Nothing is mine.

Time for Percy's good deeds to be rewarded, apparently fanon tradition dictates his reward must be an island and a harem, sooo... xD

The Ashes of Our Fathers and the Temples of Our Gods

Zeus sat upon his throne of marble, his hands planted upon its pale stone arms as he leant forward, his bright electric blue eyes sharp and hard.

Imagine, Zoë. Percy clutched the slim pen tight in his pocket and stood where so much blood had spread across the white floor. After doing all those brave things and somehow not dying, I just get obliterated now for saying something stupid. He studied the smooth marble between his toes. I wonder who fixed the floor?

The Gods gazed down; their eyes burnt upon his skin and the phantom handprint between his shoulder blades tingled and stung.

'Percy Jackson,' Zeus said. 'You stand alone upon Olympus once more.'

'I don't feel very alone,' Percy said, tugging his eyes up from where all that red had spilt out to his toes. 'Quite the opposite actually.'

Zeus smiled into his short beard. 'Your companions and friends received the boons they wished for, rightfully earnt by the greatness of their deeds.' He swept a hand at the Gods upon their thrones. 'But none here would dispute that you stand above them.'

'I was only brave,' Percy muttered. 'They were all brave too. And it wasn't even me in the end.'

'None here but you, it would seem,' Zeus said. 'There is a task to perform, should you wish it. A labour, in truth. For millennia, my son, Heracles, had no equals among mortal heroes, but you stand here no less than he ever was. Perhaps, as the Fates determined for him, you too are destined to one day walk these halls as one of us.'

A chance at immortality, Percy. His dad's words rose like a string of silver bubbles from the sea. To become, as Heracles did, so much the embodiment of heroism, that you are worshipped as it.

I wouldn't want to steal his job, dad.

His dad's laughter broke over him like waves upon a shore of pebbles. There are many aspects to heroism, Percy.

'Perhaps a day here upon Olympus to consider it,' Zeus said. 'It is no small choice to make.'

And you have to choose well. Percy squeezed Anaklusmos tight in his pocket. But if I become one of them, there is no choice, right, Zoë? That's how it works. Gods have their nature and mortals have choice. Little cold waves of unease churned in the pit of his stomach. And if you can't choose. You can't choose well. And if I can't choose well. He glanced at where Artemis sat upon her throne of spun silver and amaranth-red stone. I might disappoint.

Zeus leant back upon his throne. 'I am decided,' he announced. 'Go, Percy. Enjoy, for a day, the view from Olympus and think upon the chance you are offered. Unless… there are any on this council who have cause to object?'

Percy glanced around, snatching his gaze away from Athena's sharp, grey eyes. I'm sorry. I thought it was meant to be me.

Aphrodite flashed Percy a coy smile; her midnight dark eyes and hair sent Percy's heart bobbing away over chopping waters, snatching his breath with each short swell and plunge.

His dad grinned down at him. You have done well, Percy. You deserve this.

Artemis's bright silver eyes pierced through him, full of fierce pride; all the hairs rose on the nape of his neck and a little shiver swept through him, settling into a tingling, prickling handprint between his shoulder blades.

'It would seem there are none who might object.' Zeus gestured down the hall with one hand. 'The gardens of Olympus are finer even than those of the Hesperides.'

'There's not some really heavy thing I'm going to have to hold up in this garden?' Percy asked. 'I don't really want to be doing that again.'

Zeus smiled. 'There is nothing to fear in the gardens of Olympus, Percy. Save, perhaps, the wrath of Hera should you disturb her flowers without due cause.'

'Don't touch the flowers. Got it.' Percy glanced over his shoulder and took a couple steps back. 'Is that…'

'Go, Percy,' Zeus said. 'Unless you wish to be turned to dust as we depart from here.'

Percy hurried out and down the white marble steps, stumbling to a stop on the last one.

Short blades of golden grass spread from his feet, winding in short paths between swathes of swaying bronze-stemmed blue flowers and slim trees of shining silver bark and leaves.

'Gaudy,' Percy murmured. 'Is the grass actually made of gold?' He bent down and poked it. 'Nope. It's just really shiny for some reason. Are you allowed to walk on it though?'

'Yes, Percy.' Hestia sat cross-legged on the golden grass, her white cushion in her lap. 'You can walk on the grass.' She pointed at the lawn beside her with the smoking tip of her stick. 'Come, sit with me, Brave One.'

'Going to tell me I only have to be brave a little longer?' He took a couple of steps forward past the delicate azure blossoms and dropped down beside her. 'You lied to me. It was never me. I led Annabeth up there thinking it had to be me and she died.'

'Percy.' She jabbed him in the side with the warm tip of her stick. 'I told you prophecies are not always what they seem. I told you that it did not need to be you. And you do not need to be brave any longer if you do not choose to be. My father is defeated.'

'But I do,' Percy whispered. 'How can I let them all down now?'

'The weight of the world,' Hestia murmured. 'Remember it. Remember it forever.'

He shivered. 'Artemis said it would change me forever even if I held it for a moment.'

'Sister.' Zeus stood upon the top step, his arms folded over his shining golden robes. 'Would you spare Percy for a moment. We have much to speak about.'

