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FIC: The Curse of Lethe, chpt 18
Title: The Curse of Lethe
Author: shiiki
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Thalia Grace/Reyna Ramírez-Arellano + a full cast of supporting characters
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Percy and Annabeth intended to retire and spend a quiet four years at college in New Rome. However, old enemies have other ideas, and one very determined attack leaves Percy poisoned and fighting for his life and Annabeth facing the difficult decision of giving him the only cure: water from the Lethe...and dealing with the heartbreaking side-effects. There is hope, though, but will Percy, Annabeth, and their friends have the courage to brave Tartarus again to retrieve Percy's memories from the edge of Chaos?
In this chapter
Rating: G
Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Thalia Grace, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, Calypso, Grover Underwood, Paul Blofis, Tyson, Ella, Rachel Dare, Sally Jackson, Percy's half-sister
Word Count:
Chapter Summary: The demigods have a Christmas gathering
Notes: Holy crap, this is it! The LAST ONE, the end of this massive project that got way out of hand. I actually wrote this epilogue twice. The first version involved Percy and Sally and a long angsty conversation, but it refused to come together and I realised ... well, I needed everyone together for the final curtain call. So here they are. Thank you for sticking with this story. I hope you've enjoyed the ride. I certainly have. And with that, I have to say one more enormous thank you to my betas, supernaturally-percyjackson and preciouschildrenofolympus for their help in whipping this monster of a fic into shape. They were an amazing team to have and I am so grateful for all the feedback they've given to help make this story better!
Also, if you haven't yet, go check out preciouschildrenofolympus's awesome art for the story!
Back to fic content page
XVIII
PERCY
The Jackson-Blofis apartment wasn't spacious to begin with. Now, with nearly twenty people crowded into the living room, it seemed five times more cramped than usual.
None of the friends Percy had invited over for Christmas seemed to mind, though.
His mom and stepdad had pushed all the furniture to the walls so that their guests could sprawl on the floor, passing cookies, chips, and seven-layer bean dip around.
They were all here-Percy's closest friends, the ones who had voluntarily trudged through Tartarus with him, or travelled cross-country to get them out of the pit. Others who hadn't been directly involved, but were part of his weird extended family all the same.
On the couch, Jason and Frank were deep in conversation with Paul, looking for all the world like a triad of high school teachers. Piper, Calypso, and Rachel sat in a cross-legged circle around the two-foot plastic tree they were decorating. Hazel, Tyson, and Ella played patty-cake with Percy's half-sister Estelle. Thalia, Reyna, and Annabeth were having a discussion (Percy couldn't hear what the topic was, but he caught his name occasionally). Grover and Nico were locked in a debate on-of all things-reincarnation versus rebirth.
Percy himself was competing with Leo and Will to see who could build the tallest tower out of tortilla chips. He was losing at the moment-his stacks kept falling apart and he'd already started over from scratch several times.
Annabeth detached herself from Thalia and Reyna and came over to observe Percy's pathetic tortilla tower.
'You need a stronger foundation,' she said.
'How would you do it?'
She thought for a moment, then smeared bean dip across his chip base as a coagulant. He stacked a couple of chips card-house-style, and they held firm this time.
'Hey, no fair getting help from the architect of Olympus!' Leo complained. His tower was almost a foot tall. Percy had no idea how he'd managed it.
Will sneezed. Both his and Leo's chips went flying into the branches of the mini Christmas tree.
'Hey!' Leo and Piper cried simultaneously.
'Sorry!'
Piper brushed chips out of her tree. It was practically dripping with tinsel and overloaded with shiny baubles.
Leo raised his eyebrows. 'For a daughter of Aphrodite,' he commented, 'you're not doing a great job dressing that thing up, Pipes.'
'Don't call me that,' Piper snapped. 'And what would you know about accessorising, Mechanic-man?'
'I like it,' Calypso said. 'It's colourful.' She glared at Leo, who raised his hands immediately in surrender.
