Chapter Text
When they get back to the Big House, Percy notices that there’s a man he’s never seen before standing in front of it.
(If he wasn’t so tired, he would have noticed the strange family resemblance. Meaning it’s someone from his Dad's side.
But he’s barely staying awake as it is. Nearly dying is exhausting, as it turned out.
“Lord Triton.” Even as drained as Percy is. He doesn’t miss the weariness in Chiron’s greeting.
“Chiron.” The now identified God said in return. Eyes focusing in on Percy with something that he’s honestly too tired to identify at this point.
“I would ask for what do we owe the pleasure. But I have a feeling I already know.”
He hears Triton start to speak. “Yes. Seeing as father is…” though the rest he doesn’t catch entirely. Even so, he wants to know exactly what the God was saying.
This was the first time he had heard his godly parent referenced in any form.
He’s half dead as it is. Having long since given up on trying to sit straight up on Chiron, rather opting instead to rest his head against Chiron’s back before he finally let himself succumb fully to the call of unconsciousness.
Triton looks between his now passed-out half-brother and then back at Chiron with an eyebrow raised in a silent question. Are you sure you can handle this?
Since while the centaurs' skills were well known. Just so was his father's protective fury.
Even if it increased the chance of incurring Zeus' own wrath, it might just be best to bring him to Atlantis to take care of whatever had happened, since that much wasn’t as clear. Since that would decrease the chance of their father drowning the camp in response to whatever had happened.
(They, of course, would have just asked. But his father had taken off before either he or his mother could get so much of a word in. So they were still in the dark, which had led Triton to come here. Since Triton had come here, he could only think of two things that could have caused this reaction.
And the other one had been ongoing for so long that he is sure his father would have said something before leaving.)
But it was clear enough that something had happened in camp. A camp that was meant to be a place of protection for his brother. Something had injured him enough that even with his water-healing abilities, he still looked like he had been through the wringer.
And if Chiron somehow manages to mess it up even further…Well, it wouldn’t be pretty, that was for certain.
Chiron, instead of choosing to answer the question directly, motioned him to follow into the Big House. “Come along; I can fill you in on what I know while I tend to Percy.”
Triton’s quiet for a moment as Chiron works on stitching his brother’s sword wound. (He briefly debated healing it, but held back.) Having just told him what he knew about the earlier events. “Father said he had an urgent matter to attend to on Olympus but didn’t elaborate. However, it wasn’t difficult to put the bare minimum together.”
After all, this wasn't the first attack that had been targeted at Percy within the past few weeks. However, this was just the first one involving other children. None of whom he noticed, he had seen since arriving, and probably would not see during his stay.
Of course, it’s not a mystery why Chiron is putting off talking to them. Letting those six be around his brother was asking for trouble.
(Especially since one of those children was one of Athena’s. This was already starting to dredge up bad memories for him, and it would do the same for the rest of the family.)
Of course, Triton wouldn’t go after them; he wasn’t foolish enough to act in such a manner without his father’s orders. But Chiron didn’t know that. So he didn't blame him for the lack of action. Not yet anyway.
“You better hope Athena’s child didn’t realize who his father was.”
“We kept any suspicions about his parentage from the other campers.” Chiron tried to placate.
Yes, well, keeping information from someone. Does not mean they cannot figure it out themselves. And Triton did not miss the fact that his brother looked a lot like their father. “Just because you kept it away from them doesn’t necessarily mean they did not put it together on their own.”
And considering the strong family resemblance…There was a chance that she might not have realized, but he could not shake the thought that she at least suspected.
Though he has a feeling, he will never know for certain. If she did know prior to the claiming, and Chiron finds out she knew, he would advise her to say otherwise, since it would only increase their father's wrath with the family history.
Chiron would realize that it would be foolish to confirm.
Triton’s honestly not sure why he stays after Chiron finishes patching his brother up.
