#Poseidon fight

[fleur-de-violette]

Homesickness and thalassophobia

AO3

Word count: 1294

Summary:

In retrospect, it would have been weird if Felix wasn’t afraid of water. Or: They’re getting Piers home. Even if it means fighting the ocean itself.

Note:

I have been obsessing again about this game, but now I have the power of fanfiction by my side. Also, I play in French and all the names are different, so hopefully I didn’t slip up and used a name I’m familiar with instead of the English ones but I apologize if it’s the case. I hope you’ll enjoy the fic!

In retrospect, it would have been weird if Felix wasn’t afraid of water. Between what happened when he was a kid and the Venus lighthouse, it had to leave some kind of trauma. Almost drowning twice would do that to a person.

But he jumped, back then, what seems like a lifetime ago. He jumped after Sheba, without thinking, maybe because if he had thought about it, he wouldn’t have done it. But she was a bystander in this, involved against her will, a helpless young woman. Or so he thoughts. She’s far from that, now. She showed him, showed all of them her will, her stubbornness, and her strength. She was right, in Garoh. The wind should never been underestimated. And neither should the water.

Maybe it didn’t help Felix that the first water adept he got to meet was Alex. Alex, much like water, was uncatchable. Unreliable. Unpredictable. Alex couldn’t be trusted, and that made Felix’s relationship with water much more difficult. He hadn’t gotten to know Mia, the girl that travelled with Isaac and Gareth, but if they trusted her, she might have been different from Alex.

Now Piers. Piers was different from Alex. On any point but maybe their physical appearance. Piers was almost too honest for his own good, telling total strangers he was from a mystical city. Piers was as right and as strong as the ocean itself. He was like a calm wave who could turn into a storm if needed. But he wasn’t unpredictable.

With time, Piers could have healed Felix relationship with water. Didn’t they say Mercury adepts could heal anything? Maybe time, the other thing that was rumored to heal all wounds, would have helped him. But time was precisely something they didn’t have. Time was running out. For them, and for the world.

And that meant they had to continue their quest, and continuing their quest meant sailing out. On a small boat, in the middle of the sea. Jenna had joked when they first left shore on the Lemurian ship and asked him if he wanted to take a bit of soil with him, so that he would always have earth. Felix had laughed, back then, but he found himself missing ground more often than not. He couldn’t help it. He was earth and earth was him. He guessed it was the same for his fellow adepts, but Sheba would always have air around her, she would never been deprived of her element. As for Jenna, she would always find something to ignite, the sun itself feeding her power.

Maybe water adepts would be able to understand. Alex sure hadn’t seemed bothered when they crossed the Suhalla desert, but again, this was Alex they were talking about. He didn’t think Piers had even been far away from water in his entire life. Maybe he would ask Mia. Maybe, if one day he was on speaking term with Isaac and his friends, he would ask her. Maybe. Once this was over.

Once this was over. Once all the lighthouses would have been lighted up. If there was still a world left, if Isaac forgave him, he would ask Mia about how she felt in the desert. For now. For now, they were just in the middle of the sea.

Piers had told him once that sailing was freedom. Felix couldn’t see it. He had always felt trapped on the boat, but Jenna and Sheba seemed to enjoy it. They seemed to find it feeing in a way. Even Kraden seemed to agree with Piers. So maybe he was right. Maybe freedom tasted like salt and smelled like iodine. Felix wouldn’t know. He hadn’t been free since that day the water took him away from his homeland. Burdened with the fate of his parents, with the fate of the world. Burdened with his mission.

But Sheba, who had been kidnapped from her loving adoptive family for the hubris of Babi, deserved freedom. Jenna, who thought she had lost everything only to find out it was a lie, and had immediately been taken away from Vale by Saturos and Menardi, deserved freedom. At least the illusion of it.

Because they weren’t on a cruise vacation. They were looking for answers. Answers on how to get to the west, to the remaining two lighthouses. Answers on how to reach Lemuria. Answers on how to get Piers back home. And to get Piers back home, they needed more than just traveling the see, Felix had realized. They needed to fight the God of oceans himself. Way for him to get over his thalassophobia.

Poseidon screams, and the boat rocks, and he falls to his knee. His first reflex is to look for Jenna, make sure she’s alright. One quick glace and he finds her, on the deck, fire dancing all around her as she prepares her next attack. Kraden was safely hidden inside the boat, and, for a second, Felix resented him for it. Of course, he couldn’t fight, he wasn’t an adept, he had no reason to be on the deck. But an irrational part of Felix’s mind still found it unfair. Why where they the ones responsible for the entire world?

Some might think being born an adept, being born with power surpassing all imagination, was a blessing. It wasn’t. It was a curse. A curse to be responsible for the entire world. A dying world.

