Chapter Text
He doesn"t know what he expected from this kind of revelation.
For the world to stop and hold its breath? for some kind of catastrophic consequence to fall onto their heads?
There"s no such thing, in the end.
There"s Grover taking in a sharp breath, and Annabeth gasping. His mom is still- stuck.
Hades pays them no mind, too busy looking at the di Angelo siblings – his children – like a man looks at an oasis in the desert. Starved and half dead, colour blooming in his cheeks, eyes glassy with so much emotion they hurt to look at.
“You"re- Papà.” Bianca says, the language rolling off her tongue smoothly, and she looks like she just put together a very complicated puzzle and is still shocked at the final image, “Papà.” She repeats, something awfully young in her voice.
Nico"s mouth drops open, dark eyes widening, a smile pulling at his lips immediately after his sister"s words.
“Papà?” He asks, all but bouncing with excitement.
Percy stifles a laugh, trying to focus on him and not the desperate joy painted on the God"s face – he wonders if Poseidon would care that much. Then he remembers the way the car had pulled up out of the Lotus, wheel screeching against the concrete the very moment Nico and Bianca had stepped outside, risking discovery just to get them to him, and knows that it wouldn"t even come close.
It hurts, somewhere in his chest, around his heart.
He"d think of mom, in any other moment. But she"s gone too and the loss only deepens the pain.
“He broke the oath,” Annabeth whispers frantically, “And nobody knows!”
Grover shushes her but to no avail – Hades has heard her.
“You know better than to assume, daughter of Athena,” He replies, eyes moving back and forth between them and his kids, as if to make sure they"re still there, “Niccolò and Bianca were born before the oath. It is only my brothers that dared defy it.”
Annabeth makes a frustrated noise in the back of her throat, like it physically hurts her to not have thought of it.
“I- I apologise, my Lord.” She bows her head, hiding the faintest trembling of her hands by clenching them in fists.
Hades has already moved on, kneeling in front of the siblings, hands clasping their shoulders gently, fluttering over their hair, caressing their cheeks – and, through it all, speaking in quiet tones, a language that bears the same lilting tone Percy had heard before.
Italian, he assumes and wishes he could understand what they"re saying, what is being decided.
His eyes keep straying back to his mother, frozen in time.
Finally, the god straightens, pulling his children back to hide them with his cloak – they go willingly and Percy feels the faintest betrayal, until Nico"s head pops back out, smiling wide and bright and the feeling dissipates like mist – and facing them again.
“You understand, I"m sure, that this cannot leave this palace?”
Grover bleats nervously.
“Won"t it be obvious, once they get to Camp?” Percy asks, pushing past the dread.
“No,” Hades raises a single, pitch black eyebrow, “Because they won"t be joining you in that place.”
“What?” He frowns, “Why not?”
“For one, there"s no cabin for my children and so, no place for them to go.” Percy turns to look at his friends, disbelieving, and Annabeth grimaces, nodding, “And with my brother, they would not be safe. No, I"ll keep them with me, until the time comes that they can step out in the world on their own.”
The Underworld is no place for children, says a voice that sounds suspiciously like his mom"s, echoing in his head with the same disapproving tone of when she"d find him going through the last of his candy mere hours after she"d brought them home.
“In return, I will let you all walk away unscathed,” He looks pained to say it but Bianca nods encouragingly and it"s such a funny image Percy cannot be blamed for the amusement pushing its way through the fear, “Just give me my helm and we"re done here.”
And this is- what?
“Your helm?” Annabeth gapes, “You- you stole the bolt to get the helm back?”
“I...” Hades blinks down at them, “I stole the bolt? My brother"s bolt? Is that what you think? I did no such thing!”
“Then who did?” Grover whispers, horrified.
“Him! Obviously!” The god points right at Percy, exasperated.
Percy"s about to say something, anything to defend himself, when the backpack on his shoulders becomes suddenly heavier. He stumbles back, taking it off and hearing a metallic clunk.
Everyone stills.
Quietly, holding his breath, Percy opens it up – revealing what can only be Zeus" master bolt.