After all, it isn’t exactly in his nature to hang around his mortal half-siblings, let alone to the extent that some might argue he was watching over them. Maybe it was out of some irrational fear that his brother would be acted against for a second time? After all this mess was primarily caused by a child of Athena. And no matter how long it had been since he lost Pallas, it still hurt.
It would be cowardice to target the boy while he was recovering, but that wouldn’t be exactly new. After all, the night's events were an act of cowardice on the children of Ares’ part.
(He isn’t sure what excuse the children had given initially for their choices. Chiron had mentioned something involving a bathroom incident and his brother dumping them with toilet water.
In his opinion, given his brother's lack of experience, this move most certainly would have been done in self-defense, and if that were the case, they were already off to a bad start.
And that was before they even began factoring in other things, such as that his brother was unpracticed and untrained, which only made the five-on-one that had occurred more ridiculous. No matter what his brother had done to upset the rest of the campers, even if it hadn’t been in self-defense, there was no reason for what they did.
This was uncalled for.)
He wasn’t even sure if he had the right number of words to describe his feelings about the Athena spawns part in this.
Her involvement was digging up old feelings that he didn’t want to recall, an old pain he had kept buried deep. All because Athena, in some form, had gone after a child of the sea again. It had taken centuries before he could be in the same room as the goddess after he lost Pallas, and he still avoided her to this day.
This will only cause more of a divide.
Though how much was going to depend on how the other gods responded to this situation.
Percy’s not sure how long he’s been out for, when he jolts awake from a nightmare of the capture the flag event. Flashes of it are still running through his mind as he tries to get his breathing under control.
(Too much electricity, too much blood, not enough rain. No Chiron. No Luke. No mercy, it just kept going-)
He is too caught up in the nightmare at first to notice the fact that someone is carding a hand through his hair. With some quiet reassurances of him being safe. “Easy Perseus-”
“Percy.” He corrects on reflex, without really thinking about who he might be correcting.
(That can be a problem for an actually awake Percy.)
He thinks he hears someone else make an amused noise, though the first voice quickly hushes them before they seem to turn their attention back onto him. “Easy, Percy, you are safe from them. They won’t be allowed to cause any more harm.”
Part of Percy wants to protest that statement. After all, he was told that about the camp, and look what happened. But something about the soft yet surprisingly firm tone they were speaking in makes him actually want to believe it.
So maybe that’s why, when he drifts off this time, letting the gentle combing motion of the hand in his hair soothe him back to sleep, the nightmares stay away at least for now.
Amphitrite lets out a soft sigh as the boy drifts back off into sleep, aided by a bit of her own magic.
After enough time had passed and it had become apparent that neither Poseidon nor Triton would be returning any time soon, she had joined Triton at the camp. Since she couldn’t exactly seek out her husband on Mt Olympus at the moment, she had sought out the latter, hoping to find out what exactly had happened.
“Do you think he’ll remember correcting you on the name thing?” Triton asked.
“Hard to tell. Most likely not if I had to guess.” Honestly, it hadn’t bothered her much; he was a child. The nickname was bound to bring more comfort; it was a little request that could easily be fulfilled. And considering what he had just been through, it was a simple thing she could do for him.
Gods didn’t need to sleep, technically at least, but it was recommended that they at least engage in it occasionally. So they very rarely had to deal with things like nightmares. But she could at least imagine what must have been running through the boy's mind when he had awoken.
“Certainly one way to introduce yourself,” Triton said again with a noise of amusement again. Maybe in another universe, he would have had a different reaction, but in this one, he knew his brother could have died. In this universe, all he found was some mild annoyance at the abruptness. And even that didn’t last long, considering he was reasonably sure Percy wasn’t aware of who he was speaking to.
“He most likely didn’t realize who we were,” Amphitrite noted, unknowingly agreeing with him. “More than likely, he thought it was another camper. Or possibly Chiron.”
Though she wasn’t sure about the latter, he would be the only adult on the grounds who could provide comfort. Of course, he was away at the moment, but it wasn't like Percy would have a way of knowing that. So the point still stood.
