the great wave | percy jackson

𝑥𝑥𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖 - asphodel

Why was her life like this? Come on, this was their second unkillable giant of the day, and it'd only been a couple hours since the last one! And she really, really didn't think her or Jason could take much more, especially when the enemy looked like that.

Porphyrion was huge, much taller and burlier than Enceladus, and instead of radiating power commanded it. His aura was so strong it was almost as if it had its own gravitational field. He looked kind of like the big Green Giant off those cans Chiron hoarded in the Big House basement, with dragon-scale legs the color of lima beans and hair braided in long locs like string beans, decorated with an intimidating array of weapons–battle trophies or fashion statement, who knew? When the giant opened his eyes, they were blank white, like polished marble, and Ash chose to ignore the pathetic little whimpering sound Jason let out, because honestly if she had a mommy she'd probably be calling for her right about now.

Porphyrion took a deep breath. "Alive!" he bellowed. "Praise to Gaea!"

Ash briefly considered allowing her wobbly knees to collapse fully so she could take a nice long nap on the stone floor. She didn't think she'd ever felt more tired or weak in her life; it was like her body was filled with sand. Maybe Jason could snipe a giant with one lightning strike, but she'd been using her powers near-constantly for hours, and the tips of her fingers were starting to pass through her sword, which was never a good sign. Speaking of...

"Leo," Jason said shakily.

"Huh?" The son of Hephaestus' mouth was dropped wide open, Piper mirroring the expression beside him, completely in a daze.

"You guys keep working," Jason said. "Get Hera free!"

"What are you going to do?" Piper asked, looking frantically between him and Ash. "You can't seriously–"

"Entertain a giant?" Jason questioned, turning towards her. Ash could see the exhaustion in his eyes, but also the determination, and she groaned aloud as he finished, "We've got no choice."

"Yeah, yeah," she said, hefting Reaper over her shoulder. "Let's dance."

₪₪₪

"Excellent!" the giant roared as they approached. "An appetizer! Who are you–Apollo and one of his Muses?"

Jason raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, letting him take the lead.

"I'm Jason Grace," he declared. "Son of Jupiter."

"Asphodel Tran," she followed up, leaning on her sword and attempting to mask her deep exhaustion as casual boredom. "Daughter of Thanatos."

Behind them, Leo's circular saw whirred, and Piper talked to the cage in soft tones, fear edging her voice. Before them, Porphyrion's white eyes bored into them like laserbeams before he threw his head back and laughed.

"Outstanding! The gods' first sacrifices to me. The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you!" he called to the sky.

Not a single rumble from above or below. Looks like they were on their own for this one. Jason dropped his plank, which was good, because the thing was putting him at severe risk for tetanus, but also bad, because he simply had no weapon. But what he did have, apparently, was a lot of confidence.

"If you knew who we were," Jason yelled up at the giant, "you'd be worried about us, not our parents. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because we're about to send you right back to Tartarus."

Ash was glad she hadn't laughed at Jason earlier because she let out her own very heroic whimper as the giant narrowed his eyes at them, planting one foot outside the pool and crouching to get a better look at his opponents. "So... we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod. I am Porphyrion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tartarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus' queen." He grinned rakishly at the goddess's cage. "Hello again, Hera."