Man I love writing Percy and Ra scenes, they're so fun 😂😂😂 I can't wait to write more about them!!!

PERCY WOKE UP IN A state of bliss. She was alone in bed, a rare occurrence that she made sure to appreciate. There was no child drooling on her hair, no giant 7'5" tall god smothering her to death with his muscles and body heat, and no bodies caging her on both sides and nearly squeezing the life out of her via cuddles.

She woke up feeling perfectly refreshed.

...Which was why she immediately got pissed the second she started to hear yelling somewhere outside of the room.

I swear to god, if one of those gods who got drunk at Kebi's birthday party didn't return home last night, I might actually kill them. Who fucking drinks during a child's birthday party?!

Her good mood immediately ruined, she quickly threw the covers off of her, slipped on her blue fish slippers that Anubis gave her, and stormed out into the hall.

She turned a corner only to nearly bump into Kebechet who was in the middle of scurrying away.

Her look of anger instantly disappeared. "Oh, sorry, Kebi. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," the child mumbled, shooting a wary look over her shoulder as if worried that she had been followed.

"What's going on?" Percy asked. "Who's your dad yelling at?"

"Great great great grandpa," she scowled.

She had to rack her brain for who she was talking about before it clicked in her head. "You mean that, uh, that dude, uh... what's his face, Ross?"

"Ra," she supplied.

Right, Ra. Percy remembered him. Hathor, Bastet, and Sekhmet all had a lot to say about that guy. He was their father (and also their husband and Hathor's son?, but she didn't want to think about that right now), Anubis' great great grandfather and Kebechet's great great great grandfather.

And more importantly, he was also a huge asshole. Something that everyone seemed to agree on.

"What are they arguing about?" She asked.

Kebechet looked down at her feet, finding the floor fascinating. She was purposely avoiding looking at her.

Percy frowned worriedly and crouched down to be more at her height. "Kebi, please tell me." She asked more gently.

Kebechet hesitated, but only for a moment. "...They're arguing about you."

Ah, shit.

She tried to hide the way her body stiffened in alarm and plastered on a fake smile. "...I see. Go to your room, okay? Your dad and I will take care of this."

She gave her a reassuring pat on the back once Kebechet nodded and scurried deeper into the hallway. Percy watched her back until she turned and disappeared before letting her comforting smile fall.

Shit, shit, shit, she cursed as she rushed to the palace's foyer. The hallways were eerily devoid of any servants, probably because they also didn't want to be around the family spat.

Anxiety and guilt coursed through her veins. They were arguing about her. Was Ra pissed about her being here? Did he want to send her back to Hades since he was her husband and he was currently looking for her? Or was it because she was a half-breed and he just didn't want her around his great great grandson in general?

If Anubis was in any trouble for letting her stay with them, she would never forgive herself.

I got too comfortable, too attached. I should've left after the first week! She cursed herself over and over again.

She knew it was wrong to stay for so long, even if he told her repeatedly that he was fine with it and that he wanted her here. Just being here was overstepping too many boundaries no matter what Anubis said, but she just... she just couldn't help it. The pleasant moments of domestic bliss when it was just him, her, and Kebechet together, the normalcy she felt...

It was just so nice to not have to think about her curse, her marriage to her uncle, her feelings for her father, or the hopeless feeling she got whenever she remembered that she could never go back home. Being here made her feel free and happy and she selfishly clung onto that happiness without a care in the world.

Her pace quickened. The sound of yelling was getting louder. But the closer she got, the hotter it felt. She could feel sweat pouring down her body. What was going on?

When she reached the doors leading to the foyer, she started to push them open. The doors were boiling hot to the touch, but she couldn't feel the burn thanks to the Curse of Achilles. Instead, her hands sizzled and hissed as steam rose from her skin. With a grunt, she opened the doors, her skin unharmed.

