LABYRINTH ✵ percy jackson

𝐯𝐢

i. vi
➪ "warning: this action has consequences"

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FLASHBACK: JULY 22ND
Age: 6

☼ NIKOLAOS WAITED eagerly at the front window for his mom to get home. Luke was sitting next to him.

It was dark out by the time Hermes returned with their mother. Just taking a look at his mother, he knew, even as a child, that something had gone terribly wrong.

Her once blonde hair was now white as snow. She had a sort of blank look on her face.

As soon as Hermes stepped through the front door, Luke's expression turned stone-cold.

"Get out," Luke told his father as he blocked Nick from Hermes

Hermes looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't. Hermes met Nikolaos's gaze, plain hatred in his eyes, before he vanished into thin air.

"I'll make cookies," their mother told them and she made her way into the kitchen.

Nick colored in a coloring book in silence as he waited for the cookies to be done. Everything seemed like an eternity to his six-year-old self but it seemed even longer this time.

Their mother returned with kool-aid and burnt cookies.

"Mommy, the cookies are burnt. I don't like them burnt," he complained.

All of a sudden, his mother dropped the plate of cookies and kool-aid glasses and she braced herself on the couch as her eyes turned from blue to a glowing green.

"No! Terrible fate! Traitor!" His mother shrieked before she fell onto the couch and started to mumble more nonsense.

Nick felt scared as he sat on the ground. He just didn't understand what was happening and that made him feel unsafe.

Luke quickly stood up off the couch. "Come on, Nick. Let's get you into bed."

He followed his big brother into his bedroom, sad that his playtime was over, confused on what was wrong with their mother, and just scared.

Luke got him into his PJs and he tucked him into bed.

"What is wrong with mommy, Lukey?" He asked his older brother, his voice trembling as he spoke.

Luke rubbed reassuring circles on his arm with his thumb. "She did something really stupid that she thought would help people. It didn't go as planned and now... she will be like this for the rest of her life."

That made Nick want to cry. As a kid, all he wanted was his mother. The woman that had returned to their house didn't feel like his mother.

"Why does Hermes hate me?" He asked next.

Luke frowned at him even deeper than how he was already frowning at him. "He wants mom all to himself. He doesn't like that she fell in love with Helios enough that he came back from Tartarus and that you were the result. It makes him insecure and you are just living proof that he wasn't enough for mom."