Wrath of a Halfblood (A Percy Jackson Fanfic)

1.12

Apollo glared down at his brother who lounged carelessly against the pillar of the small temple at the center of the village. Percy slept soundly leaning against Dionysus' shoulder barely clinging onto the empty goblet, her lips still stained red with the night's wine. 

"Get up you fowl leech." The sun god hissed kicking his half-brother's side enough to rouse him from his drunken slumber. 

"Ouch! What's got your lute in a twist?" Dionysus' slurred speech still clung to the sleep in his voice. He snuggled closer to Persephone Jackson which only enraged Apollo more. 

He had fulfilled his promise to return to his beloved after completing his duties, only to find this thief clinging to her skirts. Jealousy and rage burned in the Sun god's heart. The only thing keeping him from burning his drunken younger brother to ash was that Percy's virtue remained intact. 

"You dare to take advantage of the fact that she has no escort, luring her to your drunken escapades... and you have the nerve to act as if you have done nothing amiss?" Apollo growled out the words, barely containing his rage. 

"She is more than capable of making her own choices, I have no control over her will just as you have no right to be angry on her behalf. You have no claim on her, Pheobus." Dionysus smirked, as he mockingly petted her raven hair. 

Before Apollo could truly rage Dionysus cut him off, "Are you really going to wake her? She hasn't slept in days. That wine was the first drink she consumed as well since leaving the Greek army." That brought the angry god pause as he looked down at Percy. 

No dark circles decorated the underside of her gorgeous green eyes. There was no evidence at all that the lack of sleep had affected her in the slightest. 

Both were startled when Persephone sprung awake gasping for air. 

"Percy?" Apollo cooed kneeling down to examine her. Dionysus turned to his new friend trying to feel if this was another response like the madness he had previously witnessed within her. 

She pushed off the ground grabbing onto her head, her teeth nashing with the strain of some unseen force.  A groan of pain turned to screaming as her nails dug into her scalp. Apollo dove to heal whatever was ailing her, panic grabbing hold of him. 

"Percy, love, I need you to describe what is happening so I can help you. Is it a burning or a stabbing feeling? Percy, my joy, can you hear me?" Apollo asked, straining to grab her wrists to stop her from hurting herself further. 

Blood trickled down from the gashes hidden in her hair that her nails had caused. Apollo looked to Dionysus for an explanation but he seemed just as lost. "What is happening?" The god of healing demanded as he held a screaming Percy to his chest. 

"I-I don't know! We didn't do anything but drink and dance! This shouldn't... wait..." Dionysus' purple eyes widened in horror as realization hit him. He looked at her in agonizing understanding as he fell back onto the ground, "Dear gods, I thought she'd have more time." His voice was a soft whisper, carrying the weight of his understanding. 

"What's happening to her?! Dionysus explain! We have to help her she's in agony!" Apollo roared desperately clinging onto the girl he had fallen in love with so quickly. 

"There is nothing we can do for her, she has to learn to block them out on her own." Dionysus sighed taking a sip of a newly conjured glass of wine. 

"Block what out?" Apollo demanded. 

"The prayers... The Achaeans, the ones who witnessed her power... They are burning her offerings... they are praying to her as a goddess. I assume the first battle of the war is about to begin, they are asking their guardian for aid. I went through the same when people first started worshipping me. It will pass once she is able to discern their thoughts from her own." Dionysus drank hoping to tune out her screams. 

Her dreams had no doubt been filled with the whispered prayers of a hundred voices believing her to be their patron goddess. 

As much as Percy had claimed to be mortal, she had single-handedly guided their boats, turning a three-week journey into a day. She had stood before kings defiant and saved a princess. She had bested the god of war in a battle of steal. She was not like them and they knew it. 

No matter what she did, she did not convince them all that she was human. To them, she was a beautiful goddess in disguise, sent to guide them to victory. She had conquered war, of course, soldiers would pray to her for strength to do the same. 

Apollo's eyes widened as he looked at Dionysus. A smile bloomed on his face, "So she's becoming a god then? Of her own merit? This is wonderful-"

"Not for her." Dionysus spat. 

Apollo's shining smile dulled in confusion, "What do you mean? She is ascending to godhood! Slowly, but still! She will be made immortal, a goddess worshipped for her valor!" 

"Percy longs for a hero's death. There is no greater punishment for the princess than to become immortal. She despises her fate, she wants to remain mortal and join her family in Elysium." Dionysus confided, slumping against the pillar behind him and drowning himself in alcohol, numbing the sympathy he felt for the girl. 

He too knew the agony of ascending to godhood against your will. He had forgotten what it was like, to hear prayers for the first time. 

It is like having a thousand thoughts shoved into your head at once. It is divinity burning through your neurons, chipping away at your mortality with each burnt offering. Ascending to godhood on your own is not quick and painless, it is tortuous. 

How could he have forgotten? 

Had it truly been that long since Dionysus had been human? Was he forgetting what it was like to have mortality? The thought terrified him. 

He had always thought of himself as separated from the other Olympians, more connected to the humans, more compassionate. It was a private source of pride that he understood their worshipers in a way none of the other gods would be able to comprehend. But when had he become more god than man?

"How long will this last?" Apollo asked, ignoring her desire to remain human. It never would have happened anyway, she would have ascended to godhood after they wed. He would not lose her like he lost his other lovers. 

"I don't know... Mine always came in one at a time sporadically. She is ascending during wartime as a warrior goddess... countless souls will call out to her during the war. She's overwhelmed... we might have to bring her away from the mortals in case this forces an ascension." Dionysus advised, standing on unsteady feet. 

"Forced an ascension what does that mean?" Apollo asked, lifting a sobbing Percy into his arms. 

"I don't know Apollo! I'm making this shit up as I go! I'm the only naturally ascended demigod and we already have very different experiences. This is all one big experiment for the fates, no doubt trying to stop her from dying as a mortal." The god of wine spat, his own outrage on full display. 

"You have no right to be angry on her behalf. You have no claim on her, Dionysus" Apollo mocked his earlier words, "Let's bring her to her father in Atlantis. That should be far enough from the mortals and the water might help her." 

Dionysus agreed following behind Apollo as they disappeared to the land of the Sea God.