Chapter Text
They had been reading for the past hour until Annabeth had the eureka moment.
“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Annabeth said, rubbing her eyes. “It makes perfect sense.”
“How come?” Rachel asked as she closed her book.
“Well, Percy has shown the symptoms. He tries to avoid training around a lot of people and he gets jumpy easily to the noises. He has nightmares. You can’t deny that. No one can deny that. You can practically hear him. And well… the first few weeks after the war, he would avoid me.” Annabeth sighed. “We barely talk for more that a few minutes. To be honest, the only times he would leave his cabin was either to eat or when you were back from the underworld. Those are all the signs of PTSD. Hyper vigilant, intrusive symptoms and avoidance.”
They all stared at her, letting what she said sink in.
“It makes sense.” Will said after a while, closing the book he was holding.
“Can’t we just… Ask Lord Apollo to help him?” Piper asked, sitting beside Rachel.
“I wish we could just ask my dad to heal him but mental illnesses… It’s not something you can force someone to talk about or make them take medicine. Percy should want to talk about it because repressing bad memories isn’t good.” Will sighed, leaning back on to the chair. “He needs to want us to help him too or else he’ll end up feeling cornered and attacked.”
“When we get him back… I’ll talk to him about it, okay?” Nico softly said, staring out at the lake. He was lucky to have had Will, Jason and Reyna to be there for him. He was able to talk to his friends about it. Percy… Percy was always the hero of both camps. He couldn’t look weak or in pain. He was someone that the campers looked up too. Percy would always smile but there were times when Nico would catch that sad look in his eyes. He tried asking Percy about it before but he would just shrug it off and change topics or give Nico those huge puppy dog eyes, saying that he’s tired and doesn’t want to talk about it.
“Well, now that that’s sorted out, we need to find him.” Rachel said.
“Well then dearie, maybe I can help with that.” A sing - song voice said.
The demigods quickly looked back to see Lady Aphrodite leaning on the wall, looking amused.
“Mom! What are you doing here?” Piper asked, smiling softly.
“I’m here to give the son of Hades a quest.” She hummed softly.
“Yea, I don’t know if you’ve heard but I’m kind of busy at the moment.” Nico huffed, not looking at her. It was too painful to look at the goddess with the brilliant sea green eyes.
“On the search for Perseus.” Aphrodite said, checking her nails. “I know that you’ve tried to talk to Lord Poseidon and it… didn't go well.”
Nico stiffened at the memory but nodded, glancing at his friends.
“Not to be disrespectful, but why are you bringing that up, Lady Aphrodite?” Annabeth cautiously asked.
“Because the quest involves you going to the ocean. You see, I as I was riding my chariot, looking at the mortals in love, the pearl from my girdle fell into the ocean.” She sighed dramatically. “And I would have loved to get it myself but I had just gotten my nails done, you see and Lord Poseidon doesn’t really want me in his realm.”
“Why—”
“Well, it’s a realm thing you see. I came from the sea so he’s a bit… possessive of it…” The goddess of love huffed, interrupting Annabeth. “Then there’s the thing with Perseus and his multiple broken hearts but at least I fixed it in the end! I mean, it was the least I could do, fixing his love life as well as all of yours. As much as I love broken hearts and tragic endings, having a happy ending is way better. After all, I relish the love radiating from you when I see you happy.”
The demigods remained quiet as they watched the goddess of love, her form different in each of their eyes.
“How do we even retrieve the pearl? None of us can breath underwater.” Piper said after a while.
“Oh sweetie, don’t worry about that. I called in a favor from Lord Poseidon. One of his sons will fetch you from here.” Aphrodite hummed, handing a piece of paper with coordinates on it. “You simply just have to get there in time.”
“And how much time do we have?” Annabeth asked sounding cross as she folded the paper.
“You have a day to get there.”
“WHAT?!”
“Well, I must get going! Good luck, dearies!” Aphrodite winked as the Greek goddess of love was surrounded a golden glow.
The demigods looked away as the light brightened. Only when it dimmed, did they dare to look.
“I’ll tell Chiron what happened.” Rachel said, standing up. “You guys need to decide who’s going on this quest.”
“Rachel is right.” Piper said as the oracle of Delphi went out. “We should decide now.”
“I’m going.” Nico stated as he got up. “Maybe I can get another shot at talking to Lord Poseidon.”
“Hazel should go too.” Will said, keeping his books.
“But—”
“Nico, let’s face it, if you’re going to find a pearl at the depths of the ocean, you’ll need her to be there. You’ll have a higher chance of finding it faster.” The son of Apollo said, looking sternly at him.
“I’ll be going too.” Annabeth said, standing up. “Percy is my best friend and I can’t bare not knowing what’s happening. Besides having two children of the underworld going underwater? You guys would probably get a panic attack.”
“Yea, but Lord Poseidon doesn’t get along with Lady Athena.” Piper pointed out.
“Well, at least I know how to swim and if, I mean when, Percy comes back, he’s going to throw a tantrum when he finds out that his dad tried to drown us or something. Now come on, we should get packing. Nico, IM Hazel as soon as you finish packing and don’t you try to leave with out me. Will, can you get us some supplies, please? And Piper, you’ll be in charge with Jason while we’re gone. Just make sure Leo doesn’t accidentally set the camp on fire… again.” The daughter of Athena ordered, shaking her head at the memory. The fire bender was trying to show off his abilities to Calypso and had almost set fire to their library.
“Yes, Ma’am!” Piper grinned, doing a mock salute.
Nico rolled his eyes as his friends went out of his cabin. His friends could be such dorks sometimes but they were supportive and he couldn’t imagine his life without them. Getting back to the task at hand, the ghost king sighed. This was going to be a long day.