ʚ♡ɞ ⋆ ･ . ˚◞ ♡ ᭕ ༣ུ༊ YOUNG DIVINITY ｡. ﾟﾟ･ ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡
ㅤ ㅤㅤ. ㅤ ｡ﾟ.
ﾟ･｡ ･ﾟ
┊PERCY JACKSON
˚ ༘⋆｡˚ꨄ ເଓ ୨୧ ೀ ʚෆ໒꒱･῾♡ ༊ TWENTY-THREE┊INTO WONDERLAND
╭────༺♡༻────╮
( ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ) venus: *whispers* i love you
percy: what?
venus: you were always my fate percy jackson
— fragmented pieces of venus and percy (just pieces of venus lovelace and percy jackson in no specific order)
╰────༺♡༻────
HONESTLY, VENUS IS SURPRISED THEY MADE IT A HUNDRED FEET BEFORE THEY WERE HOPELESSLY LOST. It wasn't that she didn't trust Annabeth, she would never bet against the daughter of wisdom, but she had expected the Labyrinth to be more of an asshole and try to confuse them the minute they started walking. She was right of course and now they were lost and in a spiraling maze that was nothing like when she and Percy had fallen into when they were trying to escape the scorpions from Quintus's so called game.
In this underground maze, there are fractures where different worlds cross and intermingle. There are surviving the march of time, hidden in this underworld.
The labyrinth was currently round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron barred portholes every ten feet. Venus was just lucky it didn't actually smell like a sewer or she would've packed it up and called it a day. Walking through an endless maze of certain death and it smelled like shit? No thank you. Hopefully, unlike the movie IT, there would be no man-eating psycho killer clown either.
Percy shined a light through one of the portholes out of curiosity, but Venus swore she couldn't see anything except the absolute void and she had pretty good vision, even in darkness. The chamber only showed infinite darkness.
Although, for a moment she thought she heard voices on the other side, but it may have been just the cold wind. She hoped that was the case. She couldn't deal with anymore ghosts right now, especially not after what she saw last night.
Amara's fiery eyes still haunted her.
Annabeth tried her best to guide them. She had a brilliant idea that they should stick to the left wall.
"If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it," she explained to the group, sounding so sure it was hard to disagree, "We should be able to find our way out again by reversing course."
Unfortunately, because the maze and the person who created it are assholes, as soon as she voiced the idea aloud, the left wall disappeared all together. They found themselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and with no idea how they'd gotten there.
"What the fuck?" Venus groaned, eyebrows pinching in annoyance as she felt the urge to scream in frustration.
They hadn't even been down here that long, for them at least, and the maze was already having the time of it's life, okay well Venus didn't know if it was actually alive but that didn't really matter to her more than the fact that it was pissing her off, manipulating them.
Venus had no idea how to get through this maze and she damn sure didn't know how she was going to do it all by herself when it was time for her to go her separate ways. She feels her heartbeat rattling the prison of her ribs, dread surging through her bloodstream like a poison injected into her body but she wills herself to ignore it. She has to.
"Tell me about it," Grover agreed, his eyes flitting around their surroundings. "Now which way did we come in?"
"Just turn around," Annabeth advised them, and as someone with unshakeable practicality, they all listened to her.
They each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. None of them could decide which way led back to camp.
"Left walls are mean," Tyson said and Venus nodded her head in agreement. "Which way now?"
Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels.
As far as Venus could tell, they looked the exact same. She doesn't know where those tunnels could spit them out, maybe into a middle of an alley full of gun wielding gang members. Or like a cult hideout maybe.
That would be unpleasant.
Just as Venus starts singing eenie-meenie-minie-moe under her breath because yes it has come to that, trying to choose which tunnel to go into, Annabeth has seemingly made up her mind.
"That way," she said but Venus wasn't sure how she could tell, but it was her quest at the end of the day, and Venus would follow her anywhere.
"How do you know?" Percy asked dubiously, right eyebrow raised.
"Deductive reasoning." Annabeth answered plainly, a flat look on her face, not seeming pleased with being questioned.
"So... you're guessing." Percy summarized, tilting his head at her.