'It does need more white space,' Rachel mused. 'We could do a better job with a bigger tree.'
'Does it look like a bigger tree would fit in here?' Piper spread her arms and smacked Jason's calves, proving her point.
'Well, if it's a bigger tree you need, why don't you dress Thalia up?' Will joked.
Thalia flipped him a gesture that made Grover shoot her an accusing look and reach over to cover the eyes of the two-year-old in Hazel's lap. Reyna grabbed Thalia's offending hand and laced her fingers in it. Thalia grinned ruefully.
'Sorry, Paul,' she said to Percy's stepfather.
Paul accepted this with a shrug. 'I don't think Estelle's old enough to understand what that means. Then again, I'd rather she not copy that particular hand signal in public.'
'And I gave up being a tree for Lent,' Thalia shot at Will. 'Oh wait, it wasn't for Lent-it was to save your sorry ass.'
'THALIA!'
Percy laughed. Gaining back six years and resigning as a Hunter certainly hadn't made much of a dent in Thalia's feisty personality.
Estelle wriggled against Grover's hands, which were clamped over her ears this time. 'Tree!' she shouted gleefully, and stomped right through the collapsed chip towers and bean dip to Piper, Rachel, and Calypso's trussed up masterpiece.
Annabeth snatched up the plate of blue chocolate chip cookies-only one was left-before Estelle could trample it, too. Percy beat Leo to the last cookie and stuck his tongue out at his friend before popping it into his mouth.
'Real generous host you are,' Leo grumbled.
'Hey, all's fair in love and blue cookies!' Percy grinned. 'I'll get more,' he promised, taking the plate from Annabeth. He kissed her on the cheek and got up, brushing crumbs out of his lap.
His mom was bent over the oven when he entered the kitchen.
'You should come join us,' Percy said.
'I will,' said his mom. 'Once this last batch is done.' She eyed the empty plate he set on the kitchen counter. 'Looks like they're a hit.'
'Your cooking's famous,' Percy assured her. 'Thanks for letting us have the party here.'
'You know your friends are always welcome,' said his mom. 'And Paul and I love having you home. Especially after you've been on a quest.' She shook her head. 'Every year I think maybe this will be the year that you stop scaring me with your adventures, but it never ends, does it?'
Percy shrugged. 'We can always hope. I'm sorry I made you worry again, Mom.'
His mom made a little pffft noise and waved her hand dismissively. 'It wasn't your fault. And you're here now. You've always come back.' She reached up to muss his hair. 'Every time, you come back.'
He shifted guiltily, remembering the disastrous Iris-message a few weeks back, when he hadn't a clue who his family was. He was so sick of the way stuff kept coming up-it wasn't just his life it disrupted. There were his friends and family, too, who always got caught in the crossfire of his unpredictable life. He'd hurt so many people over the years, intentionally or not.
His mind flitted to Jessica. He hadn't really thought of her since their catastrophic date, which now felt like something from another life. He wondered how she was getting on with her goal of living a life uncomplicated by the gods. Maybe he should have invited her here as a sort of apology. Then again, given her distaste for her mythological heritage, hanging out with a group of first-generation demigods-not to mention a satyr, a Cyclops, and a harpy-probably wasn't her idea of fun.
'Do you think your life would have been better without all this mythological shit-er, I mean-stuff? If you didn't know it existed?'
'That's a tough question, honey. Do I ever wish things had been simpler? Yes, of course. And I won't deny that the mythological shit,' she winked at him, 'is complicated. But it's easy to blame the gods when really, that's just life. Life's complicated. You don't have to be a demigod for things to keep happening to you.'
He remembered then that her life had been pretty crappy even before she'd ended up a pregnant single mom with a child who had a big target painted on him. Still, could her life have been better if she hadn't met Poseidon, if her path had taken her straight to Paul and Estelle without the detours around a delinquent son and an abusive husband?
