Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sea has always been sentient. From the very beginning, from the moment that water appeared on Gaia, from the moment that Pontus first appeared, the sea was sentient. Not even Pontus, the primordial of the sea, had full control over the water, or full say over how it acted and behaved. Unlike every other divine being, unlike every other primordial, Pontus did not choose his domain. He did not choose to rule over the sea and have influence over water. No, the sea is a sentient thing, and the sea chose him.

It is how it always has been. The sea chooses its ruler. It chooses who will take over and when and how. It chooses how much influence those born from the sea have over water. It even chooses the names of all those who have the blood of the sea. It’s how it always has been, and how it always will be. As those who come from the sea always say – the sea doesn’t like to be restrained; so it made sense to all those who knew and understood, that the sea would never accept someone who would keep it restrained.

The sea has always been sentient.

Poseidon’s siblings always viewed him as the quiet one. Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and Hades. They all saw him as the quiet one, the observer. He had heard them say, once or twice when he first appeared, that maybe he was slow, that maybe he just didn’t know how to talk yet, that maybe he would learn with time; but as the years continued passing and he stayed quiet, they simply became used to him being the quiet one, and those whispers faded away. He barely spoke, simply watching them as they brooded or talked or tried to find some way to pass the time while confined in their father’s stomach.

He often wished he could talk with them. That he could laugh and joke and simply talk with his brother and sisters. But he couldn’t. He had known that simple fact from the moment he was born. He had felt the calling, the calling of the sea, mere minutes after emerging into the world, and he had known. He had known that he was destined to be of the sea, destined to live and rule the vast water that covered so much of the world; he had felt the whispers from the sea in his mother’s ear, telling them what his name was to be. And just as that knowledge had been instinctively known to him, so too was something that only those of the sea knew – the sea held many secrets in its dark depths after all.

Those of the sea couldn’t talk.

He had always known that he couldn’t talk, known that he was essentially mute while on the surface, known that he had been born with vocal cords that wouldn’t make the sounds used to communicate on the surface, above the sea.

Sounds of the surface just did not work as communication in the sea, where the water interrupted the sound waves and sent it spiraling everywhere. They had their own methods of communication, the knowledge of how to communicate in the sea born already in their minds: humming and soft wails and clicks and squeaks, much like whales and dolphins and other creatures of the sea; a telepathic communication between creatures and those of the sea; and a language of signs and movements. But even if their voices would not work on the surface, those with the blood of the sea had learnt to communicate with land dwellers, had created a way to keep the secrets of the sea. It simply took time to learn; the air was full of water particles after all, and those of the sea could manipulate all water, not just the sea like was widely assumed – all water ended up back in the sea eventually. So, with enough practice, one could make those water particles vibrate in the right ways as to mimic the speech of those who lived on the surface.

Poseidon knew that the whispers from his siblings about him simply not knowing how to talk weren’t wrong exactly, had known that since he was born. His sisters and brother were not incorrect in thinking that he just had to learn to talk. They just didn’t realize how right they were, or how difficult it was to learn in the environment they lived in. After all, there wasn’t much liquid in the air inside their father’s stomach, so Poseidon didn’t have much to practice with or to use when trying to speak.

So, for now, he would simply go with his siblings’ view of him being the quiet one. It didn’t matter much while they were trapped in their father’s stomach, with no way to get out or escape. He knew what his fate was, he knew where he was destined to go; the sea would always be waiting for him, it was just a matter of when he would reach it. So, for now, he would simply observe. He would create bonds with his siblings without spoken word, he would enjoy being as much of a family as they could within their confines.

For now, he would be as calm as the sea right before a storm appeared.

It finally came time for the three sons of Kronos to choose their domains, to choose the kingdoms they would rule over for the rest of their immortal lives. Hades had already decided that Zeus could have first pick, and Poseidon was inclined to let him; their younger brother had been the one to get them out of their father’s stomach and was the one who killed their father in the end. Besides, he already knew where he was going to go, knew that the sea would only accept him and not either of his brothers; he had already felt it accept him, felt the rulership of the ocean pass over to him at the same moment their father was defeated and the other titans either surrendered or taken down, and now only had to reach the royal palace so he could accept the crown.

“I shall rule over the skies,” Zeus decided, choosing one of the three cards that lay in front of the three brothers. “The sky, lighting, and thunder. And King of the gods.”

“As you wish, little brother,” Hades said, before turning to Poseidon. “Do you have a request, Po?”

“Can I … can I have the sea?” he asked hesitantly, even if the voice he projected to them sounded strong and only a little unsure; he was still unused to talking or projecting his chosen words through the air, even after having been free for ten years – time of war was not an ideal time to start learning to talk more, even if he was the strategist of their army.

“If that is what you wish,” Zeus said, and Poseidon could tell that he was uncaring of which kingdom his brothers ruled over, as long as he got the sky; the ruler of the sky had always been the King of the divine, since the time of Ouranos’ rule.

“The sea, earthquakes, and storms?” Hades asked. Poseidon nodded. “I can not say that I am displeased about the idea of not ruling the seas. You shall be the king of the seas Po.”

“Thank you.”

“That leaves you with the Underworld brother,” Zeus said, and Hades frowned before nodding.

“The Underworld, the dead, and riches under the earth,” Hades said. “I am content with that.”

“Are you sure Hades? You don’t sound overly thrilled,” Poseidon said quietly. Hades shrugged.

“It would not have been my first choice, but neither would sea or sky. I did not have a preference either way. And if your choices make you happy, then I will rule the Underworld without complaint.”

“Very well. If we have our kingdoms chosen, let us inform the ladies and perform the ceremonies that will bind us to our domains,” Zeus declared before walked away.

“Thank you, H,” Poseidon said, stepping closer to his older brother and leaning against him slightly; he had always been affectionate, using it as his way to show his care rather than through words, and took comfort in it.

“Like I said Po, I don’t mind, and it makes you happy. And I don’t think I had a chance to say it during the past years with the war, but I’m glad to hear you talking. I like the sound of your voice; it’s soothing, in a way.” Poseidon smiled, hugging Hades before pulling away so that the two of them could follow Zeus to wherever their sisters were.

Being under the sea was a relief. He finally felt at home, in a place where he could truly be himself. He did not have to use his powers to be able to communicate in the sea, simply being able to sign and hum and make all the other noises that were instinctively ingrained in him as communication. As he had grown up, he had done his best to suppress the urge to sign to himself like his siblings talked and muttered to themselves, had suppressed the urge to hum or wail or squeak or click while thinking or when he was nervous or when he just wanted to say something. And now, being under the sea, in the place that had claimed him since birth and would always be his home, he didn’t have to do that anymore.

He was free to sign to himself or absently make the noises that he never could while in his father’s stomach; he could have, but then he risked one of his siblings asking him about it, and he just knew that it was something to keep secret.

He took joy in ruling over the sea, in helping his numerous subjects with their problems that they brought to him during court that he held once or twice a week. The sea had claimed him, and he felt at home in it. He was where he belonged, doing what he was born to do.

He still visited Olympus and the surface world, still visited his family, and remained close to them. But his visits never lasted longer than a day before he returned to his home and place in the sea. Visiting his family was both good and bad. Good, because he would always love his siblings and cherish the time spent with them, even if he was nowhere near as close with Zeus as he was with his older siblings – they hadn’t had the same bonding experience, especially since he had bonded with his siblings without words while in their father’s stomach. But it was bad as well, because on land he had to revert back to silence, communicating only through projecting vibrations through the water in the air – he missed the type of communication of the sea when he was on land and around land dwellers. 

As time passed, Poseidon’s powers grew and developed. The sea guided him as he learnt to control his different abilities whilst also allowing him to discover his limits and the full reach of each of his abilities on his own, teaching him how to create an earthquake, or cause a storm, or create a hurricane, or cause a flood. The other gods all struggled as they learnt about their powers, honing them, and teaching themselves what they could do and where their limits were, a struggle that Poseidon never fully had to worry about. The sea guided and Poseidon listened.

As the years passed, more gods appeared, from the mating between the six Kronides and other divine beings, be they a primordial or a titan, or later the other gods that appeared. Poseidon rarely ventured above the sea for any reason other than to see his family, so only rarely did he have any children. He was content in the sea, ruling his kingdom. A kingdom that was full of those who communicated the same way he did, that listened to the sea in the same way he did.

He could feel that the ocean needed a Queen and, rather than pursuing a land dweller or trying to find his own Queen like Zeus and Hades had, Poseidon waited. He knew that the sea would choose a Queen, would let him know who had been chosen to rule beside him. He knew that the sea would choose a good Queen, someone who would be just and fair and someone who would fight alongside him to defend their home and subjects.

He didn’t have to wait long before he felt a calling from the sea, pushing him to venture from his home in Atlantis to find the Queen that had been chosen for him. So, he followed the call, quickly finding the one chosen to rule beside him. She was an Okeanide, one of Oceanus’ daughters, named Amphitrite by the sea. She was beautiful, with a strong mind and a strong will, and he could see why the ocean had chosen her.

She, too, had felt the sea calling to her, whispering how she would rule the sea, and agreed to go with him to Atlantis, where the kingdom of the sea was. They married and had a child, a merman who was chosen as the heir of the sea, the name of Triton whispered in both their ears within moments of his birth. They both loved their son and found joy in their duties as King and Queen of the sea, and soon began to truly love each other, though it would never be romantic love, simply a close friendship. They had agreed to allow each other to see others in intimate ways if either of them yearned for another child, neither of them minding each other’s escapades as long as their duty to the sea was put first, despite them being married. The sea had only called for them to have an heir and rule side by side, but it would never push them to love each other in ways they did not feel they could, or to have any children that weren’t fated to be born like Triton was. As long as they were happy with their relationship with each other and remained just and fair in their ruling, the sea would remain as a guide, whispering in their ear at times of need.

The two rulers of the sea spun a different story for the rest of the gods, saying how Poseidon had pursued her for days and weeks before she finally allowed him to court her after much begging from her friend Delphin, the God of Dolphins and a major general of the sea’s army, the two of them quickly falling in love and marrying. They spoke of how she had been crowned Queen after their marriage and how their son was born not long after.

None of the other gods needed to know their relationship was simply platonic, one of friendship. None of the other gods needed to know that Amphitrite had been crowned Queen the moment the sea chose her to lead, to rule, marrying Poseidon only to strengthen their combined ruling and allow her to officially be crowned in the eyes of those above the sea. Their subjects understood, but none of the other gods would, so they did not need to know. The sea had many secrets, after all, and anyone not of the sea would simply not understand.

Years passed and more and more gods appeared, born from various couplings between divine beings – mainly Zeus with his various lovers. Soon, there were hundreds of gods and goddesses and Zeus decided they needed a ruling council. Poseidon came to Olympus when his younger brother called, accepting his place on the council, accepting his place as an Olympian.

He said nothing as Zeus declared that Hades had no place on Olympus, no place as an Olympian or on the council. He said nothing as Hestia argued against Hades being banished from Olympus, managing to get Hades an invitation to one council meeting each year. He said nothing as Zeus filled the council with his own children, from both his marriage with Hera and his other affairs. He said nothing as Aphrodite appeared and claimed a seat on the council; despite feeling her faint connection to the sea, he could tell, just by being near her, that even though she was born from the sea, that she had rejected the sea, could tell that she ignored the calling of the sea and had embraced her links to land – she could speak above the surface, wouldn’t understand the communication of the sea, didn’t know the secrets the sea held; she may be from the sea, but she was not of the sea, in any way.

He said nothing, not out of choice, but because he hadn’t visited the surface in years. Because he had forgotten how to speak when the air was so full of tension, when the atmosphere was dry and sparking and filled with the power of arguing gods.

He wanted to say something, to speak up on behalf of his brother who he was so close with. He wanted to speak up in agreement with his oldest sister, who did her best to keep their family together. He wanted to speak up and protest the whole council being full of Zeus’ children, protest that there were others that should be on the council instead, like Hecate of magic or Morpheus of dreams, rather than Athena of battle strategy and wisdom, whose input could be covered by both Ares of war and Apollo of knowledge. But he couldn’t. So, he sat in silence as his family argued and yelled and made decisions.

He had to relearn how to speak above the sea. He had to learn how to project his voice when the air was fraught with tension and saturated with the power of arguing divinities. For now, though, he would go back to being the quiet one in the family. He would remain silent on the surface and simply observe. And though the others may question his silence, his older siblings would hopefully understand that he was going to be quiet again. They were the ones who knew how long he had been quiet for when he was first born, so hopefully they, at least, would understand.

Hades didn’t understand. Poseidon knew that Hades didn’t understand, and he understood why. Hades felt betrayed, betrayed that his brother who he was so close to had said nothing in his defense when he was banished from Olympus. He felt betrayed that Poseidon had sat by and done nothing, unlike Hestia who had fought for him. And Poseidon couldn’t explain.

Since Hades was banished from Olympus, he had stayed in the Underworld. So Poseidon hadn’t had a chance to try and explain. And even if he could, he tended not to speak in the Underworld; it was dry and hot and being in his older brother’s domain just made it that much harder to speak. Poseidon hated that the sea’s claim on him had caused his brother, who he had been so close to, to resent him, to feel betrayed by him, to pull away. He would never abandon the sea, and he would never change the fact that he had been born for the sea. But he sometimes wished that he could talk like his siblings, could communicate in the same ways that they did.

Hades had always been the sibling he was closest with, the one he felt the most comfort from. Hades had always been the one who he went to when he just wanted a hug, had been the one who would just sit and talk with him even without expecting a verbal reply, the one who seemed to always understand his facial expressions and vague gestures and what he meant by them. And now his inability to speak had caused his favorite sibling to turn bitter against him.

Hades used to understand, understood that he didn’t talk. But he had talked for centuries after leaving their father’s stomach, and so Hades just assumed that he always talked now. So when he didn’t talk, when he couldn’t, Hades just assumed that he had nothing to say. Had assumed that he hadn’t wanted to say anything, that he had agreed with Zeus.

Demeter and Hera didn’t care about his retreat into silence. They had tolerated him and his silence when they were younger and still trapped. They had put up with him because of the bond they shared as siblings. But they never went out of their way to do anything with him, not wanting to work out how to communicate with someone who couldn’t talk.

They had started caring a bit more once they were out of their father’s stomach and he started learning to talk, but not by much. He had always tried to remain close with them, valuing the family bond they shared, but they had not cared either way. So they didn’t care that he was silent again.

Hestia though… Hestia understood. She cared about all of them, and understood that sometimes, Poseidon would be silent. There were times when he came to visit her and just didn’t have the energy to use his powers to communicate, to project his voice so he could talk. So she understood that with all the changes occurring on Olympus – a new council, Hades being banished, and the new Laws being put in place concerning what they could and couldn’t do – that Poseidon would be silent again. She didn’t know why, but she understood that sometimes, he just wouldn’t talk.

She didn’t bring it up or say anything, but he could feel her understanding gaze on him whenever they met as a council once a month. And he was glad that at least one of his siblings understood. He was glad that he still had one sibling he could rely on and lean on and depend on and find comfort in. And while Hades was his favorite sibling, Hestia was his favorite sister.