Venus gives him a scolding look that made Percy stand straight up and pretend he's as innocent as possible but she's only teasing as she asks, "Why are you such a little shit most of the time?"
"Only most of the time?" Percy echoes in question, placing his hand over his heart for a lot more dramatic act than necessary. "Huh, thanks for letting me know. I should work harder on that then, it's all or nothing when it comes to being a shit."
"Just come on," Venus says, rolling her eyes as she tries to hide the smile growing on her lips.
The tunnel Annabeth chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon everyone was hunching over. Unfortunately for Tyson, he was forced to crawl.
Grover's hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze. Venus wished to comfort her friend because she knew how much he feared the underground, she too felt very trapped but they couldn't have Grover panic now. They already had no idea where they were going and they couldn't afford any stops, as cruel as it sounded.
"I can't stand it anymore," Grover whispered. "Are we there yet?"
"We've been down here maybe five minutes," Annabeth told him, sounding all too similar to that of an exasperated mom tired of her four kids asking if they were there yet with hours of the drive left.
"It's been longer than that," Grover insisted, not much unlike a child. "And why would Pan be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!"
No one has an answer to that so the group kept shuffling forward. Just when Venus was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish them, she wouldn't be surprised in the slightest, it opened into a huge room.
Standing straight, Venus and Percy shined their light around the walls and said in unison, "Whoa."
The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but Venus could still make out the colors—red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was my dad, Poseidon, with his trident, holding out grapes for Dionysus to turn into wine.
Her dad would have loved this. He was an art historian as much as he was a business man.
Zeus was partying with satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals. The pictures were beautiful, but they weren't very accurate. Venus had seen the gods before, they were enchanting and ethereal but this didn't capture their true essence.
Dionysus was not that handsome, although she's sure he could be if he wanted to, and Hermes's nose wasn't that big.
"Dionysus may not look that handsome, but his sons are. Have you seen Castor and Pollux?" Venus jokes as she gazed at Dionysus and she thought about his twin sons who she had spoken to on a few occasions. "They're gorgeous."
"Not really. If curly hair and dark purple eyes and muscles are your thing—" Percy grumbles but then he pauses and makes a humming sound. "Actually that's kind of my thing too. Whatever point I was trying to make, withdrawn."
Venus snickers, shaking her head in amusement at her best friend.
Percy had never been too afraid of voicing his interest in people of the same sex. Sally had always been more than accepting and didn't even blink when Percy had randomly blurted out that he thought boys were pretty too during a movie night Sally joined them on. Sally just smiled and hugged him and thanked him for feeling safe enough to tell her.
That same night, Venus had made him a bisexual flag bracelet that she wrapped around his wrist as delicately as she could and told him how proud she was that he was ready to tell them and she loved all of him no matter what. Ever since then, he wore the bi pride bracelet proudly as he did their friendship bracelet.
They went back to investigating where they ended up and the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain. It looked like it hadn't held water in a long time.
"What is this place?" Percy muttered as he kept flickering his eyes around. "It looks—"
"Roman," Annabeth answered as she gazed at them in slight amazement, as if she wanted to step into the mosaic herself. "Those mosaics are about two thousand years old."
Venus would prefer if she didn't sound so impressed, this thing they were in was still a death trap, pretty art or not. This is coming from her, who loved art dearly since before she could speak words, she danced and she drew. But jow wasn't the time for amazement, only survival.
"But how can they be Roman?" Percy asked and it wasn't such a bad question to ask, after all the Roman Empire never made it as far as Long Island.
But maybe they weren't even in Long Island. They could literally be anywhere in the world right now.
"The Labyrinth is a patchwork," Annabeth tells Percy as if giving a history lesson. "I told you, it's always expanding, adding pieces. It's the only work of architecture that grows by itself."
"You make it sound like it's alive." Percy muttered sounding more than put off, which was fair enough.
It was creepy no matter how impressed Annabeth seemed with it or how much it supposedly showcases Daedalus's brilliance. The maze was a ever-changing, ever evil king death trap and she hated it. No amount of pretty Roman art of Roman Gods that she prayed were just mosaics, she couldn't take it if there were more pantheons but honeslty Greek Gods existed whats to say their the only ones but it makes her head hurt thinking about it, would change that for her.
