Connected- A Pertemis Fanfiction

8- Coffee and Council Meetings

Percy and Nico appeared in a small empty alley in the middle of New York. The duo walked out and began talking, making up for lost time, and also figuring out what exactly they were going to do now.

"So." Percy began.

"So." Nico responded.

"You're doing alright?"

"I mean, well enough after being flashed somewhere."

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

"Do you want to help me catch the guy who kidnapped you?"

"Um, sure, why not? Hashtag revenge, am I right?"

"Don't do it if you don't want to."

"I want to do it. That guy can't get away with what he's doing."

"And no one messes with us."

"So, you're a god now."

"Yes. It's really been nothing but a pain."

"Yeah, but-" Nico stopped mid-sentence. "Never mind. That would be a bad idea."

"What? What were you going to say?"

"Nothing important. Anyways, are you actually going to go to the council meeting?"

"I guess I have to, don't I?"

"Well, yeah, except for you forgot to ask when it was." Percy cursed in Greek.

"I guess we better go to Olympus now!" he stated unhappily. He pulled Nico into another alley, and they flashed away, appearing in the throne room of Olympus, to see only two members of the council, Demeter and Hestia, having a passionate conversation over mortals and how they were ruining the Earth. Hestia noticed the two first, a smile lighting up her face.

"Percy. What were you thinking?" Hestia asked, suddenly angry.

"You could have faded there if you had died. You almost did!" Hestia exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I didn't, so all's cool?" Percy suggested.

"Oh, all right." Hestia said. "Why are you here?"

"I'm waiting for a council meeting that I have to attend."

"But there's no council meeting planned." Hestia asked confused.

"There is now. I don't know when, but I reckon it's pretty soon." Percy said, and even as he spoke, the twins appeared in a flash of silver and gold.

"Seriously though, they wouldn't-" Artemis broke off, glancing around at the small party.

"Aunt Hestia, Aunt Demeter." She spoke, tilting her head in a momentary gesture of respect, and Apollo followed suit.

"I guess you are here for that council meeting that Percy here said was going to happen."

"We are. Can you summon the council for us? They'll come easier if it's you." Apollo responded. Hestia turned to Demeter, and she nodded.

"I'll do it." she said, before leaving the others to talk. Since none of them knew what to say, it grew into a strange sort of awkward silence, where everyone just kind of looked at all the others.

Artemis found herself wondering once again what could possibly have caused Percy's scars. She watched Percy, her brain continuing to come to the same result. Percy's eyes flickered from Hestia, to Nico, to Artemis, and finally to Apollo, and back again. It was the third time he had glanced at Apollo when his eyes backtracked to find Artemis watching him, and he knew exactly what she was thinking about. He met her eyes, sea green into silver, cautious to not betray anything through them, but yet, in her eyes he saw untamed emotion, sadness and anger, and sympathy. Because despite his efforts, when she found herself gazing into his eyes, she could see the pain hidden within him, fragile, like a piece of glass that would shatter if touched wrong. She knew how he got those scars. And it hurt her more than it should, especially since it really shouldn't bother her at all. And, still looking into her eyes, Percy gave a small smile, one to comfort, and she could see that despite the fragility of the young god's sanity, he was getting better.