Felix was earth, and earth was him. Earth was crying, screaming in his mind like a wounded animal. He had felt, briefly, at the Venus lighthouse, what he might be if alchemy was restored. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Since then, the gift of psynergy flowing trough his veins had felt like poison. Like a drug. He needed to feel alchemy again. He needed more of it.

In a way, he almost understood Alex. What pity, to be born a powerful adept in a world where alchemy had been locked away from them.

Someone yells something at him, and he focuses himself back on the present. He looks up to see Piers above him, a water barrier protecting them both.

“Are you injured?” the sailor repeats, his hands glowing with the healing power of water and it’s almost ironic, considering almost every singe bit of water around them is trying to hurt them.

Felix shakes his head. “I’m ok,” he says. “I’m ok.” And then, to convince himself he says. “We’re getting you home.” No matter what. No matter how scary the water is. They will go home. They will all go home. “We’re getting to Vale.”

“What?” Piers asks.

Felix swallows. “We’re getting to Lemuria.”

Piers nods. “I would love to see Vale,” he says, seemingly out of blue. If, after everything, there is still anything of Vale left, Felix decides he will take him there. Secret village be damned, Piers is taking them to Lemuria.

“I would love to see Lemuria,” he says with the same tone.

Piers extends his arm to him. “Then get up, friend, this fight is not over.”

It seems like this fight will never be over, but Felix takes the offered hand. He catches Piers’s wrist and holds it tight. Water and earth interlocked. Piers had called him friend and that has to mean something.

He gathers his strength, calls upon the power of psynergy and feels it reflected by the Djinns he’s linked with. Next to him, he feels Jenna, Sheba and Piers do the same. He gives the sailor a smile. Water is all around them, trying to kill them, and he knows he should be afraid.

But he’s not alone, and at that moment, not everything seems so bad. Water doesn’t seem so bad, either.   

Note:

I remembered Poseidon to be a super hard boss but somehow, I beat him in one go in my current run? Watch me being stuck in dungeons for so long I gain way too much experience.   

[moonlit-typewriter]

“With all due respect, which is none,”

- Percy Jackson, probably

[softestaries]

Sally at the beginning of the episode patiently trying to coax Percy away from the pool edge so she can teach him how to swim VS Poseidon throwing Percy in the deep end and sending his secretary to inform him that he can in fact breathe underwater.

[i-creatied-au]

Poseidon, in bandages and bruises: ARES! Why the hell did you help this petty mortal?! And don’t deny it, I saw the red fire in his eyes, I know that you are involved here!

Ares: First of all, I pushed him a little, the rest is purely his hate for you. For the most part of your little action, I was rooting for him from above.

Poseidon: rooting?! Why?!

Ares: because I'm still mad at you after the incident with Alcippe and I was happy to see someone kicking your ass

Poseidon: I don't even know who it's !!!

Ares: my daughter, whom your son tried to rape and I killed him (-_-)

Poseidon: ...okay, I know her.

[atlabeth]

northern attitude

geyser (where hurricane is introduced)

pairing: luke castellan x daughter of poseidon!reader

summary: you and luke meet for the first time. (or luke saves you from a monster, you argue with each other the whole time, and he realizes that he doesn't want to survive alone anymore.)

a/n: by popular demand, hurricane is back for a sequel! and potentially more. lol. enjoy some insight into her (justice for weird little girls) and try not to think about the fact that she dies 6 years later! title comes from new england king noah kahan for these new england icons

wc: 4.6k

warning(s): some inner luke angst, monster encounter and short fight (luke gets a bit injured), they argue but in the fun way. they're just lil nine year olds

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Luke muttered. 

He didn’t get an answer back. He was, after all, talking to a fish. 

Maybe it didn’t like that he was a criminal. Luke had snuck his way into the New England Aquarium—he wasn’t going to cough up twenty-five bucks to look at marine life—in desperate need of a reprieve from the city, and he fought the urge to check his back every second. If there was one thing he’d learned from being on his own, it was that kids traveling alone always attracted attention. The last thing he needed was attention. 

Talking to a fish probably wasn’t good for that, but Luke wasn’t exactly in the best headstate. 

Because honestly, he didn’t really know what he was doing in Massachusetts. He tried staying in Connecticut after running away, but it still felt too close to home. He could still hear his mom yelling, could still see her glowing eyes. So he bought the cheapest bus ticket he could find to Boston, hoping a state in between would help. 

That was the second thing he’d learned while traveling on the road: everything was way too expensive. And for a kid with no job living off the allowance he’d saved up and some extra money he took out of his mom’s wallet, that wasn’t great. If Luke couldn’t get something dirt cheap, he stole it. His father may not have answered any of his prayers in the past few years, but at least he had naturally quick fingers. 