The doors opened with a slam, and she was ready to exclaim 'leave him alone!' or 'it's me you want!' or something equally as dramatic, but she only ended up gagging in disgust and nearly vomiting on the spot. Not exactly a cool entrance.

"Oh my—" She gagged, trying to suppress the bile from rising up her throat. "Holy shit, what is that stench?!"

Imagine if one day everyone in the world decided to take their decades-expired raw meat and dump it all on some dessert on the hottest day of the year. Then take that stench and multiply it by ten and it still wouldn't be equivalent to the smell permeating in the foyer.

Percy was gripping onto the door for dear life. "Ouagh—!" She gagged again. "Uuuuugh, oh gods, oh gods..."

She weakly looked ahead and realized why the foyer smelled so bad. Some of Anubis' mummified servants had either died (again) or passed out from the heat, and since they were, you know, dead, their rotting smell was made a hundred times worse thanks to the boiling hot atmosphere surrounding them.

She felt like she was becoming dizzy. The awful smell and the unbearable heat created a horrible combination that made her want to join the dead servants. She slowly lowered herself to the floor, barely able to stand upright.

"Percy!" Anubis immediately went to her side. Worry and panic was written all over his usually cheerful face. He looked back up at the other god in the room. "Grandfather, cut it out, she can die from this!" He pleaded.

"Tch," she heard a cold voice say.

Heavy steps walked towards her. A pair of sandaled feet entered her vision. She weakly lifted up her head. Glaring down at her was a dark skinned god with slicked back black hair and gold eyes filled with hate. The haughty sneer on his face reminded her too much of Poseidon during the earlier days of their relationship.

"If the weak brat can't handle something as simple as my aura then she shouldn't be here in the first place." He said coldly, his voice deep.

His aura? So he was the reason for this horrible stench?

"Are you stupid or something?" Percy could feel tears building up from how badly the stench of overheated decay was stinging her eyes. "Why would you use your oven powers or whatever in a palace full of ZOMBIE SERVANTS?"

Ra's eye twitched. "...Oven powers?"

Anubis was clutching onto her desperately. He let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh, she's not usually like this, the heat's probably just getting to her, haha!"

Percy shrugged him off and rose to her feet, trying to ignore the way the temperature increased as she stood up to meet Ra's glare. "Turn it off," she demanded. "You're doing this on purpose to intimidate me, but all it's doing is making me wanna throw up, so unless you want me to vomit all over your skirt, turn it off."

"Watch your mouth, impertinent half-breed."

She could feel her mouth run even drier and her head pound from the overwhelming heat, but her glare only worsened. "You're the one who needs to watch it. You didn't even bother to attend your own great great great granddaughter's six billionth birthday, and now you have the audacity to come into Anubis' house uninvited to stink up the place and cause trouble?!"

"Cause trouble?" He let out a cruel laugh. "The only one causing trouble here is this stupid grandson of mine," he gestured to Anubis, who shrunk a bit. Percy frowned. Anubis was a huge guy, even bigger than Ra, and yet he had never looked so small before. Ra returned his harsh glare to her, "I came here to fix it."

She put her hands on her hips. "You did not just call him stupid."

Anubis perked up.

"I call it how I see it," Ra sneered back.

Anubis shrank again.

"No wonder everyone at the party was happy you weren't there," she matched his sneer. "You're a complete dickhead."

He took a thundering step towards her. The heat was unbearable at this point. "I see you're ignorant as to who I am. That stupid grandson of mine didn't tell you a thing about me, did he?"

Percy's mouth and throat felt like they were on fire but she refused to back down. "I know exactly who you are. You're Ra."

"Ra-Horakhty." He said, glowering at her.

"What?"

"It's Ra-Horakhty. Not just 'Ra'."

"Okay." She didn't care. She made a show to roll her eyes just to make sure he knew that too. "Ra-Horakhty. Get out. You're not welcomed here."

His eyes flashed dangerously. "You do not kick me out, girl. I should be the one telling you to leave."

"Unlike you, I was actually invited here. You weren't."