'I wouldn't give any of it up,' his mom said firmly. 'No matter how hard or painful it was, meeting your dad gave me one of the best things in my life-you. And I wouldn't trade you for anything. Nothing worth having is easy, Percy.'
Percy knew she was right. If there was one thing he knew from all the battles he'd fought, it was that they made him appreciate what he had so much more. The friends he'd made-so loyal that they'd voluntarily descended into a land beyond hell just for him. Those friendships had been forged in quests and tempered by trials into a bond as powerful as the celestial bronze of Riptide. Their last trudge through Tartarus had only strengthened it further.
And he thought of Annabeth. He could hear her laugh rising above the chatter in the next room. He'd known forever that he wanted to build something permanent with her. Now, more than ever, he wanted to seal the deal. His eyes landed on the thin, gold band on his mom's ring finger. If his memories ever got stolen again, he wanted official proof that could remind him of what Annabeth meant to him.
His mom seemed to read his mind. 'I think if you don't pop the question, she might very well ask you.'
'We haven't really talked about it. I mean, we're only sophomores, and I don't even know if I'll make it to graduation, with all the stuff that keeps happening-'
'But you'll get there,' his mom promised. 'You know, when you were a kid, I used to tell you that you could do anything. And you survived everything your world threw at you, you passed high school, and you found a whole family sitting out there.' She waved her hand towards the living room. 'Look at how far you've come, Percy.'
Again, she was right. The future stretched out in his imagination: college graduation, Annabeth in a wedding dress, babies with black hair and grey eyes.
Percy wasn't Rachel; his visions didn't predict anything. But he could work towards making them come true.
The oven timer went off with a ding! His mom pulled out the cookie tray and refilled the empty plate.
'Nothing's impossible, Percy,' she said.
Percy looked down at the full plate. It was his mom's enduring, edible reminder that little miracles could and did happen.
'Cookies can be blue,' he said with a grin.
'Exactly.'
And together, bearing the full plate of blue cookies, Percy and his mom made their way back into the circle of love and family in the next room.
THE END
Author: shiiki
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Percy Jackson/Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Thalia Grace/Reyna Ramírez-Arellano + a full cast of supporting characters
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Percy and Annabeth intended to retire and spend a quiet four years at college in New Rome. However, old enemies have other ideas, and one very determined attack leaves Percy poisoned and fighting for his life and Annabeth facing the difficult decision of giving him the only cure: water from the Lethe...and dealing with the heartbreaking side-effects. There is hope, though, but will Percy, Annabeth, and their friends have the courage to brave Tartarus again to retrieve Percy's memories from the edge of Chaos?
In this chapter
Rating: G
Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Thalia Grace, Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, Calypso, Grover Underwood, Paul Blofis, Tyson, Ella, Rachel Dare, Sally Jackson, Percy's half-sister
Word Count:
Chapter Summary: The demigods have a Christmas gathering
Notes: Holy crap, this is it! The LAST ONE, the end of this massive project that got way out of hand. I actually wrote this epilogue twice. The first version involved Percy and Sally and a long angsty conversation, but it refused to come together and I realised ... well, I needed everyone together for the final curtain call. So here they are. Thank you for sticking with this story. I hope you've enjoyed the ride. I certainly have. And with that, I have to say one more enormous thank you to my betas, supernaturally-percyjackson and preciouschildrenofolympus for their help in whipping this monster of a fic into shape. They were an amazing team to have and I am so grateful for all the feedback they've given to help make this story better!
Also, if you haven't yet, go check out preciouschildrenofolympus's awesome art for the story!
Back to fic content page
XVIII
PERCY
The Jackson-Blofis apartment wasn't spacious to begin with. Now, with nearly twenty people crowded into the living room, it seemed five times more cramped than usual.
None of the friends Percy had invited over for Christmas seemed to mind, though.
His mom and stepdad had pushed all the furniture to the walls so that their guests could sprawl on the floor, passing cookies, chips, and seven-layer bean dip around.