Luke sighed as he turned away from the fish, who was clearly not interested in striking up a conversation. He weaved his way through the crowd as he tried to think of where to go next—it wasn’t the smartest decision, but he was tempted to get a little whale plush from the gift stop—when he heard the middle of a conversation. 

“You made a mistake coming here, dearie.” 

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as Luke froze in place. He couldn’t even murmur an apology to the people who bumped into him because the gears in his head were turning rapidly. 

“Let go of me—” a voice protested in response. 

“Quieting down would do you some good. Did your mother not teach you manners?”

He was still trying to see who it was when he finally found it. A middle-aged woman moved through the crowd with a girl around Luke’s age, her hand wrapped tightly around the girl’s arm. Her nails were more like claws, and she had a strange gait that she tried to cover up. That was when he knew. 

See, Luke had gotten used to distinguishing creeps from freaks with all his time on the road. Cutting a monster down would turn them into dust—normal humans would call the police. And if there was anything more dangerous for a runaway juvenile than monsters, it was the police. 

But if a monster had ignored every single person in this building to get to you, it meant he’d somehow stumbled his way into the path of another half-blood. And Luke wasn’t going to let another half-blood die right in front of him. 

So he took a deep breath, hoped the five second plan he made up in his head would work, and moved in.

“May, where have you been?” Luke tried to put on his best brother voice, and made himself as imposing as a nine year old could be. He didn’t focus at all on the monster, instead communicating to trust him as much as he could with his eyes. “Mom’s been worried sick!”

Both you and the woman turned to look at him, and Luke immediately knew he made the right choice from the blatant fear in your expression. 

“Sorry,” you said, letting your shoulders fall and your gaze drop to the ground. Luke tried not to let his relief show over you playing along. “I really wanted to look at the sea turtle—” 

“You should’ve said something instead of just wandering off,” he insisted. “We can all go look at it together—once Mom is done lecturing you, at least.” Luke took your hand and you let him pull you over to his side, positioning himself in front of you ever so slightly as he looked up at the woman. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I appreciate it.” 

“You should be more careful,” she said eerily. It felt as if she was staring right into his soul. “You never know the kind of things that are out there.” 

“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “Sisters, am I right?” 

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, he lowered his voice and tightened his grip on your hand. “Come on. Try and look casual.” 

“You know what she is,” you whispered.

“Yes,” he said, then he shook his head. “I— not exactly. But I know she’s a monster.”

“I knew it,” you muttered with vindication. Luke felt your eyes on him. “So you’re like me?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“One of your parents is—” You stopped, as if you still weren’t sure. 

Luke knew the feeling all too well—desperately trying to tell someone what he was only to be met with that look adults loved to give. You’re clearly talking nonsense, but I feel bad for you so I’ll humor you. And all the normal kids he’d tried to tell the truth to thought he was just playing a game. 

“A god,” he finished quietly. “Yeah.”

You started to look back, but Luke stopped you. 

“Don’t.” Their chances of getting attacked in a place so full of people was lower, but Luke had dealt with some particularly bold monsters. One able to disguise themself as a human would have an advantage—Luke learned people hated listening to kids, especially ones they could pass off as delusional. “You don’t want her to catch on.” 

“Who are you?” you asked. 

“My name’s Luke,” he said. “What about you?” 

You said your name, then you glanced at him. “You know a lot about all of this. More than me.” 

“Are you a runaway too?”

You nodded, and a part of his heart broke. You had no right to be out here, not when you were so young. 

And he says so, too. “You shouldn’t be out here on your own. It’s dangerous.” 

You frowned. “You’re out here on your own too.” 

“I’ve been on my own for a few months,” he said. “I know what to expect. How long have you been out?” 

You shrugged. “A week.” 

Luke let out a ragged sigh. “You’ve got bad luck if monsters are already coming after you.” 

“They already have,” you murmured, and you looked back at him. “How old are you if you’ve been doing this for months?” 

Luke frowned. “Nine. How old are you?” 

“I’m also nine,” you shot back. “So you can’t say anything to me.” 

He opened his mouth to retort—Luke hadn’t been a child in years, not since Hermes left him alone with a cursed mother and a burning rage inside of him that he couldn’t let go of, no matter how hard he tried. But if you chose to run away from home too, then you were in the same boat. Kids like you two didn’t get to be kids. 

“Fair,” he conceded. “But it’ll be a lot easier to give her the slip if we work together.”

“…I can deal with that.” You cleared your throat. “Thank you for saving me, though. I… I just froze.” 

“It happens more than you’d think,” Luke muttered. “We have to throw her off our trail, though. She’s not gonna be happy.” 

“She’s probably ecstatic,” you said, shaking your head. “She’s got two kids to eat instead of one.” 

“Aren’t you an optimist?” he remarked. 