“I should return to Atlantis. It's ill-advised for all of us to be gone for so long. Are you going to stay?”
Triton tilted his head in thought for a moment before saying. “I think that is what Father would want.”
Amphitrite hummed in agreement. While neither of them had been able to speak to Poseidon about what happened, it wasn’t difficult to draw the same conclusion.
“I’ll be back before he wakes. But for now, I am staying here.”
The “just in case” wasn’t spoken aloud but was well heard nonetheless. While they were reasonably sure no one would pull a second stunt after the previous night or go anywhere near the boy for a long time, it was still best to keep watch to some degree until things began to settle.
When Percy awakens in the morning, he is alone, which he isn’t surprised by. He hadn’t expected the visit from anyone on his dad's side at all, let alone a half-sibling. A half-sibling who, now that he could think clearly enough, was Triton. He definitely hadn’t expected a second visitor after waking up in the middle of the night, one that he doesn’t really remember.
(It’s barely a memory as it is, of a soft voice cutting through the remnants of the nightmare, telling him everything would be okay. It was so unexpected that it made it stick out at all.)
The only person who had ever cared about him when he had been sick or hurt was his Mom, and well, she obviously wasn’t going to be visiting. Plus considering the previous track record with his Dads side of the family and paying attention to him, the sudden flip caught him off guard.
When he finally sits up, something catches his eye on the table next to the infirmary bed, and he picks it up. It’s a small conch shell attached to some kind of thick material obviously meant to be a necklace. A note sitting next to it, explaining that if he was ever in danger, all he needed to do was to touch it and someone would come.
It must have been from one of his late-night visitors, which only increases his curiosity about who they were. Slipping the cord over his neck, he decides to go downstairs, maybe Chiron can answer his questions?
He needed to talk to him anyway to understand what was going to happen now that he was claimed. No one had really explained that part before now.
Chiron smiles as he comes outside. “Percy, it's good to see you awake, my boy. How are you feeling?”
“Better.” And it’s the truth: He still felt a bit lightheaded, but at least now he didn’t feel like a walking corpse like the night before. He guesses he'll probably be back to normal by tomorrow.
“Good, good. And I see you received the gift Lady Amphitrite left last night.”
Percy nearly drops the cord he had started fiddling with in surprise at that, again recognizing the name from the lessons with his Mom. That had been his stepmother in the infirmary last night?
He thought his half-brother's visit was the weirdest part of last night. Apparently not. His mind is whirling with a half dozen questions, but settles for the one he had been thinking about since he saw the note. “Does it really work that way?”
“The summoning?” Percy nodded. “Mostly. There are a few restrictions, some places where it might not work as intended, but for the most part it should.”
Percy frowned, looking at the conch shell for a second in confusion. “There wasn’t any mention of that.”
Now it was Chiron’s turn to frown. “Well, I suppose there might not be as many as one would expect. Admittedly, most of the limits are in places you wouldn’t venture into, but I’ll see if I can follow up on it later.”
“So can I use it at camp? Because the note said if something like what happened yesterday happened again, I should use it.”
He didn’t need to think hard after all to realize just why he had been given the shell. It was to prevent last night’s events from ever happening again.
(Though if it had restrictions, Percy’s not entirely sure how much that will actually help. It’s not like he can ask his godly family to just show up realistically. He’s not going to be foolish enough to think that just because they had come last night, it didn’t mean they were going to be more prominent in his life all of a sudden.
They just wanted to make sure he was okay.
That was all.)
“Ah yes,” Chiron said with a nod. “I was mainly speaking if you needed it somewhere outside of camp boundaries.”
That made sense, even though Percy wasn’t entirely sure when he would be leaving camp again, especially after yesterday's incident. “So what happens now?” Percy asked, followed up immediately by. “Am I still going to get lessons from Annabeth on Ancient Greek?”
