Chapter Text
~January 1, 2000~
~Medea~
I found I could not sleep of late, visions of fire, the Argo and that accursed man, and visions of the dead haunted my slumbering mind. I never screamed, thank the Gods, but I did wake with a jolt, reaching for the hidden dagger I kept between my mattress and the headboard of my bed. Doubly thankful that Percy had never wandered in at the last moment to see me threatening the air with a poisoned blade - don't need to conduct an oracle to see how that would go over with Hera. Instead of going back to sleep, I often wandered the house, getting up and checking things over to make sure there weren't any messes that needed cleaning, pictures that needed righting, or even some late night gardening.
Tonight, however, I decided that maybe I should try a sleeping remedy. Too many times I had found myself sleep working, starting dishes one minute and the finding I'd picked up Percy from middle school without remembering any of it. One time, I had found a dead teenager halfway being chewed up by my "woodchipper" and only later consoling myself after finding his wallet (take a guess at what his name was). Sipping on an herbal tea of lemon, lavender, and a few drops of Hypnos' sleepy time opium - no better sleep than that like the dead, watching the fiery red sunrise through the Bayview windows in the kitchen.
Except...
That wasn't the sunrise.
Not even the sunset.
It was a fire.
A great big blaze swarming through the garden. I hardly recognized the shattering of my inaptly named coffee cup; too focused on the blazing undead corpses, the slithering bodies of infant drakons angrily hissing at anything that moved - be it friend or foe, and the cause of the fires - basilisks. The entire horde hacked and spat its way through the garden in an effort to reach the house, the manors defenses coming to life in a valiant attempt to put down the invasion before it reached the house proper. Celestial bronze cherub automatons shot sharp arrows with deadly precision, traditional Greco marble statues sprang to life and began clobbering everything within reach that wasn't a plant, and of course the garden itself was putting up a fight of its own. Flowers uprooted themselves and slithered over the low bodies of drakons like living nets, thick woody roots of pomegranate and apple viciously speared at basilisks - trying to kill the serpentine monsters before their poison and flames killed them, and fat boughs of wisteria unwound from their trellises to whip and thrash at nearby corpses like the hellish lovechild between a giant purple octopus and one of the Erinyes (probably Alecto).
I watched as one particularly vengeful bush leapt onto a drakon that had trampled its smaller brethren underfoot, or belly, and began to simultaneously ride it like a bull while strangling it to death, large spiny thorns digging deep into scale and flesh alike.
Moving on autopilot, I hadn't realized that I had nabbed the crossbow under the sink and aimed at one zombie getting wailed on by some ivy, dangling from the air like the worlds most disgusting pinata, but before I could pull the trigger my headshot got ganked. Or, rather my aim was thrown off, same thing. Whirled around, I found Teiresias looking at me - as well as one could with empty sockets - with an uncharacteristically serious expression. Often, I thought the man had been driven mad by his visions, and being brought back from the dead, but seeing now the unhappy sober face I realized that the man's crazy act was just that, an act. The man's coping mechanism to deal with all the stress that came with knowing the future and knowing what could happen should he try to avert the fate dictated to him.
"You knew." I accused, surprising myself with how cold my voice came out.
"I did." He admitted, "And before you ask, we didn't hear because of the Veil." The Veil being the magical barrier that kept the sounds of animals looking for a mate from getting into the house and upsetting Percy, and by extension Teiresias. Despite having just admitted to knowing why the seer didn't warn us, didn't at least try to hint we should take a vacation at the very least, I still asked him. "Why?" He parroted, a hint indignation tinged with bitter hopelessness, something earned after years of being spat on for answering peoples questions. "What would it have changed, save for a different location for this very attack. You think Hera being here twenty four seven would be any help? It would merely postpone the inevitable, or worse, attract a threat dangerous enough to sneak past or overpower a goddess to attack Percy. No, much better to let things play out." He admitted with a sad sigh, as if expecting to be pierced with the bolt still loaded in my crossbow.