You chuckled. “Sorry. It hasn’t been a great day.” 

“It’s fine.” Luke didn’t know the last great—god, even good—day he’d had, even before he ran away. Honestly, this conversation with you had been the highlight of this month. “But we can’t just leave. She has our scent, so she’ll be on us as soon as we’re on our own. It’ll be even easier out in the open. We’ve gotta set security on her trail to get her off ours.” 

You nodded as you turned another corner. “We should get to the gift shop. It’ll be less populated, but still enough to hide us.” 

Luke nodded. “Smart. And security’ll have an easy path there in case of shoplifters.” 

“So tell a sob story, get security, set them on her,” you said, looking at him. 

“Then get the hell out of here,” he agreed. 

“Think we can get a souvenir for the occasion?” you asked. “We’ve probably earned it with all this dodging.” 

Luke thought about that whale plushie again. “Maybe.” 

“The stairs are that way.” You gestured with your head, and Luke turned—he’d been going the completely wrong direction.

“Thanks,” he said. “You know this place?” 

“I’m from Boston,” you nodded. “And I’ve been here a lot with my mom.”

Luke figured he should have guessed by the accent. He didn’t know how long he was going to stay, but it would be useful to have someone with him who knew the city.

“You’re still pretty close to home,” he noted. 

You shrugged. “I’ve been doing all the things I’ve wanted to do now that I’m officially on my own. I know I’m gonna have to leave eventually, but…” you sighed and shook your head. “I guess I’m scared. Brave enough to run away but too scared to make it official.” 

Luke understood that more than you could know. It took him feeling like he was going to burst out of his skin before he got the strength to leave Connecticut. 

“You don’t wanna leave your mom,” he guessed. 

You nodded. “I love her more than anything, but I’ve already put her in too much danger. I’m leaving until I can figure out how to keep her safe.” 

You’re a kid, Luke wanted to say. It should be the other way around. But he’d already been hypocritical enough for today, and you’d probably say the same. 

“That’s sweet,” he said. “Stupid, but sweet.” 

“We’re both nine-year-old runaways,” you said. “You don’t get to tell me what’s stupid.” 

He chuckled and shook his head, letting the matter drop as you finally got to the gift shop. Luke had been stressed about how to strike a balance between cautious enough to keep your backs covered but confident enough to not be questioned, but it turned out talking with you was all he needed. 

On the way to the front, Luke caught sight of a whale plushie. His fingers itched to grab it, but he kept his eyes on the better prize of not dying and came to a stop at the cash register. 

“Hi,” Luke said, getting the attention of the employee at the front, hoping he sounded adequately fearful. “There’s a woman out there that tried to get my friend to go with her. Tall, middle-aged, dressed in grandmother-y clothes with glasses. She grabbed her arm and threatened her.” 

“You kids aren’t joking around, are you?” the cashier asked. 

“No,” you said, and Luke was shocked by how close to tears you sounded. “It was really scary— my parents were in the bathroom and I was waiting for them, and she just looked so nice, but—” somehow, a tear actually fell from your eye as you let out a sob— “but she tried to take me away.” 

The woman shook her head as she went back and grabbed a walkie talkie from below the register. The moment she turned away, you glanced at Luke and nodded, and he just stared in awe. She relayed Luke’s description then said a couple other things, then she crouched down to be on their level to look you straight-on. “Where are your parents?” 

“They’re in the bathroom on the second floor,” you provided. “We came here because we didn’t know where else to go.” 

She sighed, falling for every part of it. You were much better at garnering sympathy than Luke was. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I called our security— they’ll be here in a second to get a statement from you.” 

You nodded, sniffling a bit as your lip quivered. “Thank you. I— I just want my mom.” 

The employee put her hand to her heart, and when you went for a hug, she reciprocated. “Don’t cry. You’re gonna be safe, okay? I’ll wait with you until security gets here. One of our guards is already out there looking for her.”

“Okay,” you agreed. Luke caught your eye from behind her back, and you dropped your act in a second to smile knowingly at him. He just shook his head with a slight smile of his own—you were good at this. 

Eventually, two security guards arrived—Luke doubted they would be good for handling a shoplifter, much less a mythological monster—but they took yours and Luke’s statements, and were about to leave before you spoke up. 

“Our parents are definitely looking for us,” you said, already back on the verge of tears. “Can— can you take us to them? When they went to the bathroom, we were by the coral reef.” 

“‘Course.” One of them nodded and looked at his partner. “I’ll get them back to their parents—you look for the suspect.” 

After a short discussion, the three of you set out, you still holding Luke’s hand as he leaned closer to you. 

“On my signal,” he murmured. “We’re gonna blend into the crowd and get out of here.”