Maybe that wasn't the most pressing thing to be asking about. But considering that's how his morning starts. And he really didn't want to deal with her after she had set him up to be nearly killed. Well...pardon him for wanting to ask him about that. Since he wasn’t sure if he could pay attention to her lessons now, not for a long time. If ever if he was being honest with himself
Being in close quarters with her was going to be uncomfortable.
Chiron sighed. “No. I need to find you a new instructor, but it will not be Annabeth. So your lessons will be on pause for the time being. Since she will not be teaching you. Both Annabeth and Clarisse have been stripped of their leadership titles in their cabins, along with other punishments that I am orchestrating. Annabeth, at the very least, will have a much harder time trying to do something like that again, on you or anyone else.”
There is no shortage of relief at that. Though the mention of punishment brings up a question Percy has had since one of Clarisse's brothers made that comment last night. “Is the punishment for maiming really just losing desert privileges?”
Chiron frowned at that. “Who mentioned that?”
“One of the Ares kids.”
“Of course, they saw it that way,” Chiron said with a sigh. “To answer your question, technically, no, that is punishment for when someone accidentally injures another camper, but what they did was far from accidental.”
Oh.
That actually made some sense.
"I will be having a discussion with the camp to make sure there is no one else who has that misconception going forward," Chiron said with a tired look on his face. “I do want to apologize, my boy, I thought I had taught Annabeth better than that.”
“It’s alright, what happened was not your fault.” It's not like he had put Annabeth up to the idea after all. Sure, he was mad at a few people. But one of them wasn't Chiron. He was mad at Annabeth, Clarisse, and the other kids in the Ares cabin, but no one else. At least unless he found out Chiron was somehow weirdly involved in this. But he couldn't think of someway his teacher could be. He looked to regretful over the whole situation to be anything else.
“Though maybe you should have stricter rules on the whole maiming thing?” Or at least better communication on what that meant?
“As I said, rest assured, I will certainly be talking with the entire camp about it in the coming days.”
“That’s all I want.” No one else deserved to feel how scared he had felt the night before. And while it was too late to stop it for him, maybe this would prevent some other incident down the road. However, that also might mean addressing another thing since Chiron seemed to be actually listening to his suggestions. “Also, maybe talk to the Ares kids about what the appropriate response to self-defense is. I only blew the toilets up in their faces because they tried to shove me in one in the first place. They can’t always expect that to go their way.”
Chiron’s frown deepened at that. “Yes, I will be having a long discussion about that with the entire Ares cabin. That was an inappropriate response, and even if it weren't self-defense, it still would’ve been improper.”
“Thanks.”
“There is no thanks needed. This shouldn’t have occurred to begin with, and I’m only seeing that punishment is properly followed through.”
“Because of my Dad?”
“Partly,” Chiron admitted with some clear reluctance. “But because of the level of that stunt, I would still have been evaluating things regardless.”
Well, considering his Dad’s reputation, he guessed that made sense.
“So what now?”
“We get you settled into your new cabin. Come along. Luke should have moved your things over during the night, but it's best to check nonetheless.”
It's only after Percy’s long begun settling into his new cabin that he realizes the person he had corrected on reflex was his stepmom.
By the time after lunch, Percy can’t ignore it. It’s rather apparent that most of the camp is avoiding him due to the aftermath of last night. Whether it's because of who his Dad is, or because of the incident during the game. Or both.
Most of the camp is avoiding him. And he is not entirely sure why.
The Athena and Ares cabin he gets. After all, they were involved in the mess last night. The other cabins catch him off guard, though.
(Especially Hermes. He had just spent a better part of the week in that cabin. And everyone from there that isn’t Chris or Luke has so far been avoiding him this morning.)
And that wasn’t the most confusing thing he was trying to process.
He isn’t sure if either of the sea deities who had come last night had been on his Dad's orders or if they had come of their own accord. Either way, his Dad had gone from not caring about him at all to suddenly having family members check on him. And that’s ignoring the fact that Triton didn’t usually like demigods, and he definitely didn’t like the demigods of their Dad.