"Play out?" I said through a dry laugh, nervously glancing out of the corner of my eyes to see if Percy was awake, or worse, that the flames and monsters had reached down the hall to where Percy was asleep.
"Yes," Teiresias laugh the same dry laugh, "play out. Here, in this manor, no, this fortress. This place Hera has crafted for years for just such an event, a veritable castle full of defenses powerful enough to hold an army at bay, but just weak enough that nothing too powerful would come through. The hope is to overrun us, not send their special troops."
I asked him what I was to do then. Give up? Flee another home?
"You would rather die at home than save the girl?" I realized I had misspoken, calling this place home. And though I was not wrong in admitting it, I knew that Teiresias was right as well. This place was designed to give Percy the best head start it could while being far enough away from those powerful enough to invade it in force. Withering it down was the best bet for whoever had organized this force. Because there WAS someone behind this. And yet... I was hesitant. I wanted to prove Teiresias wrong, that this place was meant to stand forever, a hidden sanctuary for me and Percy to live in peace, to forget our past and the bloodied history that dogged our steps, be it my own or Percy's inherited debt.
But I was mortal in the end, a legacy descendant of the faded Sun Titan Helios and a witch, but mortal all the same. I had not cheated death, merely- extended my warranty for millennia. My time with Hera had rejuvenated my magic, but not enough to truly hold back this endless tide. If it came to the point we had to defend against a true threat, I would not be enough.
I had never been on a quest before, not counting the time I tagged along with the Argo; but standing before the old seer and asking him, "What should I do?" somehow forcing the question out through a choking sob, I understood the looming sense of dread that most aspiring heroes must have felt. Facing off against the unknown, about to lose the first place I had come to call home in a long time.
"Flee." The old man said, raising his eyebrow as if it were obvious. "With Percy, of course." He amended at the end.
I felt that was obvious, a part of me cursing the old seer for being obtuse while I faced the unknown. But at the same time, I understood his hesitation - or refusal - to answer my query.
Eyes stinging with tears, mind racing with all of the fall back places across the United States I had set up, I was about to grab Percy and make a break for it to the garage. Hopefully, the invader hadn't brought along anything fast enough to keep up with Pain and Panic, or bring down the literal sun. But then- Teiresias spoke. Not in his usual jokey manner, nor his dry sense of wit and humor. But with a gravelly seriousness that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge.
A house in ruin; the daughter lost
A golden sky above a land of gold
The beginning for an end
And fear not Death, for it is a beginning
I regretted hearing his prophecy even more now. It lacked the usual theatrics, his voice was still his, there was no pageantry or magic, it as just the old man speaking a bit more seriously than usual; and yet that was worse. It felt more real, like a doctor giving the bad news to you on an annual scheduled checkup that you had a weak to live.
It felt REAL.
And I was afraid, both for myself and Percy. Because, despite the whole millennia of living it up, I hadn't actually lived since my time in Colchis. The rest had just been a petty endeavor to not see that man again in death. And if Percy was lost, or worse, dead, seeing Jason would be the best punishment. Though, I doubt Hera could punish me as hard as I would myself. I had come to care for the girl like one of my own, wanting her to grow up and live a life of her own, only her own, much as Hera so confidently claimed all those years ago. To see it snuffed out so soon, before it had even begun- I didn't want to think of that.
Turning on my heal, choosing to focus on the adrenaline so I wouldn't break down at loosing yet another home to fire and violence, I ran. I didn't see what Teiresias moved to do, only caring about how fast my bare feet could move over the hardwood of the house as I thundered my way down to Percy's room. With any luck, that would be what woke her up instead of the carnage outside. Gods forbid Percy see one of her cow friends or peacocks get immolated or disemboweled. Having to flee home forever would be bad enough.
But unluckily for me, Percy DID wake up from the fire, standing at the door as I ripped it off its hinges.