"Oh I know all about that," Ra's lips curled in disdain. "That fool Anubis has stirred quite the trouble by bringing you here. Are you aware of that?"

She faltered.

"Exactly," he scoffed. He glared at Anubis, who had remained silent this whole time. "You've caused a huge mess, you brainless twit. You should be grateful I came here to help you fix it."

Percy jumped to his defense, even stepping in front of him as if that would do anything to protect him from Ra's heartless gaze (it was a pretty useless, they were both taller than her so all Ra needed to do was look over her head to give a glare Anubis' way).

"Hold on," she glared up at Ra. "What exactly did Anubis even do?"

Behind her, Anubis made a dying noise in the back of his throat. He immediately hurried in front of her just as Ra began to speak.

"He—"

"—Percy!" Anubis forced a cheery grin as he turned her attention to him. "Um, uh, I-I'll handle this okay? You must be hungry, so you should go and make some breakfast for yourself! I'll talk with my grandfather."

She narrowed her eyes at him, knowing damn well that he was just trying to get her out of the picture. But she decided to let him take care of it since he seemed determined to.

"...Okay," she relented. "I'll be in the great hall then." She gave Ra a withering glare and left, but not before shooting Anubis a look that said 'just yell if you need help!'.

Once she left, Anubis and Ra were left alone.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

"Explain yourself," Ra demanded.

Anubis swallowed thickly, Ra's own divine presence getting to him as well. "I... well..."

"Start from the beginning," he ordered. "Why her? Do you know who that girl is? She's the wife of Hades, the new Queen of Helheim who has been missing for nearly two months now."

"I know," Anubis replied.

"Then why did you bring her here and marry her?" He demanded once more. "Answer me, Anubis!"

"She ran away after her wedding," Anubis feebly explained. "And that was when she came to me. She asked for help. She was desperate. Hades cursed her to stay here forever. She wanted to hide away somewhere in Helheim."

"And instead of doing the right thing by leaving, you brought her home and married her," Ra scowled.

"She came to me in a wedding dress, I couldn't help myself," he said in a small voice.

"You can never 'help yourself'," Ra spat. "It's always the same with you! For eons you've been doing the same thing; kidnapping female spirits, demons, and nymphs, trying to mold them into being proper mothers for Kebechet and a wife for yourself, and then killing them whenever they fail or try to run away. I never cared, not even when Hades came to me with concerns about you taking his lampads, but you've gone too far now, you idiot!"

Ra was not blind to his great great grandson's many, many faults. No, he was much too aware of them. He knew the real reason why he was doing this, knew it all stemmed back to his true mother, but he never once lifted a finger to help. And now Anubis had gone too far and Ra feared the repercussions.

"That girl is the daughter of Poseidon and the wife of Hades," he hissed. "She's knee deep into the Greek pantheon, the most obnoxious pantheon in all the three realms! Do you think I want to deal with the Greeks knocking on my front door when they realize that you've killed her because she couldn't keep up with your demands—?!"

"—No!" Anubis gasped, horrified. "N-no, I wouldn't! I would never kill her!"

He shook his head frantically, looking sick at just the thought. "Percy's perfect! She's the real deal! S-she's not like the others, grandfather, really! She takes care of me and Kebi! She doesn't hate me and she never tried to run away—"

"—Obviously, because she doesn't know a thing," Ra cut him off, his voice cold. "But I doubt she'll stick around once she knows who you really are. She will leave, and then you'll show your true colors. You'll snap and kill her, and I'll have to deal with the fallout."

"N-no," he whimpered, shaking his head so wildly that his hat fell off. He gripped his hair, claws digging into his scalp. Ichor poured down his face as he repeatedly muttered, "No, no, no, no—"

"—Get ahold of yourself!" Ra snapped, wrenching one of his wrists away. His hand glowed, his touch searing through Anubis' flesh. "Divorce her and let her go NOW, Anubis!"