(He remembers enough about the stories to know that much.)
This makes it seem like his Dad's idea in the first place. Even if it was his Dad's idea, it was still nice to know that he cared enough to have someone, anyone, check on him. Since he didn’t think he even cared that much, if he was being honest, he got what the myths said he did. But what he had been taught from his own experience was vastly different from the stories.
Maybe Grover can help explain that?
Thankfully, Grover apparently isn’t included in the group, avoiding him since, during lunch, he decides to plop down across the table from him with his own lunch.
“I heard about what happened last night, and I’m sorry Annabeth did that.” Is what Grover opens up with.
Percy just shrugs. He understands that the two are friends, but it's not like Grover can control her. “I’m not mad. You didn’t have any way of knowing she would pull that stunt.”
He still remembered the look Luke and Chiron had given her when she had started bragging about using him as bait. Even Luke, who had called her his sister, had been caught off guard by the events. He's not sure how close Annabeth and Grover are to be honest, but if Luke was that caught off guard by what happened. Then he couldn’t expect his best friend to know what would happen.
Grover's shoulders dip a bit at that. “But I feel like I should have. I’ve known Annabeth for years and know how much she can get caught up in a game. I should’ve seen this coming.”
Percy raises an eyebrow at that. “Dude, Chiron didn’t see it coming. Luke was appalled by what she did. If they couldn’t see it coming either, what luck did you have?”
“I guess that’s true.” Grover reluctantly agreed after a second. “I still can’t believe that after everything, she would think to invoke your Dad's wrath like that.”
“I mean, we don’t know for sure if he's angry.”
As quickly as Percy says it, he realizes how ridiculous it sounds. Despite not really believing it, Percy knows the myths of his Dad's protective fury.
Grover gives him a look before saying. “That was his storm on the campgrounds last night, Perce.”
Oh.
Again, he knows what the stories say. But it was really hard to reconcile the idea of him acting like that after 12 years of not being around.
“It was risky, too. With everything going on with his brother, he probably would have gotten more on his case for interfering like that. But I guess he decided risking his brother's wrath was worth it, which I'm glad.”
All that did was confuse Percy. “So he could get in trouble for actually helping family? That seems dumb.”
Grover gives a nervous glance at the sky at that comment. But there isn’t a rumble of thunder at that. Not that would make Percy change his mind. He stood by what he said. That just not acting seemed to be asking for trouble. “I’m not entirely sure why those laws are in place to begin with, Perce, it’s just how it's always been from what everyone says.”
Percy frowned, poking at his lunch somewhat. “Just because something has been the same way for a long time, doesn’t necessarily mean it's the right or the best thing to do.”
Was this a mortal vs immortal thing that he just didn’t understand after only being in this world for a week? Or was this one of those things adults liked to pretend would make more sense when he was older, even though Percy was pretty sure it still wouldn’t make sense by then.
It wasn’t like he wasn’t already on a couple of gods' bad sides. He’d be willing to bet that what had happened with Annabeth and the others hadn’t exactly put him on Athena and Ares' good side.
It’s late into the evening before Poseidon finally returns to Atlantis from Olympus. He had made a small stop at the Camp along the way, wanting to be absolutely sure his youngest was all right, even if he was fast asleep.
He trusted Chiron to an extent, but he didn’t trust most of the camp at the moment after the previous night's events. And he knew he would know if his son was dying again. But seeing his son sleeping peacefully on the bunk bed in his cabin provided some reassurance.
Zeus could get annoyed with him later. (Even if it would be irrational with the results of the day before.) He was allowed to be even more protective than usual, even by his standards, after feeling his child nearly die.
“How did it go, Poseidon?” Amphitrite asks almost immediately once they are back in the private royal family quarters. Where no one could overhear the conversation.
There is another question unasked within it. Do they need to increase their preparations for war?