'Of course, brother.' Hestia stood. 'Remember, Percy. Hope was given to you, hold a piece of it in your heart.' She tapped him on the shoulder with her smoking stick. 'It will keep the worst of the weight of the world off your back.'

Zeus swept down the steps and across the lawn, holding out his hand. 'Up you get, kid.'

Percy blinked. 'Thanks…' He grabbed the hand.

'My brothers and I, we often squabble.' Zeus lifted Percy into the air and set him down on his feet, releasing his hand to tug Percy's t-shirt straight. 'It is the nature of kings to bicker, but none of us disagreed on offering this to you. You have earnt this chance, Percy.'

'Er… thanks?'

'Should you manage, as did my son, Heracles, to obtain an apple from the tree that Ladon guards, there will be no consequences for the theft.'

Percy shook his head. 'But it's impossible.'

'No mortal can take an apple from the tree at the summit of Tamalpais's spire and survive,' Zeus said. 'And yet, Heracles managed…'

Impossible is just a word for those who've given up hope. Savage cold currents churned in his stomach, wrenching his heart back and forth between them. Zoë wasn't mortal. She did it for him like the river god held back Hyperion for me. Heracles was just brave. I could be brave. The familiar dark eyes of the Hesperides hung before the eye of his mind, floating through the storm of his thoughts like a leaf bobbing on the waves; in them swam Calypso's endless lonely sorrow, the fleeting brilliance of Zoë's bright final smile and the soft kindness they shared.

'I can't,' Percy muttered. 'I can't do that to one of her sisters, even if they were cruel to her.'

'Yet Zoë Nightshade, as she became, was far happier where she ended up than where she was, Percy,' Zeus said. 'She chose to help someone who deserved it no matter the consequences to herself and her good deed was rewarded with sisterhood to replace the ones she lost.'

Artemis saved her. Showed her everything Zoë then showed me.

Percy mustered a weak grin. 'It's very weird talking about this with you. You tried to hit me with lightning at least once already.'

Zeus laughed. 'And yet I, the king of the gods, somehow missed. You do not need to fear the storm, Percy. It will never hurt you.' He reached out and ruffled Percy's hair, a glimmer of humour in his electric blue eyes. 'I know mortals often find it hard to speak freely to the Gods, so rarely do I choose to converse with them as Zeus, but here on Olympus, my other guises would seem even more strange to you.'

Realisation rose like a single small bubble spiralling slowly up from beneath black waters. 'Gabe.' Percy gaped. 'It was… All that time...'

That's why mom looked so confused, she probably thought I was talking nonsense. Percy clawed back through memories of Gabe's stories and his mother's bemused indulgent smiles. I guess it doesn't matter now.

A broad smile spread across Zeus's face. 'Sometimes one must lead by example, Percy. Even, and perhaps especially, in small things. A man is measured in all the moments of his life, not just a few. The kindness to aid a helpless little bird at some small cost is the same strength of heart that might one day lift the weight of the world off another's shoulders for a moment. That is a man worth following. A man others will choose to follow; to Hades and the fields of Elysium; or, perhaps, to the Heavens themselves?'

Percy drew himself up and took a deep breath, smoothing out the clamour of the waves within into a pool as smooth and still and clear as glass. If I became a God, I'd only do what was in my nature. I couldn't choose to do good things.

'I can't,' he said. 'I don't want to disappoint.'

Zeus's brow wrinkled. 'You would truly ask for nothing from us, Percy?'

'No…' Percy shook his head. 'I want to help someone. I promised her. I want you to set Calypso free.'

'I cannot.'

'But you're… you.'

'I am the Justice of the Heavens.' Zeus's blue eyes darkened and hardened, a little silver appearing at his temples, and upon his brows a flowing crown of gold curled from the air. 'She is imprisoned as she is for good reason. After I overthrew my father, the war raged on. Beneath the waves, Oceanus sought to take Kronos's crown for his own, and Atlas, wounded in the battle that saw my father cast down, hid to recover, planning to regather his strength and come to the aid of Oceanus. We searched for him long and hard, but, for many days, Calypso concealed his hiding place from us and tended his wounds. Her love for her father outweighed the good of the world.'

'It's been a long time since then and she—' Percy swallowed a hot thick lump '—she suffers horribly.'

'A long time since she chose the love of her father over the good of the world, yet, gripped by love for you, did she not beg you to stay and leave the world to its fate?' Zeus's face turned grave and the tines of his gold crown grew long and sharp, shimmering with fierce harsh light. 'Without you, who inspires our mortal children to great deeds? Who stands before our father and shows even one so lost and hopeless as Hermes's son the right thing to do?'

'Someone else could've done it.'

I was only brave. It didn't have to be me. I just thought it did.

'I cannot free her, Percy, because in the end, her only captor is herself. Each time she falls in love, she has the chance to let them go and choose the world over her own heart, but never does she manage to make that choice and trapped by the consequences of it she remains.' Zeus shook his head, a solemn expression upon his noble face. 'Everything you could have done to help her, you already did. You showed her what she must do; you left behind that small selfish paradise and bravely went back to fight for the good of all knowing full well it might be the end of your life.'