A groaning noise echoed from the tunnel in front of them. Venus tightened her hold on Percy's hand.
"Let's not talk about it being alive," Grover whimpered, backing up. "Please?"
"All right," Annabeth agrees deciding to change the subject by telling them where to head next. "Forward."
"Down the hall with the bad sounds?" Tyson asked and even he looked nervous.
"I'm with Ty. Even with the evil horror movie sounds? Going towards them is literally how people die in horror movies." Venus agreed with Tyson, jabbing her thumb in his direction with a nod of her head. "I advise going far away from the scary noises, like sensible people who want to live."
"Well we're not," Annabeth says even though she's clearly trying to hold in her laughter to remain serious. "— Going that way, I mean. I'm sure we all want to live. Anyways, the architecture is getting older. That's a good sign. Daedalus's workshop would be in the oldest part."
That made the most sense and Venus wasn't going to argue more than she already had even if she disliked the idea of the tunnels. But like clockwork, soon the maze was toying with them again—they went fifty feet and the tunnel turned back to cement, with brass pipes running down the sides. The walls were spray-painted with graffiti. A neon tagger sign read MOZ RULZ.
"I'm thinking this is not Roman," Percy pointed out oh so helpfully, wincing when Venus pinched his side.
Side-eyeing him, Annabeth took a deep breath, then forged ahead without another word.
Every few feet the tunnels twisted and turned and branched off. The floor beneath them changed from cement to mud to bricks and back again.
There was no sense to any of it. They stumbled into a wine cellar—a bunch of dusty bottles in wooden racks—like theywe were walking through somebody's basement, only there was no exit above, just more tunnels leading on.
Later the ceiling turned to wooden planks, and she could hear voices above them and the creaking of footsteps, as if they were walking under some kind of bar. It was reassuring to hear people, but then again, they were far out of their reach.
They were stuck down here with no sure way out.
Then, with their luck, they found their first skeleton. Perfect, another addition to her lineup of things that will revisit her in her nightmares.
He was dressed in white clothes, like some kind of uniform. A wooden crate of glass bottles sat next to him. It reminded Venus of a vintage cartoon, she's not sure which one but ones that were brand new in the fifties.
"A milkman," Annabeth gasps, eyes widening in surprise and a hint of fear.
"What?" Percy asked.
"They used to deliver milk." Annabeth explained to him as she ran a hand up arm like she was getting goosebumps.
Percy rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I know what they are, but... that was when my mom was little, like a million years ago. What's he doing here now?"
"Not much of anything really. Poor guy and think of the undelivered milk." Venus says solemnly, "Also, I'm telling Sally you think she's old."
Percy smiles, tilting his head to the side and bats his eyelashes at Venus innocently, "I would never say such a thing, that's just lies and slander to make sure you're her favorite."
"Some people wander in by mistake," Annabeth tells them before Venus could retort. "Some come exploring on purpose and never make it back. A long time ago, the Cretans sent people in here as human sacrifices."
Grover gulped. "He's been down here a long time."
He pointed to the skeleton's bottles, which were coated with white dust. The skeleton's fingers were clawing at the brick wall, like he had died trying to get out.
Gods. She didn't want to end up like him.
"Only bones," Tyson said mournfully but as if he was still trying to be helpful in calming Grover's nerves, "Don't worry, goat boy. The milkman is dead."
"The milkman doesn't bother me," Grover denies, to which Venus and Percy share a look that says, it bothers them. "It's the smell. Monsters. Can't you smell it?"
Tyson nodded. "Lots of monsters. But underground smells like that. Monsters and dead milk people."
"Oh, good," Grover whimpered. "I thought maybe I was wrong."
"Wishful thinking huh?" Venus murmured as she gazed around warily, partly happy she didn't have the ability of super-sense, she didn't exactly want to smell dead bodies or monsters lurking around.
"We have to get deeper into the maze," Annabeth tells them as she motions them to get moving. "There has to be a way to the center."
She led them to the right, then the left, through a corridor of stainless steel like some kind of air shaft, and they arrived back in the Roman tile room with the fountain. Literally going around in circles. At least the maze was oh so kind to put them back in a familiar room.
This time, however, they weren't alone.