You nodded. You were so close to the exit, but you allowed the guard to take you up the stairs, and thankfully the crowd around the middle of the giant ocean tank was huge. Luke counted off quietly, and when he got to three, you split off, blending into a group of kids on a school field trip to get back to the stairs. 

You started moving at a much quicker pace, the exit within your sights, but just as they were about to make it, Luke spotted their monster. And now, she was definitely a monster—Luke couldn’t remember the name, but she’d shed her disguise, looking like some kind of bird-human hybrid thing. It didn’t really matter in his opinion, because she really looked like she wanted to kill the two of you. 

Luke cursed and grabbed your arm, immediately pulling you flat up against the wall with him. “She’s here.” 

“We told security about her,” you protested. “How hard could it be to find her?” 

“A bit harder when they’re gonna be seeing something different.” Luke glanced at you. “You said you’ve already dealt with monsters before.” 

You nodded. 

“Do you remember feeling like you were the only one who actually saw what was happening? Like you saw the monster for what it was while it was trying to kill you, and everyone was still freaking out, but not as much as they should have been?” 

You nodded again. 

“Well, that’s a thing. Normal people can’t see what monsters really look like—only we can.” Luke peeked his head around the corner again. “And if she’s shed her disguise, it means she wants to go in for the kill. And it means we’re completely on our own.” 

“We’re not on our own,” you said. “We’ve got each other.” 

Luke found himself smiling. It had been a while since that was true. It had been a while since he’d smiled. 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “And it’s harder to kill two half-bloods than one.” 

He poked his head out again and immediately withdrew it, cursing under his breath as he stared up at the ceiling. “I never should have come to this city.”  

“Excuse me?” You stepped away from the wall as your brows furrowed. “Boston is the greatest city in the world.” 

“If you’re gonna be wrong, be wrong quietly,” Luke urged, gesturing with his head for you to get back. “And you are wrong, by the way.” 

“I’m not wrong.” You crossed your arms, refusing to budge. “Did you know that we have the first public park? And the first public school! And we have the T! Where are you even from?” 

“We can talk about this later,” he insisted. “We’re trying to hide. Have you ever hidden before?” 

“We don’t need to hide when you’ve insulted my Commonwealth’s honor,” you said. “Especially when you’re in our aquarium. Where are you from to be talking so badly about the Bay State?” 

“Connecticut,” he finally said, hoping that would get you to finally quiet down, but that only ramped you up further. “Place called Westport.”

“Connecticut?” you marveled, throwing your hands up. “You’re from some podunk town in Connecticut and you’re insulting Boston?” 

“Okay, Westport is not a podunk town—” Luke started, but he didn’t get the chance to finish defending his hometown before he caught sight of their monster—and she’d caught sight of them. 

Luke cursed even harder under his breath with words no nine year old should have known, then he grabbed your hand and pulled you along into a jog, interrupting your immediate protests. 

“She’s got us pinned,” he said, trying to keep his voice low enough to not be detected while making sure you could hear him. “Together, our scent is too strong. We’re not gonna be able to lose her—we’ve gotta kill her.”

“Could the fish help with her knowing where we are?” you asked as you started running with him. “Because they’ll be happy to help us. They don’t like her either.”

Luke did a double take. “What?”

“I can hear what they’re saying,” you said, as if it were completely normal. “It’s a little overwhelming with so many in one place, honestly.”

If they weren’t on the run from a monster, Luke would have worried a bit more about the fact that you were crazy. But he wasn’t awarded those kinds of luxuries these days. 

“We’ll—” Luke let out a sigh, because what did you mean that you could hear what fish were saying (especially because they clearly weren’t conversation prone)— “we’ll get out of here, and get the upper hand, and we’ll kill her. Okay?”

“Okay,” you nodded. “But Boston is still the greatest city in the world.” 

He huffed, taking his eyes off the path forward for a moment just to look at you. “Are you seriously still on this?” 

“Of course. We also have the greatest baseball team in the country.” You gestured with your free hand. “Do you see how many people here have Red Sox hats on?” 

Luke laughed out of pure shock. Was this the kind of stuff he’d been missing out on while traveling alone? 

“Listen,” he said. “If we get out of this alive, you can tell me all the Red Sox facts you want. But we actually have to work together through all this. Deal?” 

“Deal,” you said immediately. “You’re way more focused than I am.” 

Luke let out a loose breath and shook his head. “Well, I’ve had to be. Do you have a weapon?” 

“I took a kitchen knife before I left,” you said, “just to be safe. It’s worked pretty well.” 

“Do you know how to use it?” 

“I’m really good at chopping vegetables,” you said. “And I killed a monster with it the other day.” 

“Glowing reviews,” Luke chuckled. “I’m pretty good with my sword, so we should be okay.” 

“You’ve got a sword? How?” 

