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If he's honest, he finds it entirely on accident. He's doing what he does best (running from Monsters, without any form of plan) and turns a sharp corner into an alley.
He feels the icy sensation of a ward, but it doesn't harm him, it allows him into it without much issue. He's happy it doesn't see him as a threat, and he darts into the alley.
He skids to a stop when he hears the telltale roar of a monster hitting the wards that 100% see him as a threat, and the thing stalks away.
Percy takes a minute to breathe, sliding down the wall and sitting down in the alley, resting his forehead on his skinny knees.
He rests, and thinks, and when his brain finally kicks back into play, he hears the soft mumbling of a girl.
She's his age, and she's mortal, he can tell because she lacks the aura of a monster, god or demigod.
But she's praying, and praying to Hermes.
"What are you doing?" He asks her softly, and she looks at him with red rimmed eyes.
"Praying. Hermes sometimes guides the dead to the Underworld." She sniffles, and he resists the urge to correct her. Hermes always seemed to be busy with his deliveries, he definitely didn't have time to escort dead people. But the girl looked devastated, and something inside him clicked a little.
"You believe in the Greek gods?" He asked softly, and she nodded, pulling out a pendant from around her throat of a silver moon.
"I follow Hellenistic paganism. Sometimes I'm called a witch, I'm a devotee of Artemis." She tells him, and he hums quietly.
He didn't even know mortals still worshipped the old gods, but it's sort of cool that they do.
Something about the hellenistic paganism though, something about it hit his soul hard.
"Do you know of any websites or books that go more into it?" He asked her after she finished her prayer.
"Most books are full of propaganda and shit, but Tumblr is good. Some of it is also crap but there's more variety. I can also send you some pages and articles that might help." She says, wiping her eyes and looking to the side awkwardly.
Percy pulls out the phone Annabeth and Leo had worked together to make, demigod proof and based on Daedelus' laptop. The girl installs Tumblr for him and helps him make a blog. She gives him a shrewd look when he insists on his username being SeaSon7, but doesn't comment, and helps him colour his blog blue, before she sets about following herself on his account and introducing him to tumblr tags and reputable witches on the app. She winced and told him to be brave, explained that Tumblr is a grim cesspit at least 70% of the time, but gave him a mischious grin that reminded him of the god the girl had just been praying to.
Before he left, he asked who she had been asking safe travel for. She tells him of how her brother had been murdered by a teacher who was meant to protect him.
Percy knew that feeling, and he bid the girl goodbye.
When he returned to Camp Half-blood, he emptied his whole meal into the fire and made his request.
"Lord Hermes, accept my offering. Guide and protect Leon Anderson's soul on its way down to Hades."
He didn't know if it worked, but he hoped it helped.
(Hermes looks up, an offering so strong and from one of his favourite demigods. He heard the whispered plea, the prayer in the style of Old, almost identical to the one from a mortal named Emma earlier that day. He smiled and muted his emails, and he went to Charon's realm. He takes the hand of a small blonde boy with hazel eyes that reminds him sharply of Luke and brings him close. The little boy cries and clings to the god, and Hermes flies him directly to Elysium, his application having been streamlined ahead.)
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Percy delves into Tumblr and hellenism with a thirst unlike him. He messages Emma often, finding a friend in a grieving girl, and with her help he sets up a little altar in his cabin. He starts offering things he finds. Bird feathers for Hera, beautiful ocean rocks for his dad, wine for Dionysus (he cannot drink it, but when it is offered, it has the same effect as drinking it), coins for Hades, fruits for Persephone and Demeter, matching silver and gold arrowheads he commissioned from the Hephaestus cabin represent Apollo and Artemis, a drop of his own blood for Ares, a pine cone for Zeus, for Athena he does his best to design something and lays the blueprints on the altar, Hephaestus gets an assortment of knuts and bolts, a single pearly tear for Aphrodite and a snake skin he found for Hermes. For Hestia he has a seperate one, next to the fire in his cabin, and upon it he places his attempts at cooking. Sometimes he swears she's watching him from the flames, and he always smiles at her.
He eats a little less at dinners, scraping most of his food into the fire and saying quick silent prayers to each God in turn.
He doesn't notice when food start slowly reappearing on the plate, Hestia having noticed his devotion was leaving him a little hungry in the night.
