Chapter Text
“Where have you been ? You vanished hours ago. What happened? Percy do you know how worried I was? I feared that it was a repeat of this past winter!”
Percy winces and pulls his head back slightly so his voice won’t be muffled. “It wasn’t my intent, I swear. Neither of us planned for that to happen, it was an accident.”
Costas blinks. “Us? The hellhound? You found her?” Percy nods.
“We uh ended up shadow traveling, and admittedly lost a bit of time.”
“Traveling to where ?”
Percy shifts, fisting his fingers around the fabric of his clothes. “Ilium?”
Costas stills, a choked sound coming from his throat. “What-”
Hecuba breaks her silence at last, makes herself known from where she had been watching the exchange with an awed gaze. “I would not have taken him there if not for my grief.”
Whatever semblance of motion had returned to Costas vanishes entirely, not even the rise and fall of breath in his chest. He recognizes that voice and half releases Percy to turn towards her, off to the side. His mouth opens and closes in disbelief.
“ Annis ?”
She beams at him. “Hello, Hektor. I’ve missed you, my son.”
“And I you, mother. But what are you- how are you here? And in your old clothes?”
She stretches out a hand to Percy, who takes it with a gentle squeeze. “Your son found me, healed my heart. Brought me home, to the both of you.”
Costas cups her cheek. “Found? … The hellhound? That was you?”
She dips her head. “For the past three thousand years I have been in service to the Triple Goddess as Her hound. She saved me, the night our city fell, in exchange for my service. Because of Percy, I have been released.”
Costas flashes Percy a smile of relief, of gratitude, of joy tinged by sorry that begins to deepen with realization. “You said grief, before?”
Hecuba looks to the ground, twisting her fingers around the hem of her free sleeve. Her voice is smaller now, soft. “Yes. I’ve never been able to, not properly. Not until now. The goddess’ magic always pushed the pain back. This month is when we fell, all those years ago. I fled into the city, could not see the innocents through my memory of the Achaean forces. And so I raised your men in defense against an enemy I know now no longer exists.”
Costas reaches, pulls her into an embrace alongside Percy. When he at last pulls away- “How long did we last, after I-”
Hecuba shudders, Percy echoes it. The image of his father’s dead face flashes across his mind again. “Less than a year. They tricked us with that gods forsaken horse. It was horrible. What they did-”
Percy quickly shakes his head at her, eyes wide. Let’s not tell his father what happened to his body, please and thank you. He shudders again and Hecuba catches his gaze. Her face goes pale in realization.”The soldiers-” leaves her mouth in a whisper.
Percy nods, and glances at his father. “There’s a reason I said not to let them touch you, tatis.”
“Percy. Percy, what did you see. I know it was bad, just tell me. You were still sick when I found you before, that’s what caused it wasn’t it? When you looked at my face-”
Percy shakes his head, hard, swallowing back bile. His grandmother grips at his shoulder. “Oh my boy, I wish you hadn’t seen-”
“You didn’t mean to, hanna. You didn’t mean to.”
Costas looks between them. “What are the two of you keeping from me?”
Percy just points at him. “You are not allowed to die.”
Costas blinks. “ Oh -. Oh, Percy. Of the two of us I’m not afraid of myself in a war.”
Hecuba touches his cheek, then Percy’s. “I would not have either of you in a war again, nor would any of our family. But I think I would like to hear your stories.”
Percy glances at Costas’ abandoned phone. “Perhaps over dinner, if it can be still called that at one in the morning? Or baklava?”
Costas sighs in amusement. “I think that can be managed. After I call your mother back. You can stay with me tonight, assuming we get any sleep.”
Percy snorts. “Depends on if the shadow travel jet lag hits.”
Hecuba just gives them a fond look and plants a kiss to Costas’ cheek.
~~~
Down below, in the silent earth, in a field of ghostly flowers, Cassandra smiles.