It had been centuries since the Olympian council was formed. Poseidon still spent most of his time in the sea, ruling over his subjects and caring for his realm. He trained and spent time with his son, helping Triton learn of the duties he would finally be taking over as Heir of the Sea, or Heir of Atlantis as the rest of the gods saw him. He spent time with Amphitrite, talking of the issues of the sea and the issues in their lives and their individual families. He was content with his life and everything he had from the sea.

Hades was still distant from him, but he had accepted that years ago, had accepted that there was nothing he could have done. He had tried to fix their relationship, but by the time he had started speaking on the surface again, it had been decades and Hades was bitter. But his duties in the sea helped him, gave him something to focus on and soon he didn’t care to think of what the Olympians thought of him. His family was his wife – his best friend - and his son – his heir - and the rest of his subjects and citizens. He was of the sea, and he would hold his feelings deep inside him like the sea held its secrets in its dark depths.

So when the other Olympians started coupling with mortals, started having children that were part mortal and part god, Poseidon didn’t care. He had the sea – his kingdom and his citizens - to care for. He had Amphitrite and Triton. He had no need to seek the embrace of a mortal he did not know, had no need, nor want, to be intimate with a land dweller.

However, one day he had nothing to do and was feeling restless. Amphitrite was visiting her sisters and Triton was busy overseeing the training of the army, to which he was general of. He had nothing to do in his kingdom, had no pressing duties to attend to and he didn’t hold court for his citizens for another two days. He was restless and needed to do something, so he ventured to the surface.

He appeared in a town full of land dwellers, humans, and took on an appearance of a human, rather than a god. He wandered the town, before he reached a temple dedicated to him. A woman was inside, praying to him, asking him to help her conceive and have a child; while there were others that were dedicated to childbirth and fertility, many people prayed to him for help conceiving, hoping he could help them be as fertile and life giving as the ocean was. He entered the temple and approached her as she stood up. She turned, her eyes widening as she took in who he was, before she dropped to her knees again.

“Lord Poseidon,” she murmured.

“You wish for a child? You wish to bring life like the ocean does?” he questioned.

“Yes, my lord. I long for a family but my husband and I have been unable to have one.”

“I shall help you in return for your husband becoming a priest for my temple. I can give you a child who shall carry my blood,” Poseidon offered.

“Thank you, my lord. Of course, we shall both be honoured to have your child and my husband will of course become one of your priests. Thank you, my lord.”

And so, his first godling was born.

When he returned to the sea after that first venture, Poseidon explained what he had done to Amphitrite. She didn’t mind, such was their relationship, and encouraged him to watch over his yet to be born child. She suggested that it would be interesting to see how the sea reacted to the new child of the sea, a child who was not divine nor immortal, and Poseidon was inclined to agree.

He watched from afar, using one of the viewing glasses that was in the palace, throughout the pregnancy and as his child was born. He felt the sea around him react as his son was born, a slight whisper being heard before his son was named – the sea had accepted him as one of its own and named him. Poseidon visited his son that night, wanting to see him in person just once; the child, while a demigod and a child of the sea, was also the son of the couple he had helped and so he did not need to be involved in his son’s life. He could feel the sea in him as soon as he laid eyes on his son, could feel the power of the sea residing in his blood, and knew that the child would control water when he was older, to what extent was the only question.

As the years passed and the newest child of the sea – the first godling child of the sea – grew up. Poseidon continued watching from afar, and Amphitrite often joined him, interested in seeing how a godling child of the sea grew up on land and with mortals. They discovered quite quickly that, just like the others claimed by the sea, Poseidon’s son wasn’t able to communicate the same way that land dwellers did. He was three and a half by the time he was able to learn and master the ability to be heard and appear to speak on land; the ability was instinctual, but he had to have enough power and control to be able to do it.

As he matured more and started tapping in to his other abilities, the two royals of the sea saw that the godling was able to manipulate water, much like they were, although not to as great an extent. They also discovered that water healed him and gave him energy, and that he was able to decide whether he got wet or not. And, like all those who were claimed by the sea and were unable to communicate vocally above the sea, he was able to communicate with sea creatures and instinctively knew how to communicate underwater via the various methods they used.

Eventually, when the godling was 14, he swam into the sea and continued down until he reached Atlantis. He stayed there for a year, learning about the sea and what it meant to be a child of the sea. He was welcomed in the kingdom as anyone born of the sea was and was allowed to stay in the palace and was treated like the rest of the royal family due to his position as a son of Poseidon.

And that set the precedent for all of the future godlings that were claimed by the sea.

More and more years passed, and Poseidon occasionally had more godling children that the sea claimed. He didn’t venture above the sea more often than he had to, so while he had around 10 godlings a century, the godlings he had that were claimed by the sea were few and far between – usually between 2 and 5 a century; neither he nor Amphitrite could work out why the sea claimed some of his children and not others. Even if they didn’t know how the sea chose who it would claim and who it wouldn’t out of those who had sea in their blood, they did know that the godlings who were claimed by the sea had more godly abilities than his godlings that weren’t claimed. Those that weren’t claimed had the general water healing and energy boosting, plus the ability to breath underwater and not be affected by water pressure, as well as being able to communicate with sea creatures, and later horses once Poseidon created them; those that were claimed had the general abilities plus some extent of water manipulation and some were able to create storms or hurricanes or floods or earthquakes, as well as some manner of heat and fire resistance and perfect bearings at sea; those that were of the sea were also born just like all others that were chosen by the sea, with vocal cords that wouldn’t let them communicate on land.

Poseidon’s godling children, and all the godlings born of sea deities, all had such different powers and abilities depending on what the sea wanted them to have or not have,, on top of their godly abilities from their divine parent; it meant that they all had to learn about their powers on their own, through instinct and experiences, rather than learning from their godling siblings like godlings of other divine beings did, which is what made them such powerful godlings – they discovered their own powers and limits, rather than being told what they could and couldn’t do.

However, despite them all having different powers and abilities, all of Poseidon’s godlings that were part of the sea, as well as all the godlings that were born of other sea deities, were brought to visit Atlantis, and wherever their divine parent lived if they weren’t born from either of the royals, between the ages of 13 and 15, but most of them were 14 like Poseidon’s first godling was. They would stay there for a year to learn about the sea and what it meant to be part of the sea. The godlings that only had blood of the sea, but weren’t of the sea, were invited to visit Atlantis as well, but did not stay for more than a day; the sea and its subjects simply didn’t accept them in the same way.

The routine continued for years, and as more of Poseidon’s godlings, and the handful of godlings that were Amphitrite’s or some other sea deities’, continued to come and stay at Atlantis for a year – or longer, depending on their situation – Triton started becoming more protective of his half-siblings. He understood his parent’s relationship and knew that he would always be the Heir of Atlantis – the sea had given him that title, after all – so he wasn’t jealous of his parent’s godlings. However, when they first started appearing, he simply treated them as another person of the sea, rather than as siblings. But as he got more used to them appearing, he started acting more and more like a brother towards them; he had always wanted a younger sibling to be protective of and care for, and now he had a lot, even if they were only half-siblings.

It was a routine that everyone liked; it meant that those of the sea could meet their brethren who lived on land, it meant that the godlings of the sea could live in the sea and understand their full connection to the ocean, and it meant that the godlings could see that their parent, mainly Poseidon but sometimes Amphitrite or another sea deity, did care for them, even if they struggled to show it while above the sea. Sometimes, the godlings who didn’t have any strong links to land, or have any family they had to stay for, would return to the sea a few years after leaving, and live the rest of their life out in Atlantis or somewhere else in the sea, until old age caught up to them, or death claimed them in some other way, like it did for all those with mortal blood.

It was a routine that none of the other gods were even aware of.

That routine was interrupted when Zeus created a set of laws, which would become the Ancient Laws, to better govern the gods. Most of the laws made sense and Poseidon didn’t have a problem with them. But there was one that he hated and would ignore, would let the other divinities of the sea know to ignore; divinities were to not interfere in the lives of godlings on a quest or other request of a divinity, and divine parents were to not interfere or interact with their godling children. When Zeus had announced that law, there had been a mixed reaction; some of the Olympians had been outraged, but many already ignored their children or simply watched them from afar and did not care. Poseidon had simply blinked before moving on, content to ignore the new law and continue followed the whispers of the sea, and it was the sea that had first called him to invite his godlings who were of the sea to stay in Atlantis, and it was the sea that had called his first godling to come visit.

More and more years passed and Poseidon and Amphitrite, and all the other sea deities, continued to ignore the particular Ancient Law that forbid them from interacting with their godlings, who were now called demigods. They continued to bring their demigods down under the sea when they were around 14, which now still classed them as a growing child rather than a new adult. They simply had to be more careful about how they summoned their children or called them to come to avoid other gods noticing; they waited until the call of the sea brought the child down, or sent them a message in a dream when they were sure Morpheus wasn't watching.

But Camp Half-Blood became more and more popular, and it became harder and harder for demigods to survive in the mortal world without being killed by constant monster attacks. Mortals were no longer aware of the godly world, hidden by the Mist that Hecate created. And that made it so much harder to hide the demigods of the sea venturing down to Atlantis for a year. But the sea couldn’t and wouldn’t be restrained, so they simply changed how they did things. Rather than having the demigod come down for a year, they came down for the better part of a year and a half or two years, going back to the surface and the land dwellers for summer and to attend camp so their disappearance didn’t attract attention from the rest of the godly world.

When Camp-Half Blood was first created, Poseidon didn’t particularly care that only the Olympians got a cabin there, as only a handful of demigods would go there year-round, and only a few dozen more would come for the summer months. He simply assumed that an Olympian would act as a Patron and allow demigods of other deities who had similar domains to them to stay in their cabins. However, as the years passed, he discovered that that was not how camp was running, and that the demigods whose parent weren’t Olympians were simply being shoved in the Hermes cabin, taking advantage of his hospitality as the God of Travelers. And he would not allow any child with the blood of the sea, whether they were of the sea or not, to live in cramped conditions, especially when there was a cabin designed for those of the sea.

So he started claiming all the demigods who had a parent from the sea. The demigods, once they moved in to his cabin, would then receive a note or a gift or some sign from their actual parent, and a note from him to explain what he had done and why. The children of the sea never cared that they were incorrectly claimed, feeling much more comfortable around others with similar abilities and affinities, and feeling more at home in Cabin 3.

Cabin 3 became their safe place, somewhere where they didn’t have to constantly pretend – they could sign and hum and squeak and whistle to communicate as much as they wanted, surrounded by others who did the same or at least understood them. All children born from someone with sea in their blood – be it a divinity or some other immortal or the rare occurrence where a demigod of the sea who had children – could understand the communication of the sea; even if they weren’t claimed by the sea meaning they couldn’t use the communication, they could still understand it.

And Poseidon didn’t care that that started making him seem to have a lot more children than he did, that it made him seem like a man-whore like Zeus was: his first duty was to those of the sea and their children, and it was a duty he enjoyed and would continue to enjoy, even if it did change how the rest of the Olympians and other gods viewed him; he didn't care about their opinions anyway, hadn't cared for centuries.

Many of the demigods who history knew as his children only knew them as that as he had claimed them in place of their real parent, although there were a few that were really his – Theseus was his son, while Orion, for example, was Amphitrite’s son who wasn’t claimed by the sea.

Poseidon had one of his viewing mirrors constantly watching the cabin, even if he only used it every now and then – the others with children living there were also welcomed to use it to watch their children. And as more demigods started living in the Sea Cabin, as the children called it, they started bringing back stories of their times under the sea and the things they learnt. The demigods all knew not to talk about it outside of the safety of their cabin, even to each other, but they often stayed up late trading stories and tales of their time in Atlantis and other parts of the sea with their parents. The demigods who were too young to go yet enjoyed the stories, becoming more and more excited to become old enough to live under the sea that often called to them.

Poseidon frowned as he felt the emergency summoning to Olympus. He quickly swum through the palace, using the water boost his speed, until he reached the throne room, where he knew Amphitrite was holding court; they held court separately so they could help their subjects every day while still attending to their other duties, and the citizens who attended court knew what type of problems each of them was better at handling. He entered the throne room, everyone turning to face him as he entered, inclining their heads in respect. He nodded to them, waving them away and gesturing to Amphitrite.

‘I have been called to an emergency council’ he signed. Amphitrite nodded.

‘I will send for Triton and have him cover your duties.’

‘Thank you. I will let you know when I return.’ Poseidon left the throne room before preparing himself for the shift between the sea and the land above and disappearing in a shower of bubbles – vapor travel was infinitely better than flashing, which was the usual way gods travelled, in Poseidon’s opinion at least.

He reappeared on Olympus in the throne room in a swirl of mist. He walked straight to his throne, which as a fisherman’s chair mirrored his throne in Atlantis minus the decorations of the sea and the sea life that clung to it. Once he was seated, he looked around the rest of the room and the other Olympians as they arrived, his gaze quickly falling on the spare throne near the hearth that his older brother was sitting on, just like he did during Winter Solstice meetings. Whatever was important enough for Zeus to call an emergency meeting for must be big if he had invited Hades there, especially during since it was just nearing the end of summer.

Zeus was the last to arrive, flashing in, a boom of thunder accompanying his entrance. Poseidon let out a quiet sigh before focusing on his younger brother.

“There is an urgent matter that we need to discuss,” Zeus announced.

“Obviously brother, or else you wouldn’t have called an emergency meeting. Just get to it, some of us have duties we actually have to attend to,” Demeter grumbled. Poseidon rolled his eyes; she was probably just annoyed that she was pulled away from spending time with Persephone.

“Apollo has just informed me of a new prophecy that his Oracle spoke, which speaks of the downfall of Olympus,” Zeus declared. Silence followed the declaration. And then basically everyone started talking at once. Poseidon remained quiet, manipulating the water molecules so he could hear the conversations all around the room, despite the cacophony. Zeus let the mayhem continue for a few minutes before banging his fist on the arm of his throne, which was accompanied by a bang of thunder.

“Silence. Apollo, tell us the prophecy.”

“The prophecy is as follows. A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep, hero’s soul cursed blade shall reap, a single choice to end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze.”

“Raise like bring up, or raze as in destroy?” Athena asked.

“R-A-Z-E, raze as in destroy,” Apollo said. “Hence why father said it speaks of the downfall of Olympus.”

“So what can we gather from the prophecy? Any clues about who this ‘hero’ is?” Athena asked.

“I’d assume that the ‘hero’ it speaks of is a boy, since it mentions reaping ‘his’ soul,” Aphrodite said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

“And the half-blood is obviously a demigod child of either Hades, Poseidon, or Zeus,” Apollo said.

“Why not Demeter? She is technically elder. OR Aphrodite, who was born of a primordial rather than a titan,” Artemis rebutted.

“Because in a prophecy, the wording is extremely important. It mentions of the ‘elder gods’. That means that there are multiple gods who are the elders, but it also specifies gods, not divinities or deities. So it most likely won’t be about a demigod of Demeter or Aphrodite, since they are both technically a goddess,” Apollo explained.

“So either Poseidon, Hades, or father is going have a half-blood kid, who turns sixteen and then makes a choice to either save or destroy Olympus and then gets his soul reaped,” Ares summarized.

“That is what it seems to be,” Zeus agreed.