After all, she knew even if the child had survived the encounter. Depending on how Athena and Ares responded to the situation, that might not be enough to sedate her husband's anger. Plus, the argument about the missing bolt with Zeus was still unresolved at last check.
If something had happened with Perseus, something that might actually spark a war instead of all the posturing they had been doing up until this point.
Then they needed to know what had happened.
“Well, the good news is that Zeus and I have come to a truce on the thiefdom for the moment. It took swearing on the Styx, of course, but he finally had to admit my lack of involvement.”
That had been unpleasant. This is something Poseidon had avoided doing this entire time because he hadn’t wanted it to possibly backfire on them somehow in multiple reasons. But with his son's life in the balance and a desire for retribution, and concerned that Zeus would let it slide if he still believed that he wasn't the thief, he had taken the oath.
At least his brother had finally used some critical thinking and had sent out his children again to look for the missing item, now that he had sworn on the Styx that he had nothing to do with the theft.
(It shouldn’t have taken coming to this point for his brother to finally look at anyone else a second time. But what was done was done.)
Even if it had been in response to the fact that Poseidon had taken the oath, to stop his brother from redirecting the argument away from what had happened with his grandchildren. And on to the perceived offense he had received.
“How much do you know about what happened at Camp Half Blood last night?”
“We know some things,” Amphitrite admitted after glancing at their son. “Triton went to check in after you disappeared from Atlantis last night. Figuring he was most likely somehow connected to all of it. Chiron was able to give us some details, but he wasn’t aware of everything that had gone on.”
Poseidon gave a grateful but surprised look at Triton. “Thank you for checking on him.” If he had been thinking clearly at the time he had left for Atlantis, he would have made the request himself. But he had been too caught up in his own fury to consider that.
“Of course. But may I ask what is going to happen, Father?”
Poseidon explained what the council meeting had been like, just as his mind drifted to the previous night's events for a moment.
It had been a quiet evening in Atlantis when Poseidon had first become aware that something was wrong.
At first, he felt some of his son's fleeting fear, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. He knew his son was at camp, and he knew he should be safe. But after the events of the past few days and his lack of trust in Zeus, he decided to keep an eye on his son in case something was going wrong.
And the feeling of fear tripling almost immediately got his full attention, though it took him a moment to assess the situation fully. Since no one had called him by name, and since no one knew he was the father of Perseus, it had taken him a moment to get an aspect of himself at camp to see what was going on.
And the horror and anger had quickly followed it.
He isn’t entirely sure how the circumstances came to be. He isn’t sure what brought the situation of having his son lying on the ground in the forest being beaten up by several other campers. Why was he alone? If this were the capture the flag game, then where was his backup?
He may not have needed to pay attention to the war games the camp children had in a long time, but he remembered enough from the last time to know this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
Certainly, no one was foolish enough to leave a child, one who had barely any training at that, alone to possibly incur the wrath of the five Ares children. Especially one that seemed to be wielding an electric spear.
And yet , the more he watches, the more he begins brewing a storm, both to tell the Ares children to back off and to provide some safety and help to his youngest. It seems like his child had, in fact, been left alone to fight off Ares’ children.
Whose foolish idea was it to leave his son alone when clearly they held a vendetta? That someone must have known his son would be acted against.
(After all, if Poseidon could tell this was in response to something without any of them saying what it was yet, then someone who did know what had happened certainly should have been able to put it all together.
At the very least, the team captain should have had someone keeping an eye on him. Someone stationed near by to make sure his son was okay. And yet no one was around to intervene except for him, all the way in Atlantis. All he can do is bring power to the storm as his son continues to be beaten up by the other campers. All he can do is hope to Khaos that this will be more than enough to stall and give him enough time to get help until the other children lose interest. Or help arrives for his young, untrained son that, for some Khaos forsaken reason, had been left to the mercy of the children of war.)
