Decision

Y/N frowned at him, "What?"

"Look, I need to tell you something, and I've been looking for the right time to talk about it but," Percy continued as the words came stumbling out of him, "I couldn't stand it if... I don't want you to—"

"Hey, calm down-" she said. "You look like you're going to be sick."

And that's how he felt. Since the time he went to get Nico, he has been waiting to tell her that. She had to know it. If he didn't, he was sure Annabeth would tell her and he didn't want Y/N to feel disappointed in him and cut off all communication. He wanted to say more, but his tongue betrayed him. It wouldn't move because of the fear in his stomach. What if she actually stopped talking to him after all this? She wouldn't misunderstand him for it, right?

And then Artemis turned.

"I shall have a new lieutenant," she announced. "If she will accept it."

"No," Percy murmured and held Y/N by her shoulders, turning her to make her look at him, "I don't want you to-"

"Thalia," Artemis said. "Daughter of Zeus. Will you join the Hunt?"

Stunned silence filled the room. Percy stared at Thalia, unable to believe what he was hearing. Annabeth smiled. She squeezed Thalia's hand and let it go as if she'd been expecting this all along. Percy sighed and released Y/N from his hold.

"Are you okay?" Y/N asked holding his hand gently.

"Yeah..um," he cleared his throat and looked at Thalia.

"I will," Thalia said firmly.

Zeus rose, his eyes full of concern. "My daughter, consider well—"

"Father," she said. "I will not turn eighteen tomorrow. I will never turn eighteen. I won't let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. Kronos will never tempt me again."

She knelt before the goddess and began the words of the oath, "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men..."

Afterward, Thalia did something that surprised Percy almost as much as the pledge. She came over to him, smiled, and in front of the whole assembly, she gave him a big hug.

He blushed. It felt awkward, and in front of so many eyes too.

When she pulled away and gripped his shoulders, he said, "Um... aren't you supposed to not do that anymore? Hug boys, I mean?"

"I'm honoring a friend," she corrected. "I must join the Hunt, Percy. I haven't known peace since... since Half-Blood Hill. I finally feel like I have a home. But you're a hero. You will be the one of the prophecy."

"Great," he muttered.

"I'm proud to be your friend."

She hugged Annabeth, who was trying hard not to cry. Then she even hugged Grover, who looked ready to pass out, like somebody had just given him an all-you-can-eat enchilada coupon.

She then hugged Y/N and whispered in her ear, "I need you to be as strong as you were all this time." Y/N didn't have the time to ask her what she was talking about since Thalia immediately went to stand by Artemis's side.

"Now for the Ophiotaurus," Artemis said.

"This boy is still dangerous," Dionysus warned. "The beast is a temptation to great power. Even if we spare the boy—"

"No." Percy looked around at all the gods. "Please. Keep the Ophiotaurus safe. My dad can hide him under the sea somewhere, or keep him in an aquarium here in Olympus. But you have to protect him."

"And why should we trust you?" rumbled Hephaestus.

"I'm only sixteen," he said. "If this prophecy is about me, that's two more years."

"Two years for Kronos to deceive you," Athena said. "Much can change in two years, my young hero."

"Mother!" Annabeth said, exasperated.

"It is only the truth, child. It is a bad strategy to keep the animal alive. Or the boy."

Poseidon stood, "I will not have a sea creature destroyed if I can help it. And I can help it." He held out his hand, and a trident appeared in it: a twenty-foot-long bronze shaft with three spear tips that shimmered with blue, watery light. "I will vouch for the boy and the safety of the Ophiotaurus."

"You won't take it under the sea!" Zeus stood suddenly. "I won't have that kind of bargaining chip in your possession."

"Brother, please," Poseidon sighed.

Zeus's lightning bolt appeared in his hand, a shaft of electricity that filled the whole room with the smell of ozone.

"Fine," Poseidon said. "I will build an aquarium for the creature here. Hephaestus can help me. The creature will be safe. We shall protect it with all our powers. The boy will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor."

Zeus thought about this. "All in favor?"

To Percy's surprise, a lot of hands went up. Dionysus abstained. So did Ares and Athena. But everybody else...

"We have a majority," Zeus decreed. "And so, since we will not be destroying these heroes... I imagine we should honor them. Let the triumph celebration begin!"

Percy sighed in relief and looked at Y/N who had a small smile on her face. He couldn't help but keep staring at her. The very thought of her joining Artemis and taking the same vow as Thalia? It felt like someone was squeezing his heart out and trying to destroy him.

He felt that she deserved way more than that. She deserves to be happy. And if she really joined Artemis, he knows that she would do it out of pure rage. So far, as much as Percy knows her, Y/N wants to be happy with someone. It's not something that she should just let go of because of small incidents.

A part of him felt angry with himself as he realized how she must've been feeling left out for quite a while. She was just...too nice to tell them about it. He wondered how awful she must've felt all this while to be left out when just a couple of hours of her ignoring him left him so restless.

Although, now that the time to tell her about it was drawing near, he wanted to stall it as much as he can afford. It was selfish of him but he was too scared to know the reaction he would get from her.

[ TIME SKIP ]

There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If ever get a choice, go for the Olympian.