"There are-" She began, clutching Blackjack to her chest for comfort, twelve year old eyes somehow calm despite the chaos. But I could see the tears misting over her blue eyes, tinged black by the shadows dancing over the walls.
"Monsters." I finished, "Pack you bags, we need to go." I said, somehow keeping my voice from screaming, finding the power to keep it calm and free of panic. But instead of Percy packing her things, I did. Grabbing the duffel from under her bed before hauling out clothes and stuffing them in. The sun chariot - currently the sun Subaru - already had the standard adventuring gear stored in a hidden compartment under the back seat. Percy followed after me, nervously glancing towards the window, the closed curtains dancing with fire and shadow, the noise starting to rise as the violence got closer and closer to the manor walls. She didn't ask questions, which I found weird, but a blessing at the same time. It's kinda hard to say "Hey, your mom's Hera, and these are probably people and gods who want to hurt her by hurting YOU. Here's the run down on EVERYTHING." Telling Percy stories about Greek mythology was a lot easier than explaining the intricate history of it all, despite having lived it myself.
Hopefully, if we lived, I could explain it all in a controlled environment. At the least, I would give her the run down in the chariot on the ride to the mainland.
Hiking the duffel up over my shoulder, Percy now holding her back pack stuffed with who knows what, and Blackjack posted at the door making sure the coast was clear, I leaned down to her level. The words that came were not hard to find. They were the words I wished someone said to me when my life had gone to shit, when I had struggled with all the challenges in my life. "We are going to be okay. Okay?" I nodded my head, getting one from Percy who had yet to sniffle or cry a tear, her eyes still polished glossy like a doll's. But she nodded in return, the tension I hadn't noticed her holding in releasing just a teensy tiny bit. "Ok." I smiled, feeling my own tension lessen as well. And Percy smiled. "Stay behind me and STAY CLOSE." I squeezed her shoulders for good measure.
Blackjack gave me a nod, letting me know that the coast was clear. That, or it was a regular peacock bob; fifty-fifty on that one, I was still undecided on whether or not the bird was smart given it would attack its own reflections in mirrors and ponds.
Next thing I knew, I had slipped into old habits. Not the child murder kind, the monster murder kind, which was arguably better.
The first thing to rear its ugly head at me was a drakon that had slithered around the corner and slammed into the wall with how fast it was scuttling towards us. A crossbow bolt between the eyes put its scuttling to an end pretty quickly. I stepped around it easily, Percy eyed it wearily - like it would rear up and attack them if she stopped staring at it, Blackjack pecked one of its eyes out before throwing it on the ground in disgust. A zombie came out next, followed by five of his buddies. I smiled to myself, glad that Teiresias was right in one way or another, whoever attacked had prioritized quantity over quality. Because THESE were zombies, not skeletons of Hades, nor Spartoi borne from dragon teeth. Granted, I knew how to handle those as well, but these were childsplay in comparison. I simply uncorked a bottle from the pouch at my hip, not even realizing I had summoned it without thinking, and swished its contents around in my mouth like mouthwash before spitting it out in a cloud of metallic green mist. The opaque fog traveled faster than we ran, clearing the way with a sizzle. All that was left of the zombies were four pairs of sandaled feet in comical fashion. Percy again looked at them like they would kick us if she didn't watch them, Blackjack ripped one from its position and threw it at another in outrage for attacking his owner.
The basilisk that attacked us next I was not confident about killing, these things could corrode weapons on contact. I'd seen arrows melt as fast as they approached on the serpents scaly hide more times than I'd like to count. Luckily, Teiresias might have been passive in allowing things to happen, but that didn't mean he hadn't prepared himself to give Percy the much needed head start. As one of the man's weasels came running around the corner, foaming at the mouth and chased the much bigger, about seven times bigger, monster off. Like a cartoon elephant seeing a mouse. I would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious, Percy however did.
And I was glad. If she could laugh in a disaster like this, then she would survive with or without me.