Poseidon snarls when this is all confirmed, when his son tries to tell them where the flag is hidden, only to be told they don’t care about it. Apparently, this is all because he had made their cabin look stupid. In self-defense for something, they started, according to Perseus.
Self-defense for what? He doesn’t know. He honestly doesn’t care. This is an inexcusable response even if it hadn’t been in self defense.
Oh, this was looking worse and worse for the Ares children. He and Ares will have words and so much more when he is sure his child is safe and being taken care of by a healer.
When the Ares girl nearly runs him through with her spear (Thank Khaos below for the armor), he’s almost reached his breaking point. He very nearly teleports to camp right then and there to snatch his son away to Atlantis, consequences be damned. Feelings that only deepen as he sees an Ares boy drag a cut across the arm of his son and watches as his son's eyes seem to blur as he gasps out something about not maiming.
(It's probably a good thing that Poseidon is too incensed and focused on throwing power into the storm he has created, to register just what the punishment was. Because that would have definitely been his final straw.)
He’s just about to teleport into camp, damn the consequences, when finally some of the other campers appear, carrying the flag and drawing the Ares children, who hadn’t spooked from the storm, away.
Though his attention on the fleeing campers is quickly redirected back to Percy as he sees him struggle to sit up and put pressure on the cut.
(That almost sent him to camp yet again if for no other reason than to tell the boy to stay down. As it is, he’s too focused on getting as much rain onto his son to heal him, to give him time until Chiron would arrive, to focus on anything else.)
Of course, only when his son is standing, albeit rather shaky, and the rain has washed away the most concerning of his injuries, does someone show up at his son's side. Poseidon snarls at the Athena spawns confession, he can feel his son’s anger also being fueled by this revelation.
How dare she?
This shouldn’t have surprised him, coming from a child of Athena, considering their history among other things. But he would have thought maybe her children had a bit more sense than she did, but clearly not if they were pulling stunts like this.
She had left his son to die over a capture the flag game, nearly, and she didn’t seem to be able to see what the problem was at all. It was high time she understood just what kind of mistake she had made, since apparently she was dead set on defending her choices.
He moves to claim Perseus as the last of the rain fades. He hears the Athena child swear, finally seeming to understand the predicament she had brought upon herself. As the trident starts to fade, Poseidon finally withdraws his attention from the camp and to what must be done next, trusting Chiron to be able to get his youngest child in working order.
If not, then the camp would be gone by morning. Consequences be damned.
Poseidon had been to Olympus many times in the past few months as part of the ongoing arguments with Zeus about the missing master bolt situation. However, up until now, his brother had always called his meetings. This time, Poseidon was the one doing the calling and the talking.
“There was no honor in this retribution, Ares. Simply cowardice.” Poseidon snarls, nowhere near willing to entertain what little defense the war god was trying to mount for his children. However, even that would have been pushing it in the sea god's mind. It’s a mark of how right he is that Ares doesn’t even try arguing much on his children's behalf. “It was five on one. In response to him defending himself. They need to be taught that if they are going to pick a fight, they can’t expect any resistance.”
Just because some of the victims who came before had rolled over and taken it didn’t mean all of them would. And the last thing they needed was a repeat of the incident.
Ares, for once, wisely keeps his mouth shut rather than trying to argue with him further.
“I’ll speak with them after this is over with.” He relented with a grunt that told Poseidon he didn’t want to. But he would.
“I’ll also be having words with all of my children after tonight, rest assured, Poseidon.”
“Words aren’t enough, Athena,” Poseidon said, turning his attention to the other god fully embroiled in all of this.
Arguably, the one who had let all this happen. Lessons weren’t enough to stop these events from happening. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have occurred at all. They would have learned from the loss of his granddaughter if words were powerful enough.
Athena held up her hand in an attempt at a placating gesture, even as it did not affect his mood. “I am aware of that, Poseidon. There will be more to this.”