"No!" Anubis shrieked madly.

Ra's face turned emotionless. "Then you leave me with no choice."

In an instant, Anubis' body burst into flames.

"AAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHH!" He screamed in agony.

Ra released him and stepped back. He watched expressionlessly as Anubis screamed and thrashed around before falling to the floor, the flames completely swallowing up his body.

With a sigh, he calmly turned around and walked away.

It was time for him to speak to Percy.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Percy was in the middle of eating eggs when she heard the most blood-curdling scream. She knew almost instantly that it was Anubis and the little hairs on her body rose. She had never heard him scream like that before. He sounded like he was being tortured.

Ready to abandon her food, she jumped up to her feet—

"Sit down."

A very hot hand was placed on her shoulder, pushing her back down to her chair.

"You piece of shit," she turned to face him. "What the fuck did you do?! Where's Anubis?!"

"That idiot is currently a charred lump of divine flesh on the floor of the foyer," Ra said coldly. "But he is not dead. As annoying as he is, I would not kill my own great great grandson. He will heal."

Despite how relieved she felt to know that he was okay, that didn't settle down her heart rate.

Within a single second, Ra was no longer standing behind her, but was sitting across from her now.

"And I knocked Kebechet out as well," he added. "I wanted no interruptions."

"What do you want?" She demanded.

He scoffed, "I just incapacitated the two gods who could protect you from me, and yet you continue to speak to me in such a way? You are either suicidal, brave, or both."

"Get to the point already."

"So you are both," he noted. "Fine then. Are you aware that you are married to Anubis?"

She frowned. "...Anubis wouldn't explain a thing and the people at the party kept saying that, but I don't know how they got that idea. I would've known if we got married..."

"Of course you're clueless," he sighed in aggravation. "Marriages amongst the Egyptian Pantheon occur differently. We don't care for extravagant wedding ceremonies. Ours is centered solely on cohabitation. The second you accepted Anubis' invitation to stay with him and moved in, you agreed to become husband and wife."

"...What?"

"You heard me." He crossed his arms. "And he knew this too. He deceived you."

Even though Ra's intense aura wasn't as bad as before, Percy still felt like the heat was getting to her. She had to have heard wrong, right? It couldn't be... it just couldn't be real. Because then that meant she had two husbands, by two different gods who had forced her into it, one through capture and another through deceit.

She could feel her nails dig into her palms. A memory flashed through her head; two months ago, when she first stumbled upon Anubis and begged for his help.

"Look, you don't even need to teleport me, just point me to the direction of the most isolated spot in Helheim and I'll go there by myself!"

"Hmmm, nah! How about I take you to my place instead!"

"HUH?! No! Anubis, I need to get away from everyone!"

"But Percyyyy! Loki got to play with you and I wanna play with you too! Come on, come on! Say you agree! You need to say it!"

"I—Okay—fine!"

"Oh gods," she whispered, realization dawning on her.

Ra didn't bother to give her another moment to recover. He barrelled on, "He knows how to undo Hades' curse as well."

She snapped her head up towards him. "What?" She asked sharply.

"All curses work by targeting the divine essence," he began to explain. "At least, when aimed at gods. When Persephone ate the six seeds of the cursed pomegranate, her divine essence was cursed, keeping her temporarily trapped in Helheim for six months. But when a human is cursed, it's their soul that gets targeted. Anubis is a master of the soul, he would know how to undo Hades' curse."

Her face fell. "...No..."

He continued, "But of course, he would never tell you this because he wanted to keep you here. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you here, girl? Anubis is not who you think he is. He has been lying to you since day one."

He leaned forward. "And you are in danger," he went on, more quietly this time, but the steely look in his eyes didn't disappear. "You are not the first girl he had brought here. Others have been in your spot before, though they were much more aware of their situation since Anubis forced them here whereas you came to him willingly. Many of those girls have tried to attack him or flee, but he cuts them down before they could get too far. Your ignorance is the only reason you are alive right now."

