Chapter Text
Percy woke up confused and disoriented. And strangely enough, the sensation of falling into a pool - and actually having the water affect him.
Percy should have been used to strange dreams, given his demigod status. However, this dream seemed tame compared to the others which made it so strange in the first place. But Percy wouldn’t let the tameness of the dream fool him. He has long since learned that as a demigod, dreams were never just dreams. They always held a message or a warning.
But no matter what he did, Percy could not make heads or tails of this particular dream.
From the bits and pieces he recalled from his dream, Percy was able to make out that both Athena and Poseidon had been present. And there had been the sound of rustling leaves, the smell of salt and the gurgle of bubbling water, and a scent in the wind he could not particularly place, but made him think of pizza for some reason.
In all honesty, that should have been more than enough clues since those two were never willingly in the same place. Keyword being willingly. The only times Percy had seen Athena and Poseidon in the same place were at the Council meetings, and even then they tried to interact as little as possible.
But as they say, hindsight is 20/20.
“Are you sure it’s okay? I mean, I know this isn’t the first time I’ll be visiting but I don’t want to make Amphitrite and Triton feel uncomfortable.” Percy tugged on the hem of his shirt, wrinkling the edges of the faded orange t-shirt even more.
“Nonsense! Ever since you got Zeus to agree to visitation rights, many gods have been taking advantage of this to get closer to their children. And as you said, this won’t be the first time you’ll be visiting, so why are you so worried?” Poseidon paused, then tilted his head in concern, “Has Amphitrite or Triton said anything to you? They’ve told me they were fine with it, but if they said or did anything to you…”
Percy waved his hands in front of his face, “No, no. They haven’t said anything or done anything at all…I just think they feel uncomfortable with me there. I mean…I am technically a child of an affair, and it must be really uncomfortable to see a reminder of that walking through your home.” Percy’s voice got quieter and quieter as he finished his sentence, trailing off to almost a whisper as he looked down. A large, firm hand gripping his shoulders startled him from his thoughts, but he stubbornly kept his head down.
“I’m sorry I never realized how uncomfortable you were. That was my mistake, but Percy, you are my son. My only mortal son. I know you’ve rejected immortality a few times now, so I know that the prospect of you accepting it in the future is low. So, please, let me enjoy what little time I have with you while I still can…”
Percy made the mistake of looking up. Poseidon’s eyes were shining in unshed tears. And Percy…Percy found himself nodding in agreement and allowing his father to whisk them away to his undersea palace in a spray of water that dissipated before it could get anything wet.
Percy, Triton, Kymopoleia (call me Kym, she had said), and Rhode stared at each other in awkward silence. Or rather, Percy stared at his immortal siblings as they frantically whispered to each other, not realizing that he could hear them. And frankly, Percy was having fun watching them squirm. Though it was a little awkward since they were all in their larger forms.
“Talk to him, Triton!” Kym nudged not so subtly, her jellyfish tentacle hair billowing with the movement.
“Why me? What about you guys?” Triton hissed back.
“I don’t know the first thing about hanging out with demigods!”
“Neither do I!”
“I don’t either!”
Rhode spoke up, a little hesitant and awkward, “I mean should we offer him wine or something? That’s what we used to do, right?
“What?! Are you crazy? Look at him, he’s like ten!”
At that statement, Percy finally cut in, “Hey! That’s rude, I’m at almost double that age.”
Three heads swiveled to look at him in shock, but it was Triton who spoke up, “Wait, really?”
Percy furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out whether he was being messed with or not, but ultimately decided to continue speaking, “Why are you so shocked? We met when I was like fifteen and it’s been a few years since then.”
At that, the three gods grew silent. A few seconds passed before Rhode spoke, her voice gentle and a little sad, “Time passes differently for us gods. A lifetime to you is a blink of an eye for us, so believe us when we say that we truly don’t understand the concept of age…I think that’s what my father fears to be honest. I think he fears that if he blinks…if he looks away, you’ll be lost to him forever.”
A solemn air settled over the four, the three gods looking at Percy with pity while Percy sat, the weight of their words weighing on him.
Kymopoleia stood up, her abrupt movement should have disturbed the water, but apparently the perks of being a child of Poseidon allowed her to move through water as if it were air, “Well that killed the mood. Let’s go destroy some shit, it’ll make us feel better!”
“It’ll make you feel better,” Triton corrected.
“Then what do you propose we do?” Kymopoleia asked, her hair moving in agitated waves in response to her annoyance.
Percy raised his hand, as if he were in class and awkwardly got the three gods’ attention, “Uhh…you guys don’t have to hang out with me if you don’t want to, honestly, I was probably going to ask to explore the palace since I haven’t really had a chance to yet.”
