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Perseus nodded to her question. The council grew wary as they realized that a probable prophecy child was alive. "But they pose a threat to us Uncle. Do you think it's wise to let them live?" Athena asked as she thought about the danger the children posed.
Hades wanted to speak, but stopped when Perseus spoke, "I do not know whether it is wise or not Athena. I do not know if the children would choose to save us or destroy us, but the choice would be up to the prophecy child. All we can do is help them and hope they make the right choice. But what I would not do is kill an innocent child, just because they pose threat to us."
Perseus looked that Athena was about to argue further, so he turned to Poseidon. "Do you have any children; I have to be aware about?" He asked his brother smiling. Poseidon was one of the gods who loved his children very much, and no matter the rivalry he had with Zeus, he never took it out on his children.
Poseidon shook his head as he answered, "No brother, I have been faithful to Amphitrite since I took the oath."
Perseus nodded and took Annabeth's hand in his. He looked at the council, "As of now, the children of Hades are under my protection. Any action against them would be taken as a declaration of war against me." He said, and flashed out with Annabeth.
THIRD PERSON POV
Perseus flashed Annabeth and himself to his palace.
Annabeth looked around his palace and frowned, "You call this dump a palace?" She asked him, raising her eyebrows.
Calling an empty warehouse looking like building a palace was a great offense to Annabeth. From outside Perseus' palace looked like the typical palace of gods, with Greek theme designs. But from inside it was empty, nothing to sit on. The walls were empty, giving it a barren look. Even a hormonal teenage boy could make his room look more appealing than this.
Perseus rolled his eyes at Annabeth and answered, "My place used to be decorated with stuff that had connection to Artemis and showed my love for her. When everything with 'Orion.'" Perseus' lips stretched into a sneer at the son of Poseidon's name. "I destroyed everything, burnt the momentums that signified our relationship and stuff." He had moved on from Artemis, but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt when he remembered the day his heart broke.
The day he found his wife lip-locking with another man. He hadn't touched her because he wanted to respect the fact that she hated males, but to find that she betrayed his respect and trust for a man who turned out to be a rapist. Perseus had warned Artemis many times not to trust that son of Poseidon. But in her hatred of him, she ignored him. Which led to one of the hunters being raped, and probably being kicked out of the hunt. Because there was no way Artemis allowed a girl who wasn't a maiden, in her hunt.
Annabeth nodded, now she looked pleased by the dump. She didn't want anything related to Artemis in Perseus' home. Hated would be too strong of a word, but Annabeth despised the silver goddess. No one who hurt her friend would get her respect. Perseus shouldn't have to go through what he had because some goddess was too shallow to know his actual worth.
The fact that Artemis was married to Perseus and once was the woman he loved, might have to do something with why she was feeling such negative emotions towards the goddess. She hoped that he wouldn't get back with her again.
She still wanted the palace to have a more homely look though.
As though he had heard her thoughts, Perseus nudged her, "You want to decorate it?" He asked softly.
"What?" Annabeth asked, startled from being interrupted out of her thoughts.
"I said, if you want you can redecorate the palace however you want. Let your imaginations run wild," Perseus replied to her, thinking about it, if he was going to spend his time here, the place did need to look better.
"You would let me decorate the palace however I want?" Annabeth softly asked, she thought he was joking with her.
Perseus nodded earnestly, "You want to be an architect, correct? Well, this might not include architecture but it does include interior designing. So do as you wish," he said and motioned his hands towards the entirety of the palace.
Annabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing. She could redecorate a god's home as her wish? She felt giddy with the prospect of doing that. She turned to Perseus and flashed him a brilliant smile, something that warmed his heart.
"You're the best," she said happily to him.
"I know," Perseus replied cheekily, sending her a wink.
Annabeth blushed, but was far too busy to notice. Her Athenian mind was already running million miles per hour thinking about what she wanted to change, and improve. "How do I do it?" She asked the god.
Perseus offered her his hand and said, "Hold my hand and close your eyes to imagine what you want it to look like."
Annabeth did just that. She started by changing the damp looking wallpaper to something that would show Perseus' personality perfectly. Something alluring yet simple, and not too shiny. She changed every single thing that her eyes landed on. She started with the living room, but soon she had redecorated the kitchen, the bedrooms, bathrooms, and every corner of the palace.