The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes and Percy realized the music was whatever you wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same soundtrack. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up.

Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful woman walked with him arm in arm—his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time. Nectar and ambrosia overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink they wanted.

Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso latte, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"

Gods kept coming over to congratulate Percy. Thankfully, they had reduced themselves to human size, so they didn't accidentally trample partygoers under their feet. He could see from the corner of his eyes how Y/N blushed with every compliment she got about her fight with Atlas. Of course, everyone loved how laughed at his face on the verge of death. He also talked with his father for a while.

He was about to keep searching the crowd when another voice spoke. "Your father takes a great risk, you know."

Percy found himself face-to-face with a gray-eyed woman who looked so much like Annabeth he almost called her that.

"Athena," Percy called.

She smiled dryly. "Do not judge me too harshly, half-blood. Wise counsel is not always popular, but I spoke the truth. You are dangerous."

"You never take risks?"

She nodded. "I concede the point. You may perhaps be useful. And yet... your fatal flaw may destroy us as well as yourself."

Athena looked almost sorry for him. "Kronos knows your flaw, even if you do not. He knows how to study his enemies. Think, Percy. How has he manipulated you? First, your mother was taken from you. Then your best friend, Grover. Now my daughter, Annabeth. And the next I suppose..." she looked over at Y/N who was laughing while dancing with some minor godling.

She paused, disapproving. "In each case, your loved ones have been used to lure you into Kronos's traps. Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty, Percy. You do not know when it is time to cut your losses. To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world. In a hero of the prophecy, that is very, very dangerous."

He balled my fists. "That's not a flaw. Just because I want to help my friends—"

"The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation," she said. "Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom... that is very hard indeed. I hope the Council's decisions prove wise. But I will be watching, Percy Jackson. And should you begin to waver in your loyalties..."

As if it was not enough, Apollo walked over to Percy after a while and started talking to him. He was a bit cautious at first and felt nervous for some reason but Apollo really knew how to loosen him up. He told how Percy could drive his sun chariot any time, and if he ever wanted archery lessons—

"Thanks," he told him. "But seriously, I'm no good at archery."

"Ah, nonsense! Target practice from the chariot as we fly over the U.S.? Best fun there is!" he said, "Besides I thought you would love to get some lessons from my daughter."

Percy coughed and tried to look elsewhere, "She already tried to help but-"

"It wasn't helpful. I know my daughter Percy," he said.

Percy scoffed unable to stop himself, "Then you would've known your daughter's decision in joining Artemis."

"Oh?" Apollo sounded amused, "You really think I didn't know that?"

Oh, he was good. Apollo effortlessly turned the tables and Percy felt like a fool once again. He probably talked about Y/N joining Artemis to scare him. Of course. Lovely.

"Did you think about what Aphrodite said?" Apollo asked.

"How do you-"

"It's about my daughter and I'm a cool guy."

"Oh, um...I think she was...just trying to mess with my head."

"Percy," Apollo sighed and put his hand on his shoulder. Although he was still smiling, his tone sounded quite...serious, "I hope you think before doing anything. Contrary to my personality, I am not quite cool in the head in some cases."

Percy felt his throat dry up. It might be his imagination, but he also felt a bit of heat where Apollo held his shoulder. "I-I will, sir," he said.

"Sir?" Apollo laughed and moved his hand away, "Oh don't call me that!" He started walking away much to Percy's relief but turned again to say, "Don't keep her in the dark. It's what she hates the most."

He felt a shiver down his spine. Percy would've loved it if Apollo meant it literally cause he knew the fear Y/N had of dark places. It was quite evident when they went to meet Hades the first time they got on a mission. But no, he was not talking about that dark.

For some reason, Apollo knew about the talk Percy was going to have with Y/N. He knew about prophecies and knows the future. Was there a reason why he warned him about it? Does everything stay...normal between them? He knew Apollo wouldn't help him at all but...oh he would've given him anything to know about it. Was it a warning? Or was he just trying to scare him again?

"Hey!" Annabeth called, running through the crowd, "So?"

"So?"

"When are we gonna talk to her about it seaweed brain?" Annabeth asked furrowing her brows.

The music was playing. People were dancing in the streets. He found Y/N approaching them. He said, "Okay, not now."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said as soon as Y/N came closer, "Hey Y/N, so Percy wants to talk to you about something."

Oh, if looks could kill Annabeth would've been dead. But she didn't care the slightest about his glare and just gave him a smug look, before leaving to talk to her mother.

"Percy?" Y/N called, "What did you want to tell me earlier?"

He observed her whole appearance. For some reason, she looked like she was glowing. "I, uh, was thinking of asking you for a dance." Maybe it was because of the smile on her face. Y/N looked...beautiful.

So pretty.

She smiled slowly. "All right, I would love to." But she stopped after moving closer to him and said, "Wait, what did you and papa talk about? He said it's a secret or something."

"Nothing. He just wanted me to take archery lessons and I was trying to decline."

"Oh shoot," Y/N giggled at her little pun, "Don't worry, I'll talk to him about it."

So he took her hand, and he didn't know what everybody else heard, but to him...to them, it sounded like a slow dance: a little sad, but maybe a little hopeful, too.