Venus noticed first were his faces. Both of them. They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should've been, kind of like a hammerhead shark's looking straight at him, all she saw were two overlapping ears and mirror-image sideburns.
She remembered seeing this in Greek books, Janus. The god of doors, gates, and transitions. According to mythology, he represented the middle ground between both concrete and abstract dualities such as life/death, beginning/end, and youth/adulthood.
When facing him, you made decisions.
He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.
"Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!"
Then he swiveled his head to look at Venus and both faces lifted upwards in unnerving smile.
"Venus Lovelace. I've awaited the chance to meet you. Oh the choices you'll have to make, you're my favorite demigod." Janus's mean side sneers.
Venus feels her eyes widen as she takes a calculated step back. Whenever a god said something like that, Benus can only imagine that she isn't really their favorite and something bad was coming this way.
"Don't mind him Venus, Annabeth," The right side apologizes. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, Miss Chase. Venus, you will be later."
Venus bites back a groan. Of course she will be.
Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh...I don't..."
Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces."
"The funny man has ears, you know!" The left face scolded Tyson, who looked guilty enough that Percy patted his shoulder reassuringly.
The left face turns its attention back onto Annabeth, "Now come along, miss."
"No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please."
The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. And suddenly Venus realized that's what he was asking—he wanted Annabeth to choose.
Venus would have to choose eventually as well but for what? Would she make the right choice?
Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn't been there the first time through the room. Must have either been Janus or a magic trick from the maze. The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand.
For a moment, Venus wondered if this was a different room completely, but the frieze of the gods looked exactly the same, so no it was the same with the doors as an addition. Fantiastic
Behind them, the doorway they had come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. They wouldn't be going back the way they came.
"The exits are closed," Annabeth pointed out.
"Duh!" the man's left face said. "That's not going to help you.
"Where do they lead?" She asked and Venus knows it's not going to be as easy as that.
"One probably leads the way you wish to go," The right face said encouragingly and then less encouragingly. "The other leads to certain death."
"I—I know who you are," Annabeth manages to get out as she realizes the god before her.
"Oh, you're a smart one!" The left face sneered, rolling an eye. "But do you know which way to choose? I don't have all day."
"It's not like we do either, give her a moment." Venus muttered under her breath, and Percy who always manages to hear her somehow, nods in agreement.
"Why are you trying to confuse me?" Annabeth inquired, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, a glint of irritation lighting up in her eyes.
The right face smiled. "You're in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"
What a low fucking blow.
"I—"
"We know you, Annabeth," the left face said. "We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you."
Venus didn't know exactly what they were talking about but they didn't know what they were talking about, but it clearly more than a choice between doors.
The color drained out of Annabeth's face. "No...I don't—"
"Leave her alone," Percy said, eyes narrowing at the God. "Who are you, anyway?"
"I'm your best friend," the right face said.
"No that's Venus—" Percy immediately replies, earning an collective eye roll from Grover and Annabeth and a smile from Venus and Tyson. "— no offense you guys— man that wasn't supposed to slip out. I love all my friends named Venus the most... I mean equally."
Venus squeezes his hand, unable to keep herself from smiling and she misses how Percy is staring at her with a look in his eyes that would make a person think that Venus hung the moon in the sky and created all of the stars.
"I'm your worst enemy," the left face said.
"I'm Janus," both faces said in harmony. "God of Doorways. Beginnings. Endings. Choices."
"I'll see you soon enough, Perseus Jackson. You and Venus Lovelace do make an interesting pair," said the right face. "But for now it's Annabeth's turn." He laughed giddily.
Interesting pair? Venus was sick of the gods always being so vague and mysterious and she had only been dealing with them for a few months. She hated existing on this cursed planet where divine beings constantly keep interfering with her life while having the nerve to try to be mysterious. Okay, that was dramatic even for her.
"Such fun!" The right face cheered.
"Shut up!" his left face said. "This is serious. One bad choice can ruin your whole life. It can kill you and all of your friends. But no pressure, Annabeth. Choose!"
With a sudden chill, Venus remembered the words of the prophecy: the child of Athena's final stand.
"Don't do it," Percy says as he shakes his head at Annabeth..
"I'm afraid she has to," the right face said cheerfully.