“It does seem that way. But you have to remember that prophecies are never as straight forward as they seem, and they often rely solely on a few words and their different meanings,” Apollo added.  

“So what do we do? How do we guarantee that the demigod of the prophecy will choose to preserve Olympus rather than raze it?” Hermes asked.

“We can’t,” Dionysus said. “No one can predict how the brats are going to act. Just look at the war that just tried to destroy the world. None of us could have predicted how the brats of father, Hades, and Poseidon would act or that they would start a war that spread to the whole world.” Poseidon sighed but remained silent. The child of the sea who had been at the front of the war with Zeus’ son had been a rare child of Oceanus who had a limited amount of control over the water – Oceanus had lost some of his power when Poseidon took over, leaving his rare children with less influence granted to them by the sea as well; Oceanus had been a peaceful force of the seas for millennia, having surrendered the oceans to him when he felt the sea shift the title of King, and Poseidon claimed his rare demigod child just like he did all the other children with blood of the sea.

“Then we stop it. We prevent the prophecy,” Zeus decided. “My brothers and myself swear an oath on the Styx to not have any more demigods.”

Poseidon frowned slightly, thinking over the consequences of swearing such an oath; he didn’t have that many demigods that were actually his, but swearing such an oath would mean that all sea deities would have to stop having children, or be resigned to their children staying in the Hermes cabin, either unclaimed or claimed; if he claimed any child of the sea after the oath, his brothers – or at least Zeus – would do his best to kill the child. And if the sea called to him to have a child, like it had once or twice when the mortal world had greatly benefitted from a son of Poseidon walking among them, then his child would be born under a broken oath, something he would not wish on any child.

“Why should I have to make the oath. I am not an Olympian. I do not care for the fate of Olympus,” Hades sneered.

“But we are still family brother. And if we fall, you will not be far behind,” Poseidon said as he pulled out of his thoughts, finally speaking up and projecting his thoughts as sounds through the air. Hades glared at him.

“You speak of family as if you care. You have just as many children at the demigod camp as Zeus does, showing you do not care for your wife, and you don’t even give them gifts or send them signs as a reward like the rest of us. What do you know about family?” Hades snarled. Poseidon flinched slightly, but kept his face passive, even as his emotions were running rampant under the surface; Hades knew nothing of what he did or how he felt, but there was nothing he could do about that – the sea had its secrets, no matter how painful keeping those secrets were.

“Regardless, Poseidon is right Hades. If Olympus falls, the Underworld and the rest of the gods will not be far behind,” Hera said. “It is the best interest of everyone that the three of you swear the oath.”

“We shall vote,” Zeus decided. “All those in favor of my brothers and I making the oath to not have any more half-bloods.”

Hera, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Artemis, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus all voted for the oath along with Zeus. Poseidon was pretty sure he could guess why the others didn’t – Hades hated the idea, that much was obvious, Aphrodite would not want to lose the opportunity to have more demigods to play with in regard to their love lives, and Apollo would disagree purely on the fact that you couldn’t prevent a prophecy; as soon as a prophecy was given, the events that the prophecy spoke of were set in stone and were already fated to happen at a specific time, even if the outcome could be changed depending on decisions of all those involved, especially when the prophecy spoke of a choice or multiple possible outcomes, of which this particular prophecy did both. There was no stopping or even delaying a prophecy – it would happen at exactly the time it was intended to happen, regardless of what you did to try and prevent it.

“Majority vote. We make the oath. I shall go first, and you shall repeat my exact wording,” Zeus announced, glaring at both Poseidon and Hades, both who hated the idea of the oath.

“It’s not going to change anything,” Apollo grumbled. “A prophecy is a prophecy. There’s no escaping prophecy, no running from Fate.” Zeus ignored him.

“I, Zeus, god of the sky, lighting, thunder, and King of Olympus, do swear upon the River Styx to abstain from siring any demigod children until the newly stated Great Prophecy comes to pass.”

Thunder boomed, and the thirteen gods in the throne room could tell that it was not just Zeus trying to be dramatic, like he was prone to do. The Styx had accepted and sealed the oath. Poseidon stared at Zeus as his youngest brother alternated between glaring at him and glaring at Hades, neither of the older sons of Kronos wishing to make the oath.

“You shall make the oath, brothers. The council agreed and you shall follow the wishes of the council,” Zeus demanded. Poseidon tilted his head minutely, hearing the faint whispers of the sea in his ear.

Make the oath, chosen ruler. The consequences of a broken oath shall not be allowed to pass on to any child of the sea.

“Very well, brother,” Poseidon said. “I, Poseidon, god of the sea, storms, and earthquakes, King of Atlantis, do swear upon the River Styx to abstain from siring any demigod children until the newly stated Great Prophecy comes to pass.” As Poseidon projected the words to the rest of the gods in the throne room, he hummed, clicked, and squealed the same oath, quiet enough that none of the others would hear, knowing that the oath would only bind if he actually voiced it and not just projected it. Thunder boomed, sealing the oath, and causing everyone to turn to Hades.

“Very well. I, Hades, god of the dead, darkness, wealth and riches, and King of the Underworld, do swear upon the River Styx to abstain from siring any demigod children until the newly stated Great Prophecy comes to pass,” Hades muttered, arms crosses and a scowl on his face, clearly showing his displeasure. For a third time the thunder of the Styx boomed across the sky, sealing Hades to his oath.

“Are we done?” Hades demanded after a few seconds of silence.

“Meeting dismissed,” Zeus said. Hades immediately vanished in the shadows, closely followed by Apollo and Artemis flashing away. Poseidon had one last look around the throne room before disappearing into mist.

He reappeared in his office in a shower of bubbles. He swum out of his office headed to the throne room, which was now empty, court having finished at least an hour ago. Once in the middle of the throne room, he let out a loud, shrill whistle, followed by a deep, thrumming hum; it was a call for a council of sea deities, and was a call that everyone of the sea would echo until it was heard all through the sea.

The first to appear in the throne room were Amphitrite and Triton, which was unsurprising since they would have been in the palace. Delphin swam in next, and the rest of the sea deities, including both Oceanus and Tethys, flashed into the throne room within the next hour. While waiting for everyone to arrive, the deities took the time to catch up and mingle, the room filled with a variety of conversations of both verbal and signing. Finally, the last of the sea deities arrived, an ambassador for the Ichthyocentuars. Poseidon let out a loud click, calling their attention to him.

‘Thank you for coming and coming swiftly. I called you together to tell you of the happenings of an emergency council that was called on Olympus this morning,’ Poseidon began, pausing as clicks and squeaks erupted from the deities in the room; the last time he had called them together to tell them about an Olympian council was when Zeus had created the Ancient Laws.

‘As you know, the proceedings would usually not concern us, however, today it did,’ Poseidon continued once the room quieted again and everyone was looking at him. ‘A Great Prophecy has been issued, speaking of a half-blood child of one of the eldest gods who will either save or destroy Olympus. This prophecy does not affect the seas or the seas children. However, the Olympian’s response to it will. My younger brother has forced Hades and I to swear an oath to have no more demigod children, in the hope of preventing the prophecy.’

Poseidon paused again as the throne room burst into noise again, mainly from outrage and disbelief that someone would try to stop a prophecy. It was common knowledge amongst the sea that, just like you did not try to force the sea or ignore its will, you did not try to prevent prophecy or change fate. It took a lot longer for the throne room to fall quiet this time, but eventually the deities all calmed down and turned their attention back to Poseidon.

‘I understand how you feel. I felt much the same way. However, Zeus made the oath and then forced Hades and I to swear it as well, and the sea told me to agree to the oath. I simply wished to inform you as this oath means that I can no longer claim any of your demigod children at Camp Half-Blood if they are born after today without calling the fury of Zeus and possibly Hades down upon them. It is your choice whether that means you stop having children with mortals, or if you simply allow any future children to stay in the Hermes cabin with the other unclaimed and children of minor gods.’

Many years passed since the oath had been made, and Poseidon remained happy and content under the sea, rarely venturing to the surface. He found it easy to keep the oath, not having the same urge to procreate and mate with mortals that the rest of the gods, especially the Olympians, seemed to have. The other sea deities had all agreed on the same course of action – none of them would have a demigod child until either the prophecy passed, because it would come to pass, or their King had a child first.

Eventually, though, Poseidon felt a presence near a beach along the West Coast. The presence felt young, and extremely similar to what Zeus felt like when he was near the sea. Curious, Poseidon travelled to near where he felt the presence, free to investigate as court had broken an hour beforehand, leaving him with no more pressing duties to complete that day. He headed towards the beach, following where the feeling was coming from. He soon found where the presence was coming from; a woman and her young child, a girl who had to be less than 2 years old. He could practically feel the power of the sky radiating from her; she was his niece, a daughter of Zeus. Poseidon watched the young girl, who he heard the woman, her mother, call Thalia, play with the sand for a while, before sighing and disappearing back to Atlantis. The girl would have a hard life and most likely a tragic end at a young age, due to being born against an oath on the Styx. She would be forced to live with the punishment of a broken oath until she died.

It had been just over three years since Poseidon had seen Thalia, Zeus’ daughter, and discovered that his younger brother – who had been the one to insist on the oath in the first place – was the first to break the oath. As the days passed, Poseidon felt himself getting more restless, and was unable to work out what the cause was.

Then came the day that Amphitrite went to visit her sisters, as she did once a month. Triton was overseeing the training of the newest recruits for their army, so Poseidon was left alone in the palace. He had finished his duties and the restless feeling was growing. So, much like he had done centuries ago when he was in much the same situation, he travelled to the surface. He stepped out of the water on a beach along the East Coast, close to where Camp Half-Blood was situated.

He wandered along the beach for a while, until he saw a young woman who was standing in the shallows of the water, simply watching the ocean. She was incredibly pretty, and Poseidon could tell, just by looking at her, that she had an attitude like the sea; calm and collected, but if you got her mad, she wouldn’t back down; peaceful but rebellious and fierce in both her opinions and her defense of those she cared about. He felt an attraction to her and wanted to get to know her and could feel the slightest nudge from the sea to approach her. He did what he always did and followed what the sea suggested.

At first, the conversation between them was stilted, although the quiet between them was somehow comfortable, despite them being practically strangers. But Poseidon continued to come back each day once he had finished with his duties to the sea, and their acquaintance turned into friendship. Sally could see through the mist, and he soon found himself explaining everything about the Greek world to her, including who he was. And then somewhere along the way, the friendship turned into a romantic relationship. Poseidon kept them from becoming intimate, not wanting to break the oath and force his child to live under the consequences of a broken oath – despite the reassurance the sea had given him when he first made the oath – or to give his child the life of a hero, which always ended in tragedy; it always broke his heart when he felt the death of yet another mortal child of the sea, and he knew the rest of the sea felt the same disturbance as another demigod of the sea died.

The summer ended, and Sally returned home to New York. Their relationship didn’t end though, as she would continue to visit the beach on the weekends when she could, and Poseidon would visit her in her apartment sometimes during the week. And then towards the end of November, Sally confided in him that her greatest wish had always been to have a child, to have the chance to be a mother.

Poseidon crumbled then and gave her the choice of having his child. He warned her that his child would be a demigod, telling her of the dangers their child would face should they be burdened with that life. He told her of the risks and the challenges and mentioned how every demigod would have to go to Camp Half-Blood at some stage during their life to learn to survive – Greek demigods were fated to go there or die trying to. And after hearing all the risks, of hearing about what children of the gods had to go through, Sally still asked to have his child, still said that she longed for a child and loved him enough to have his child, despite the dangers and challenges that would come from it.

Soon enough, Sally was pregnant. Poseidon could feel the traces of the sea from the growing child in her and knew that his child would be of the sea, knew that the sea would claim the growing child. He visited as often as he could throughout her pregnancy, offering as much support as he could in all the ways he was able to, although Sally rarely accepted his help; she was a very determined and independent woman.

As Sally past 7 months pregnant, Poseidon could feel the power of the sea almost radiating from his son who was still growing. He could tell his son was going to be an incredibly powerful individual, could feel that he would be one of his strongest demigod children. And he could also already sense the acceptance of the sea in him, could sense that his son was already chosen by the sea and accepted as a child of the sea, which he had never seen happen; all those of the sea were only claimed and chosen after their birth.

But knowing that his son would be of the sea also told Poseidon that he would have the same issue with his vocal cords and communication on land that the rest of those of the sea had, meaning he could warn Sally ahead of time. Normally, he would be able to tell if his child was chosen by the sea when they were born and he visited them for the first time, after which he would tell their mother if necessary. This time, though, he could warn Sally before their son was born.

“Sally, there is something I need to tell you about our son,” Poseidon said, sitting on the couch next to her in her apartment.

“What is it Poseidon? Is something wrong?” Sally asked worriedly, her hand moving to rest on her stomach.

“There is nothing wrong. However, I feel I must tell you that some of my children are slow developers at first, especially when it comes to speaking. I believe our son will be affected the same way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I do not understand why, but some of my children take years before they start to talk. They make noise and babble like all babies do, but they do not say their first words for years, some of them going as far as not talking until they are 5 or 6. I believe our son will have the same issue, so please do not be worried if he does not speak for years. And many of my children who are slow to start talking often end up having some form of selective mutism,” Poseidon explained, using the same explanation as he did with all the mothers of his children who were claimed by the sea, which explained all they needed to know while still keeping the sea’s secrets.

“Why?” Sally asked, glancing down at her stomach.

“I do not know. It may have something to do with my blood and their connection to the sea, but I could not say.” Sally was quiet for a while, simply leaning against Poseidon with her head on his shoulder.

“Thank you for telling me. I can always teach him ASL when he is younger. That way we can communicate before he starts talking, and he can have another way to communicate if he does have selective mutism,” Sally suggested.

“You know ASL?” Poseidon asked, having not known that about her.

“I knew it as a child, and I can always brush up on it. My dad was deaf, and one of my best friends in primary school was hard of hearing, so I used it a lot while I was younger, even though I haven't used it in years now,” Sally explained.

“You are amazing,” Poseidon said, leaning over to kiss her forehead, before having to say goodbye and disappearing back to the sea.

Poseidon was holding court when he felt a new connection appear, felt the sea celebrate the birth of a new child of the sea, a new Prince of the sea at that; his son was born. Everyone in the throne room where he was holding court felt the shift in the sea as it acknowledged a newly claimed child of the sea, a newly claimed Prince, pausing and staring at their King.

Poseidon had his head tilted slightly, listening to the sea as it whispered his son’s name to Sally; she had had a name chosen he knew, so he was interested to know how similar the name from the sea would be. He smiled as he heard the name the sea chose; it was the same as the one Sally had been thinking of. He felt it would suit his newest son well, simply based on the amount of power he had felt from him. And he smiled as the sea then whispered its own message to him.

Do not fear, chosen ruler. The sea protects its own. The broken oath shall not be allowed to kill him.

“My King, may we know the name of our newest Prince?” one of the guards in the throne room asked through a series of clicks after stepping forward. Poseidon nodded, rising from his throne to stand in front of those gathered for court; he knew his declaration would spread quickly and that the whole sea would know within hours.

“Hail Perseus, my newest son and the newest Prince of the Sea,” he declared.