Percy's head felt overwhelmed by all the information he was throwing at her. "He... what? What are you...? What are you talking about?"

"Anubis has been obsessed with finding the perfect mate," Ra said, disgust all over his features. "A woman who to be the perfect mother to Kebechet and the perfect wife for him. He... urgh... He's just obsessed with the thought of someone loving him, alright? His real mother, Nephthys, had an affair with Osiris. He was the result of that and she panicked and abandoned him. Isis raised him as her own, but the abandonment messed with his head. Everyone knew he was a bastard."

He looked uncomfortable just talking about this, but pressed on anyway.

"Things got worse when Kebechet came into the picture," Ra shook his head. "Anput is a loyal guard to Osiris, she refuses to leave his side. Anubis damn near clawed her throat out when she told him that she couldn't raise Kebechet."

"What?" Percy was alarmed to hear that. "But she was at the party, and Anubis never said anything awful about her..."

"Of course she was at the party, moron," he rolled her eyes. "Osiris was there, and she's his guard. She had no choice but to go. She'd avoid him for the rest of her life if she could, but Osiris is the brat's father; where he goes, she has to follow."

"After Kebechet was born, he got the brilliant idea of trying to find a partner for himself," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "That's why he's been kidnapping girls and forcing them into this role and killing them once they fail. But make no mistake. He's not doing this for Kebechet. That's just a lie he tells to make himself feel better. He's nothing but an abandoned puppy that wants someone to love him. It's pathetic and now he's about to cause a huge mess with the Greeks by dragging you into this."

It was clear that he was more concerned with the Greek Pantheon than his grandson's mental instability. Percy, unlike him, was still stuck on that part. She remembered all the odd things some of his family members would say and how she would dismiss them since they were just pieces to a puzzle that she wasn't even aware existed.

But now she was starting to get the bigger picture.

"Are you sure you're not my daddy's mate? Why else would he bring you here?"

"Oh come on, Hathor, Anubis has never been good at relationships. Remember what happened to the others? Look how they ended up."

"Lady Percilla, are you not aware of what your purpose is here?"

Now I get it, she thought, swallowing thickly.

"You're in danger the longer you stay here," Ra told her seriously. "You need to leave Helheim entirely."

"I can't," she murmured. "The curse—"

"—Is something that Anubis can remove," he interrupted, leaning in even closer. "You need to trick him into undoing the curse."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"Trick him," he repeated. "Deceive him like he had done to you. I don't care how you do it, but you cannot stay here any longer. Anubis may not kill you, but that's just welcoming a whole other issue. He wishes to remain as your husband, and I doubt your first husband will be pleased about that."

He gave her a pointed look. She grimaced.

"There's still time," he said urgently. "He hasn't mated you yet, has he? Your neck is unmarked, but it won't be for long. A mating mark is much more serious than a marriage bond."

"Mating mark?" She paled.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting him to undo the curse."

He looked up, as if he was sensing something amiss. "...Anubis is almost fully done recovering." He stood up and gave her one last hard look. "Tomorrow. 5 AM. Leave the palace and head west. That's your only chance. You miss it and you're on your own."

Percy jumped when an animalistic growl literally shook the entire palace. The doors to the Great Hall burst open, reduced to splinters as Anubis' hulking form barged in.

"Choose wisely." Ra warned her before teleporting just as Anubis lunged at his disappearing form.

The room was quiet once he was gone. Anubis tensely turned to her. His expression was full of terror and anger, but mostly terror once it dawned on him that she knew everything.

His voice trembled. "P...Percy, I—"

"—Sit down." She said quietly.

He immediately took a seat across from her, wringing his hands nervously.

There was so many things she wanted to say, so many things Ra had thrown at her that she was still struggling to register, but she settled with speaking about the most important one:

"...I don't care about you tricking me into marrying you. What I want to know... is..." She let out a shaky breath. "Is it true that you could've freed me from Hades' curse all along?"