Annabeth moistened her lips, and captures her strawberry coated bottom lip in between her white teeth. "I—I choose—"
Before she could point to a door, a brilliant light flooded the room. Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes.
When the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain.
She wore a crown made of the purest gold, her tall and regal figure was covered in a beautiful but simple white dress but when she moved, the fabric shimmered with colors like oil on water. Her long chocolate tresses were braided in neat intricate plaits with gold ribbons woven into them.
It was hard not to tell who the goddess was, she radiated a more intense aura than most goddesses or gods, more ancient. Hera. The queen of gods, patroness of matrimony and family and marriage. Beautiful and vengeful if her myths were anything to go by.
"Janus," The goddess had spoken and her voice was heavenly and motherly all at once, "are we causing trouble again?"
"N-no, milady!" Janus's right face stammered, clearly afraid of what would happen to him.
"Yes!" The left face said.
"Shut up!" the right face said.
"Excuse me?" The goddess asked, raising her eyebrow at the other god.
"Not you, milady! I was talking to myself!" The two-face god quickly denied.
"I see," The goddess says, the corner of her lips moving upwards but she isn't very amused. "You know very well your visit is premature. The girl's time has not yet come. The other two still has some time left as well. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down."
"What kind of door?" The left face asked.
"Shut up!" The right face said, trying to get their other side not to get them erased from existence.
"Because French doors are nice," The left face mused as if the promise of certain death was an amusing thought. "Lots of natural light."
"Shut up!" the right face wailed pathetically. "Not you, milady! Of course I'll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices."
"Causing indecision," The goddess corrected with a
disapproving frown. "Now be gone!"
The left face muttered, "Party pooper," then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared.
The woman turned toward them, and fear closed around her heart. Her eyes shined with infinite power. Leave these heroes to me.
Allow the divine to alter your course and who knows how you would end up. She didn't very much trust the goddess when she said that, it definitely sent a chill up her spine. Percy squeezed her hand tighter, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by the goddes in front of them, who smiled at them.
For a second, Venus wished she could've taken their chances with Janus. But then the woman smiled, and while it didn't ease all the tension within Venus, it subsided enough that she was glad that the god of doorways had taken his leave.
"You must be hungry," The goddess said. "Sit with me and talk."
She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.
"Who... who are you?" Percy asked as he warily surveyed the layout but there is a small hint of awe hidden in his voice.
"I am Hera." The goddess smiled sweetly. "Queen of Heaven."
Venus remembered Hera from the Council of the Gods, but Venus hadn't paid much attention to her. Not in a rude way but she was more concerned with if she and Percy were going to live.
Right now, Hera looked like a regular mom. Briefly, Venus had wished her own mom had come along. It's true they haven't had much contact since the meeting at the council, but Aphrodite had been sending a few things here and there to show she was watching her, and it made Venus feel a bit better.
The Queen of heaven served them sandwiches and poured ice cold lemonade.
"Grover, dear," Hera in a motherly tone tuts, "use your napkin. Don't eat it."
"Yes, ma'am," Grover said with a quick nod as he removes the napkin from his mouth, discreetly swallowing the last bit that was already in his mouth.
"Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?" Hera asked gently as she pushed a plate full of peanut butter sandwiches towards Tyson.
Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady."
"Queen Hera," Annabeth starts, eyes still wide. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?"
Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. She turned to Venus and cleared her of all the dirt and grime on her face and clothes.
"I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said. "You as well Venus. Aren't you such a such a beauty? As much as Apollo's haikus are growing to irritate me, he does not lie about your beauty. Your mother is very proud."
Venus feels her cheeks glow infinitely warm and she gives the queen a bashful smile.
Apollo, god of the sun and admittedly one of the more handsomest gods, wrote poetry about her beauty? She felt like walking on the clouds like a girl with a silly schoolgirl crush.
Of course she didn't see anything ever happening with a god who was a practically had more than a millennium over her, but she could bask in the fact that she was apparently beautiful enough that she deserved multiple, made her kind of giddy.
Sue her, a god thought she was pretty, so pretty he had multiple poems about her, she's allowed to feel a little excited about this.