“Hail Perseus, Prince of the Sea,” everyone in the throne room said, bowing towards their King.

Poseidon watched over his son as much as he could as Perseus grew up, often using the viewing mirror when he had nothing pressing to do. He watched as his son learnt ASL and then how Perseus taught himself to mimic speech on land. He watched as his son used the signs of the sea, rather than ASL, and how he absently used the sounds of the sea when he was alone. He knew he couldn’t go to visit his son other than the first night Perseus had spent out of the hospital, as that would make it easier for monsters to find his son and bring his brothers’ attention to Perseus. Poseidon simply watched his son from afar as much as he could.

He hated how Sally had married a disgusting man called Gabriel Ugliano. He understood what she was doing, understood what her aim was; she was trying to protect their son. He had already started to attract monsters at a young age, and Ugliano masked Perseus' scent. Poseidon just wished that the man would treat them better – they both deserved better. He could do nothing as he saw how badly Ugliano treated his past lover and his son; he had promised Sally that he would not interfere with their lives, that he would let her care for their son until he returned to the godly Greek world.

Poseidon continued watching his son as Perseus grew up, going through school after school, unknowingly escaping monster after monster. And he was incredibly proud of the person Perseus was growing to be.

Chapter Text

Percy bolted upright in his bed, sweat beading his forehead. He had just had the same nightmare that had been plaguing him for months – Mrs Dodds turning into a scaly, winged creature and flying at him, claws outstretched. The attack at the museum had been haunting him through the nights, and the rest of Yancy Academy was convincing him he was crazy during the day, everyone set on the fact that Mrs Dodds had never existed. He was getting extremely stressed, and he had reverted back to silence and ASL communication in an effort to take some stress off himself – it took more effort to do what he needed to in order to verbally communicate when he was stressed, or when it was dry or when it hadn’t rained for ages.

He glanced at the clock before heading into the bathroom that was attached to the dorm he shared with his best friend, Grover. He undressed quickly and stepped into the shower, letting the cold-water wash over him as he sat down, leaning against the side of the shower. Water had always calmed him down, had always been where he felt the most at peace. And it had always been a place where he could relax and let himself make the noises that he knew were a version of communication but also knew he couldn’t use in front of others – people his instincts wanted him to call land dwellers, even though he had no clue why or what it meant.

He stayed sitting in the shower for a long time, simply letting the water wash over him as he absently clicked, squeaked, hummed, and wailed, sometimes making signs that he knew – had always known – but that weren’t part of ASL. He had no clue when or where he had learnt the signs or the noises, but he knew what they meant. It was instinctual, and it was more comfortable than ASL or the way he spoke. He finally got out of the shower when Grover woke up and knocked on the door, needing to use the toilet.

Another day in school, trying to convince himself he wasn’t going mad, and trying not to get bullied or in trouble for his silence.

Percy groaned as he sat up, his head aching.

“Careful there.” He turned his head and found Grover sitting by the bed, looking like he hadn’t slept for a week. Everything that had happened came rushing back to him and he groaned again. He opened his mouth, trying to do whatever it was that let him speak, but no sound came out. He tried again, but his head kept pounding, ruining his concentration. He sighed and turned to Grover.

‘What happened? What’s going on? Where are we?’

“We’re at a place called Camp Half-Blood. It’s a safe place for people like you. You’ve been out for 2 days. What do you remember?” Grover asked. Percy frowned, trying to sort his memories out.

‘You came in the storm, saying something about something being right behind you. Lightning hit the car. There was a monster, half-man, half-bull. The Minotaur?’ he asked, spelling out the name of the monster.

“Yeah, Pasiphae’s son. Be careful with names, they have power. Signing should be alright, but don’t say them out loud. Do you remember anything else?”

‘You were passed out. The monster attacked, and mum disappeared. I killed it, with its own horn, I think. Then I blacked out.’

“That’s pretty much it, yeah. Sorry Perce, I should have asked earlier. Are you alright? Does anything hurt? And I’m sorry about your mum Percy. I’m a terrible satyr.”

‘Is she really gone? Is she dead? My head hurts, like a constant pounding.’

“I didn’t see what happened, but yeah, I think so. I’m so sorry Percy. And here, this drink should help your head,” Grover said, passing Percy a tall glass of amber liquid that looked very much like apple juice. Percy took a sip, staring at the liquid in surprise at the taste, having expected apple juice – it tasted like a liquid version of his mum’s homemade blue cookies, with the choc chips still melting. He took another sip, the pounding in his head disappearing like it had never been there at all.

“Thank you,” Percy said quietly, his ability to project his voice easier to use now that his head didn’t feel like there was an explosion occurring in it.

“Course Perce. Come on, Chiron and Mr D are waiting for us,” Grover said, taking the glass from his hand before helping him to his feet. Percy swayed slightly as he stood before getting his balance and following his best friend out of the room he was in, wondering who Mr D and Chiron were.

Percy stared around at Olympus as he walked along the path that led to the throne room – hopefully. He had no idea what he was getting in to but hoped that he would be allowed to leave Olympus alive; he had brought Zeus’ lightning bolt back after a long and hard quest, after all. He had struggled with his selective mutism through the quest, especially when they were in the Underworld – and he had discovered that his selective mutism had a godly reason behind it, and how he was able to speak.

When he was first claimed and moved into the Poseidon cabin, which he discovered was referred to as the Sea Cabin by those who lived in it, he had found a note sitting on one of the beds, addressed to him. It had explained to him about his connection to the sea, how it had caused his vocal cords to be different to those of land dwellers. It had explained how he would have instinctively known how to use his powers to manipulate the water molecules to create sound waves, and how the signs and noises he instinctively knew were the communications used in the sea – the signs of the sea and the sounds of the sea. It had explained how if it was dry or very hot, or if he was under stress or incredibly anxious, then his ability to manipulate those water molecules would become harder to use; either because his emotions made it hard to concentrate or because there was only a small amount or water molecules to use. It had explained how, normally, the cabin would have a handful of other children with the blood of the sea, not just his siblings.

The note had explained how he would have to discover his powers and abilities on his own, both because it would let him find and push his own limits, and also because even his dad didn’t know what abilities the sea had given him on top of his God-given abilities from his dad. It had explained how the sea was the one to choose his name, how it was the sea who named him Perseus; his mum had always liked the name, but it had been the sea that decided on it and allowed his mum to name him Perseus. Knowing that the sea had named him Perseus made it seem more special, like a name just for the sea and those of the sea and made him more determined to only go by his nickname of Percy while on land. He had decided that only those of the sea would know him as Perseus; this decision was made slightly more difficult by the monsters always referring to him as Perseus Jackson, since they somehow knew his name.

And, most importantly, in Percy’s opinion, it told him that Poseidon, his dad, was proud of him and was watching over him, even if he couldn’t see him.

Percy pulled himself out of his thoughts as he reached the throne room, steeling his nerves and adjusting the backpack on his shoulder before stepping in. He was instantly overwhelmed by the crackling power in the air, and could tell that, just like in the Underworld, the godly power in the air, mixed with the dryness of the air – like the dry and ozone feeling before a storm – would not allow him to easily speak. But he would try.

He knelt down in front of the thrones, acknowledging first his father and then the King of Gods – it was only right to acknowledge the King of the Seas, as a being of the sea before anything else, before the King of the Gods, especially since he wasn’t a god. Zeus didn’t seem to agree, but thankfully his father was quick to placate him, and Percy could sense the water molecules in the air shifting as the words that seemed to come from his dad floated through the air; even though the note had explained it, it was nice to know that there were others who spoke on land the same way he did.

And then, at his dad’s prompting, he told the story of their quest. He explained about everything that had happened, the encounters that set them back or pushed them off course, and the circumstances that led to them finding the bolt. He spoke of the multiple run ins with Ares, and talked about everything that had happened in the Underworld. He had to pause, multiple times throughout the story, to regain his bearings and steady himself before pushing on – normally if it was that difficult to project his voice, he would simply fall silent, relying on his hands to speak for him, but he could tell that Zeus would not appreciate that, so he pushed on.

He relaxed slightly as Zeus disappeared, the heavy feeling in the air disappearing with the god. He looked up as his dad stepped towards him, shrinking down to human size.

“Sir, what was in the pit?” he asked as silence spread between them – it was both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

‘Have you not guessed Perseus?’ his father asked, signing the question in the signs of the sea. Percy instantly felt safe and at home; here was someone who knew the language he instinctively wanted to use, here was someone he could communicate with without a thought.

‘Kronos. The King of the Titans. My grandfather,’ he replied.

‘From time to time over the eons, my father has stirred from his place in Tartarus, where he resides in pieces. He breathes evil thoughts and invades men’s nightmares, wakening restless monsters from the depths of the pits. But to suggest that he could rise is another thing.’

‘It is true. I could feel his power. He is healing, coming back.’

‘I may believe you, my son. The sea has felt echoes of his disturbances, and there have been whispers of sea forces long forgotten stirring once again. But Lord Zeus has closed all discussion on this matter. He will not allow talk of Kronos. You have completed your quest, Perseus, and that is all you have to do.’

He raised his hands, about to reply, before he paused and lowered his head. ‘As you wish, father.’ He didn’t look at his dad as he finished signing his message, keeping his head bowed.

“Obedience does not come easily to you, does it Perseus?” his father asked, and Percy tilted his head slightly at the sounds; he had made similar sounds himself when he was alone and talking to himself, but it was very different to hear someone else use the same noises as communication. He shook his head in answer to the question, his gaze still directed towards the ground.

“I must take much of the blame for that. The sea does not like to be restrained, as you must have worked out by now, and you are of the sea because of your connection to me. And Perseus, your mother has been returned, she will be waiting for you when you return home.”

Percy lifted his head, a small smile making its way across his face at the news of his mum. He opened his mouth to ask something, before snapping it shut again and shifting his gaze, so he was looking at his dad’s shoulder, rather than his face.

“Your mother is a queen amongst mortals Perseus. And I will never regret being with her or helping grant her wish to have a child, but I will regret the fate I have given you.” Percy winced, shutting his eyes, and lowering his head back towards the floor, his smile sliding from his face. His father had basically said that he was a mistake, that he wished he wasn’t born. He unconsciously wrapped his arms around himself, giving himself comfort.

“Oh Perseus, that’s not what I meant,” Poseidon said, crouching down and lifting Percy’s chin with his finger, causing him to open his eyes to look at his dad. “I will never regret having you. You are my son, my child. I simply dislike that I have burdened you with the life of a hero. All demigods face tragedy through their lives, and I regret that I have brought a similar fate down on you. But I will never regret having you as my son Perseus.”

“Really?” Percy asked, blinking back tears that were forming in his eyes.

“Of course, my son. You read the note I sent you, and I will tell you as many times as I need to until you believe it. I love you so, so much Perseus, and I am so incredibly proud of you and the person you are becoming. I love you and even if I am not there, I will be watching over you as much as I can.”

“Thank you, dad,” Percy said, wrapping his arms around his dad. Poseidon gently returned the hug for a few moments before stepping back.

‘I love you Perseus. You are a true child of the sea.’ Poseidon gave him one last smile before disappearing in a shower of bubbles, leaving Percy to make his way back out of Olympus and home to his mum on his own.

Percy collapsed on his bed in his cabin with a muted groan. He loved Tyson, he had since he had first met him, but he didn’t want him as a brother, didn’t want to have to share his cabin with him. Annabeth had thought he was crazy for not realising that Tyson was a cyclops, for not realising that they were half-brothers through his dad. But his instincts had basically yelled at him to hide the secrets of the sea from him. He had originally thought it was just because he was so close with Tyson that his instincts were telling him that, reminding him that his new friend couldn’t know. But now, he could tell that the communication of the sea was not a secret that cyclops were allowed to know, at least, he knew the time wasn’t right for Tyson to discover them – he somehow knew that telepathic conversation was the way to communicate with cyclops below the sea.

And now his dad had claimed Tyson. He understood why, of course he did. Tyson had the blood of the sea in him, meaning that the Sea Cabin was rightfully his to stay in. But he was a cyclops. And no matter how much blood of the sea a cyclops had, none of the cyclops were chosen of the sea while the solely lived on the surface, and no cyclops was allowed to witness the sounds of signs of the sea until the sea claimed them. So yes, he did understand why his dad had claimed Tyson. But he hated the fact that his dad had unintentionally taken away his one safe place, the one place he could freely use the communication of the sea while above land.

The next few days were tough for Percy. He was irritable a lot, snapping at the other campers often, especially when they made a comment about his relationship with Tyson. He didn’t mean to snap or be irritable, he didn’t mean to be so mean to Tyson. But he didn’t have the release he had always had – his room at home, the shower at boarding schools, and the Sea Cabin at camp. And he hadn’t realised how much he had relied on that release, how much he had depended on having a safe place to use his instinctual method of communication after masking it all day.

He ended up hiding in the lake when everything got too much. Annabeth had pulled him aside during their shared free block and, quite forcefully, told him to get it together, stop acting like an idiot, and stop taking out whatever was annoying him on the rest of the camp. He had had to bite his tongue to stop himself snapping at her – or letting out a very high squeal that his dad, and mum if she could understand the sounds of the sea, would not appreciate him using or saying – and had retreated into the lake. He swum to the deepest part of the lake and simply sat there, letting the water around him sooth and calm him. Here he was free to let out the instincts he had masked for the past few days, let out the signs and sounds he had wanted to release in the Sea Cabin but had been unable to, due to Tyson being there.

He spent almost an hour down there, only coming up when someone started throwing stones around the edge of the lake. It was most likely Annabeth, and it was most likely to get his attention.

That night, he had a peaceful dream, rather than one of Grover. He was simply relaxing in the ocean. As he floated in the sea, his dad’s voice echoed around him.

“I apologise for causing you to lose your safe place Perseus. I neglected to think of how the sea hides its secrets from my cyclops sons until they are accepted at our underwater forge. But Tyson is my son, regardless of the sea not choosing and blessing him or accepting him just yet, so I couldn’t not claim him. I am sorry for taking away your safe place Perseus.” Percy let out a sigh, a trail of bubbles leaving his lips; one of the naiads had clearly told his dad of the hour he spent in the lake, and some of the things he had said while releasing his frustrations.

“I understand dad. He’s your son and he is my brother, even if the sea didn’t claim him and will wait before accepting him. I just wasn’t used to not having somewhere to release.” The sea around him seemed to warm slightly, flowing around him in a soothing manner before he fell into an even deeper sleep and away from any dreams at all.

Percy did his best not to breathe through his nose as he tackled Nereus – he smelled horrible. He wrestled with the Old Man of the Sea for a few minutes, before tricking him into taking both of them into the water.

“Damn it, why won’t you drown?” Nereus asked, and Percy grinned.

“I’m the newest demigod son of Poseidon, a child of the sea. The sea won’t hurt its own,” Percy replied, just knowing that he could use the sounds of the sea to communicate with Nereus, that Nereus would understand.

“You are Prince Perseus,” Nereus stated, pausing in his struggle for a split-second, and allowing Percy to get the upper hand. Percy frowned slightly at the title – he disliked being referred to as Lord or Boss or Prince, but he knew that it was his rightful title; both as his dad’s son, and as a named Prince of the Sea by the sea itself.

