Ataraxia [BTS au | Heroes of Olympus]

48

Jimin

Poseidon fought near him. His father. He didn't have a lot of time to dwell on that since there was this whole battle that was still going on. The twin giants, Otis and Ephialtes, stood before him and the sea god. He charged. Slashing through their arms and slamming his sword through Otis' armour. The giant fell back. Poseidon, it was still strange to see the god in a Hawaiian shirt, attacked the other giant.

He tried to keep an eye on the ones around him too. His friends were also fighting giants beside various gods.

As Otis was on the ground he stabbed Ephialtes from the back, his father thrusting his trident straight into the giant's chest. Ephialtes crumbled into a load of ash. Behind his Otis roared. He side stepped just as Otis was about to slam into him. The momentum took the giant to Poseidon's waiting trident. As the god pulled his weapon back from the giant's abdomen, Otis fell. Before the giant could raise his sword again, he dived in bringing Riptide down on the giants throat.

Otis and Ephialtes were defeated. He looked around, the battle was coming to an end. They were winning, though there were still a couple of giants.

"Son," Poseidon spoke in front of him, attaining all of his attention. He snapped his head to look at the god in surprise.
It felt good, being called that. It was something he had longed for his entire life.

"Father," he whispered. Poseidon smiled. His eyes crinkling at its side.

"You have become a great hero. You have made me proud, Jimin."

He felt like he wanted to cry, but he asked. "Is this it? You just say you are proud of me and then I am not gonna see you ever again?"

"I am sorry Jimin. I have wanted to visit you a lot of times. But things are like this. We are not supposed to be meddling with the life of demigods. And then that snow goddess came along making things difficult-" he hadn't meant to interrupt, but he did.

"Snow goddess? As in Khione?"

"Yes. She worked her charm-speak on Zeus, tricking him untill we realised what was happening. He had forbade us from  helping. But some like Apollo and Athena went against him still. I wish I had done the same." Poseidon sighed. He smelled like sea, like his cabin back in camp and that made him homesick. "But I have watched you through your journey. You have reached great heights. You mother would be so proud of you." He really wanted to cry now.

"Thank you. These powers I have have helped me and my friends come this far. So thank you for that. And this..." He lifted Riptide. "Thank you" he whispered again.

Poseidon was about to say something more. But something caught both of their attention. Hypnos, or he assumed it was Hypnos, dressed in dark robes. He was crouched down, his hand pressed against the earth. Even he could feel it, the loud thumping of Gaia's heart not so loud anymore. The whispers of the earth ceased. Something cracked on the other side of the field. A giant, he didn't knew who, crashed into a few columns raining down chunks of the pillar and debris.

And below it was Hosoek. He didn't even had the time to yell before the whole thing crashed down. He was running , but as the dust settled around the ruins, he saw Hosoek down on the ground, a few feet away from where he initially was. He was about to breathe out in relief just as Hosoek turned around wide eyes at the crashed pillar and yelled. "JUNGKOOK".

The whole world seemed to stop around him or maybe it really did. He couldn't move. He couldn't hear Hosoek's shouts anymore. Jin came running next to Hosoek wide eyed in panic. Maybe an hour passed or it hadn't been even seconds the time started again.

Hosoek was shouting at Hecate. "What do you mean, you can't help? Aren't you supposed to be a god?" Hecate didn't appear angry to him.

"I can't help you Hosoek, because you friend is no more under those ruins. He has gone to Underworld."

Hosoek had tears in his eyes as he heard the goddess talk. Hosoek turned to look at him. He didn't know what he saw on his face. There was no tears. He was not angry. He couldn't feel anything. Inside him felt like a void.

Hosoek approached him. When his hands touched him shoulder, and he broke. Tears leaked from his eyes. It finally hit him. He sobbed onto Hosoek's shoulder. The fight around him ceased. They had won the war. It didn't feel like that to him.

He recalled Jungkook saying, how he would make sure, each of them returned home safe. He had promised. Of course Jungkook hadn't said he would be alive too by the end of it. He remembered Jin's words just before they had entered the war. He was a fighter. He was strong.

But he was not. He was not ready. He was not ready for this to happen. He had to return home with all 6 of them, but now he can't. At the thought of home he realised what was happening at the camp.

"Hosoek, at camp. What's happening?" He asked his voice rough.

"The battle has just started." It was Poseidon who answered. Of course he had forgotten all about his father. The gods around him fanned in a semicircle and he realised Zeus and Taehyung was back from the cliff. He tried to control his tears, but he couldn't. Why did it have to be him?
He internally screamed and then immediately felt extremely guilty for thinking that. But he just wanted Jungkook next to him.

He had wanted to talk with him when all this Gaia shit was over. Now he couldn't. He couldn't ever. The tears that had momentarily stopped, flowed again.

He felt Taehyung's eyes on his and he looked up. The son of Zeus looked at him in shock and panic. Taehyung's eyes scanned the crowd. Even from the distance he heard him whisper.
"Ju-jungk-kook".

He heard Yoongi say, "Um, sir, Your Majesty, can’t you gods just pop over at the camp with us? You’ve got the chariots and the magic powers and whatnot." Yoongi voice was devoid of emotions. His face was too. He didn't knew how Yoongi could be so strong. He knew Jungkook was like his own brother.

"Yes!" Namjoon said. His voiced seemed forced too."We defeated the giants together. Let’s all go –"

"No," Zeus said flatly.

"No?" Tae asked. "But, Father –"

"That’s the problem with prophecies," Zeus interrupted. "When Apollo allowed the Prophecy of Seven to be spoken, and  the Fates wove the future in such a way that it had only so many possible outcomes, so many solutions. You seven....six, the
demigods, are destined to same your home. We cannot."

"I don’t get it," Jin said. "What’s the point of being gods if you have to rely on puny mortals to do your bidding?"

All the gods exchanged dark looks. Aphrodite, however, laughed gently.

"My dear Jin, don’t you think we’ve been asking ourselves that question for thousands of years? But it is what binds us together, keeps us eternal. We need you mortals as much as you need us. Annoying as that may be, it’s the truth."

Hosoek asked annoyed. "So how can we possibly get to Camp Half-Blood in time to save it? It took us months to reach Greece."

"The winds," Taehyung said. "Father, can’t you unleash the winds to send our ship back?"

Zeus growled. "I could slap you back to Long Island."

"Um, was that a joke, or a threat, or –"

"No," Zeus said, "I mean it quite literally. I could slap your ship back to Camp Half-Blood, but the force involved …"

Over by the ruined giant throne, the grungy god in the mechanic’s uniform shook his head. "My boy Yoongi built a good ship, but it won’t sustain that kind of stress. It would break apart as soon as it arrived, maybe sooner."

Yoongi straightened his tool belt. "The Argo II can make it. It only has to stay in one piece long enough to get us back home. Once there, we can abandon ship."

"Dangerous," warned Hephaestus. "Perhaps fatal."

The goddess Nike twirled a laurel wreath on her finger. "Victory is always dangerous. And it often requires sacrifice." She stared pointedly at him. Sacrifices, he thought bitterly.

"We can do this, guys. We have to do this." Yoongi said.

A feeling of dread settled over him. They had to make it back to camp in time.

Namjoon made the choice. "Yoongi’s right. All aboard for one last trip." Not all. He thought in misery.