“...My dad left it for me before he left,” Luke said. “I guess he wanted to do one good thing for me in his life.” 

“I’m sorry,” you said. Luke offered a tight smile. 

“Doesn’t matter much anymore,” he said. “Soon as we get outside, we get to the street and get to some empty alley. We hide on either side, wait for her to find us, then take her down. Okay?” 

You nodded resolutely. “Let’s do it.”

The beginning of the plan wasn’t too difficult. Your faces would probably be plastered all over the place once the staff realized you were missing, but that was a problem for another day. You knew the area well so you took charge—and you took the time to spout random facts about the city on your way, of course, like a nine-year-old tour guide—and soon enough they were indeed in an empty alleyway. 

You and Luke stood on each side, weapons in your grasp now that you weren’t surrounded by a whole aquarium of people, and he watched as you stared straight ahead, trying to keep your breathing steady. Besides the whole hearing fish thing, you seemed pretty well-adjusted for where you were. 

But then again—you’d only been at this for a week, and the way you talked about your mom, your home life was the complete opposite of his. 

Luke shook his head. It didn’t matter what your life was like—you both ended up in the same place. 

His thoughts were mercifully ended when Luke heard sharp nails scratching against the brick of the alleyway. He grimaced, his grip tightening on his sword, and he looked over at you. Your eyes were slightly wide, but you nodded when he did. You were ready. 

“You two are clever,” the monster sang, her voice just as grating as her nails against the wall, “but I never miss a meal. And those measly workers just wouldn’t sate my appetite.” 

Her steps got closer and closer, and Luke held his breath. Right before she would be able to see you both, he yelled, “Now!” 

You were out first, immediately lashing at her with your knife. She took the cut against her shoulder and slashed at you in turn, but you dodged out of the way, giving Luke a chance to come in with his sword. But his angle was off, and she deflected the blow then sunk her claws into his arm. Luke cried out, landing a kick on her chest as he ripped himself out of her grasp, but her focus was already back on you. 

You stabbed at her with your knife and actually landed it in her chest, but it wasn’t Celestial bronze—all it did was make her angrier. She screeched and tackled you to the ground, knife still sticking out of her, claws poised to rip your throat out. You grit your teeth as you wrestled her arms away from you, but your strength was fading fast. 

Luke’s eyes widened and he grabbed his sword from the ground. He wouldn’t make it in time, but you could. 

He called out your name and threw his sword, and you didn’t even have to look to snatch it out of the air. Storms raged in your eyes as you stabbed the monster through the side.

“You shouldn’t have come here, dearie,” you spat. 

The monster’s scream dissolved with the wind as she exploded into dust, dousing you in yellow powder. The sword fell out of your grip as you coughed, and you just laid on the ground, drained.  

“Gross,” you grumbled. 

Luke wiped his hand across his forehead as he fought to catch his breath, ignoring the blood seeping down his arm. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” you said between coughs. “I’m great.” 

Luke went over and offered his hand, and he pulled you up after you took it. “I’m so sorry. I guess I’m a little rusty.” 

“Neither of us are dead, are we? I’d say it went pretty well.” You grimaced as you wiped the powder off your face, groaning again. “This is gonna take forever to get off.” 

Luke chuckled as he took his backpack off and took out a towel, which you accepted gratefully. A demigod always had to be prepared. “You say you’ve only been on your own for a week?”

You nodded as you started cleaning your face and arms off. “Not my first monster, though.”

“It never is,” he murmured. Luke tipped his head back towards the sun and closed his eyes, letting out one final, long breath as the buzz from battle started to fade. And along with that, his adrenaline—the wound on his arm began to sting, and he sighed. He really didn’t feel like dealing with that. 

“You’re hurt,” you said, and Luke opened his eyes. 

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “They’re surface level.” 

You frowned. “Are you sure?” 

“I’ve stitched myself up a few times, and this doesn’t need them,” he said, his lip curling at the memory. He was not a very good doctor. “I have some first aid stuff in my bag—once we get out of here, I’ll fix it up.” 

“You said we,” you said. 

Luke blinked. “I did?” 

You nodded. “When we get out of here.” 

He blinked again. He didn’t even notice—didn’t even really think about where you would go after the monster was dead. It was kinda sad, but Luke was pretty sure he’d smiled and talked more in this one hour with you than the past few months on his own. He’d already started thinking of you and him as a collective. 

“What d’you think, then?” he asked. “You wanna stick together?” 

You frowned. “You’re willing to kick it with a girl you just met?”

He shrugged. “You fight well, obviously. And you’re way better at making people feel bad for you than I am. That’s useful when you’ve got nothing.”

“We’re kids on our own,” you said. “It’s not that hard to get pity points.”