“I am,” Percy agreed, before switching his grip so that Nereus was completely trapped. “And I believe that I have you trapped, so now I get one of my questions answered.”

“Why do half-bloods always attack me?”

“Because you know everything. Now, I have a question for you to answer,” Percy said, before he and Nereus both surfaced, Nereus grumbling under his breath.

“If I have to,” Nereus grumbled. Percy asked his question, the four of them all being surprised by the answer. Once they had gotten away from Thorn, thanks to Mr D’s help – which was gruelling to ask for, especially since it was always much harder to project his voice to someone on the other side of an Iris Message – Grover volunteered to go with the Ophiotaurus to make sure it got safely to camp. Percy knew that his dad would need a sacrifice to help make sure Grover got there safely; Grover was not one of the sea, and he didn’t have blood of the sea either, so he would not be able to travel underwater without aid, and aiding someone to traverse under the sea – which was a sentient thing – would require something to convince him to help, or a power boost, or a reason for the sea to help and allow it.

Percy looked at the sea for a moment, the dreams he had been having running through his mind, before making his decision. He unclasped the lion skin hanging on his back and dropped it in the water. He verbally projected his prayer, so his quest mates could hear what he was saying, while quietly using the sounds of the sea to make the request, as he did with every prayer towards his dad since he had first met him.

“Dad, please accept my offering. Please help Grover and help provide him a safe passage back to camp through the sea.”

Percy stood in front of the Olympians, exhausted from the battle and from holding the sky, listening to the Olympians vote about whether or not to kill him. At the moment, the silver strand of hair that had appeared less than an hour ago, was falling down in front of his face, reminding him of everything he had gone through in the last two days alone. And at the moment, he didn’t care if the Olympians decided to kill him – as long as they didn’t hurt Bessie, as long as they didn’t hurt the Ophiotaurus, a creature of the sea, he didn’t care what else they did; he could feel it in his very blood, a small voice he knew to be the sea whispering in his ear to protect the creatures of the sea, to protect those he was responsible for as a Prince of the Sea.

‘Dad, you can’t let them hurt the Ophiotaurus. He’s a creature of the sea, he’s one of your creatures,’ Percy signed in ASL, not wanting to use the signs of the sea with so many other witnesses – especially not when a handful of his friends and a few of the gods knew ASL and would know if he was using different signs; he couldn’t talk though, not after the stress of a battle and holding the sky.

“Perseus is correct. The Ophiotaurus is a creature of the sea, one of my creatures to protect. I will not let you kill it.”

“You can not have it residing in the sea, in your domain. I will not allow you to have such power at your fingertips,” Zeus thundered, and Percy did his best to not roll his eyes; Zeus had no idea the amount of power his dad had, the amount of power any of the sea had – for one thing, they all thought those of the sea could only manipulate the sea, not all water.

“It shall reside on Olympus then, out of all of our domains and in neutral territory. But I shall not let you harm the Ophiotaurus, and I shall not let you harm my son.”

“You won’t let us harm him? He is a threat to the very future of Olympus,” Athena exclaimed.

“I will vouch for Perseus and his loyalties,” Poseidon declared. Percy smiled slightly at that, glad to know that his dad still loved him and trusted him enough to vouch for him – he knew that no other god would risk their honour by vouching for a demigod, their own child or not.

Percy let out a small squeal of excitement, which he quickly squashed since he was around land dwellers, as he saw the person who had just arrived at the door. His dad. His dad had come to visit him on his birthday. Percy laughed silently as his mum greeted his dad, seeming flustered, his smile widening as his dad shot him an amused look; clearly his dad had heard the small sounds of the sea that always accompanied his laugh, silent or not.

“Hello Perseus. Happy birthday my son,” Poseidon said, stepping forward and placing his hands on each of his shoulders.

“Hi dad,” Percy said, smiling up at his dad.

“Mind if I steal Perseus for a little?” Poseidon asked and Percy saw his mum nod before his dad was steering him towards his bedroom. Percy sat down on his bed as Poseidon waved his hand towards the door and a thin film of water appeared around the closed door, before his dad sat down next to him.

“The water will soundproof the room while we talk,” Poseidon explained. “Are you alright my son?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I guess.”

“I have heard stories about what happened. But I want to hear it directly from you. Tell me everything.”

So Percy did. He explained all about the quest in the labyrinth. About the side quest for Hephaestus and his time on Calypso’s Island. He talked about finding Daedalus and seeing Kronos fully gain a body, taking over Luke’s body. And he spoke of the battle that occurred after, the battle at camp.

“So Kronos is indeed back among us. And there is something different about Luke. No mortal body should be able to host a titan, and he shall not be easily killed. And I have problems of my own.”

“The old sea gods?” Percy asked, remembering what Tyson had mentioned. His dad nodded.

“Indeed. The battle came to me first Perseus. Even now, I can not stay much longer. The ocean is at war with itself, and the sea can do nothing to stop it. Oceanus feels the change coming and has sided with Kronos to try and take advantage of the coming shift,” Poseidon said.

“The change?”

“I’m sure you have felt the difference in the water in the past few years my son. The sea is preparing to shift leadership, to shift the title of King. Oceanus hopes to conquer Atlantis and take over so as to claim leadership when the shift is upon us. The change will happen within a decade, and Oceanus wants to claim it rather than letting Triton take my place as King of the Seas,” Poseidon explained.

“What does the change mean for you?”

“I shall not disappear my son, do not worry. I do not know what I shall do once my rule is over, but I shall not disappear. I simply step down and Triton takes over. Something would only happen to me if Oceanus takes over, as he would have to kill both myself and Triton, and any other heir the sea has claimed, before the sea will pass the rule back to him.”

“Let me help. Let me come down and help fight,” Percy said. Poseidon sighed.

“Not yet my son. I know you have been feeling the call of the sea Perseus. Normally you would be at the age that you would be invited to Atlantis for a year, to learn of the sea and your position in it. But not yet. The war is upon us my son, and I can sense you will be needed up here, on the surface. Later, when we are at peace again, and when you are not under such scrutiny due to the prophecy, you can answer the call of the sea and join us under the surface.” Percy nodded; he had felt the calling of the sea, the longing coming from it that was calling him to come and stay in its comforting depths. But he knew his dad was right; right now was not the time to visit, and, as much as he hated it, he was needed on the surface rather than down in the sea. He may be a Prince of the Seas, but his duty was to the surface right now, and helping and fighting on the surface was the best way he could aid the sea.

“That reminds me. Your birthday gift Perseus. You will know how to use it. Spend it wisely,” Poseidon said, handing him a sand dollar. Percy stared at the sand dollar, trying to work out why his dad would give it to him. What could he buy with a sand dollar? But he still nodded, slipping the gift on to his camp necklace. He heard his mum calling for him, something about the candles, and Poseidon stood.

“I need to go, and so had you. But one more thing Perseus. The explosion at Mount St Helens. The eruptions are still continuing. Typhon is stirring. It will not be long before he wakes and escapes his bonds.” Percy nodded, looking down.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“It is not your fault. It was bound to happen sooner or later. And the power you displayed in the volcano Perseus, makes me proud. You have influence over such a large variety of my domains, of the domains of the sea. The sea has gifted you much power Perseus, and it would not have for no reason. You already are an amazing hero, and I can not wait to see what else you shall accomplish.” Poseidon patted his back and pressed a soft kiss to the crown of his head.

“I love you, my son. Happy birthday.” And then he vanished in a swirl of sea spray, the film of water covering the door disappearing with him. 

Percy gasped, his eyes snapping open and shooting up in bed. His hands moved to cradle his head, and he felt tears start to form in his eyes as he remembered what had happened. Beckendorf.

“Brother!” Percy winced slightly at the voice echoing around his head, before turning slightly to see Tyson standing next to the bed he was lying on.

“Tyson?” he asked, projecting his voice much like he would on land, only in his head rather than through the air, one hand still on his head. He still found telepathic communication weird, even though he had used it with Tyson before in the sea of monsters and had used a one-way version to communicate with horses and sea creatures.

“Yes brother. Scouts found you last night, floating in the water near the big ship that went boom.” Percy nodded.

“Where am I?”

“Atlantis. Daddy had his healers helping you and now you’re better.”

“This is Atlantis?”

“Yes brother. Come, daddy wants to talk to you before you go back to the surface.” Percy nodded, moving into a standing position before swimming after Tyson through the palace. He flinched slightly as a boom shook the walls. Tyson explained a bit about the war as they went through the palace, which helped explain some of the flashes of light and booms that occurred. Percy stopped just inside the doorway as he took in his dad’s appearance. Gone was the young and healthy appearance, gone were the boardshorts and Hawaiian shirts. Instead, Poseidon was wearing full armor, which Percy was kind of expected seeing that they were at war. But Poseidon no longer looked young. His hair was greying, and he seemed old, as if the centuries he had seen were starting to show.

“Perseus. It is good to see you are healed,” Poseidon said, glancing up from the plans he was looking over to look at his youngest son.

“What’s happened dad?”

“Atlantis takes damage, and so do I. I am connected to my realm. But I am fine son, you have no need to worry.” Percy nodded, not knowing how to reply to that. He didn’t have to though, as another person entered the room, a merman with two tails; Percy instinctively knew that this was Triton, his older half-brother and crown prince of the sea.

“Father. Perseus,” Triton said, his voice and expression turning colder as he acknowledged Percy.

“Lord Triton,” Percy returned quietly, using his godly title rather than his sea title since his half-brother had done the same. Triton looked over him once more before turning away and ignoring him.

“I am leading the reinforcements out father. I will not fail you,” Triton said, sending Percy a cold glance before swimming out. Percy just watched his half-brother swim out, understanding Triton’s reaction to him. Most people might think it was because he was Poseidon’s half-blood son, and that Triton didn’t like him because he was the product of Poseidon cheating on Amphitrite. Percy knew better though. He knew that Amphitrite didn’t care about Poseidon’s relationships, knew that they were simply very close friends who ruled together. He understood why Triton was shunning him.

He was a Prince of the Sea. He had a duty to those of the sea, a duty that he was seemingly shunning by being on the surface while the ocean was at war. He understood how Triton probably saw the situation. His dad had told him how a child of the sea would have normally come down to Atlantis by now, to learn about the sea, and understood that Triton probably saw his absence as a shunning of the sea, shunning the family. He understood, and simply hoped he could build a better relationship with his brother once the war was done, and they were at peace.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking at the harsh light shining right above him. He had no clue where he was, or how he got there. He had no idea what was happening, why he was wherever he was. And he had no idea who he was. It’s alright Perseus. The sea takes care of its own. He relaxed slightly at the voice whispering in his mind, feeling that he knew the voice but could put no name to it other than Sea. He wasn’t bothered by that now though, knowing he could trust the voice.

Percy, Perseus stumbled across the road, glancing around as he tried to work out where to go. There was a pull to the east, to a camp that Lupa had told him to search for, a camp that Annabeth could possibly be at. But there was also a pull to the sea, to the coast and the ocean that he knew would welcome him. Go east Perseus. The sea will always be waiting, but you are needed elsewhere. Perseus glanced at the coast once more before following the voice’s instructions. The voice had never guided him wrong so far, and he knew he could trust it.

The voice had helped him learn to talk again, learn to sign in the signs he could use around those the voice called land dwellers. The voice had called him Perseus, told him that that was his name – even as the wolf, Lupa, called him Percy Jackson – and had told him of some of the small abilities he had with water. Perseus glanced once more over his shoulder before starting to run again, knowing the monsters – gorgons – who had been following him for days would be right behind him.

Perseus – or was he Percy? Everyone, Lupa and the goddess and the god had all called him Percy, but the voice called him Perseus and he trusted the voice – followed Frank and Hazel down to the harbor, to the boat they would be using on their quest to Alaska. He stopped as he saw the small dingy that sat in the ‘harbor’, a broken boat that didn’t look like it would last a trip to Alaska like they needed it to. The sea aids its own Perseus. Simply will the water to keep the boat intact. Perseus steeled himself before stepping forward. The voice was right. He could do this.

Perseus stepped onto the dingy, Frank and Hazel gingerly stepping on behind him, sitting down at the back of the boat. He concentrated on the sea, his connection to it, and the boat he was on. He felt a small tug at his gut before the boat took off, gliding steadily through the water at a speed he deemed safe. He could do this. This was familiar. He could do this.

Percy – Perseus – drew his sword, the familiar weight of Riptide a comfort in his hand. He charged the legion of dead romans, hacking and slashing at the shades and spirits that could hurt him but that he couldn’t kill. He needed a way to distract them without behind harmed, a way to get them away from his friends without endangering his friends, both of whom had their own important missions; Frank was trying to free Thanatos, which would mean he could kill the shades, while Hazel was trying to defeat the Giant, trying to lure him away and get him across the border to kill him.

A quick memory surfaced, of a glowing opponent, a hurricane, and a maple tree. He could vaguely remember fighting someone, a hurricane around him. He focused on the tug in his gut, and felt the water around the glacier react, churning and frothing. But it wasn’t the hurricane. Connect to the elements Perseus. Feel the connection to the water all around you.

Perseus – Percy – did as the voice advised, focusing on both the tug in his gut and the water in the air around him. He felt the water around him, which he could already manipulate to speak with, start to move faster. It clustered together and started whirling around him, the wind picking up as a hurricane started to form around him.

Percy groaned slightly as he woke up. He had spent the two-hour trip from Alaska back to Camp Jupiter half-asleep, his memories fully returning. He knew now that the voice that had been guiding him, the whispers of the sea, would be gone now. He knew that the sea only spoke when needed, and now that he had his memories again, it wouldn’t be needed.

He was thankful that the sea had helped him, helped him re-find and re-discover his powers and abilities and helped him learn enough to not expose the sea’s secrets. But he was happy now to continue learning and growing on his own. It was what every child of the sea did before him, it was what he had always done, and it was what he would continue to do. Those of the sea were powerful for a reason, and that was because they grew at their own rate and with no expectations other than their own.

Percy stepped into the water at Montauk, slowly walking into the waves until the water was waist high. He let out a soft sigh at the feeling of water surrounding him again, a feeling his had missed desperately. Especially since Tartarus. Tartarus had been so dry, so humid, so hot, and so without water. There had been no water. There had been the rivers of the underworld, but they were not water, they were liquid in the barest of terms. They were fire and misery and pain and hatred and forgetfulness and wailing. They were not water, and he had missed it.

He slowly walked deeper, letting the water rise to his chest. He breathed slowly, trying not to hyperventilate. The water wouldn’t hurt him. The water wouldn’t kill him. Like the voice, the whisprs of the sea, had told him when he had no memories; the sea takes care of its own. The sea wouldn’t hurt him. And yet he still had an irrational fear of drowning. He had nearly drowned in the bog in Alaska, nearly drowned in the well with the crazed nymphs. He had nearly drowned in the river Cocytus, had nearly drowned Akhlys with her own poison, had nearly drowned in poison that Polybotes and Kymopoleia had surrounded him with. So, while yes, he did know the water wouldn’t hurt him and that he wouldn’t drown, he was still terrified of drowning.

But he had been invited down to Atlantis, to spend a year down there like he was meant to almost three years ago and dam it he was going to. He would not let an irrational fear stop him from living under the sea for a year, something he had been craving and longing for since he was 14.