They were all here-Percy's closest friends, the ones who had voluntarily trudged through Tartarus with him, or travelled cross-country to get them out of the pit. Others who hadn't been directly involved, but were part of his weird extended family all the same.
On the couch, Jason and Frank were deep in conversation with Paul, looking for all the world like a triad of high school teachers. Piper, Calypso, and Rachel sat in a cross-legged circle around the two-foot plastic tree they were decorating. Hazel, Tyson, and Ella played patty-cake with Percy's half-sister Estelle. Thalia, Reyna, and Annabeth were having a discussion (Percy couldn't hear what the topic was, but he caught his name occasionally). Grover and Nico were locked in a debate on-of all things-reincarnation versus rebirth.
Percy himself was competing with Leo and Will to see who could build the tallest tower out of tortilla chips. He was losing at the moment-his stacks kept falling apart and he'd already started over from scratch several times.
Annabeth detached herself from Thalia and Reyna and came over to observe Percy's pathetic tortilla tower.
'You need a stronger foundation,' she said.
'How would you do it?'
She thought for a moment, then smeared bean dip across his chip base as a coagulant. He stacked a couple of chips card-house-style, and they held firm this time.
'Hey, no fair getting help from the architect of Olympus!' Leo complained. His tower was almost a foot tall. Percy had no idea how he'd managed it.
Will sneezed. Both his and Leo's chips went flying into the branches of the mini Christmas tree.
'Hey!' Leo and Piper cried simultaneously.
'Sorry!'
Piper brushed chips out of her tree. It was practically dripping with tinsel and overloaded with shiny baubles.
Leo raised his eyebrows. 'For a daughter of Aphrodite,' he commented, 'you're not doing a great job dressing that thing up, Pipes.'
'Don't call me that,' Piper snapped. 'And what would you know about accessorising, Mechanic-man?'
'I like it,' Calypso said. 'It's colourful.' She glared at Leo, who raised his hands immediately in surrender.
'It does need more white space,' Rachel mused. 'We could do a better job with a bigger tree.'
'Does it look like a bigger tree would fit in here?' Piper spread her arms and smacked Jason's calves, proving her point.
'Well, if it's a bigger tree you need, why don't you dress Thalia up?' Will joked.
Thalia flipped him a gesture that made Grover shoot her an accusing look and reach over to cover the eyes of the two-year-old in Hazel's lap. Reyna grabbed Thalia's offending hand and laced her fingers in it. Thalia grinned ruefully.
'Sorry, Paul,' she said to Percy's stepfather.
Paul accepted this with a shrug. 'I don't think Estelle's old enough to understand what that means. Then again, I'd rather she not copy that particular hand signal in public.'
'And I gave up being a tree for Lent,' Thalia shot at Will. 'Oh wait, it wasn't for Lent-it was to save your sorry ass.'
'THALIA!'
Percy laughed. Gaining back six years and resigning as a Hunter certainly hadn't made much of a dent in Thalia's feisty personality.
Estelle wriggled against Grover's hands, which were clamped over her ears this time. 'Tree!' she shouted gleefully, and stomped right through the collapsed chip towers and bean dip to Piper, Rachel, and Calypso's trussed up masterpiece.
Annabeth snatched up the plate of blue chocolate chip cookies-only one was left-before Estelle could trample it, too. Percy beat Leo to the last cookie and stuck his tongue out at his friend before popping it into his mouth.
'Real generous host you are,' Leo grumbled.
'Hey, all's fair in love and blue cookies!' Percy grinned. 'I'll get more,' he promised, taking the plate from Annabeth. He kissed her on the cheek and got up, brushing crumbs out of his lap.
His mom was bent over the oven when he entered the kitchen.
'You should come join us,' Percy said.
'I will,' said his mom. 'Once this last batch is done.' She eyed the empty plate he set on the kitchen counter. 'Looks like they're a hit.'
'Your cooking's famous,' Percy assured her. 'Thanks for letting us have the party here.'