It took her hours but she finally finished her work. She had never felt this much excitement about a project before, the most she had done until now was to recreate one of the gods' cabins in Camp. But this felt surreal, it was the biggest project she had gotten her hands on and had finished in a day.
She felt exhausted and turned to see that Perseus was as energized as ever. His eyes were wide and mirth shining through them. His open-mouthed expression felt like the greatest compliment Annabeth could ever receive. She never wanted that awe-stricken happy look to leave his face.
"Annabeth you're amazing," Perseus breathed finally and turned to Annabeth. The smile he gave her sent the butterflies in her stomach stumbling.
"I know," Annabeth replied smugly, causing Perseus to chuckle.
"Let's have that movie date we talked about, Milady," Perseus said and held his elbows up for Annabeth to loop her arms through.
Annabeth blushed and refrained from saying anything.
Both of them went into the entertainment room Annabeth had designed. She had Perseus summon the latest tech stuff she knew about. The Hermes cabin always had the latest magazine of those stuff, as they liked to dream about stealing them. She often borrowed them, and now they have come into her use.
They sat down on one of the couches, Perseus turned to Annabeth and asked, "What did you want to watch?"
Annabeth thought for a moment and replied that she wanted to watch an architecture documentary. Perseus grumbled something about wisdom spawns and started the documentary.
The one-hour documentary based upon the mid 1800's architecture seemed about an eternity to Perseus. He could barely keep his eyes open through the demigod and wanted to complain. But whenever he would look at Annabeth, her eyes were shining brightly and that made it all worth his time. He could watch those annoying documentaries forever if it meant that Annabeth would smile like that.
When the documentary ended Annabeth turned to Perseus excitedly, but instead of watching the screen he was watching her. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away. Yet the deal was dealt, she had caught him red-handed creeping up on her. She ignored the situation and asked, "SO how did you like it?" She asked him.
Perseus looked conflicted about his answer, so he decided to go with the truth. "I didn't understand anything and found absolutely nothing interesting. But I loved the way you were smiling throughout the film."
Annabeth blushed deep red as Perseus spoke. She hit his shoulders and shouted, "You can't say things like that Percy."
Perseus looked at her confused, "Why? I was just telling the truth."
Annabeth shook her head at his obliviousness and replied, "Nothing, forget I said anything. What do you want to watch?" She turned her question around.
Perseus' face immediately lit up and he turned to her. His eyes had the excitement of a little kid, "Now we watch the greatest movie ever made." He said and started the movie of his choice.
Line-Break
"NO," Perseus shouted in desperation, "Don't go towards the boat Nemo," He shook his head and there were actual tears threatening his eyes. He was clutching Annabeth's hand tightly; she was sure her hand was going to ache for some time after this.
Annabeth looked amused as she watched Perseus. He was a mystery she couldn't solve. Just some hours ago he was commanding the whole counsel of gods, with enough dominance that they couldn't even dare to defy him. And now he was tearing up over some animated movie made for children? She didn't know how his mind worked.
After some time, the movie ended and the two of them turned the television off. Perseus was still recovering from the shock of Nemo getting caught, when he started reciting the dialogues of the turtles. Annabeth barely kept her laughter at bay. The 8000 years old god looked cute talking like some turtles from the movie.
Perseus turned to Annabeth excitedly and asked, "So how did you like it?" His eyes didn't even blink as he waited for her answer.
Annabeth smiled and answered, "I liked it, it has been a while since I had left camp and watched a movie. Especially Dori, she was so cute."
Perseus nodded, smiling, agreeing with her. "I know right?"
Annabeth looked around and asked, "What should we do now?" They had already been watching movies for hours, and she didn't feel like watching another one.
Perseus thought about it for a minute. "Let's go out to eat something, Olympus is even more beautiful at night." He said and stood up.
Both of them went outside roaming the streets of Olympus. Annabeth could see some satyrs and nymphs working on shops like mortals. Minor gods and goddesses were talking with each other, she had never seen Olympus in such light. She looked at the buildings and temples, thinking about what she would like to add to each of them.
Soon they reached the place where they wanted to eat and sat down. A pretty nymph walked up to them. She ignored Annabeth and turned towards Perseus.