“You know what, that’s perfect! Let’s go!” At that, Kymopoleia wrapped her arms around Percy, carrying him as easily as a child would their stuffed animal and walked away.
“What the- Kym, put me down, I can walk on my own. Triton, Rhode, help me!”
“No, suffer.” Percy didn’t need to move his head to see who said that.
A few days later, the sea siblings found themselves having visited most of the palace (Percy had to remind the others that he was mortal and needed sleep and food.)
But finally, the four stood at the entrance to one of the last few places to visit, “This is where father keeps his salt water spring.”
It took a few seconds, but when it finally registered, Percy whipped his head to stare at Triton in shock, “You mean THE spring, the one he used in his competition against Athena?”
Triton grimaced at Athena’s name, but nodded, “The Athenians may have overlooked the value in father’s gift, but it would have been a waste to destroy a divine creation. So our father stored it here.”
And there was that other little thing.
Percy could confidently say that over the past few days, he and his godly siblings had bonded. It was the little things from making themselves smaller to keep pace with him (or carrying him when their larger size was required) to using the word ‘our’ when talking about their father.
Before, they would use phrases like “My father,” and when they did drop the ‘my’ there was still an invisible wall, as if he wasn’t necessarily included. But now, his siblings easily used “Our father,” making him feel included and truly a part of the family.
Percy’s musing came to an end as he was met with a fresh, salty smell and clear glittering water. Distantly he noticed that the air was dry and somehow from one step to the next, the water that had constantly surrounded them disappeared. He couldn’t describe what he saw, and could only say, “Wow, it’s beautiful.”
Rhode placed a hand on his shoulder, “People often forget that our father represents much more than destruction.”
It was bound to happen.
Honestly, it was surprising that it didn’t happen sooner.
Put four children of Poseidon together in an enclosed space and something is bound to go wrong.
And as usual, it is the demigod in the room who gets the short stick.
Kym and Triton were arguing again, Rhode was playing peacemaker, and Percy made the brilliant decision to stand next to the three. Triton must have said something because Kym immediately transformed to her larger form, her hair whipping around her. In response, Triton also transformed, his double tails thrashing about as water surrounded him. Rhode tried to stop them, “Come on guys, someone will get hurt.”
“Yeah! Her/Him”
Rhode reached out, turning into her larger form, but it was too late.
A tentacle-like strand of hair and a broad tailfin lashed out, missed their intended target, and hit the unfortunate demigod standing next to them.
Percy felt the air being knocked from his lungs as he sailed through the air and landed in the salt water springs.
The last two thoughts Percy had before everything erupted in a torrent of bubbles and light, and before his vision whited out, was, “Huh, this is deeper than I thought.” and “Aw man, I really wanted to see the game room.”
Triton and Kymopoleia stared at the empty space where their half-brother used to stand. Then, in eerie synchronization they turned their heads and watched as his small body (and was it always so small?) sailed through the air before landing with a plop! in the water.
Before they could breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that he had hit the water and not the jagged rocks (and why were they so sharp? Someone could get hurt in here), the spring began to bubble and glow.
When the bubbling and glowing finally stopped, all that remained was calm and clear waters.
And no Percy.
“Shit”
Rhode turned and ran out of the room, “Daaaaad! Triton and Kym made Percy disappear!
When Percy finally swam his way out of the bubbles and surfaced, the first thing he saw was a man who appeared to be a king naming Athena the winner of a competition. She looked smug as she stared at Poseidon, only to falter when she and Percy made eye contact. There was a dawning look of horror on her face.
Looking at the water surrounding him and the olive tree in front of him, the first thing out of Percy’s mouth was, “Looks like I’m not in Kansas anymore.”
Hearing the unexpected voice and splashing water, Poseidon spun around, ready to smite the insolent fool who dared to swim in his creation, only to falter himself when he saw his own eyes on Percy’s face. He too had a look of horror growing on his face.
There was a sudden flash of light as Apollo appeared, a somewhat arrogant and mocking look on his face, “Well, well little sister, it looks like someone just had a child with her uncle. I wonder what kind of monstrosity you two created?”
Apollo spun around just in time to see Percy stepping out of the spring. And the mocking smile fell off his face so fast, it was almost as if it was never there. The water rolled off Percy like transparent pearls and his white chiton which was comfortably thin and light weight in the water, was disarmingly translucent in the high noon sun. The golden armbands highlighted well toned arms. As Apollo’s gaze traveled upwards, he was met with vibrant sea green eyes, delicately framed by silky, curled ebony locks.
And Apollo fell hard.
“Why hello there!”