Percy continues, and he sinks into this practise with ease. He meditates and soothes the roaring waves in his soul, and he continues his devotions. He doesn't notice that each night his bed is the perfect temperature, or that Mrs O'Leary has gotten clingier and demands to stay in his cabin with him. He does notice, however, that his archery improves. While still not great, he hits the target every time and he grins. He thanks Apollo and Artemis and burns lavender for them, and he falls asleep that night feeling content. He dreams of the moon, and he watches as Thalia and the wolves run with their goddess, giggling along the way. He dreams of the sun, and the god who commands it in his flaming chariot.
He adds minor gods to his altars, he adds Hecate and Hypnos, Pan and Nemesis, Melinoe and Macaria, Zagreus and Nyx. His brother Triton, his sisters Rhode and Kymopoleia. His stepmother Amphritite. He makes sure they all have a place there.
He sees it as thanks, and maybe just a way to maybe get them to like him a little more. He didn't know nor did he expect that the Gods slowly become as devoted to him as he is to them.
It starts, properly, when they're next on Olympus for the Solstice. Percy guides the younger kids around the statues that Annabeth designed, proud beyond measure of his best friend and her achievements. (He used to think he loved her romantically, but they both realised about a week after they kissed that they were platonic soulmates rather than romantic).
Percy runs after the younger kids and laughs as they hide from him, and he lifts a tiny little daughter of Hemera into his arms and swings her around.
Chiron and Mr. D watch him, both aware of his devotions and amused, looking forward to the council meeting. Mr. D grinned as he watched, his wife by his side, also smiling fondly at the boy. The boy had accosted him one day in the Big House and asked awkwardly if his wife was a god, and if she would be able to enjoy an offering. That night his wife IM'd him in joyful tears, her eyes bright with the energy the offering gave her.
The time for Council came, and the demigods are shuffled into the throne room. Percy bows before the hearth and ignores the whispers of the other kids. He pulls a strand of hair from his head and he puts it into the flames, watching it burn a little brighter with his offering. Hestia leaps from the flames and hugs him tight, her body warm and comfortable against his.
"Thank you, Percy." She says, and he doesn't need her to explain why she's thanking him. The old ways have faded, and Hestia was forgotten for a long time. Its why he gives her her own altar, he adores Hestia as much as he does his father, maybe even more so.
He settles down gently next to Will, Nico and Katie, giving Clarisse a fist bump as he does. Lydia, a little Hecate child, crawls into his lap with a smile and settles against him, her magic humming against his skin as he bounced her on his knee.
The meeting was boring, as usual, until Zeus called out "Perseus Jackson."
Every demigod went bolt upright, alert and hands on weapons. This council were notorious for trying to kill Percy, and his fellow campers did not take kindly to it.
He calmed them with a smile, handed Lydia to Will and walked to the centre. Instead of approaching them each, he knelt in the middle and simply waited.
He almost jumps out of his skin when a hand touches his head, and he is guided to stand by a finger on his chin. Hera looks at him with endless amber eyes and pressed a warm kiss to his forehead.
He stares, and she grins at him, somehow both saintly and impish.
"Thank you, for your offerings." She says softly, just so he can hear, and he manages to stutter out a reply before Hera goes back to her throne and Zeus continues to speak.
"You have done great honour to Olympus, you have saved us many times. But it is your kindness that brings you here now." The king of the gods watches his nephew with sky blue eyes, watching confusion filter through the boy. He doesn't even seem to know the magnitude of what he has done.
"I give you, Percy Jackson, my blessing to travel the skies as you please." He says, and feels the crackle as it happens. He wants to offer godhood again, but he is aware that until the boy asks himself, it will not happen.
When or if Percy does ask, he will grant it immediately.
Artemis hands the boy a knife she had painstakingly carved from drakon bone, and the boy holds it to his chest as if she had given him life itself. He bows to her and she smiles, and they all see the respect for him that shines in her eyes.
"If you are ever in need, you are welcome to call for me and my Hunters." She promises, and his eyes go so wide they think they will fall out.
One by one, blessings are bestowed.
From Hera he gets a blessed ring for when he finds someone he sees a future with.
From Hades he gets a pouch that will never be empty of currency and a free pass to come and visit Nico and Cerberus whenever he likes.
Hestia gives her blessing and he shall never be cold or without a hearth again.
From Demeter he gets a small amount of control over oceanic plants.
Ares gives him a smile and promises to teach him to wield as many weapons as he wants to, and Percy grins at him with a nod.