“That"s not my backpack, that"s-”
“Oh, sure, it just found its way to your shoulders on its own-”
“Ares.” Annabeth hisses, “He gave it to you.”
The throne room darkens, shadows lapping at their feet.
“Did he,” Hades says, sneering, “And I suppose he"d have my helm, too, then.”
“That would be a reasonable assumption.” Annabeth gulps.
Anger twists the god"s features.
“Papà,” Comes a voice from the shadows, “It wasn"t him. Why are you mad at them?”
That is a fair question, Percy thinks a bit hysterically, why is everyone always somehow mad at me, is an even better question.
He"s already over this demigod business.
Hades sputters, the darkness retreating to reveal a disapproving Nico, with Bianca clearly backing him up.
The god looks at the two of them – Bianca"s serious eyes, steely and unforgiving. Nico"s furrowed brow, eyes flitting between him and Percy with concern – and sort of bends to their will, doting and frustrated all at once.
“Fine, fine. I"ll make you a deal, Jackson, in honour of your friendship with my children,” He spits out the word friendship with barely contained disbelief, glancing at Nico, “Get my helm back and your mother will be free to go.”
This is when Percy"s brain sorts of trip on itself, relief and terror battling in his mind – mom mom mom and what if I can"t, what happens if I don"t make it-
“Does that mean we get to leave now?” Is what comes out of his mouth, “All of us, without weird threats or-”
The room darkens again.
“Thanks! Thanks is what I meant. I"ll go do that, immediately.”
“Very well. Alecto, show them the way out.”
He barely has time to open his mouth, a protest on his tongue, before he"s picked up, Grover and Annabeth right behind him judging by the shrieks, and carted off unceremoniously.
He turns to look at his mother, one last time, and promises to do what"s necessary to get her back.
His heart feels heavy at the lack of a proper goodbye with his new friends – Nico"s dismayed, “Wait!” echoing in his ears.
On the way back, without prompting, Grover"s shoes fly off his feet, rushing into darkness. The furies crow something intelligible above them and ignore their requests to go look for them – there"s something, in the way they deny it. Some sort of uncomfortable undertone in their words.
Percy is not sure he wants to know what could possibly scare a fury.
If anyone"s expecting it to go awfully, no matter how determined he might be, it"s Percy.
Listen, he"s twelve, up against what seems to be the entirety of Olympus and, sure, he got some friends out of it which is great but. Come on.
It doesn"t go terribly, though. Not at all.
The helm is recovered, his mother is back home – and he got to fight Ares, the god of war, and win, so either someone lied about the whole invincible god business or he"s really, really lucky.
He"s pretty sure it"s the second but he"ll give himself some slack, just this once.
It doesn"t go terribly until he"s back at Camp and he looks at all the cabins, nestled around one another, and cannot find one for Hades.
No place for them to go.
His heart feels heavy.
He thinks about Bianca"s steadfast devotion to her little brother, the vein of competitiveness and stubbornness that rears its head in her. About Nico, who talks a mile a minute and has a borderline obsession with mythomagic, who asks questions that are a bit too harsh to come off as nice but has gentle, open eyes and a smile always ready.
He feels sick.
Luke happens.
Everything falls into place, slotting in nicely – the kind of knowledge he"d had, maybe, in the back of his head.
Like suspecting your new friends might be more than what meets the eye and pushing it back, locking it away.
I don"t want to know this, I don"t want to see this too.
Summer ends on a bitter note and not even mom"s bright smile can make him forget it.
Summer ends.
It happens one morning, as he"s readying for the next school that will inevitably go wrong.
One moment, Percy is brushing his teeth, chasing the last pieces of a dream that felt more like a nightmare, the next, his image in the mirror has been replaced by the di Angelo siblings.
“I think this might be your best look yet.” Bianca deadpans and the toothbrush slips out of his mouth.
He hurries to wash his mouth all while fighting against gravity to grab the damn thing before it ends up on the floor, and Nico laughs, bright as bells.
“Hi, Percy!” He all but shouts.
The last of the terror-filled dream washes away, swept by the tide.
Percy smiles.