Nothing is mine.

Percy eats some strawberries. On a Sunday. Really, it's all in the title.

Strawberry Sunday

Percy tossed damp pinecones into the flickering orange flames of the campfire, watching them smoulder and burst into flames. The grey smoke swirled up above the tables and benches; it drifted across the cabins toward the sea, streaming up toward the fading light of the sunset.

'Heya Percy…' Katie hovered at the far end of the Aphrodite table, a bright yellow tub clutched to her green sweater. 'Can I join? Or…'

'You can join.' He flashed her a smile; the tips of her ears turned pink and his heart sank a little. 'I'm not up to much.'

'No marshmallows?' She dropped down on the bench beside him and eyed the small heap of pinecones between them. 'I don't think you should eat those, even toasted.'

'They'd be nicer than marshmallows,' Percy said. 'But I don't really fancy these either.'

'Marshmallows are urgh.' Katie scrunched her face up, wrinkling her nose. 'They're sweet, but the wrong way. It's not like biting into an apple, or a raspberry or—' a little colour rose in cheeks '—a strawberry, it's all thin and shallow and fake.'

'Weird sweet.' Percy nodded and lobbed another pinecone into the fire. 'Annabeth liked them, but I never did. Mom got me some for a beach fire one time, but I don't think I ate more than about two.'

'I just don't like them.' Katie pried the tub lid off and lifted a strawberry out. 'Not healthy. Mom likes healthy, natural things, like these, and you know how it is, what our parents like...' She slipped the fruit between her lips and bit the stalk away, beaming. 'Just perfect.'

'Did you cheat, Cheerio-leader?'

Katie swallowed. 'Cheat?'

'Is it even strawberry season?'

'Oh.' She flashed him a shy smile. 'I might have encouraged the plants a bit. All the fields got ruined, and I wanted them to be happy and growing again like they were before.' She bit her lip and held the tub out. 'Want one?' Katie's voice shrank to a whisper. 'Things are different now it's all over, right?'

Percy eyed the gleaming red fruits. 'I could eat a strawberry.'

She picked the biggest one from the tub and raised it toward his lips; the tips of her ears and her cheeks glowed pink as he caught her bright green eyes.

'Thanks, Captain Crunch,' He took the strawberry and bit it in half, smiling at the sweet, fresh taste. 'It's really good.'

'Thank you,' Katie whispered, setting the tub down on her lap. 'I can't eat all the strawberries from the fields myself, so I'm going to have to feed you lots of them.'

Percy laughed. 'Could be worse.'

She flashed him a shy smile. 'If you eat six of them, you have to come and spend half the year in my cabin.'

He blinked. 'Er…'

'Like Persephone,' Katie blurted. 'It was a joke. I didn't mean—' she buried her face in her hands '—that.'

'Oh. Like the pomegranate seeds.' Percy ate the other half of the strawberry; guilt tugged at his heart like short sharp waves yanking the little grains of sand back and forth on the beach. 'I get it now.'

Should I say something? What do I even say?

Katie hooked her blonde hair back behind her ears and scooped the pinecones into her lap, shuffling a little closer. 'Why were you burning these?'

'I restarted the fire,' Percy said. 'Thought they'd be good to get it going when it was small, but they're too damp to burn easily.' He glanced at the small pile on her legs.

'It's okay,' she squeaked. 'You can grab them from there.'

Percy picked up a damp pinecone and tossed it into the flames, weighing words on his tongue. 'Katie…'

She twitched. 'What…?'

'What I told you before…'

'I know,' Katie whispered. 'But you did come back. From Ogygia. And from Olympus. And—' the colour rose on her cheeks '—I can't help it.' She sighed and buried her face back in her hands. 'Even Clarisse noticed. Clarisse. And all the stupid Aphrodite girls definitely know, don't they? I bet even those stupid naiads know… I'm sorry…'

'It's okay,' Percy said. 'I mean, it's really bad if I notice, I am completely oblivious to this stuff.'

I basically had to walk into the Styx to realise.