Aphrodite simply smiles, and says his love story will be fortunate and her best work.
Athena cures his dyslexia, and he is so disgustingly grateful that he might cry.
Dionysus promises that he will never be far from a good wine, and they share a secretive grin.
Hephaestus grunts in his gruff way and promises to make him some new armour.
Hermes blesses him with silent steps and a new affinity for languages.
Lastly comes Apollo, and Percy fights a blush with all his might. He can hear Nico sniggering and he swears he will kick his ass in training, but he is soon distracted by hands cupping his face.
Molten gold eyes meet his, and Percy damn near swoons.
"My blessing is that you will never be without aide, without a friend, without truth." He says softly, and Percy is helpless to his own urges as he slams his lips against the God's.
"Oh thank fuck." Apollo says against his lips, before burying his hands in dark hair and kissing Percy like his life depends on it. His lips burn like fire and Percy is drunk on the feeling, but he manages to force himself back before they end up traumatising the kids.
They break apart to cheers and Nico teasing them, and Percy is beaming with dazed eyes.
He remembers what Thalia said, years ago, about the sun god.
Fuck, he was hot, and he could kiss so well.
"Be mine?" Apollo almost begs, and Percy grins with mischief.
"Only if you admit that Artemis is the better archer." He teases, and Apollo sighs dramatically and kisses his forehead.
He moves dramatically to kneel before his sister, who is laughing with the other gods and Percy, who didn't expect the god to do it.
"Oh, my perfect older sister, I have been coerced by the one my heart yearns for. I admit it, your archery is so much better than mine." He says, draping himself over her throne and sending the kids into fits of giggles. Apollo grins and flashes back to Percy, where the nineteen year old is cackling with red cheeks.
"Done, you little shit. Now, kiss me." He demands, and Percy does with little argument.
"Is there anything else you desire, Perseus?" Zeus asks him, and Percy frowns. He looks at the kids, then he looks at Apollo. He makes his decision.
"Make me a god, uncle. But I will not adhere to your rule, I will help the demigods, I will be part of their lives. I will save and aid them where their parents can't." He requests, and it's like a bomb has gone off. The kids are losing their minds, Lydia is a little whirlpool of magic. Apollo is fucking beaming, too bright to look at, and the other gods are torn between joy and concern.
"Apollo, is this a good path?" Hades asks softly, breaking the noise and making it silent.
Apollo looks into the future, seeing strands of fate and all of them involving Perseus Jackson. He wants to have Percy with him forever, but he doesn't want it at the cost of the world. He readies himself for tragedy, for it surely will fall upon this lover as the rest.
All but one of the strings is positive, and that one string connects to Percy being a god and being forced into the rule. He sends the vision of the good ones and bad one to his father, and sees the decision made.
"Perseus Jackson, I grant you godhood. You are exempt from the rule of interaction, and no one shall try to force you to follow it later." Zeus swears, and Percy flinches when his bolt glows gold and it strikes him with pure ichor made solid.
It burns, like being on the sun, his skin and bones are melting and splitting apart and being made new. He crumples to the ground and Olympus shakes with an earthquake. The Palace rattles and stones crumble at the edges.
Then two things happen. He finishes transforming, and a daughter of Zagreus named Astri runs to him. The second a demigod ends up in his arms, his power stabilises, and he clings to the girl.
Oh, this is how it feels? He can see why people want to be gods.
Being in his element, holding one of his domain? It's euphoria.
"Perseus?" Astri whispers, and he giggles, he lifts her from the ground with him and tosses her in the air. Her laughter is like music, and she lands in his arms and presses a kiss to his cheek. It seems that that is all that the kids need, because he's immediately swarmed with them, all of them hugging him and kissing his cheeks. The younger ones climb across his body, sitting on his shoulders and his hips.
"Hail Perseus, Prince of the Sea. God of demigods, loyalty, heroes and storms. Saviour of Olympus, Breaker of Chains, Heart of Olympus, Consort of the Sun, Earthshaker." Zeus declares, and the cheers that ring out are deafening.
Apollo kisses the new god, and Percy feels his soul and heart complete itself.
"As god of demigods, I declare that I shall take over as director of Camp Half-blood. Dionysus is freed of his punishment." He states, and the god of wine cries with joy as he summons wine and is allowed to keep it.
Percy looks at Lydia, Astri, Max, and all the other kids, and he swears. He will keep them safe. He will give them a home.