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There will come a soldier.
Alone on the crow's nest of the Argo II, with none but the stars and gods as his audience. The sky turned inky grey from the navy blue of the night sky with the clouds that gathered. It was the calm before the storm, like a soda can that had been shaken before it had been opened, ready to explode at any moment, just waiting for a push. Percy allows himself to finally break down, that's the push it needed, as rain poured down from the heavens, lightning flashed, thunder boomed while the winds howled into the night.
His ascension to a god had been unintentional, accidental. He hadn't even known it was possible, nor did he know that it was going to be in Tartarus when he ascended. He had gotten pulled down by Arachne while trying to get rid of the webs that had ensnared Annabeth, unbeknownst to her. The webs had latched on to him when he tried to slash through them, pulling him down with the already falling Arachne. While turning the wave of Poison Akhlys had sent his way, it had been his mortality that cracked within him. His subsequent run through the palace of the Night and jump over the river Acheron had been the final straw to break the camel's back. His mortality had burned up easily, his powers eating at it over the years, his powers had simply been too much for the mortal body, for the mortal soul. Causing the domino effect of his ascension to become a god, however, he had yet to know his domains. He didn't want to know his domains either, not when it would mean he had to face the fact that he, truly wasn't of the same kind as his friends anymore.
There was something poetic about becoming what one hates. To become one's worst nightmare.
As thunder and lightning crashed around him, a flash of light appeared beside him, which he turned away from despite now no longer needing to. Again, he has been trying his best to live his mortal life and not acknowledge his newfound immortality and godhood. The golden eyes and blond hair of his beloved greeted him when he turned back to face the newcomer. Apollo sat down by him, paying no mind to the hurricane that had developed around them in the past few minutes.
Before he could fully process what he was about to ask, his mouth was already running. "Do you know what it's like - To feel stuck between being Mortal and a God. To be neither here nor there?" Percy asks before his brain caught up to the fact he had told Apollo about his predicament. The silence was what met his question, through the darkness, he could see as Apollo's beautiful golden eyes widened as their eyes met while processing his question. Percy realizes that perhaps he wanted Apollo to be the first to know, or have the idea at least, that Percy himself may no longer be mortal.
Demigods, he should have already known, lightly treading on the cusp of both being a mortal and being that of the divine. Possessing both the red blood of Mortals and the golden ichor of the gods, possessing the ability to do inhuman acts, of supernatural feats but yet still hold the ability to die. To end their story and finally rest.
There will come a poet.
It was only after the punishment from Zeus for bringing upon the prophecy that told of the threat Mother Earth poses to the rule of the gods that Apollo finally understood what Percy had meant.
The punishment that Percy had tried desperately to prevent, only carried out kicking and screaming by Poseidon and Triton from the Olympian throne room.
When he had ascended to his rightful place on the council of Olympians, he had felt that he was neither mortal nor god, neither here nor there. Where logically he knew of his immortality and godhood but at the same time didn't want to let go of his newfound humanity. This was a new commonality that he shared with Percy, the reluctance to fully embrace immortality, instead of holding on to the virtues and values he had learnt in his short stint as a mortal.
It felt horrible as an established god to be stuck between the two worlds, but it had likely been worse for Percy. Who at the time of asking, hadn't known what he was specifically beyond that he was a god with no domains that he knew off. At least Apollo had known his purpose in the world, to do specific duties for his domains, while Percy had been drifting aimlessly with no idea what his domains were before the battle that took place on Half-blood hill against Gaea and her monster army.
Percy had found out only when the Fates had announced them after he finally decided to come clean to the rest of the Olympian council.
God of Monsters, Rebirth, Heroes, Demigods, Tragic Fates, Personal Loyalty, Selflessness, Duty, Tides, Riptides and Sudden Storms.
It was cruel, for Percy to become the God of Monsters and Rebirth based on his ascension taking place in Tartarus, where Monsters go to reform after being killed, reborn yet again to be unleashed upon the world. The antithesis of what Percy had been about during his time as a mortal. The other aspects of his domains hadn't been as controversial and were more in line with what one would expect to preside over after a life that Percy had led as a mortal.
Outrage was had when he was announced God of Heroes since that had been proclaimed to be Heracles. Due to Heracles' inability to properly perform his role he has been stripped of that role, of that domain.
Despite everything, Percy broke down to the floor when his domain was announced. It cemented his role among the ranks of the divine and condemned him to watch most of his loved ones fade away with time.
So, on a particularly bad night, as they both sat under the stars, watching the clouds drifting by the night sky. Percy asks again, "So, do you know how it feels like to be stuck between mortality, being human and being a god?"
This time Apollo has an answer. "Yes, I know how it feels now. Not to the same extent, you did, but I…" He takes a breath in gathering his thoughts. " I don't feel how I used to, before Lester. No longer, untouchable, perfect- in all aspects. Lester woke something in me something that I never had before or something that I had forgotten with time. I dread losing everyone else…"
"How do you cope, knowing one day, everyone you've known as a mortal will be dead. And there is nothing you can do to save them, but watch them fade away. I'm scared 'pollo." Percy asks, quietly.
"You…don’t. But while you still have time with them, don't be afraid to get close, to get attached. Your time with them is limited, and you have-"
"An eternity to get over the heartbreak." Percy finishes. This had been a phrase he had told Percy himself, time and time again during the phase of their relationship where they were uncertain of what they were. Before Hera had taken him before the prophecy of the seven had come to pass.
There will come a ruler.
Triton would admit, perhaps he treated his younger brother too harshly when they had first met. In his defence, it was hardly time for pleasantries during wartime, with the war in full swing and battles raging on in parts of the underwater city of Atlantis.
They had since made up during the time Percy had been training under various gods and as a Prince of the Seas, which was after the council had been informed of his ascension in Tartarus. Finally ready to face the fact that he was a mortal no longer. Amphitrite and he have been admittedly, hard on him when he first came into their lives under the sea. Since well, Percy was evidence that Poseidon hadn't been faithful to his mother, Poseidon's wife. It took a while, but Percy's charm had eventually won his mother over. They now all have a better relationship, the united family presented to the public is no longer just a front. Triton had been even worse, being outright hostile to Percy for the first half a year he was under the seas.
They had eventually bonded over their mutual hate for public events, and gatherings and later bonded and made up fully when Percy had covered for Triton by telling dad it had been him that started the fight. He had started against Percy in the halls of the palace, the scars of said fight still evident on the walls. They both got scolded, like little boys that night in front of the palace staff.
Watching Percy get a better grip of his domains under the seas, was rewarding. He finally had a little brother that was immortal that he could rope into his plans for trouble and then later use as a scapegoat - jokingly of course. The sea as a whole had taken to this new Oceanic deity rather well, albeit said new deity came attached to the hip to the sun god who also happened to be the patron of seafarers.
Currently, Percy was with the guppies in the garden. Indulging them in games and playing along, it had been the same way he endeared himself to the people of the oceans after all.
His little brother is destined for greater things in time, he can feel it in his bones.