Another drakonling came around the corner the weasel had, but rather than attack, it too ran away. The rest of Teiresias' fuzzy horde followed after. And like a great wave of Poseidon's they rose up and slammed down on the struggling reptile. They remained there no longer than three seconds, before moving on as one to find new prey.
They left behind a perfectly articulated and clean skeleton of a tiny baby drakon.
Thankfully, the garage had yet to be breached, unlike the rest of the house. Unfortunately, Pain and Panic weren't in their hamster wheels. Instead, they had somehow kept asleep despite the house no longer being protected under a veil of silence. Or at least I thought, what looked like a finger stuck out of Panic's mouth, and suspicious foot shape could be seen pressing against the belly of Pain. "Those are dragons." Percy spoke the obvious, the twelve years previous she must have always thought them to be very weird and obedient monitor lizards.
"Yep." I said without dignity, and especially not pride as I kicked Pain and threw Panic at the sun Subaru. The lizard like dragons, or was it dragon like lizards, wasted no time as they slipped onto the wheels, as if they had never been asleep.
I would like to sat that once I had Percy buckled up in the back and the doors locked that we were safe and it was smooth sailing, but that would only be relatively true. If for some reason the car didn't work, we'd basically be trapped in an invincible coffin until some unlikely hero, or more likely a very angry Hera who might accidentally vaporize us with her true form, came to the rescue. Good thing for us, the Subaru shaped chariot worked, bad thing for the garage door that was in the way, and the crowd of zombies that did the zombie thing and bang on it weakly. Both of which were smashed underfoot, or rather wheel as we pulled out like a bat out of Tartarus.
A place I would likely end up if we didn't get out of here.
On the way out, I made sure to run over every zombie and drakon with history's worst case of road rage. The basilisks I left to that furry wave of fury and horror that washed over the burning lawn like a dark fuzzy wave of water. "Aren't we supposed to be escaping?" Percy half yelled half demanded, clutching Blackjack, who refrained from launching himself at potential victims of eye plucking only because he wanted to help keep Percy grounded. That, or he was glaring at his reflection and was about to attack the window. "And where are we going to drive on an island?!" This time Percy did yell.
Now it was my turn to laugh. "Hold on to your butts!" And then I flipped the ignition switch, not turn the ignition key, but flip the switch. If the grass wasn't on fire before, it was now. The sun Subaru blasting off into the air as we rapidly ascended.
Normally, we drove close to the ocean, hovering over Poseidon's domain, so as to avoid Zeus' ire. Hera might be Queen of Heaven, but her domain was more celestial than atmospheric, what control over the sky she normally made use of was from her husband rather than her own domain. And we didn't want to risk it.
Today, was a special occasion.
Was it wrong to say I was excited actually? To put the sun chariot into sun mode?
Thanks to a second lawsuit, I technically wasn't allowed to do this during the day time. Key phrase being 'the day time', but it was night, or was as I kicked the gear from K (for kibble) to H (for Ham). The sound of the engine revving was like a massive fire exploding beneath us. Which it might actually have been given all of the flammable and explodable things in my room. The more left unsaid the better. Best to think it was the car kicking it into gear and not Percy's childhood home bursting into flames.
When we reached a suitable altitude for the sun Subaru to not boil the seas and confuse any cruise ship or US naval vessel, and after double checking the gauges and mirrors to make sure we would continue to be at this altitude, I checked on Percy. Arguably, I should have done that first, but perhaps I thought it better to make sure we were safe and believe in ignorance that Percy was safe.
From the rearview mirror I saw Percy, still clinging to Blackjack like an ordinary child did a cherished stuff animal. Which I guess half counted? The animal part was right.
But now that we were safe, I faced a different kind of problem. How to explain all of- THIS to Percy.
"So I guess you have questions?"
No answer. And I turned my gaze from Percy who was looking at me, to the front window where there was nothing but clear skies ahead. Perhaps she was stressed from flying? First time jitters and what not.