"Oh... thank you, your majesty." Venus says politely, a respectful nod of her head as she tries not to show her excitement at the Apollo news.
Beside her, Percy eyes flash and he's glaring pointedly at his turkey and Swiss sandwich. Still, he takes off the pickles he spots on his sandwiches and slides them over to Venus, who loved pickles on her sandwiches when Percy couldn't stand them.
Venus beams at him, as brushes she a stray curl from her braids away from her face, smiling at him like all the stars could be found in his eyes, and she bites into her ham sandwich that she now deemed complete with the pickles.
Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone.
"I didn't think—" Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."
Hera smiled indulgently. "Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement."
"Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" Annabeth asked, tilting her head to the side.
"To be fair, it made a great Disney movie. Who put the glad in gladiator, Hercules... which come on as catchy as it is wasn't even the correct name! That's his Roman name. Very untrue to the original source... great songs though and you were depicted beautifully— okay, I'll shut up now." Venus rambled on as she started crunching on the ice to her lemonade, a habit she had as a little girl just as Annabeth elbowed her in her side.
Percy didn't hide his laughter. Asshole.
Hera waved her hand dismissively and there was a tiny smile on her lips. "Water under the bridge, my dears. Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding—especially after that last little incident."
"You mean when he sired Thalia?" Percy blurted out and Venus immediately winced at her best friend's words, and immediately she wished he hadn't said anything at all.
As soon as Percy said the name of their friend, the half-blood daughter of Zeus, Hera's eyes turned towards Percy frostily.
"Percy Jackson, isn't it? One of Poseidon's... children." Hera said and Venus got the feeling she was thinking of another word besides children.
"As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly." Hera reminds him, her eyes narrowing slightly and Venus got the feeling that there was a threat underneath her words.
Queen of the heavens or not no one threatened her best friend but before Venus could say anything, Annabeth pinched her thigh to remind her not to test a goddess.
Hera turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. "At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl. Neither you my dear Venus. I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially yours Venus, you hold all the power of the world with this quest. Especially since you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with."
Annabeth lowered her gaze, eyes thoughtful and she looked considerably younger for a moment, like a little kid trying to figure out a difficult math problem. "Why was he here? He was driving me crazy."
"Trying to," Hera agreed. "You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father."
"Your father?" Percy asked before he realized a second later. "Oh, right. Never mind."
It seemed like for a brief second Percy forgotten that Kronos was Hera's dad, too, along with being the father to Zeus, Poseidon, and all the eldest Olympians. Venus didn't but she supposed Percy didn't really want to think about the fact that made Kronos his grandfather.
Aphrodite was born from the sea foam, which was said to come from Ouranos's er, nether regions. She was born from something older than all of the Gods, a primordial being of the sky and yet Aphrodite is more often than not mocked and deemed lesser than.
Insane when you think about how many wars were fought for love. How love brings people to their knees. Venus thinks her mother deserves more credit than she is given.
In all honesty she didn't want to think about that part of her family tree because then she'd be sick for years. She still thinks it's weird that Hera is married to her brother. No DNA or not, it was strange. Couldn't they just rule together without needing to be married?
"We must watch the minor gods," Hera told them. "Janus. Hecate. Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet—"
"That's where Dionysus went," Percy remembers snapping his fingers. "He was checking on the minor gods."
"Indeed." Hera replies as she stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians as if it was a memory from another time.
"You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind."
"What are your goals?" Annabeth asked.
She smiled and it didn't put Venus at ease like a smile from a mother would. "To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course. At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish."
"A wish?" Annabeth echoed in confusion.
"Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free. I know you seek Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus's heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus."
"Sounds like love." Venus mutters without meaning to.
Hera smiles at that, "As much as your mother claims he isn't loving, my son has his soft spots. He loves your mother as well... albeit their relationship is a strange one."
Venus thinks it's best not to say anything at all because while Hephaestus and Aphrodite were strange, Zeus and Hera were even more so. She didn't want to die any faster than she had to.
"Love is going to be your guide in this quest. You will meet someone you won't expect. He is a troubled young man but he will lead you to your solution. Who knows you might find a connection."