“I’ve been told I’m… abrasive,” Luke said. “Besides, I like you already. You were arguing for your baseball team while running for your life. It’s annoying, but impressive.”

“People also say that about me,” you said sagely. Luke smiled and held out his hand more. 

“So? You wanna join forces?”

You stared at it for a while. “Even if I spend the next couple of hours telling you all about the Red Sox?”

Luke chuckled. “I did say you could if we got out of this alive. And I feel pretty alive.” 

It took you another second, but you nodded intently and shook his hand. “Then you’ve got yourself a deal, Luke.” 

“Glad to hear it,” he said, his smile widening. 

You handed him the towel and he went to put it back in his bag when he saw the… souvenir he’d taken before you left the gift shop. He grabbed the whale plushie that had been on his mind all day and held it out to you. “Here.”

You frowned. “When did you even have the time to get this? You definitely didn’t pay for it.”

“Idle hands are the devil’s playthings,” he said. “They won’t miss it. It’s a much better use marking the start of our friendship. Besides,” Luke shrugged, “you did say you wanted a souvenir.” 

You smiled as you took it. “Looks like we’re a trio, then.”

“Welcome to the team,” he said with a grin. “It’s a small one, but I think we’ll make it work.”

“Me too,” you nodded. “And it’ll be nice not being alone.”

Luke thought back to all the nights spent sleeping under bridges, commandeering benches, purposefully choosing overnight buses so he would have somewhere to rest. Constantly watching his back because he had no one else, wondering if each night he camped in the woods would be his last. 

He looked at you, a girl who ran away from home because she didn’t want to hurt her mom. Your clothes were covered in yellow monster dust, sweat dripped down your forehead, and Luke had nearly gotten you killed—but you were still smiling. And he found himself smiling too. 

“Yeah,” Luke murmured. “It will be.” 

[australet789]

I keep seeing people saying Zeus was OOC for striking Athena at the end of God Games and that he was mad at Odysseus

Guys, did we listen to the same song?

Athena's last argument to won the game was literally saying in a magic colleseum full of every single greek magical creature

"Yeah, Zeus is a cheater and a fuckboy, unlike Odysseus"

Athena literally won by insulting Zeus in front of everyone's faces and making Hera, the Goddess of Marriage and very much known wife of Zeus, agree with that.

Zeus was not pissed at Odysseus, he was very much pissed at Athena for using a mortal to compare him (and it goes somehow along the original story, in which Zeus complains about the humans being pissed at the gods for their fates when the gods are basically just "doing their jobs")

[happypeachsludgeflower]

There’s just something very satisfying about Percy beating up the god of war.. and Poseidon calling said god a moron.

[readerconfused]

Sally Jackson crying because she knows the weight of raising a demigod and how painful it is to know that your child will go through very difficult situations in life and you can't protect or prepare them enough. Knowing that you will have to separate from them or you could lose them at any moment

me holding a black-eyed Hermes by the ear: see, this is difficult, you complaining about being an absent father isn't it

[chaostroberry1]

"But you belong to me"

-Men who'd grow overwhelmingly possessive once they start realizing their own feelings towards you were far greater than normal. No matter how toxic the relationship, nothing will get in-between you both. Haters can fucking die, his words not mine. Anything and anyone can watch cus he ain't afraid to show his love for you. Whether it's physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and so on. You aren't allowed to talk to anymore people once you're with him, he can give you everything you need. And will absolutely drag you with him everywhere he goes, or goes with you anywhere you go.-

- MICHAEL KAISER bllk, ALEXIS NESS bllk, Taehun seong, KAHAKU to your eternity, SILVA ZOLDYK hxh, CHROLLO LUCILFER hxh, Qin Shi Huang ror, HADES ror, POSEIDON ROR, JIHOON LEE LOOKISM, light yagami death note, APOLLO ror, SAE itoshi bllk, RIN itoshi bllk.

[mer-acle]

New hc dropped

The elder gods influence the world and creatures around them in regards to their respective element

Demeter grows plants nearby. Also possibly her presence grows people's hair lol

Hearths grow brighter around Hestia

(idk about Hera pls help)

Hades makes your body temp drop

Poseidon makes your mouth dry and makes you blink more often bc he pulls in the water around him

And now consider someone having lightning in their system and Zeus is close by...

[aq2003]

it's really funny that everyone was going "thank god apollo isn't in hades 1 because achilles is our mentor and things could get awkward haha!" and then in hades 2 odysseus is, like, actively begging mel to not bring him up around poseidon

[my-name-is-apollo]

Hermes convincing Apollo and Poseidon to stop fighting each other:

"You then yield to your elder, the ruler of the sea; do this grace to your father's brother, because Earthshaker the ruler of the brine honours your seagirt Delos: cease not to love your palmtree, to remember your olive.

