Chapter Text
It wasn’t long ago that Percy was just a simple kid labeled as a delinquent. Of course, that all changed when he turned 12; but you know that story. What many people don’t know is what happened after, where Percy’s life went once he left that forsaken life as the Gods’ pawn.
His life was not all flowers, sunshine, and unicorns, especially after his 17th birthday. He spent his summers training and recovering from leading the front on 2 wars, and the year before his 18th birthday redoing his senior year of highschool.
Percy had a hard time coming to terms with both wars. Too many of his friends and family had died and were tortured by the immortals after his head. But the hardest challenge he’d faced yet had nothing to do with the Gods. Actually, it didn’t even have anything to do with the mythological world at all.
He was attending New York University for a Life Science Degree. He was set to graduate from his 2-year program at the end of the year: by then, his 21st birthday would only be 2 months away and he could help out his mom and Paul with Estelle more often.
Percy had spent the last few years knee-deep in his studies trying so hard to rise above his ADHD and dyslexia regarding school. He spent countless nights re-reading the same set of lines before understanding them. His only reprieve was Annabeth and the library of books translated into Ancient Greek.
Every day and night he would call Annabeth through the mist and ask about her day. While she may be taking Architecture and Web Design at New Rome University, that didn’t stop him from dropping in for a visit every week. Saturdays and Sundays were spent with his family, his little sister Estelle and then his girlfriend – soon to be fiancé if she agrees, the next.
So here he was driving down to New Rome on Saturday evening to surprise his long-time love at her apartment. He usually comes down on Sundays because the only class he had on Monday was at 4 pm. However, he had graduated 3 weeks ago and was now the proud owner of a biology and environmental biology degree (something in which he minored in).
He talked with his mom extensively and practically lived with her and her husband for the last week. He’d like to say he wasn’t panicking over his decision, but even his 3-year-old baby sister disagreed. When she noticed something, you needed to tone it down 100%. He couldn’t help it though; this was really big. His dad even visited him briefly to talk about it. He was unable to give personal experience, but Poseidon was very informative on what he’s seen over the last few centuries.
As he sat in the car Percy performed some honestly pathetic calming exercises. His legs were as crossed as they could get and his elbows rested on his knees. Percy’s eyes were closed and the only thing keeping him from screaming was the continuous deep breaths. If he knew this was going to go bad, he’d be on the verge of hyperventilating. But this was Annabeth.
She and Percy had been dating for years now. There is no way it could go wrong. He was going to walk up to apartment 506, knock on the door, kneel down, and say 4 simple words “will you marry me”.
That couldn’t go wrong, and if by some chance it did, well, Percy has connections to some pretty powerful people.
With that conviction bringing him off the edge of hyperventilating, he stepped out of the car and made his way up 5 flights of stairs.
Just as he rounded the hallway corner to her rooms, he heard something he didn’t often hear. The sound of a full-on Annabeth-style belly laughs reaching through her door. As he went to knock, something else piqued his interest, another voice.
Now, that in itself wasn’t too odd however, he’s never heard this voice before. It was none of her friends that he's met before, nor any of their friends from around the world. No, this was someone entirely new.
This was just another friend he told himself. She said she was spending the whole weekend finishing up her mathematic essays, so it's only logical that she brings friends from New Rome to help her.
Just as he was raising his hand to knock on the door the laughing subsided enough to hear their voices again. “Anna, let's cook something, it’s been a while since we’ve eaten anything.”
Anna? Woah, this man is about to get the shit beaten out of him. The last time Percy had tried to shorten her name, it was met with a knee to the gut and being flipped over her shoulder onto solid rock.
“Sure B, what’s on the menu tonight?” Annabeth’s beautiful voice replied to the man. Percy was very confused, were there no corrections on her name or curses sent to him about butchering her God-given name?
Percy laid his hand on the door handle, content to listen for the time being. He may not be academically smart most days, but he is by no means a stupid person. Pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit right and all the happy nerves he’d felt in the car were just pushed down to make room for the blank jigsaw pieces.
