Shadows and The Sea - The Darkling

Why & She's Gone

Percy's POV

As I was in the middle of grieving for my friends, I was blinded by a bright light that surrounded me. As I open my eyes when the light allows me to, I see that I am no longer in Athens but Olympus. The gods look down at my dirty, bleeding, and pained form with different expressions before Zeus starts.

"Persephone Jackson, you are the hero of Olympus and as such, you are to be given a reward," he stated loudly.

I let my gaze fall to the golden floor of the hall. "If you cannot bring my friends back, I do not want anything from you," I responded blankly.

I felt numb. All I could see behind my eyelids were the six bodies on the ground

In a frustrated state, "You have no say in this matter, demigod. We are granting you immortality so you can continue to train demigods at both camps," said the king of the gods.

My head shot up at that. No, no they couldn't. They wouldn't be so cruel would they? If I was immortal, then I would never see any of them again. I would outlive everyone and be left alone.

"No please don't do this, plea-" I was cut off by Zeus directing a lightning blast at me.

I felt like I was being stretched, squeezed, and burned from the inside all at the same time. I could feel the lightning encircle me and the electricity felt like it was supercharging my veins. When the sensations died down, I ended up on my knees in physical relief but I didn't know how to feel emotionally.

I looked up to Zeus briefly before turning my eyes to my father. He looked back at me with his eyes shining in worry and a little bit of sadness. He knew this wasn't what I wanted. What I wanted was to be with the people I loved. But now that would never truly happen.

"Fuck you," I stated simply turning my gaze straight towards the one who cursed me with this lengthened life.

The king stood from his throne in fury looking like he was going to send another bolt at me but this one would feel a lot more like an actual lightning strike, but he was intercepted by my father. "No brother. She meant no disrespect. She just needs time to adjust to what her life has turned into. Let me talk to her and help her come to terms with her immortal life," he said with a hand on Zeus' chest.

Zeus looked to his brother before looking back at me, "Fine. But I will not stand being disrespected again," he said back to Poseidon before walking away.

The rest of the gods took that as their cue to disperse. Apollo approached me before my father got to me. He shrunk down to my size and gave me a hug. "You'll be okay," he whispered in my ear and that just made me squeeze him tighter as I buried my face into his shoulder. I felt a weight on my back and knew it was my father. Apollo released me and held me at an arm's length away. He smiled slightly at me and then turned to leave me in the company of my father.

"Come on Sea Star, let's go somewhere a little more private," he said in a gentle tone.

I nodded slowly before asking, "Could we go to mom's apartment? I haven't seen her yet and I think she should know that her oldest daughter is immortal now."

He smiled down at me, "Of course Percy."

I closed my eyes as he flashed us to an alley on the side of their apartment building. As we walked up to the floor, there was something off.

"Dad, something isn't right," I said to him as we slowly made our way to the door,

"Stay alert Percy."

We got to the door, me behind my father and he knocked on the door but once his knuckle made contact with the wooden surface, it opened with a creak.

The sight that greeted mine and my father's eyes caused me to scream.

The apartment was painted red. Paul was on the couch, it almost looked like he was asleep but there was a pool of red around him that told the truth. Gods I hope he was actually asleep when he passed. I collapsed onto my father for support when I was him and my eyes started to tear. He didn't deserve this.

We walked into the stained apartment and saw what I was absolutely dreading. This is where I screamed.

My mother was lying dead on the floor in the kitchen right in front of the running sink. In her hand was a familiar gold coin that was bigger than a quarter.

I ran to her body and kneeled down next to her and started to sob.

My father ran to me and held my body close to him. He was trying to comfort me but I could feel his form shaking as well in mourning for his past lover.

I couldn't focus on anything but my mother's empty stare. This is just a bad dream. I'm in a nightmare. I'm going to wake up and she'll still be there, in the kitchen making blue cookies and laughing at one of Paul's terrible English teacher jokes.

What made it worse was when I saw that her spare arm was wrapped around her stomach. My little sibling-to-be was dead as well. The thought of a life ended before it even started shattered my heart and soul even more than it already was.

As we were still both crying on the floor, I crawled out of my father's embrace to reach my mother. She was wearing a blue pearl ring on her right hand that was a family heirloom. She told me ever since I was little that she would pass it down to me when I turned 20. I slipped the ring of her hand, pressed a kiss to her head, and returned to the safety of my father's arms so we could find some remnants of comfort in each other.

Clutching the piece of jewelry to my chest I could only think about one thing.

She was gone.