"What can I get for you Milord," She said, making her words seductive.
Annabeth glared at the nymph and looked at Perseus for his reaction. But he didn't even glance at her for a second, the whole time his eyes were focused on the menu. If he was purposefully avoiding the nymph, or if he was just oblivious to her flirting. Annabeth didn't know, but she liked that he wasn't affected.
"I think I will just have some fries and a glass of nectar," He politely said to her and looked at Annabeth. "What would you like?"
Annabeth smiled and said, "Cheeseburger, I'm tired of all the healthy food they serve at camp." She gave her order to the waitress.
"So what did you do when you were away for two thousand years?" Annabeth asked, she had wanted to ask him early, but didn't think it was appropriate to ask in the middle of their quest.
"Well for the first century or so I spent time with my mother and some of the other peaceful Titaness," Perseus answered.
"Your mother Rhea, the queen of Titans? What is she like?" She asked, no one had heard much about the mother of the elder gods. Just that she was kind and protective of her children.
"My mother is very powerful, possibly more powerful than my father. She loves us like no other, to this day she dotes us like we are toddlers. She is kinder than anyone but when her loved ones are in danger, she is beyond threatening. She is like the Titan equivalent of Hestia," Perseus smiled as he talked about his mother. He loved her very much.
Annabeth smiled as the pure love Perseus eyes held for his mother. She wished she could say that about any single one of her parents. Athena couldn't spend time with her because of the ancient laws, she didn't know if she would've, if she could've. Her father did take some time out of his work when she was little, but even he started ignoring her problems when he married her step-mother.
Her step-mother would yell at her for having nightmares, saying she was doing it to seek attention. She didn't have anyone she could call family except her siblings in camp.
Perseus told her all about his adventures with Chaos and the Primordials. He told her about spending the time getting to know the Primordials and fighting wars for Chaos. To say that she was impressed would be an understatement.
They finished their dinner and Annabeth saw Perseus fidgeting. Like he was nervous. She frowned, the whole day was spent smoothly and their date turned out to be one of the best days of her life. What was he fidgeting about now?
"What is it?" She asked him.
Perseus turned to her and spoke, "There is something you must know about me."
Annabeth looked confused and motioned for him to continue.
"When I was with the Primordials. I had a chat with Eros, he told me something interesting about me. He informed me that I am meant to have more than one soulmate. Six to be exact. Our whole day was great, I just wanted you to know that." He explained himself. And looked at her for her reaction.
Annabeth didn't know what to say. This was her first date ever, and to be informed of something like this. "I think I would like to return to camp now." She said finally.
Perseus nodded sadly. He had known this would happen; what sane person would agree to be in a relationship like that?
Line-Break
Perseus flashed himself and Annabeth to Thalia's pine tree. They started walking towards the cabins, both of them were silent and walked in silence.
When they reached the Athena cabin, Annabeth turned to Perseus and smiled. "That was the best date I ever had," She told him.
"That was the only date you ever had," Perseus replied smiling, even if she wasn't going to accept him. He wanted her to be his friend.
"Only one thing remains now," Annabeth suggested shyly.
Perseus frowned and thought about it. He had done everything one was supposed to do. What else remains now. Suddenly the light bulb in his head lit up and he looked at her surprised.
"You're okay with it?" He asked softly. He didn't believe that she would've agreed.
Annabeth nodded shyly and refrained from saying anything.
Perseus smiled brilliantly and asked, "Can I kiss you?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him. "Of course, seaweed brain," She answered him. Both of their faces sport tiny blushes.
Perseus leaned down and pressed his lips against Annabeth's. Both of them stayed like that, content with letting their lips remain like that forever. They didn't want the moment to end.
Annabeth broke the kiss and looked at Perseus red faced. She stood on her toes and planted a kiss at his cheek and ran inside her cabin. Knowing full well that her siblings had seen her, and were going to interrogate her now.
Perseus stood goofily for a minute longer. He turned and noticed that the moon was glowing harsher and it had turned a little red. He knew that he was being spied on but ignored it and flashed back to his palace.
Artemis, who had been watching their entire date, from their walk on Olympus to now, cried on her chariot. She knew he was supposed to have 5 other soulmates but it hurt too much to know that, that once could've been them.