He took another steadying breath before turning to his mum and Paul, both who were watching him from the shore. He waved, and they both waved back.

‘I’m going to miss you,’ he signed, just like he had been signing since he returned from Tartarus. It was so dry down there that he couldn’t project his voice, and then there was the stress of the war and fighting and nightmares and the trauma and it was just too hard to relearn how to speak above the surface again.

‘We’ll miss you too. Enjoy your time with your dad,’ his mum signed back. He sent them one last wave before ducking under the water. He sat there for a few minutes, getting used to the feeling of being completely submerged again, getting used to breathing underwater again. He knew that if he just gave himself time, he would lose his fear of drowning, would slowly beat it into his mind that the sea wouldn’t kill him, and he wanted to do that before he saw anyone in Atlantis.

While he sat there, just below the waves, he thought back to his mum. He was going to miss her while he was in Atlantis, especially because he hadn’t seen her for 9 months and had only been back for 2 before his dad had sent him a dream, inviting him to visit. But she was happy for him, wanted him to have the opportunity to live with his dad, and had told him to go. She had said that Goode had expelled him anyway, for missing so much school without any explanation – they hadn’t reported him when they first realised that he was gone in case it had to do with the godly world – and she hadn’t enrolled him anywhere yet, so he wouldn’t miss school. And camp could survive without him for a year.

As his thoughts drifted to camp, he started thinking of Annabeth. He loved her, and knew she loved him. But they had both agreed that they were better as friends, that their relationship was healthier as friends (when they weren’t caught up in jealousy anyway). Annabeth said that she had lost some of her trust in him after Tartarus. She wanted to trust him, wanted to so much, but seeing the power he had shown down there, especially with Akhlys, had terrified her, and taken away some of the trust she had. And that wasn’t something they could change. Percy hadn’t said it, but he had felt restricted too. He didn’t want to hide anymore parts of himself. He was already hiding the things that were the sea’s secrets, and he didn’t want to have to hide his God-given and sea-given abilities as well. The power, as much as it terrified him, was part of him as well, and he didn’t want to have to hide that. It was a mutual break up, and they would remain friends. He was sure Annabeth was happy – last he had heard, she had been thinking of messaging Thalia and asking if there was a spot for her with the hunt.

Percy took one last breath before shifting and starting to swim, fully comfortable again under the water. He swum until he was out of the bay and in deep water before calling for a hippocampus. He waited for a short while before one appeared, and he asked her if she could give him a ride to Atlantis. The hippocampus was happy to, so he grabbed hold, being swept away deeper in the sea and to Atlantis.

 Percy shot bolt upright in his bed, the soft seaweed comforter drifting off him at his abrupt movement, a yell escaping him before he could stifle it. He was sure he had been yelling and thrashing in his sleep before he woke up and hoped that his nightmare hadn’t disturbed anyone. He had been in Atlantis for three weeks and had been doing his best to appear normal to those around him.

During the day, he spent time with his dad, Triton, Delphin, Amphitrite, or some other citizen of Atlantis – usually someone who worked in the palace – learning about his duties and responsibilities as a Prince of the Sea beyond what his instincts told him, working on and exploring his abilities, and learning about the sea and ocean from those who truly knew; land dwellers only knew so much about what hid below the surface and how the sea worked, most things being something that only a being of the sea could know or hope to understand.

His nights were normally spent trying to sleep, catching a few hours here or there. When he managed to sleep, he usually woke up from nightmares, memories of both wars and his time in Tartarus haunting him; he had only had three months after the Titan war before Hera had kidnapped him, stolen his memories, put him to sleep for 6 months, and then thrown him right into another war, and that was not enough time to process a war. So now he was trying to process two wars at the same time, along with a highly traumatizing event where he had been so isolated from his natural element of water. Most nights he didn’t scream from his nightmares, although he knew he thrashed around like crazy, as he often woke up tangled in his seaweed comforter, or his sheets when he had been on the surface.

He did his best to show a strong front, to try and convince those of the sea that he was fine. He was happy to be in Atlantis, and he didn’t want his time there, as short as he knew it would be – a year to a year and a half was only so long – to be shadowed or disrupted by his trauma and recovery. He knew he had some form of PTSD, the nightmares and occasional night terrors, as well as the flashbacks and panic attacks he occasionally had; thankfully no one had been around when he had experienced a panic attack while in Atlantis, and he hadn’t had a flashback in almost two months, because he didn’t want anyone to see him like that. His lack of a good night’s sleep, though, was starting to get to him. Water would normally help re-energize him but living in water had made that sort of redundant. And there was only so much water could do to help, especially when he kept pushing himself through the day to keep up the strong front; he had always been the strong one, the one other people went to for comfort, the one who led the demigods and stood up to the gods, and he didn’t want to break that image.

Tonight though, he hoped he hadn’t disturbed anyone with his screaming and yelling. He knew that most gods didn’t need to sleep often, so he knew his dad, Amphitrite, and Triton, at least, would probably be awake. His nightmare that night had been a mix of the two most terrifying experiences of being in the pit; the battle near the Doors of Death and facing the primordial embodiment of Tartarus, and the encounter with Akhlys where he manipulated poison and almost killed a goddess when he almost lost control.

Percy grabbed the seaweed comforter before it could float too far away, wrapping it around his waist and legs as he sat against the head of his bed, curled up so his knees were near his chest, his arms wrapping around his legs. It was a comfortable position, and one he had found helped him calm down after a nightmare. He rested his forehead on his knees, starting to take deep, slow breaths when there was a knock at his door. His breath hitched as his head shot up, so he was staring at the door, before letting out a soft sigh and waving his hand, manipulating the water to open the door. He lowered his head, so his chin was resting on his knees, his eyes fixed on the door. He was slightly surprised to see Triton enter once the door was open, the water pushing the door closed again once Triton was in the room; apparently, he had disturbed someone.

“Are you alright Perseus?” Triton asked, the sounds of the sea coming out softly, as if Triton was hesitant to speak to him. “I heard screaming.”

“Sorry if I disturbed you. Nightmare,” Percy said, hugging his knees closer and tighter.

“Are you going to go back to sleep, or can I stay for a while?” Triton asked, slowly swimming closer to his bed.

“I probably won’t get back to sleep any time soon. You can stay if you want.” Triton watched him for a moment, before sitting down on the end of his bed.

“How are you finding your time in Atlantis?” Triton asked after they sat in silence for a few minutes, Percy focusing on his breathing and nothing else like he had been going to do before Triton came in.

“Yeah, it’s great. I always knew the sea was amazing, but actually living down here really shows me how much I was missing. And everyone is so nice and welcoming and helpful. I really love it,” Percy said.

“Yes, everything under the surface is quite magnificent, isn’t it. And you have already made quite the impression on the members of the sea. The mentions of your efforts to free and protect creatures of the sea were known down here even before you came and showed everyone how caring and loving you are.” Percy flushed slightly at his brother’s words.

“I was just doing what was right. And it’s my responsibility to help those of the sea however I can, regardless of if I’m living on the surface or under the sea. I’m just sad that it’s taken me so long to be able to come down here.”

The two brothers continued talking for a while, sharing stories of encounters and escapades with various sea creatures. Percy also told Triton of a few small quests he had done for the gods, and in turn, Triton shared stories of Poseidon from centuries ago that none of the gods, other than sea gods, knew of. As they talked, Percy started to relax, both around Triton and from his nightmare, his arms relaxing around his legs and his legs starting to stretch out, so that he was no longer curled up in a ball against his headrest, and rather stretched out so his feet were almost next to Triton.

“Do you want to talk about your nightmare Perseus?” Triton asked once he had finished a particularly detailed story about how he and Delphin had pranked their dad and had gotten everyone in Atlantis in on the joke, including Amphitrite.

“I don’t know. Maybe? What do you want me to say? It was just memories from the war,” Percy said with a shrug, his hands fiddling with the seaweed comforter that lay bunched up across his legs.

“Which war? I know you have fought in two wars in a very short amount of time.”

“The second one. Against mother earth and the giants.”

“Do you have nightmares about the Second Gigantomachy often?”

“Yeah.” Percy sighed, a trail of bubbles leaving his mouth and floating to the ceiling of his room. “I have nightmares basically every night. About events from the Second Titanomachy and the Second Gigantomachy.” Triton stared at him for a few moments before shaking his head.

“You have nightmares every night? I do not normally hear you. And you normally seem perfectly rested during the day.”

“I get some sleep during the night before my nightmares and manage to doze after that, so it’s not like I don’t get any rest at all. And I don’t normally scream during my nightmare. I thrash around like crazy, but I don’t normally scream. Tonight’s was just a particularly bad one.”

“What was tonight’s about, if you do not mind sharing?” Triton asked, and Percy could hear the concerned undertone to the question. “I have heard that talking about nightmares can help.”

“Um, a particularly traumatic event from the Giant war. I think the others said it took them 2 weeks to complete their journey, but time was difficult where Annabeth and I were, so I don’t really know how long it was before we met up with the others.”

“I do not know what event you speak of, and I was unaware that you had to split up, apart from the daughter of Athena’s solo quest. I was unable to pay much attention to the war, with the schism going on and with my other duties as messenger of the sea and father’s heir, especially since he was locked on Olympus by our uncle,” Triton said slowly. “I am sure father know however, if you do not want to tell me but want to talk of it, as he often watched over you and your quests, and since he was locked on Olympus, he would have had more time to watch you as he couldn’t do most of his duties to the sea and Atlantis.”

“I don’t really want to talk to dad about it. I don’t want him to think I’m fragile or anything, especially since a lot of my land-dwelling friends already think they need to be careful around me since I reverted back to being mute on the surface after the event,” Percy said.

“I am happy to listen if you want to talk about it, brother,” Triton offered.

“Are you … are you sure?” Percy asked hesitantly. Triton nodded, shifting on the bed so he was leaning against the wall rather than sitting in the middle of the bed, his two tails curling up around each other. Percy took a deep breath before letting it out, watching the bubbles float to the ceiling and pop before looking back at Triton. He fiddled with the seaweed comforter as he began to talk.

“After Annabeth’s solo quest to retrieve her mum’s statue, we all got together in the cave the statue was in. We’d just finished fighting the twin giants and were eager to see her again because it had been a stressful day, a stressful few days really. As the others were securing the statue, Annabeth started to get pulled backwards. She had to fight Arachne, and the spider had managed to get Annabeth’s foot trapped in web, so when Arachne fell, she started to drag Annabeth down with her. I wouldn’t let Annabeth fall alone, and there was no hope of pulling ourselves up, so I made Nico promise that he would lead the others on the ship to the surface side of the Doors of Death before letting go and falling with Annabeth. We fell into Tartarus,” Percy said, before slowly starting to tell Triton about Tartarus.

About how dry and humid and hot it was, how everything there was designed to kill them, even the air they were trying to breath. He told him of having to drink fire to survive, how there was no water at all, no pure water anywhere in the pit to try and manipulate. About how horrifying it was, with every single monster he and Annabeth had ever killed being down there, wanting revenge, including the titans and giants they had already beaten. How it was kill or be killed down there. He told Triton how he hadn’t been able to manipulate the water in the air to project his voice because there was no water, so reverting back to mute, and how that stuck even when they got out because everything was too much – too much stress and trauma and fighting and nightmares and too much of everything happening at once – to even try and remember how to project his voice.

And when Triton took everything well, the only reactions he showed being horror at the situation his brother had been in, he hesitantly started to tell Triton about the two events that were part of his nightmare.

He spoke of facing Akhlys, how he had manipulated something that wasn’t pure water, pulling on the water in poison because it was a liquid, and how he had almost killed a goddess because of it. How he had been able to manipulate every single river of the Underworld, two of them even before the pit, manipulating liquid made of fire and misery and pain and hatred and forgetfulness and wailing. He told his brother how he had started being able to feel the water in every liquid around him, how he had been able to feel the blood of those around him. And he spoke of facing the physical embodiment of the pit, of facing the primordial Tartarus and the absolute terror it had caused.

When he was finished, Percy stared at his lap, still fiddling with the seaweed comforter. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Triton finally worked out what to say to everything he had just been told.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell in me about your experience Perseus. I can not begin to imagine how horrible it had to have been.” Triton moved off the bed, swimming over to one of the cupboards on the other side of the bed and pulled out a large blanket, made of kelp and sea pen weaved together with strands of red sea whip mixed in as well.

“Try and sleep a bit more Perseus. The stress from everything you experienced and only getting a small amount of sleep, which I know demigods need, isn’t good for you, especially if you haven’t slept well for weeks now. I will let father know that you will miss breakfast.”

“I haven’t slept without nightmares for years, but it got worse in the last 6 months with the Giant war. What about nightmares? They always come and wake me up,” Percy said, even as he lay down and let Triton place the second blanket, which he now realized was like a weighted blanket, over him; he didn’t even realize how comforting the added weight from the weighted blanket would be – most people would probably think it would make him feel trapped, but it made him feel safe and comforted. Triton brushed his thumb over his forehead, before moving back.

“Hopefully that will help you have a dreamless sleep for at least a few hours brother,” Triton said. “Sleep.” Percy smiled at his brother, signing a quick thank you before shifting to get comfortable and closing his eyes.

Triton frowned as he swum out of Perseus’ room after he watched the younger boy quickly fall asleep. He was trying to work out what Perseus had done for the Fates to put him through so much. He knew that Perseus hadn’t been alone down there, but the other demigod wasn’t connected to an element like those of the sea were, so being down there wouldn’t have affected her in such a way; Perseus was abruptly and forcefully ripped away from something that was an integral part of his being – water.

Triton stopped as he reached on of the rooms that were filled with the jellyfish he was looking for. He gathered a few and herded them through the halls of the palace and into Perseus’ room. These jellyfish had a small blessing on them from Hypnos (god of peaceful dreams) and Astraeus (god of dusk), and their proximity helped bring peaceful sleep to those of the sea who suffered from nightmares and provide a soft, soothing light in the room; hopefully they would be able to help his brother and allow him a restful sleep like he hadn’t gotten for a long time – years, according to Perseus.

He watched Perseus for a little while before swimming back to his room, glad that the young demigod seemed to be sleeping peacefully now, basically completely still, a stark contrast to his consistent fiddling or moving while he was awake, or to how he described himself thrashing in his sleep. He stayed in his room, considering everything Perseus had told him, rather than continuing with the paperwork he had been working on before he heard Perseus’ screams.

He lost track of time and before he knew it the shell for meals was being blown. He left his room, checking in on Perseus, who was still sleeping soundly, before heading to the dining room. He found his mother and father already seated at the circular table and he took his seat next to his father.

‘Good morning mother, father,’ he signed before inclining his head slightly.

‘Good morning, Triton,’ his father returned.

‘Morning blessings, my son,’ his mother added.

‘Was Perseus far behind you?’ his father asked, glancing towards the doors of the room that led to the quickest way to the personal rooms of the sea’s royalty.

‘Perseus isn’t going to be joining us for breakfast this morning, and will most likely miss his morning activities,’ Triton signed. ‘He didn’t sleep well last night, and for all the nights he has been here.’

