sure. Tears came to my eyes.
Gods, it was like I was living out one of my worst nightmares.
"I do not usually condone the murdering of children," Hera said, her voice sickeningly-sweet. I could almost guarantee that was a lie. "But this time, I believe that the risk of us being wrong is not worth it. So I, too, vote 'yes.'"
"I vote 'no,'" my dad said flatly. "I will not allow my son or my grandchildren to be killed."
"I also vote 'no,'" Demeter spoke. "Percy is my champion. He did not truthfully do this without us being aware; I knew of it. I did not condone it, but he is his own person. He has the right to make his own decisions."
Ares grinned wickedly. "I vote 'yes.' I abstained the last time, but it was only because I didn't think the punk gave us enough reason to do it yet. He has now."
"My vote is 'yes,' as well," Athena said. She did not elaborate further.
Zeus looked so pleased with their answers, that the current vote was going in his favor.
"I vote 'no,'" Apollo said. "Sure, Percy is in a relationship with Luke, and that's bad. But he's never done anything else to betray us, and he has a good heart. I trust him to make the right decision, and I know with him as their mother, his kids will, too."
"My vote is 'no,'" Artemis went. She gave the same reasons as she had to me last night, though not quite verbatim.
"I abstain," Hephaestus uttered. "I refuse to vote on this matter."
Everybody kind of looked at him in shock; it wasn't just me.
Aphrodite straightened in her seat. "I vote 'no.' I've known about Luke and Percy for a while, too. But that has not stopped my faith in him. More importantly, I won't be the one to stop such a grand and beautiful love story."
Ares rolled his eyes.
"I vote 'no,' too," Hermes said. "These are not just Poseidon's grandchildren; they are mine, too. I will not destroy them."
My breath caught in my throat. My heart was hammering inside my chest.
They were six versus four. With Hephaestus' abstention, even if Dionysus voted "yes..."
"Oh, is it my turn?" Dionysus asked sarcastically upon everyone looking at him. He glanced down at me, his expression impassive. "Well, I guess I vote 'no.'"
I couldn't believe it.
I really couldn't believe it.
"'You guess?'" Zeus growled.
"You have not seen the way the other demigods act around him, Father," Dionysus responded. "Yes, many of them are currently angry with him. But anger is fleeting. He has their respect; ultimately, they know he is for them, and for us, through and through. If you try to kill Peter Johnson and his children, we may just have a true mutiny on our hands – and his friends will be leading it."
"Percy Jackson," Poseidon corrected him.
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
Zeus' face colored gold. He gripped his thunderbolt in his hand, and my fear skyrocketed. "Hades," he said. "How do you vote?"
The second-eldest son of Kronos and Rhea raised an eyebrow. "You're asking me my opinion? I thought I was supposed to be only a silent, impartial observer."
Zeus gritted his teeth. "Yes."
"Well, I also vote 'no,'" Hades told him. "He took my children from the Lotus Hotel & Casino without my consent, but since then, because of him, Bianca and Nico have been accepted into the camp. They have lived far better lives than I ever thought they would there."
"Hestia?"
The Goddess of the Hearth's eyes were sad. "Do you really need to ask, brother?"
Zeus got to his feet. "Do you all not see the danger here?" he roared. He pointed his thunderbolt at me – and I don't think it was necessarily intentional, but I still found myself recoiling in horror. One strike from that thing, and I wouldn't just be dead; my body would be a pile of ash. "Do you not realize what will happen to us if we allow him to live?"
"Brother," my dad warned.
"We have voted," Demeter said. "The matter is decided."
The King of the Gods whirled around to face her. His form was beginning to glow; he was well and truly angry. I covered my eyes as I stood up, knowing that if I looked at him, again, I'd be turned into a pile of ash. Such had been the fate of Semele, Dionysus' mother. I got ready to run over to my kids, even with my eyes closed, because I wasn't going to let them be turned into ash either, I absolutely wasn't.
Then, I heard a sound of air come from behind me: BOOM!
A rush of air came in.
Bessie the Ophisbous, from where she was in her aquarium, which had been built into the wall of the throne room, though I hadn't taken much note of this before, gave a moo.
"Zeus, what is the meaning of this?"
Rhea.
"Mother?" I heard Zeus ask faintly.
My second patron goddess, the matriarch of the Olympians and the Queen of the Titans, strode into the room purposefully. She was even taller than the gods at fifteen feet, taller than Kronos would've been in his own body. It really put into perspective, how small the gods were. How young they all were, in comparison to her.
It also made me feel even more like this wasn't real. Her arrival at the last minute, only when it became obvious that Zeus wasn't going to listen to the other Olympians, was as we'd planned, but it felt too convenient.
Perhaps I really was dreaming.
"Do not be afraid, Percy Jackson," Rhea said, smiling down at me. Her smile was gone in an instant as she focused back on Zeus. She crossed her arms, looking every bit like the angry mother she was. "I am disappointed in you, Zeus. As Demeter has said, you all have voted in this matter. Just because the vote did not go the way you wanted, it doesn't give you the right to throw it away."
Zeus looked like he was about to crap his pants. "You – you heard that?"
"I have heard much of this meeting," she replied. "And I am disappointed in you as well, Hera, Ares, and Athena, although I suppose I should not have expected better."
Hera's face became stricken. "Mother – "
Ares and Athena weren't much better off; still, it probably had to be different for them, being scolded by our grandmother rather than his mother or...Zeus? Metis wasn't around anymore; maybe Hestia was a better comparison for Athena, since she was our aunt and another virgin goddess.
Rhea raised a hand. "I will deal with you later. Zeus, I know you do not want to be like your father. He became a tyrant; he did not listen to me, or our siblings, or anyone else towards the end, until you and your siblings overthrew him."
"Holy shit," I was pretty sure I heard Apollo mutter under his breath.
Zeus spluttered. "This does not make me – !"
"I am not sure the other Olympians would agree with you," Rhea spoke calmly. "Regardless, there are more reasons to prevent you from going down this path. Percy here is not only the Champion of Demeter; he has also become mine."
Athena's stormy grey eyes widened. It seemed she'd been taken off-guard for once. "What?"
All of the other Olympians, sans Demeter and my dad but plus Hades and Hestia, were similarly shocked. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, Percy?" Aphrodite giggled.
"If you hurt him, and his children, you will hurt me. And you do not want to hurt your own mother, do you?" Rhea questioned rhetorically. "Moreover, I was once the protector of the Oracle of Dodona, not you. She told me certain things. Do you want to know what she told me – yes, from all those millennia ago – will happen if you continue down this path?"
Silence.
The other Olympians, and Hades and Hestia, were staring at Zeus. His face was so gold, I thought it was only because he was a god that his head didn't combust.
"Very well," Zeus managed to get out. "The matter has been decided. With seven votes to four, and one abstention, Percy Jackson and his children will be allowed to live. The Council is now dismissed."
Word Count: 4,722
Next Chapter Title: Jig Of Life Pt. 4