Truly, the only reason at this point was that he was entertaining the vague assurances. Was the fact that his son hadn’t died. If he had? Well… They all knew what would have come of that, especially since he was barely one wrong word away from threatening just that.
“What are you expecting from this anyway, brother? Retribution for your thief.”
This wasn’t the first time Zeus had called his son the thief, even after months of arguing about it. But something about this particular instance made Poseidon snap and do the thing he arguably should have done in the beginning. He had just been too proud to.
Poseidon snarls. “I swear on the river Styx that neither I nor my son had anything to do with the theft of your master bolt.”
There was a boom of thunder that always accompanies spoken oaths, but nothing else. Because, like he had been telling them for months, he had nothing to do with the theft.
Zeus makes a face as he realizes that his brother had been telling the truth all along, “So what do I do then, brother?”
“I don’t know. Should we send out your children again? I honestly do not care. I have other matters more important now than your stolen object of power.” Particularly dealing with his son.
Zeus gave a tired sigh before finally asking. “Fine. What do you want out of this?”
“I want my son protected. I want to make certain nothing like this could ever happen again.”
“The camp is supposed to protect demigods-”
“Excuse me for not being willing to believe that after the events of the past few hours. At this point, I am not just concerned about monster attacks, brother.”
Zeus let out a resigned sigh at that before asking. “If we assign someone to the camp, you trust. Will you let the other children involved live as long as they are punished otherwise?”
“Yes.”
That is exactly what he wanted since it would protect not only Perseus but also any other children of the sea who might come to the camp. Truth be told, he did not trust Athena spawn retaliation against any sea-related children at this point. But he didn’t think his brother would give it to him.
“Then it shall be done.”
Truth be told, even now, Poseidon was still surprised by how his brother had given in to his demands, though he supposes it makes sense. Zeus probably felt some kind of need to protect the camp since his daughter had given her life to make a final stand defending some of its inhabitants. And one of those inhabitants had been Athena’s child.
“So what now? Do you have someone in mind to be at the camp to keep an eye on things?”
“I would prefer it if you would, to be honest.” Poseidon told Triton. “There are other options, of course.” He admitted. “And if you can’t put your normal feelings for demigods aside, I will seek them out.”
After all, the last thing he needed was a protector who resented his son.
“I’ll take it.”
Percy was surprised when he opened his cabin door the next morning after a knock and saw Chiron with Triton standing beside him. He hadn’t expected to see his half-brother again after the other day.
Well, except for maybe if he needed to use that conch shell that had been left for him.
“Um, hi?”
Was Triton taking him to Atlantis or something? He couldn't really think of a reason why he would be going there, though it would probably be cool to see Atlantis.
“Percy, I don't know if you recall from the other night, but this is Lord Triton. He has been ordered to stay with you for the duration of the summer to make sure the events of the other night are not repeated.”
Huh.
Well, that was unexpected.
After Chiron leaves the two of them, Triton decides to take Percy somewhere more private to talk and explain how things will work and set some realistic expectations. They barely get that far away from the cabins before Triton catches his brother visibly stalling while staring in the direction of the woods they had just been about to go into.
“Is something wrong, Perseus?”
“Percy.”
“Apologies. I’ll try my best to stick to the nickname.”
“Thanks,” Percy mutters, staring at the forest for a moment before hesitating for a second. “Could we maybe talk somewhere else?”
Triton blinked in confusion for a moment, not sure of the problem, glancing back to the forest before finally realizing what it must be. The game had probably been in there, hadn’t it? His brother probably had some trauma from that night, realistically speaking. That might be a problem to look at later.
Or maybe it was more because they were practically strangers, and of course, a child wouldn’t trust him after the night before's events.
Either way, it didn’t mean it was necessarily a problem overall, just one at the moment.
Hopefully.
They did have other options at their disposal—options that he should have thought of first, in hindsight. There was a natural bay here, and they could talk in privacy there. And being in their father’s domain would most likely give some additional comfort to his brother. Really, he should have just started with the water to begin with.