‘Is he alright?’ his mother asked, a concerned look on her face, and Triton understood her worry; while he saw all of his father’s demigod children as his siblings, his mother saw them all as her children, regardless that they shared no blood other than the blood of the sea.

‘I am unsure, but I think he will get there. He has been having nightmares every night.’

‘If Perseus won’t be joining us, let us begin our meal,’ his father suggested. ‘How do you know of Perseus’ nightmares?’

‘Our rooms are close to each other. I heard him screaming in his sleep and went to investigate. I checked if he was ok and stayed in his room just talking for a while. We eventually talked about his nightmare, and he told me it was about the worst part of the Second Gigantomachy that he experienced, but that he’s had nightmares about the wars and battles and such for years,’ Triton explained while eating; one benefit of the signs of the sea was they could talk and eat at the same time which made conversations during meals so much easier. He didn’t go into detail because he didn’t want to worry his mother too much, and because he was sure that his father had to know what he was referring to.

‘What are you talking about Triton? What did Perseus experience during the war just finished that you are referring to as the worst part?’ his father asked. Triton glanced at his mother before looking at his father and carefully laying his cutlery down.

‘Father, what do you know about the events of the war that just passed and Perseus’ place in it?’ he asked slowly.

‘I know how Hera switched Perseus and one of Zeus’ Roman sons, and how Perseus went on a quest with Roman children of Hades and Ares to Alaska, the Roman child of Ares having traces of the sea in his blood and the gift of shapeshifting from the sea. I know that Perseus joined the seven spoken of in the prophecy, along with Athena’s daughter, Aphrodite’s daughter, Hephaestus’ son, Zeus’ Roman son, Hades’ Roman daughter, and Ares’ Roman son. I know the seven ventured to Rome where they rescued Hades’ son and found Athena’s statue, and then how they journeyed to Greece to close the Doors of Death. I know Athena’s statue was brought back to Camp Half-Blood to help us stop the schism while the seven went to the original Mt Olympus for the final battle. I know they fought various giants throughout the quest, and I know everything that happened in the final battle against the giants, how Mother Earth rose from an injury Athena’s daughter had and from Perseus’ blood nose, and the final battle at Camp Half-Blood where Mother Earth was put back to sleep by Hephaestus’ son sacrificing himself. Why?’ Triton lowered his head to his hands.

“Father, how much of the quest did you actually see and how much did you only hear about through gossip and from the others stuck on Olympus? And did you pay much attention to how Perseus was communicating on the surface?”

“The schism made it hard to fully keep track of everything, but I saw part of Perseus’ quest to Alaska, his encounter with Dionysus in his Roman form, and his fight against the twin giants. And then I was there for the final battle against the giants and the schism was healed enough to let us watch the final battle at Camp Half-Blood. Everything else I know is from what the others saw and told me about. I did realize Perseus was back to signing his communications, but I simply assumed it was from the stress and exhaustion of the war and the want to keep as much power in reserve for the battles,” Poseidon replied, and Triton groaned into his hands. He had thought his father knew, and he really didn’t want to be the one to tell him. He lifted his head and looked at his father.

“Did you sense, feel, or see Perseus in the sea or the sky at all in the two weeks between Rome and Greece? You had to have been present enough at some point during that portion of their journey to try and check in on Perseus.” Poseidon slowly shook his head in response to his son’s question.

“I don’t, but my memories of that time are extremely scattered. You know how the schism affects me, and the constant flickering doesn’t help memory or attention. If I remember correctly though, those two weeks that you speak of was when the Roman demigods first started actually threatening and attacking the Greek demigods at their camp, so the schism got worse. I don’t think any of the Olympians were very aware of those two weeks.”

“You’re kidding me,” Triton said. He really hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell his father. Especially since he knew how his father favored Perseus.

“What’s going on Triton?” his mother asked.

“A lot mother. I thought father already knew about this. Are you telling me father, that none of the Olympians are aware that Perseus and the daughter of Athena fell into Tartarus?”

The next few months after Percy talked to Triton and Triton told Poseidon and Amphitrite about Tartarus passed quickly. Triton, Amphitrite, and Poseidon all helped Percy heal and cope with his PTSD from the wars and Tartarus. Percy continued sleeping with the weighted blanket and the jellyfish in his room, and found they really helped him with his nightmares, and his family helped him work through flashbacks and panic attacks rather than trying to hide them and work out what triggered them to prevent the same thing triggering them again. And even with that, they all continued doing everything they had been doing in the first three weeks of Percy’s visit to Atlantis. Percy continued learning about his duties and responsibilities as a Prince of the Sea beyond what his instincts told him, learning about the sea and ocean from those who truly knew, and working on and exploring his abilities.

Now though, Triton and Amphitrite were also helping him with his abilities, learning how to use the abilities he had discovered in the pit. They helped him learn how to use his abilities over liquids that weren’t just water for good, like his ability over poison and blood for healing. Amphitrite had told him, when they first started helping him work with the abilities he was scared of, that she had the same ability to manipulate liquids and so did his dad and Triton; that helped him not be scared of the ability and trust that he was meant to have the ability, that it wasn’t unnatural like he had thought. They helped him get comfortable with the abilities that had once scared him, helped him get comfortable with all the abilities he didn’t think he deserved. The sea only gives abilities to those who deserve them.

One day in April, when Percy had been under the sea for about 8 months, Percy started to feel as if something was wrong. He had felt restless all day and spent the day in the arena, learning the ways of fighting underwater, learning the best ways to fight with the water resistance and what weapons worked best underwater – he quite enjoyed learning how to wield a trident. He had just finished in the arena for the day and was heading back to his room to clean up before dinner when the sea whispered in his ear, like it had done months ago when it had guided him while he didn’t have any memories. Perseus, you are needed on the surface. Your surface mother is in trouble.

Percy froze at those words before quickly swimming to his dad’s office, where he knew his dad would be working at that time. Percy knocked on the door to the office and the door opened, his dad calling him in without even looking up.

“Yes?”

“May I go to the surface for a little while dad?” Poseidon looked up from his papers to look at him before nodding.

“Of course, Perseus. You are not a prisoner here. Why do you ask?”

“The sea told me that my mum’s in trouble. I’ll be back later dad, but I might miss dinner.” Poseidon nodded and waved him away. Percy left the office, the door shutting behind him, before he concentrated on the water in him and around him, disappearing in a trail of bubbles; he had quite enjoyed learning about vapor travel – it was how his dad preferred to travel rather than flashing places like the other gods did – which he could do as well since he could control more than just water, and it was an incredibly useful ability.

Percy appeared in a burst of mist on the fire escape outside his bedroom window, climbing in easily and heading straight for the living room. He stopped in the doorway at the sight, before darting back to his room and grabbing two shirts and starting to rip it one into strips. His mum and Paul were both on the ground, bleeding from what looked stab wounds; he would worry about how they got those later, first he had to make sure they survived. He went to his mum first, since she was closer, grabbing Paul’s phone from the table as he did.

He bunched up one of the strips of the first shirt and shoved it on the biggest wound, putting as much pressure on it as he could with his knee to keep his hands free to tie a couple of strips together. He then used those strips tied together to wrap around it as a makeshift bandage, to hold the pressure on there while he dealt with the other wounds and helped Paul; he heard Will in his head, telling him they would get an infection if he didn’t sterilize the material first, but at this moment he didn’t care – they could be cured of an infection, they couldn’t be cured of bleeding out. As he did the same thing for all of her wounds, he concentrated on their blood and focused on slowing it down a bit so they didn’t bleed out, and called 911; he didn’t care if using a phone signaled to monsters that he was there, right now he had to get an ambulance for his mum and Paul, because he couldn’t heal them in the same way he could heal demigods, which is what he had training for. Once he had finished wrapping all her wounds, he rolled his mum onto her left side and put her in the recovery position.

He moved over to Paul, ripping another two strips of fabric from his shirt. He shoved the material on the wound, putting as much pressure on as he could as he again tied a few strips of his shirt together before wrapping it around the wound and over the cloth on the wound. He repeated that for each of Paul’s wounds, before rolling him on to his right, which was the side with more injuries, and putting him in the recovery position. He sat next to his mum and Paul as he waited for the ambulance to arrive, fiddling with Riptide between his fingers – he knew his phone call would have sent out a signal to nearby monsters and wanted to be ready just in case. Soon enough, the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics took his mum and Paul away – which was his cue to let go of his control of their blood – telling him which hospital they were headed to so he could follow them and meet them there since there wasn’t enough room in the ambulance for him to ride with them.

Percy paced through the apartment as he heard the ambulance pull away before grabbing a shirt from his room, since he had been shirtless all day rather than wearing a tunic or a chiton for training; shirtless, tunic, or chiton were the only options for men under the sea, with women having a different variety of options – although there was nothing preventing a man or a woman wearing the style of the other gender. He left the apartment and walked through the streets of the city for a few minutes, before ducking into an alleyway when he felt himself being followed; there were the monsters he had signaled to with the phone call. He unsheathed Riptide and dispatched the mix of dracaena and empousa. Once the monsters were only gold dust, he vapor travelled to an alley he knew was near the hospital he was told his mum and Paul were being taken to.

He waited in the hospital for hours, waiting for information on his mum and Paul. He had gone to the bathroom an hour and a half into his wait to IM his dad, since he was sure he wouldn’t be returning to Atlantis that night – he would either still be waiting for information on his mum and Paul’s condition, or he would be spending the night with them to assure himself they were ok. He was able to wait in the emergency room waiting room overnight, along with about three others, and he spent the night alternating between praying to Apollo that they would be alright, cursing whoever hurt them, and there was one point where he prayed to both Thanatos and Hades that if they passed, they passed peacefully and achieved Elysium so they could have peace in the afterlife; he desperately hoped it wouldn’t come to that though, not yet.

It was about 2am when a nurse came out and asked for relatives of Paul and Sally Blofis. He stood and followed the nurse to a private room, where the nurse told him that unfortunately, both his mum, Paul, and his unborn sibling had passed away. They had both lost too much blood and his sibling hadn’t been developed enough to deliver early or to survive with the amount of blood his mum had lost. Percy nodded, numb, and made arrangements to collect the bodies the next day. He left the hospital walked back to the apartment, not caring that it took him an hour to do so, hoping the walk could help him process what he had just learnt.

He didn’t sleep that night. Instead, he spent the time cleaning up the apartment and working out what he would do from there. He knew he would go back to Atlantis for the rest of the time he was meant to be there and would work it out from there, but he needed immediate plans. It was about 5am when he worked out what to do.

He vapor travelled to the Sea Cabin at Camp Half-Blood, knowing he was still the only demigod child of the sea who was of age to go to camp, and collected the materials that each cabin had to make shrouds; one of the traditions at camp was that you made a shroud for yourself in case anything happened at the end of your first summer, so every cabin had the materials to make shrouds – before the oath to claim all their children, any unclaimed who were in the Hermes cabin by the end of their first summer made a shroud depicting themselves and simply didn’t have a godly symbol included, and made a new shroud if they were claimed. He then travelled back to the apartment and spent the next few hours making two shrouds, one for his mum and one for Paul; he knew, from previous conversations, that Paul didn’t have any family aside from his mum, being an only child and having his parents die a year before his mum and Paul met, so he would be the only one to work out funeral arrangements and funeral rites.

He spent the next day making phone calls to anyone he needed to inform about their passing, such as insurance companies and their workplaces, taking the time in between phone calls and arrangements to kill the monsters that arrived, either from the signals from the phone calls or by following his scent. He also went to visit the cemetery where he knew they had already bought sections on a memorial wall, which was the same one Paul’s family were buried in, and got their plaques done, as well as getting one done for his unborn sibling, even though he didn’t know their name.

He performed the rites for his mum and Paul at sundown the day after they had been killed, on the beach at Montauk. He made sure they had a drachma resting in their mouth, so they could pass through Charon’s ferry with ease, before wrapping them in the shrouds he had prepared for them. He laid them both on individual pyres, saying goodbye to them both before lighting the pyres on fire and watching their bodies and shrouds burn. He stayed until the fire had completely burnt out, tears slowly falling down his face as he mourned his mum, Paul, and unborn mortal half-sibling. He murmured a prayer to Hades, in both the sounds of the sea and through a quiet projection of his voice, asking for them to have a peaceful afterlife, praying that their deeds had been enough to allow them to rest happily in Elysium. He watched as the ashes from the funeral pyres slowly blew away with the wind, scattering along the beach and floating over the ocean.

He had two more stops before heading back to Atlantis. He vapor travelled back to the apartment and spent the next hour checking that everything was prepared and ready for the apartment’s new purpose. He had a note stuck to the wall of the kitchen, explaining where things were, and he had everything stocked well, and he made sure the window in his room that led to the fire escape was closed but unlatched. Once it reached 9, he grabbed the note he had already written and left the apartment, one key going in his pocket and the other in the hidden hole in the wall behind the plaque stating the apartment number after locking the door.

He left the building and went to the alleyway next to the building before vapor travelling back to the Sea Cabin at camp. He checked to make sure no one was breaking curfew and moving around camp before leaving the cabin and moving to the Big House. He headed over to the table on the porch of the Big House, where he knew Chiron would go when he first woke up, and pinned the note he had written there, before heading to the beach and submerging in the water and heading back to Atlantis.

The next day when Chiron woke up, he would find the note that Percy had left for him, a key sitting next to it.

Chiron,

Two days ago, Sally and Paul Blofis passed away after being stabbed. I know many of the campers knew them, and if they wish to visit their graves, their memory is preserved on a memorial wall at Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25^th Street Brooklyn, New York.

Their apartment has been frequented by demigods during the past two years, and in memory of their welcoming arms to demigods in need, their apartment has been turned into a safehouse for demigods on quests or trying to get to camp. There are first aid kits fully equipped, a small collection of nectar and ambrosia available, the kitchen is stocked with non-perishable food, beds are available, and there is both electricity and water available for light, heat, and warm showers.

This key is one key for the apartment, and the spare key is hidden behind the number plaque. The window next to the fire escape is unlocked if they don’t want to come in through the front door. The apartment is number 56 at 62 Roosevelt Dr. Brooklyn, NY 11223.

Percy Jackson

Chapter Text

The next year came and went, and when Percy’s year and a half in Atlantis was up, he didn’t leave. He loved living in the sea, and neither his dad, Triton, or Amphitrite had any problem with him staying, and neither did any of the other beings of the sea; his dad even granted him the ability to switch his legs between legs and a tail while in the sea, and he loved the feel of swimming with a tail rather than legs.

Once he made the decision to stay, he went to visit his friends at camp and tell them he was going to try and live a normal life away from camp and the stress of being a demigod, so they didn’t worry about him not coming to camp. He told them he would stay in touch, via IMs, but that he wasn’t sure how often he would be free to call; he didn’t want them to call him when he was in a lesson or training or doing his duties as a Prince of the Sea – a mantel he had fully taken up after returning – and so told them he would call when he could, rather than risking them interrupting something by calling. There was even a specific room in the palace that was a dry room, enchanted to not fill with water, that anyone could use to IM someone on the surface – IMs didn’t work underwater, and even if they did, those of the sea didn’t want those of the surface to see where they lived.