"Do- do you have questions?" I asked again, hoping Percy's brain hadn't broken in our flight, both the figurative one and the literal one.
"Those- that was- Dragons are real?" The halfblooded child eventually settled on, arms going a bit slack around Blackjack as she stared at me dumbfounded.
"Yes, but actually no. Those were drakons."
"What's the difference? Their big lizards that breath fire." Percy said in disgust, like the reptiles had personally offended her. Which they kind of had in a way.
I explained to her the difference, alongside the complicated relation between the two. To which Percy countered that they were both made up and didn't exist, so why did it matter who was related to who. "It matters because you're a halfblood." More silence.
"Halfblood?"
"A demigod. Your mother's a god Percy."
"My mother's a therapist for people with weird issues." Percy once more countered with logic, and an unfortunately apt description given some of her clientele.
I took a deep breath, ready to deliver the bad news. "Percy, your mother is Hera, the queen of the gods." There, bomb delivered.
"My mother's a therapist." Percy once more defended.
And that was the pattern, all the way to the first place I could think of to drop off for repairs, because unfortunately, one of the gauges I hadn't properly checked showed that one basilisk must have caused some damage to the undercarriage where the coolant was located. It wouldn't have been a problem if we were sun gods, but we were. Slowly, we descended to the Garden of the Hesperides, which we could do on the technicality of driving THE Sun Chariot - Subaru form not counting - making it technically sunset as we touched down. As if to say my problems were not entirely solved, I had to leave Percy alone in the garden for a small sliver of time, because the Fates had decided that the nymphs of sunset should not have spare car parts lying around.
"But, but what if the dra-" I held a hand up to Percy's lips, shushing her while the Hesperides awkwardly shuffled behind their bosses daughter. "Don't say their names. If you say a monster's name, you can attract them." Percy's eyes widened in fear, her grip on Blackjack turning painful as the poor bird refrained from squawking and making his mistress further upset. "Also don't use phones, computers, telegraphs-" I labeled off basically every bit of technology Percy had never used before but knew were common everyday items because otherwise monsters would descend on her as if Percy rang a dinner bell. Leaving Percy the keys to the Sun Chariot - a wise decision I know but sue me - and making sure she knew not to eat or drink the nectar and ambrosia unless injured because she would explode - "What?" - I gave Percy the very last few things I could before venturing off on my own. "And remember, Percy, if I don't come back-"
"But you WILL come back!" Percy stressed, cutting me off.
"You need to try and make it to Camp Half-Blood. Look for signs, like in the stories, be careful, and ask to see their feet first to-"
"Why would I ask to see their feet?" Percy again cut me off with concern and horror lacing her voice, looking at me like I should go and see her therapist mom.
"To see if they are satyrs. A satyr will hopefully show you the way to Camp Half-Blood. You'll be safe there." I kissed her on the forehead, lips feeling warm on her skin... or rather her skin felt warm on MY lips. As if mine were cold. Closer to the grave. Closer to death.
I choked down the lump in my throat. "And remember, Dragons like belly rubs." I said, ruffling her hair and smiling. Trying to put on a brave face as I looked past Percy to stare at Ladon who looked more like a puppy to me than a spawn of Typhon. Perhaps my time in Colchis and raising Pain and Panic had skewed my perspective to where a hundred headed poison breathing monstrosity of scaly death was "cute", like in the way bulldogs were fugly cute.
"I thought they were drakons and they were trying to kill me." Percy complained, looking like she was seriously thinking of having me committed - much like Hera hoped to one day do to Zeus - despite the hundred headed dragon curled around a giant apple tree bearing golden fruit being just behind her.
"Close enough, they're both made up." I forced a laugh out, hoping to convince Percy I wasn't about to march off to my doom. Teiresias' prophecy to "not fear death" hanging over my head like an executioner's axe.
And then, I left, not knowing that I wouldn't return.
That I was going to die.