'You know your friends are always welcome,' said his mom. 'And Paul and I love having you home. Especially after you've been on a quest.' She shook her head. 'Every year I think maybe this will be the year that you stop scaring me with your adventures, but it never ends, does it?'
Percy shrugged. 'We can always hope. I'm sorry I made you worry again, Mom.'
His mom made a little pffft noise and waved her hand dismissively. 'It wasn't your fault. And you're here now. You've always come back.' She reached up to muss his hair. 'Every time, you come back.'
He shifted guiltily, remembering the disastrous Iris-message a few weeks back, when he hadn't a clue who his family was. He was so sick of the way stuff kept coming up-it wasn't just his life it disrupted. There were his friends and family, too, who always got caught in the crossfire of his unpredictable life. He'd hurt so many people over the years, intentionally or not.
His mind flitted to Jessica. He hadn't really thought of her since their catastrophic date, which now felt like something from another life. He wondered how she was getting on with her goal of living a life uncomplicated by the gods. Maybe he should have invited her here as a sort of apology. Then again, given her distaste for her mythological heritage, hanging out with a group of first-generation demigods-not to mention a satyr, a Cyclops, and a harpy-probably wasn't her idea of fun.
'Do you think your life would have been better without all this mythological shit-er, I mean-stuff? If you didn't know it existed?'
'That's a tough question, honey. Do I ever wish things had been simpler? Yes, of course. And I won't deny that the mythological shit,' she winked at him, 'is complicated. But it's easy to blame the gods when really, that's just life. Life's complicated. You don't have to be a demigod for things to keep happening to you.'
He remembered then that her life had been pretty crappy even before she'd ended up a pregnant single mom with a child who had a big target painted on him. Still, could her life have been better if she hadn't met Poseidon, if her path had taken her straight to Paul and Estelle without the detours around a delinquent son and an abusive husband?
'I wouldn't give any of it up,' his mom said firmly. 'No matter how hard or painful it was, meeting your dad gave me one of the best things in my life-you. And I wouldn't trade you for anything. Nothing worth having is easy, Percy.'
Percy knew she was right. If there was one thing he knew from all the battles he'd fought, it was that they made him appreciate what he had so much more. The friends he'd made-so loyal that they'd voluntarily descended into a land beyond hell just for him. Those friendships had been forged in quests and tempered by trials into a bond as powerful as the celestial bronze of Riptide. Their last trudge through Tartarus had only strengthened it further.
And he thought of Annabeth. He could hear her laugh rising above the chatter in the next room. He'd known forever that he wanted to build something permanent with her. Now, more than ever, he wanted to seal the deal. His eyes landed on the thin, gold band on his mom's ring finger. If his memories ever got stolen again, he wanted official proof that could remind him of what Annabeth meant to him.
His mom seemed to read his mind. 'I think if you don't pop the question, she might very well ask you.'
'We haven't really talked about it. I mean, we're only sophomores, and I don't even know if I'll make it to graduation, with all the stuff that keeps happening-'
'But you'll get there,' his mom promised. 'You know, when you were a kid, I used to tell you that you could do anything. And you survived everything your world threw at you, you passed high school, and you found a whole family sitting out there.' She waved her hand towards the living room. 'Look at how far you've come, Percy.'
Again, she was right. The future stretched out in his imagination: college graduation, Annabeth in a wedding dress, babies with black hair and grey eyes.
Percy wasn't Rachel; his visions didn't predict anything. But he could work towards making them come true.
The oven timer went off with a ding! His mom pulled out the cookie tray and refilled the empty plate.
'Nothing's impossible, Percy,' she said.
Percy looked down at the full plate. It was his mom's enduring, edible reminder that little miracles could and did happen.
'Cookies can be blue,' he said with a grin.
'Exactly.'
And together, bearing the full plate of blue cookies, Percy and his mom made their way back into the circle of love and family in the next room.
THE END