Even while living full time in Atlantis, Percy kept his mum’s apartment running as a safe house for demigods. He would return to the surface once a season to restock the food stores and first aid kits, and occasionally to bring some ambrosia and nectar up from Atlantis as well. He would also take that time to pay for the water and electricity usage – which in turn helped him know how much use the apartment had seen – and get rid of any mail that had piled up in the mail box for the apartment in the mail room. His mum’s two books that she had written had taken off and selling well, so that money – along with their savings – went towards the bills and food stores, and their mortgage was already paid off, so he didn’t have to worry about that; he was sure they wouldn’t mind, especially because it was helping people and it would have been left to him anyway.

Perseus, now 23 and solely going by Perseus rather than Percy, had been living in Atlantis for almost 6 years when he felt the shift in the sea, the change that he had been feeling for years finally fully shifting and changing. He was in the throne room with his dad, Triton, and Amphitrite – who had convinced him to call her mother after living in Atlantis for years – holding a joined court, which they held twice a month and was with all the royals of Atlantis rather than just the King or Queen, when the shift happened.

Everyone in the throne room froze. As one, all the beings of the sea – apart from Triton, who was sitting on his throne in shock – moved to a kneeling position, including the other royals in the room.

“Hail Lord and King Triton, newly crowned King of the Seas.” 

The declaration was heard all through the throne room, and was declared by all beings of the sea, no matter where they were, on sea or on the surface. With the declaration said, Triton and his trident leaning against his throne were surrounded in a sea green glow for a few seconds. As the glow faded away, everyone in the throne room rose again. Amphitrite returned to her throne, one of the two bigger ones in the middle, and Perseus sat down on his, a smaller throne next to Amphitrite, both of them inclining their heads to Triton before they sat. Poseidon stepped up to Triton, who had risen from his own throne, inclining his head slightly. Poseidon then reached up to the crown of shells and coral on his head, taking it off and presenting it to his son, placing it on Triton’s head.

“I gracefully step down and hand the crown and rule over to my son and heir, King Triton of the Sea,” Poseidon declared, a soft sea green glow surrounding him and his own trident, before he moved to the throne Triton had been sitting on and taking a seat, bringing his trident next to the smaller throne he now sat on. Triton gripped his trident and moved forward, moving in front of the King’s throne.

“I acknowledge the Sea’s decision and accept the crown and rule bestowed on me and passed down to me from my father, retired ruler Poseidon of the Sea,” Triton said. Triton then sat down on the larger throne, next to his mother, his trident once again leaning against his throne. The joined court then began again, the routine of the sea beginning again as if nothing had changed. Now, there was simply a new King.

Over the next year, the sea experienced another few changes in leadership. The sea had found another Queen, Rhodes, and Amphitrite had gracefully handed the crown over, although she stayed on as an advisor for the new Queen’s first year on the throne – Rhodes was a sea nymph, much like Amphitrite had been before being crowned, and held ideals that the sea cherished and wanted in its queen.

Poseidon remained on the Olympian council, the gods of the surface remaining unknowing of the fact that the rulership of the sea had changed. Poseidon took the position of ambassador to the gods, holding the façade that he was still King of the Seas and conducting all the business between those of the sea and Atlantis, and the gods and Olympus. He also remained as an advisor, helping with some of the duties of King and taking up Perseus’ roles and duties of secondary heir.

Perseus, meanwhile, took Triton’s spot as Heir of the Sea and General of Atlantis’ army. When the sea had first whispered his position to him, he had been shocked, although Amphitrite, Triton, and Poseidon weren’t; they said that only those who were destined to hold a position of leadership in the sea could control liquids other than water.

Over the first six months of Triton’s rule, Perseus slowly ascended from demigod to god; he hadn’t even noticed the change until the sea had told him what had happened. At first, he had been annoyed, not wanting to live forever, before he actually stopped and thought about it. The sea wouldn’t have started his ascension if he wasn’t needed in the sea, and he loved the sea; he wouldn’t mind living forever in the sea. And he wouldn’t have to see his family and friends die before him; his mum and Paul were already gone, his dad, Triton, and mother Amphitrite were all immortal and living in the palace, Thalia and Annabeth were hunters and so partially immortal, and he barely saw his friends, including the two hunters, because he lived in the sea – and they were demigods, so even before becoming a god he had the risk of them dying before him. And he didn’t think he would even find peace in Elysium, with all those he had lost in the wars already there.

So after waking up extremely early with the sea whispering in his ear about becoming a god and spending the time until breakfast thinking about what had happened, he came to peace with it. He swam to the dining room, taking his seat between Triton and his dad at the table, Rhode sitting on Triton’s other side, with Amphitrite next to her.

“Good morning, Triton, Rhode. Dad, mother,” he said, his tail switching to legs as he sat down; he preferred using his tail to swim, while having legs while stationary. The others all returned his morning greetings, before they started eating.

‘Is something wrong father?’ Triton asked, looking over at Poseidon who had been studying Perseus.

‘Not wrong. Just different. Something changed with you Perseus,’ Poseidon responded. Perseus nodded.

‘The sea appointed me to take up Triton’s position. And I couldn’t be mortal to hold that position,’ Perseus responded, adding a small shrug at the end.

‘You are no longer mortal?’ Amphitrite asked.

‘I am not. The sea started my ascension when Triton accepted the throne, and I found out about it this morning when it finished. As of this morning, I am no longer a demigod, but a god,’ Perseus explained.

‘You are a god? What are your domains?’ Triton asked. Perseus tilted his head slightly before replying.

‘Tides, destruction, and loyalty.’

‘Fitting, from the tales I’ve heard,’ Rhode said. Perseus inclined his head.

‘Thank you.’

The years continued to pass, those of the sea easily falling into a routine much similar to one they had before the shift – the only difference was the type of advice they received when court was held, as King Triton and Queen Rhode had difference experiences and opinions than retired rulers Poseidon and Amphitrite. Perseus easily became accustomed to his position as Heir, and with the help of Poseidon and Triton, became used to controlling his domains and the abilities that came with them.

Soon enough many decades had passed, and the gods of the surface were still completely unaware that the rulership of the sea had changed, and oblivious the Perseus’ ascension. Poseidon continued his role as an ambassador between Olympus and Atlantis, between the gods and those of the sea, maintaining the façade that he was still King of the Sea. Hades was the only one who had noticed that something was different since Perseus’ soul hadn’t reached the Underworld yet. Poseidon was quite happy that he had reconciled with his older brother after so long, especially as he valued family so much and their family had been drifting apart as the centuries passed, no matter how much Hestia tried to keep their family together. Once every few years after the Winter Solstice, Hades would approach Poseidon, asking him about his oldest ‘mortal’ son – after Perseus had reached 18, the other sea gods and deities started occasionally venturing to the surface and having demigod children, so to the gods of the surface it seemed as if Poseidon had numerous demigods again.

The conversation between the two brothers would almost always go the same way, the only thing changing being Hades’ disbelief at Perseus’ continued existence – it was rare for a demigod, especially a Greek demigod, to reach 20, let alone live beyond 40, and he had to be at least 100. When Hades asked after Perseus, Poseidon would simply shrug, say that Percy – since the Olympians had finally relented to calling him Percy after the Second Gigantomachy, so Poseidon did the same on the surface – must be taking care of himself, but that he hadn’t visited him on land since he had requested to try and live away from the demigod world; he wasn’t even lying either, because he knew Perseus really was taking care of himself, especially with their assistance healing from his trauma, and he truly hadn’t seen Perseus above the sea since he had told the others he was leaving the demigod world, which he had, since he had fully entered the world of the sea.

The sea continued on as it always had as decades blended into centuries, and centuries into millennia, and millennia into eons, and even as the feeling of the sea began to change and shift, signaling the beginning of yet another shift in rulership. Triton and Rhode had ruled for eons, almost as long as Poseidon and Amphitrite had, and longer than Oceanus and Tethys had, and wouldn’t protest passing the crown over when the sea decided it was the time for the change to happen. Everyone could tell the change would fully occur within a decade.

Poseidon was up on Olympus for a winter solstice meeting, the meeting going the about as well as it normally would. At least the meeting hadn’t dissolved into yelling and screaming at each other like it did every few years. Poseidon focused back on Zeus as the attention moved from whatever Demeter had been complaining about and on to him as they reached the section of the meeting dedicated to how the sea was faring.

Many of the council asked question after question about the wellbeing of the sea, ranging from Ares asking about training of their army – which was flourishing under Perseus’ training regime that he had adapted from what it used to be, adding in ideas from his time as a demigod – to Athena and Apollo enquiring about the education and wellbeing of their young – which Amphitrite had taken a lot of responsibility for, opening an unused wing of the palace as an orphanage for the orphaned young of the sea. Artemis asked about the wellbeing of their animals and how the population of the species they hunted, while Zeus asked about the pollution of the sea, especially the oil spills and other pollutants that the mortals were contributing to. Poseidon knew the answers to all the questions, having often helped Triton with the paperwork surrounding some of the issues, or partaking in conversations concerning different issues around the dining table.

And then Hera asked a question about an extremely obscure section of information, something about marriage rates and divorce rates in Atlantis, and he didn’t know the answer to the question. He had never even known the answer to it while he was King, let alone now he was an ambassador and advisor. He tilted his head slightly, trying to portray that he was thinking or trying to remember, while actually mentally contacting Triton.

“Triton, I have no idea about the answer to a question Hera asked.”

“What did she want to know? There’s not much you don’t know about the sea.”

“Something about a comparison between marriage rates and divorce rates in Atlantis.” Poseidon could basically feel Triton’s confusion about the question in the pause before his son answered.

“Why does she even want to know that? I don’t know that, and I’m the King. Does she realize that those of the sea rarely marry, and that those that do marry either marry for love with the blessing of the sea and are ever faithful, or by the request of the sea and hold an open relationship while they remain friends? Although, I’m pretty sure I remember reading over a file that mentioned something like that a month ago, I’ll see if I can find it.”

“She’s the goddess of marriage. And on top of that, it’s Hera. And no, I doubt she knows that, seeing as most of the surface gods don’t know much about the sea apart from what we tell them, and we aren’t really in the habit of talking about our marriage habits; they don’t even know that my relationship with your mother is an open relationship.” There was a short pause before Triton found the paperwork he was thinking of, which thankfully held the answer for Hera’s absurd question, and relayed the answer to Poseidon.

“I’m heading to our joined court now, so I won’t be able to help with any other questions,” Triton added.

“Thank you, my King,” Poseidon said, using the formal thank you as was called upon by the situation while he was acting in his role as ambassador, rather than a casual one like he would have used in the palace.

“Of course, ambassador,” Triton replied.

“The marriage rate to divorce rate comparison is roughly 10 to 1, with the last divorce being within the first decade of my rule, while the most recent marriage was about a decade after the second Gigantomachy,” Poseidon said, repeating what Triton had told him.

“Fates Uncle P, you’re more disorganized than I am if it took you that long to remember the answer. Are you sure you’re the one running your kingdom?” Poseidon paused, tilting his head slightly, trying to work out how to reply to that; he didn’t want to tell them the truth, because the sea had its secrets to hold, but he couldn’t lie without both Hermes and Apollo noticing – the god of lies and the god of truths were both basically lie detectors, and always called lies during council.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“He means you don’t seem to know as much about the seas as you used to. Are you sure you’re not just pretending while someone else rules?” Apollo added, jokingly. Poseidon blinked, really trying to work out what to say without saying anything. He blinked again when he heard the whispers of the sea in his ear. You can tell them, they did work it out ambassador, retired ruler.

“It took you longer than I thought it would,” Poseidon said mildly. The other Olympians stared at him, trying to work out what he meant.

“What are you talking about Poseidon?” Zeus asked slowly.

“I’m simply an ambassador of Atlantis brother. I may be an Olympian and the god of the Sea, but I’m not the King of the Seas. I haven’t been for millennia now, eons even,” Poseidon said, acting as if he was talking about the weather or something else that was an everyday occurrence, rather than like he was dropping information that was world-shaking to the other gods.

“Then who is ruling the seas?” Hera asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Tri-“ Poseidon cut himself off, standing and stepping off his throne, feeling the shift complete – of course it had to happen during a Winter Solstice, because that was his son’s luck, although it also meant it had happened during a joint court again. He turned and knelt on one knee to the throne, which was the best substitute he had for the image of the sea’s power that was carved throughout the sea, quietly saying the declaration that everyone of the sea would be saying as soon as they felt the shift, making sure the others couldn’t hear him by manipulating the water in the air to prevent the sound waves of the sounds of the sea from spreading.

“Hail Lord and King Perseus, newly crowned King of the Seas.”

“What was that Poseidon?” Athena asked after he had stood and returned to his throne, and he could feel the difference in the power of the sea that pulsed in the throne, embodying a mix of his power and Perseus’ power, just like it used to embody both his power and Triton’s.

“Acknowledgment,” Poseidon said simply. “Where were we?”

“You were going to tell us who is ruling the seas,” Hades prompted.

“You started to say something before that, acknowledgment, as you called it,” Demeter added. “Is Triton the King of Atlantis?”

“He was, yes.” Poseidon made sure he was carefully concealing his expression, keeping his face seemingly calm even as he wanted to smirk at the visible confusion from all around the throne room.

“Was? Then who is? And why are you no longer king?” Zeus snapped. Poseidon stared at his younger brother, trying to work out if he should tell them, and if he could. His debate was solved by the sea once again whispering in his ear. You can tell them of newly crowned King Perseus, ambassador.

“The sea has its secrets brother, but we of the sea know when it is time for a new ruler to bring something new to the kingdom, and we understand that change needs to occur to prevent things becoming stagnant. My heir took over from me 6 years after the second Gigantomachy. And, as of a few moments ago, his heir took over from him.”

“And who is that heir? I was unaware that Triton had any children,” Artemis said, one of her hunting knives spinning around in her hand.

“He doesn’t,” Poseidon replied simply.

“Stop with the riddles brother. Who is the new king?” Zeus demanded, one fist banging on the arm of his throne, causing a rumble of thunder to echo through the throne room and the rest of Olympus.

“One would think you would notice when a new god is turned, oh great King of the Gods,” Poseidon said mildly, a slightly teasing tone entering the voice he was projecting to the others, thoroughly enjoying Zeus’ confusion, and being the one to cause it.

“Just spit it out Poseidon,” Hades sighed, one hand coming up to rub at his forehead.

“I would have thought you’d have worked it out by now. Were you not the one who kept commenting to me about not seeing his soul pass into your realm?” Poseidon commented, turning his full attention to his older brother. Hades, in turn, was staring at him, the hand that had been rubbing his forehead moving to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Are you kidding? He denies it and then accepts later. What are his domains?”

“He didn’t accept it so much was simply changed over time, with none of us realizing he was ascending until his ascension completed and he discovered his domains. And Tides, Destruction, and Loyalty.”

“Fitting,” Hades commented, leaning back in his throne, his hand dropping from his nose and back on top his lap.

“Would you two mind enlightening the rest of us, or are you going to continue to talk in circles?” Zeus snapped. Poseidon smirked, turning back to speak to the whole throne room, rather than directly to Hades.

“Hail Lord Perseus, god of Tides, Destruction, and Loyalty. King of the Seas.”