Venus is quite tired of the fates interfering with her love life. She didn't want anyone else besides Percy Jackson but she wasn't going to admit that until her last breath. To love is to endure. She will endure her own heart breaking for a the best friend she can never have.
But she will not admit that, especially to the goddess of marriage but Venus locked eyes with the goddess and Hera smiled as if they were sharing a secret.
"But how do we get there?"Annabeth asked and she seemed like she already decided her answer. "That's my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth."
Hera looked disappointed as if she suspected Annabeth would ask for that. "So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given."
"I don't understand." Annabeth replied, bottom lip jutting out in a confused pout.
"The means is already within your grasp." She looked at Percy and Venus. "Percy knows the answer. Venus has known the answer too."
"I do?" Percy and Venus ask in unison.
"But that's not fair," Annabeth said, shaking her head and looking so disappointed Venus wanted to demand the goddess actually help them, "You're not telling me what it is!"
Hera shook her head at the young girl. "Getting something and having the wits to use it... those are two different things. I'm sure your mother Athena would agree."
The room rumbled like distant thunder.
Hera stood. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Annabeth. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine. But keep going. And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem. Venus darling, I wish you well on your journey. The fate of prophecies rest on your shoulders, do not fail."
Well, wasn't that a pleasant reminder and what an encouraging tough love moment. Venus loves visits from goddesses.
She pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark. "One last thing, Annabeth. I have postponed your day of choice, I have not prevented it. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!"
She waved a hand and turned into white smoke. So did the food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned to mist in his mouth. The fountain trickled to a stop. The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room was no longer any place you'd want to have a picnic.
Annabeth stamped her foot. "What sort of help was that? 'Here, have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, I can't help you!' Poof!"
"Love will lead the way she says as she vanished after giving us nothing! Love is letting me keep my lemondare. She took my lemonade—" Venus pouted, she loves lemonade and to have it poof out of her hands was unfair. "Poof."
"Poof," Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate.
"Well," Grover sighed, "Hera said Vee and Percy knows the answer. That's something."
Grover, Tyson and Annabeth swiveled their heads to look at Venus and Percy.
"But I don't," Percy denied with a shake of his head. "I don't know what she was talking about."
Venus shrugged her shoulders, "I wish I did. Would make this oh so wonderful adventure in wonderland so much more fun, believe me."
Annabeth sighed. "All right. Then we'll just keep going."
"Which way?" Percy asked, looping one arm around Venus's waist, in which Benus tried to keep a calm computer while internally losing her shit, and the other one spinning Riptide.
Annabeth was about to answer but then Grover and Tyson both tensed. They stood up together like they'd rehearsed it.
"Left," they both said in perfect unison.
Annabeth frowned. "How can you be sure?"
"Because something is coming from the right," Grover responded nervously.
"Something big," Tyson agreed. "In a hurry."
"Say less." Venus replies as she gets ready to start walking the other way, if the monster sensing questmates told her to go the way leading away from the monster she was going to listen, don't got to tell her twice.
"Yeah, left is sounding pretty good," Percy agreed with a vigorous nod of his disheveled head.
Together, they all plunged into the dark corridor.
༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ ೃ༄ ༊ APHRODITE TALKS
the way this kept publishing
before i was done is crazy.
here it is though!
see see november is
such a kind month to
you all you guys got nearly
back to back updates
lol i just wanted to be lighthearted in this chapter, less poetic writing and more diving into the fact that venus has dry deadpanned humor isn't rlly all that funny but she's baby girl so it's perfect
THE PICKLES.
i didn't watch all of himym (how i met your mother) but before it was a tik tok sound, i loved the idea of the olive theory, thus the PICKLE theory. i actually do like pickles on my sandwich lol or like i don't get grossed out or anything but that's bc i like pickles lol.
who's the mysterious bad boy, wait, can i spoil? yes i can it's my book: ethan nakumara!! im in love w that man so he's gonna be major in this more so than the actual books lol.
apollo writing haikus abt my baby girl is hilarious especially since percy is plotting in his head how a god can die but he still gave her pickles bc she likes them<3 my dream boy <33
not much percy
and venus moments
but don't worry they're
coming PLUS jealous
percy and jealous venus.
good night/day my loves
enjoy and comment
and vote please! i
love hearing your thoughts