And Earthshaker, what second Cecrops will be judge here? What second Inachos ' has awarded her city to Hera that you take arms against Apollo as well as Athena, and seek a second quarrel after your quarrel with Hera?" (Dionysiaca, Book 36. Trans. William Henry Denham Rouse )

The way he gently convinced Apollo by reminding him of the bond between him and Poseidon, and then turned to Poseidon like "wtf is your problem???" 😭😂

[saturnsconstellation]

I want ya’ll to remember Camp half-blood was a summer camp. Meaning many of the children that died in the battle of Manhattan had families and friends in the outside world to whom they will never return to.

Like imagine one summer you’re kissing goodbye to your mother and playing fighting with your brother and the next you don’t even know it but they’re weeping and sobbing at your funeral.

Imagine you’re saying goodbye to your best friend for the last time without even knowing it.

Imagine Chrion having to tell every single family what happened to their child. How they were awfully slaughtered by monsters that weren’t even meant to hurt them and yes their godly parents. Imagine the amount of pressure.

God I just know that if I were the father of one of those children I would never get over how utterly disgusting and unfair the whole thing was. Those children deserved better.

[gingermintpepper]

Why did Apollo favor the trojans in the Illiad?

So, dear Anon, I've been thinking about how to answer this question since I got it a couple days ago and I think I kind of want to make something clear before I get into it.

The Iliad by itself as a poem only covers some of the events that occur in the final year of a long protracted conflict that had been brewing for at least two decades and was an active war for ten. Within the space of the Iliad itself, the motivations and affairs of the major players are often referenced but there are many, many parts of the story that are not there because they belong to a different story cycle that has been since lost or was never recorded with words. In the space of the Iliad Apollo's motivations are questioned a lot - his pride is questioned by Poseidon who thinks Apollo should be just as angry at the Trojans as he considering Apollo was treated equally as poorly by Laomedon while they worked together. His honour is questioned by Hera who chastises him for taking the Trojans' side when he'd proclaimed that Achilles would live a long life and prosper at Thetis and Peleus' wedding. His own sister calls him a coward for refusing to fight when Zeus gives permission for the gods to go wild on the battlefield. For all that there's this image of Apollo in the Iliad as some staunch and unwavering protector of the Trojans, believe it or not, I largely think of Apollo as neutral in the war.

Which, I suppose, comes back to the question - why did Apollo favour the Trojans? The truthful answer is that I don't know. The Iliad and all its connected stories isn't something I've done enough research on to have an answer or a reference to an answer off the top of my head. The reasoning I'm aware of is that Apollo was a Patron God of Troy and really a god doesn't need any reason besides that to protect his people but it's not like Apollo abandoned the Greeks either. Calchas is the biggest example of that I can point to - descended directly from a priest of Apollo and one who attributed his mantic power to the god, Calchas was pivotal in ensuring the Greeks even got to Troy in the first place.

From a personal perspective however, I think Apollo was more dedicated to the house of Priam than he was the city of Troy itself. Apollo's affection for that house and all its members ran deep - from his admiration of Hecuba and Hector to his love and attempted courtship of Cassandra to his blessings given to Helenus, Deiphobos, Cassandra, Troilus and even his partnership with Paris - Apollo loved the house of Priam. When you think about the times Apollo lashes out against the Greeks, it's generally because they've done some nonsense to earn his ire. The plague was caused by Agamemnon disrespecting his priest, his aid in the slaughter of Patroclus was because he didn't respect him, his minor grudge against Diomedes too was because he tried to test Apollo's mettle and well, the less said about Achilles the better. Apart from his obvious favouring of Hector in the skirmishes, Apollo doesn't really oppose the Greeks. He has a ton of reasons to by the time the Iliad rolls around, including avenging the death of two of his sons, but he remains mostly satisfied with conducting his father's business and overseeing the war from a somewhat professional perspective. To me, it's always been less about Apollo caring about the fate of Troy as a city itself and more about him just really wanting to protect the people in the city that he's come to love and respect.

Of course, I encourage you to take my words with a big tablespoon of salt - like I said, I don't really know enough about the facts in particular to give a solid, confident answer but I can give you my interpretation of it. Maybe consult someone like @littlesparklight for a more comprehensive and grounded response 🤔

[1800-lemon-boy]

While I love the thought process of Percy’s distaste for ares and love for Annabeth were both too strong for Hera herself to remove from Percy’s mind-

You all are missing a much funnier alternative…

Hera was unable to wipe Annabeth from Percy’s brain ✔️

Hera was also unable to wipe the distaste towards ares as it was one of the first times he genuinely didn’t like the gods.

Hera finds it fucking hilarious that the literal god of war lost a fight to a literal 12 year old and wanted to remind ares that he could never live that down. ✔️

<33

[briefartist]