'No you aren't,' Katie mumbled into her fingers. 'You noticed right away. When you came back and I asked about Ogygia, you knew. I saw you realise and I thought I was going to die from embarrassment, but you called me some silly nickname and instead I thought my heart was going to burst from happiness.'

Percy grimaced. 'I guess I did notice. I didn't realise about Bianca until Zoë warned me to be careful with her. After that I kind of noticed when girls—' he sighed '—you know…'

But I don't understand why. What did I do that makes me so great? Let people follow me and watch them die?

'I know,' she whispered. 'And what can plain little Katie Gardener do? You're you. You defeat titans. You save the world. You do impossible things. They wanted you to become a god. You… you're so strong and Annabeth wasn't good enough, and that Bianca girl wasn't, and even Calypso wasn't. And I know it won't be me, how could it be me, but…' Katie stared down into the tub of strawberries and squeezed her eyes shut. 'I can't help it, because I'm still here and maybe it could.'

Oh Katie. It doesn't work like that. His heart sank, drifting down into the dark; a single small stone beneath the weight of all the waves. Starsworn, but ever free.

Percy reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Katie shivered and squirmed closer, her warm thigh brushing his. 'Did you do this with Calypso?' she mumbled. 'Did you hold her close like a friend knowing she really loved you?'

'Yes,' Percy whispered. 'And after she begged me to stay and swore she would love me, I broke her heart and sailed away. I will never forget the sound of her lonely singing as I left. And I will never ever be sorry enough for leaving her.' He gave Katie a gentle squeeze. 'I couldn't even save her from being all alone like I promised I would if I left, because she has to choose well and save herself.'

'She'll fall in love with someone else and forget all about you,' Katie muttered. 'I won't. You're right here. I can't.'

'I don't think she ever forgets,' Percy said. 'Maybe, when someone else is there with her, it won't hurt for a little while.' A faint smile crept across his lips. 'For a brief while, it'll be paradise.'

'But then they leave, right?' she asked.

'Then they leave.' He picked the last couple of pinecones out of her lap with his left hand and hurled them at the fire.

They sailed through and bounced off the Ares tables into the short grass.

'Missed.'

'You seemed happier with me using my left hand,' Percy said. 'But I am definitely a worse shot.'

Katie turned pink. 'I am,' she mumbled. 'I just wish…'

'I'm sorry.' Somewhere beneath all the weight of that endless blue his heart sat upon the seabed, heavy as stone. 'I know I'll never be sorry enough, but I am sorry.'

She squirmed. 'You don't have to leave me.'

But what if I do?

'You don't,' Katie whispered. 'I'm here. You're here. The war's over. I… I won't give up, Percy. I can't.' A fierce glint rose in her green eyes. 'I'm not just sweet and kind; I was born in summer during the Search and I don't give up until I get what I'm looking for.'

Percy stared into the fire. 'I don't know what to say to that.'

She picked one more strawberry from the tub and snapped the lid back. 'You don't have to say anything, Percy. I know I'm just Katie Gardener. I know heroes don't fall in love with Katie Gardeners, but you don't have to be a hero anymore. We won. And when you're ready…'

But if I stop, if I disappoint. The phantom handprint between his shoulder blades tingled. I fall.

Katie ducked out from under his arm and stood up, pulling his hands together. 'Whenever you want strawberries, you can come and find me. And when you decide—' the tips of her ears and her cheeks turned pink, but the fierce gleam hovered in her bright green eyes '—when you decide you want more than strawberries, you can come and find me too.'

'Katie—'

She shook her head. 'You don't have to say anything.' Katie slipped the strawberry into his hands and closed his fingers over it. 'I've said everything that needs to be said. There's nothing for you to say until you come and find me, and until then, we can be friends.'

'What if…' Percy caught the tremble of her lip and let the words fade. 'Okay, Captain Crunch. Just… promise you won't do anything stupid.'

'I promise.' Katie brushed little bits of pinecone off her green jumper and flashed him a shy smile. 'I'm a Katie Gardener, not a Bianca, or an Annabeth or a Calypso. Nothing's going to happen to me, I'm not important enough. Just a normal girl.'