“Hey Anna, when are you going to move in full-time with me? You only come here on the weekend anyways. This place is just wasting away.”
“You know I can’t do that yet B, Percy still comes by every weekend.”
As the conversation continued, more and more dread began to creep up on Percy. He pleaded with anything that was listening that this was not going the way it sounded.
“Why does he do that anyways? I’ve always thought it was weird that former couples stay as friends” a moment of silence was all Percy and this B character needed to figure out what Annabeth had done. “Annabeth, please tell me you have broken up with him, haven’t you?”
“B, please. I can’t do that to him. He’s so fragile I’m afraid he’ll just kill himself if I did that.”
“You can’t just keep stringing him along. That isn’t fair to him that you move forward with life, and he still believes that the two of you are together” Percy was crying now, and the flames of anger were quickly quelled when the reality of the situation hit. “Until you clear things up with him, don’t come to me, please. I love you; I have loved you for a long time, but you have to deal with this first.”
“B, I love you too. I don’t love him anymore, and haven’t for a long time as anything other than a friend…. I'll call him tomorrow”
Before Percy could even think, a flash of blue light had transported him somewhere else. When he looked up through watery eyes, he could vaguely see the outline of his father. Poseidon opened his arms, and it only took Percy a matter of seconds before he was bawling into the shirt of his father.
What Poseidon didn’t tell him, nor did Percy recognize, was that he was in the throne room of Atlantis and the whole court was in attendance. Poseidon had been simultaneously watching Percy propose (to what he thought was going to be a daughter-in-law) and discussing the future of his kingdoms with his children, wife, advisors, and the kings of various cities.
One second, he was talking animatedly with King Arthur about irrigation farming, the next he was staring at the wall. The next few seconds passed in quick secession and Percy collapsed into Sea Gods' arms.
Not a soul spoke, some even stopped breathing completely. Poseidon simply sat on his throne and ran his fingers through his son’s hair. With a wave of his hand Percy’s sobs quieted and his body went limp.
When the god raised his head, the oldest of his friends had to suppress their flinches. “Effective immediately the Goddess Athena and all of her present and future children are enemies of the sea. I give you permission to use any means necessary to remove their souls from these waters should they find their way here.”
“Lord Poseidon” Amphitrite, his wife, inquired “what has she done this time to demand such a reaction?”
Poseidon let his eyes roam the floor before settling on the throne next to his own “My wife, her prized child has been cheating on Percy for at least 2 years now, and he was about to make this girl his fiancé.”
Amphitrite gasped, glancing at the child resting in her husband’s arms, she can say for certain that she too would not only remove the cheating scoundrel from her territory, but she would also remove them from existence. That fact her husband, a more impulsive creature than she, was doing nothing more than murdering the wall with his eyes and petting his son was astounding.
If she reached out to feel her husband’s kingdoms, she could feel the torrent of rain, the volcanoes that have awoken, the tsunamis beginning, and the tremendous amount of ships capsizing on the seas. By the looks of their immortal children, they too could feel it.
Long ago she and her children made peace with the existence of Percy Jackson. They may not want to connect with him or accept him into the family, but he was one of their own whether they liked it or not. So, hearing that the child of Athena their brother and stepson fell into Tartarus for the wrench cheating on him, lying to him, and had knowingly strung him along for 2 years, was unacceptable.
The Royal Family of Poseidon may not have enjoyed Percy Jackson as a thing, but they will be damned if they allow such an insult to go unaccounted for.
“Let’s not kill this child yet, psychological torture is always more fun” with these parting words and a downright evil smirk to go along with it, Poseidon dismissed the court. He lifted his sleeping son and carried him to one of the many empty bedrooms in his wing of the castle.
Those who attended court quickly spread the news that the child of Athena, Annabeth Chase, was cheating on Percy Jackson for 2 years and that the rest of her siblings and mother were now to be killed on sight.
No one uses the phrase ‘remove their souls’ and wants to keep them alive.
The seas were frothing at the chance for revenge on behalf of their mortal prince.