'Could you… could you send me back to her now?' Percy asked. 'Maybe, if I went back again, I could help more. It's just… I gave my word.'

'It is within my power to send you to her,' Zeus replied. 'But in the end, Percy, you will still have to choose to leave or remain, for, like Odysseus and all those who have known her love, the world will call you away too strongly to stay.'

He's right. If I go back, I'll just have to leave her again. Percy stared up at the stars; the guilt tore at him like storm waves at high cliffs, a churning, roiling cauldron of bitter cold. I can't stay there while everyone else is left to struggle, right Zoë? And I can't go back, not knowing I'd only break her heart again.

'You have a whole day, Percy.' Zeus ruffled his hair, the golden crowd fading from his brows and his eyes lightening. 'Take your time to think. If not on your chance for immortality, then at least for some reward. Good deeds are owed them. And your deeds are not just good, but great.'

'I'll think,' Percy promised. 'But…' He shrugged. 'I don't know. I thought it would be me, so I stopped thinking about what was waiting on the other side of my choice.'

'You never did want anything for helping others,' Zeus murmured. 'You were always a good kid.' He gestured at the bright colours of the flowers and the slim silver trees. 'Take in the garden, few get to see the splendour of Olympus and you may not find yourself here again. Unless, of course, you change your mind and take up the last labour of Heracles. That offer will remain so long as you live, Percy, you have earnt it.'

Percy watched Zeus stride back into the hall and meandered over the golden grass, finding a spot between two swathes of bronze-stemmed, black-petalled flowers in the shade of the silver leaves.

I guess I could ask for a t-shirt that puts itself back together. He stared down at the faded orange of his borrowed camp top and sat down on the gleaming grass. But there's nothing I really want. I chose. And they all chose. And I mustn't regret.

Gentle fingers ghosted through his hair. 'Look at you, all alone among these beautiful flowers…'

The soft sweet scent of figs reached Percy's nose and his heart trembled. 'Aphrodite…' He sighed. 'I suppose you've come to twist the knife. Or just say I told you so.'

Aphrodite sat behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest, resting her cheek between his shoulder blades. 'I might not be able to read your heart so easily as that of another, but I know grief when I see it. You loved her, Athena's daughter.'

He rolled his eyes. 'Why does everyone think I came back from Ogygia for Annabeth? She's—' the words stuck in his throat '—probably rolling in her grave right now at the very idea. Not that she's in a grave yet.'

'Oh Percy…' Aphrodite whispered in his ear. 'Tomorrow she will be burnt as a hero, as she deserves. You should be proud. Elysium's green fields and everlasting sunshine will be all she ever knows now.'

'I am proud,' he muttered. 'She was so brave. Like - like Zoë. And Bianca. And Ethan. And even Luke in the end. And I thought it was going to be me, but now here I am, and they're all gone.'

She rested her forehead between his shoulder blades, sending a little shiver down his spine. 'Remember, Percy, love is an immortal bond, no matter its form. Nobody you love is ever truly gone.' Aphrodite pressed her hand over Percy's heart. 'Annabeth is here. They all are.'

'Why are you being—'

'Kind?' She laughed a soft sweet laugh, sending his heart flip-flopping in his breast. 'Love is kind as often as it is cruel. It isn't something to dread, Percy. After all—' her warm breath washed against the tingling spot above his spine '—if you did not love someone, truly, deeply admire them for who they are and what they do, you would not be here, would you?'

'No,' Percy mumbled.

'Love is all that tethers you to this mortal world,' Aphrodite whispered in his ear, her arms tightening around his chest. 'I can almost see it, an anchor holding fast upon the bedrock of the ocean, firm, no matter how the sea above might shift or the strength of the storm. Without it, you will be lost upon the waves, sinking from grace to join Achilles in the afterlife…'

'That's how it works,' he said. 'If I disappoint her, I die.'

Artemis gave me her word she wouldn't let me disgrace Zoë or her legacy. Percy swallowed hard at the memory of the fierce pride shining in the molten silver of her eyes and a fierce tingle swept across the phantom handprint upon his back. And I promised I wouldn't disappoint them.

'Oh I can feel her now…' Aphrodite's lips grazed his ear and Percy's stomach fluttered, shrinking into a tight ball of trembling waves, all the hairs prickling along his spine. 'Where once she welled up in the depths of your heart like a small sweet spring bubbling into the sunlight, now she sweeps all before her. A flood as endless as all the seas, stretching on beneath the night sky and stars as far as even my eye can see.' Her soft sigh brushed the back of his neck. 'And yet, her name is still beyond my sight, concealed like the strong current of the ocean below the sparkling waves upon its surface.'

'Good.' Percy stared up at the pale silver crescent hanging amidst familiar stars. 'I don't want anyone to know her name. It's better that way. If only I can choose, I just have to choose well.'

AN: Sadly, no harems. Just not my thing. But here's a consolatory linktree to Discord and its early access, or to where you can support me and read all the rough draft chapters a fair way ahead, as well as all of my best original stuff.

linktr . ee / mjbradley