'Who dented Clarisse's hoplon with a vegetable.'

Katie's eyes flashed. 'She's lucky she got the shield up, I was trying to dent her stupid thick skull.' Her green eyes flicked up toward the darkening sky. 'I should get back to the cabin, it's pretty late. Night, Percy.'

'Night, Katie.'

She bounced off, the tub of strawberries tucked under her arm.

I'm sorry. Percy released a long sigh as she vanished from sight around the corner of the cabin and stared at the small red strawberry in his cupped hands. I can't stop now. I promised them. If I stopped, I'd abandon what ties me to the world and fall from grace.

He tugged the stalk out and tossed it into the fire, watching the little green leaves curl and blacken as it burst into flames. 'I'm sorry,' Percy whispered, forcing the strawberry down in one bite. 'I don't think I can.'

'What can't you do?' Hestia perched beside him on the bench on her white cushion, her bare feet swinging above the dirt. 'Are you scared to take on the labour of Heracles, Brave One?

'There's no Zoë,' Percy replied. 'Her sisters won't help me. And it's impossible for a mortal to take an apple from the tree and survive, so...'

'Perhaps there is another way.' She pointed the glowing tip of her stick at the campfire. 'You don't know until you try.'

'Do you know?' Percy asked. 'Did you know the whole time what was going to happen? Do you always know what's going to happen?'

'No.' Hestia shook her head, her dark curls swaying around her shoulders. 'It doesn't work like that, Percy. I am what I am.'

'I don't understand.'

'You cannot,' she murmured. 'You are mortal, Percy. You choose and change, and fade into obscurity or linger in legend. We are. And so long as the nature of the world remains the same, we will always be.'

'I kind of understand,' Percy replied. 'You have your nature.'

'Kind of.' A small warm smile spread across Hestia's lips. 'What now, Brave One? If you do not seek to meet the challenge of Ladon's spire, what will you seek?'

'I'm going to stick about here and help where I can.'

'Hope was given to you. And you chose to share it with everyone.' She tucked the glowing stick under arm and held out the drakonscale thyreos by its straps. 'Keep bringing hope, Percy. Do not let the regrets of victory rob you of your heart.'

Percy took the shield. 'You fixed it?' He ran a finger down the centre, tracing the soft orange light of the word upon the dark scale. 'How?'

'Hephaestus did.' Hestia smiled. 'You stood on Olympus and showed Luke Castellan hope even though he was so very lost; we would be cruel indeed to deprive you of your own hope.'

'Elpis,' he murmured; the soft warm orange glow of Hestia's eyes soothed the clamour of the waves deep in his heart, eased the dull ache of Annabeth's absence. 'I guess I shouldn't be sitting around here regretting everything that happened, should I? They chose well. They're in Elysium. And I… I just have to keep going—' his voice faded to a whisper '—keep making them proud. If I do that, I'll see them all again one day, won't I?'

Hestia offered him a gentle smile and took his hands in hers. 'Trust your heart.'

'You sound like Aphrodite,' Percy muttered. 'Only less terrifying and much more respectful of my personal space.' He gathered up the soft comfort of Hestia's smile, holding it close like a handful of water in his cupped palms. 'I guess I'll ask the oracle what I can do to help everyone. It's been a while since I had to try and decipher some unhelpfully cryptic poem while traipsing around all over the country running into extremely unfriendly and dangerous creatures I couldn't spell the names of to save my life.'

'And if the oracle does not set you upon a clear path?' she asked.

'I'll stay here, get stronger and better and help where Chiron suggests, so that when the next thing comes, I'm strong enough before it's too late.' Percy's gaze strayed to the pale silver crescent hanging beyond the smoke; its bright light lifted his heart, sweeping it up into the sky like a leaf atop the crest of a swelling wave. 'I'll start by learning to use a bow. That ought to keep me busy for several decades at least.'

Hestia laughed, squeezing his fingers in her small warm hands. 'Don't forget, Percy. When the weight of the world starts to feel overwhelming, there is always hope to be found at the hearth. You made sure there always could be.'

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