His eyes started to water. "...Yes."

Yes. He said yes. Percy felt like crying. Hades' curse had haunted her every second of the day. She felt like she had been drowning in hopelessness ever since she received it. For months she felt like all her hopes of returning home and seeing her family again were dashed and she hated every bit of herself for ever letting it happen. Anubis had been her comfort. Her distraction away from the pain. His home had become her safe haven away from it all.

But he was just another jailer trying to keep her trapped.

Her safe haven had been a prison all along.

She had gone from one cage to another.

"Please don't cry!" Anubis fretted, jumping onto the table and kneeling before her. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I know I should've told you the truth, but I was scared that you'd leave me! Please, Percy, I'm sorry! Please forgive me, please forgive me!"

"Anubis—"

"—NO!" He grabbed her hands from the table, clutching them desperately but with a tenderness that she was familiar with, like he was afraid to hurt her.

She tried to pull away, but he yanked her back, nearly pushing her chair forward. It scraped loudly against the floor.

"We have it so good! We were perfect! And we can still be! I can fix this! I can, I swear I can!" He begged. "I won't lie to you or hide things from you anymore! I'll be honest and tell you everything, I swear! Just stay! Please, oh gods, please, please just stay!"

She stared up at him in pity and horror. He looked like a completely broken mess, nothing at all like the cheerful and exuberant god she once knew. Heavy trails of tears were streaming down his face as he gripped her hands, shaking them as if it would force her to see his way.

"If you won't stay for me then stay for Kebi!" He shrieked desperately. "Y-you love Kebi, right?! Then stay for her!"

"No, Anubis, I can't—"

"—DON'T SAY THAT!" He screamed in-between sobs. "You can! You can! You can stay and you will!"

She gulped, realizing that she was treading on thin ice now. This was not a situation she could settle with arguing, she had to be very careful with what she said.

"Anubis," she said gently. "I need you to let go of my hands. You're crushing them."

He gasped shakily, realizing that he had been holding onto her too harshly. He hastily released them, looking horrified with himself.

"I-I-I'm sorry," he whimpered brokenly. "I didn't mean to hurt you...!"

"I know you didn't."

"Please don't leave me," he begged. "Please, I'll do anything you want, give you everything you want. Just—don't—go. Don't leave me, please, please, please, don't leave me! Everyone's always leaving me! I don't want you to go too!"

She shook her head, "That's not true, Anubis. Ra told me about those other girls. They didn't leave you, you killed them, remember?"

She was trying to make him see reason, but that didn't seem to work.

His eyes widened. "...Is that why you're trying to leave me? B-because you think I'll kill you too? No!"

He suddenly lunged at her, tackling her off the chair and to the floor.

"Anubis! Stop!" She yelled, but apparently hurting her was never his intention. He sat on the floor, holding her close like she was his lifeline.

"I would never kill you!" He cried out, looking pained at just the thought of it. "You're perfect, Percy! Absolutely perfect! Everything I could've ever dreamed of having in a mate! I've fallen completely in love with you!"

She froze in his embrace.

Love.

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

"T-that's insane. Anubis, you've only known me for two months," she stammered in disbelief.

"That only proves how amazing you are!" He exclaimed brightly, eyes still shining with wetness. "Two months, and you've already got a god wrapped around your pretty little finger! You're amazing and I love you!"

He grabbed one of her hands, kissing each one of her fingers with a lovesick look on his face that made her tremble against him.

"The best wife, the best mother. You're perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect," he sighed dreamily, rubbing his cheek against the top of her head. "I could never let you go now. That's why you need to stay. Stay and never leave me."

Percy could feel her own tears stinging her eyes. She cried against his chest, letting it all out. She cried for herself and even for him, and she didn't know why. How could she still care about this god who had put her in a gilded cage?

Even after all of this, she couldn't bring herself to hate him or even get angry. She just felt pity.

Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome, she thought hysterically. Because even after all this, all she could think about was how much she enjoyed being here with him and Kebechet. She loved cooking meals for them, she loved giving Kebechet bedtime stories her mom used to give her, and loved the quiet moments she shared with Anubis whenever Kebechet fell asleep during playtime—she loved every second that she spent in this happy little sanctuary she built with them.

But she couldn't stay.

She remembered Ra's words to her, "You need to trick him into undoing the curse."

"Anubis," she said quietly, leaning her head against his chest.

He released a shuddery, reverent breath at the sound of his name leaving her lips. "Yes?"

"I will stay," she told him, gazing up at him with watery green eyes as she did so.

His eyes widened. "Y-you will?"

She nodded, feeling horrible. "Yes. I will stay. So just... release me from the curse. I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise not to leave me?" He asked, sounding so small that her heart broke.

She smiled lovingly at him. "I won't."

Slowly, his hand crept up to her chest. She watched, mesmerized as black vapor rose from her chest, being absorbed into his hand. Then there was no more.

She tried to steady her breathing. She didn't feel different, but when she looked up at Anubis, he gave her a nod of confirmation.

"It's done," he murmured. "I removed it. But... but Percy, there's another one. An older curse that I've never seen before. I don't understand—"

"—It's okay," she said, realizing that he was talking about the Curse of Achilles. She was just relieved he had removed Hades' curse without removing that one too. "Thank you, Anubis. I mean it."

"And you'll stay, right?" He asked, eyes wide with hope and fear.

She couldn't bring herself to speak, so all she did was nod.

She could feel him relax against her, all his worries and fears finally disappearing.

"Oh thank gods," he whispered, voice heavy with emotions. "You'll stay... you'll really stay..."

Hot tears to her head as he buried his face against her hair, holding her desperately, afraid to let her go. When he pulled back, he leaned his head down... and kissed her.

"I love you," he murmured against her lips, only pulling away to take a breath but immediately leaning down to kiss her again and again and again. It's a messy, desperate kiss, one that only a broken god such as he could achieve.

...I guess I'm broken too, she thought as she kissed him back, eyes fluttering shut. She braced her hands against the floor to hold her up as the kiss deepened, nearly forcing her back.

He didn't let her pull away, even when she whimpered against him. Instead, he forced her back, practically towering over her until she finally laid on the floor, trapping her beneath him.

Not once did he stop kissing her, trying to convey just how much he needed her through every kiss. He practically pinned her on the floor, his body pressed against hers and caging her in on all sides as he kissed her with a fervor that should be illegal.

She was still donning her night dress, a thin and flimsy material that allowed her to feel the heat emanating from his body. She could feel one of his knees nudge between her thighs, gently prying them apart to grind his knee against her growing heat.

She pulled away, gasping at the sensation only for him to swallow the sound down, his tongue pushing its way into her mouth. His tongue met hers, fangs clacking against her teeth, lips molding themselves against one another.

When he broke the kiss, a thin trail of saliva formed between them. He panted heavily, resting his forehead against hers.

"Please," he begged. "Tell me you love me. I need to hear you say it."

She tried to hold back her tears. "I love you."

"I'm sorry for being like this," he whispered, eyes shut. "I'll be better. I promise. I'll be better, for you."

She didn't speak. All she could do was hold him close and stroke his hair as he broke down in her arms.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

For the rest of the day, Percy pretended that everything was perfectly fine.

After Kebechet woke up from the knockout spell Ra had put her in, Percy tried to put all three of them back in the atmosphere of domestic bliss that had existed before Ra came to knock it all down.

Percy made all of their favorite meals. She played all the games Kebechet wanted to play. She let Anubis hold her and kiss her, and she even kissed him back.

Everything was perfect.

That night, after giving Kebechet yet another bedtime story, she let the girl nestle in beside her while she felt Anubis wrap his arms around her from behind. Rather than closing her eyes and letting it be, she slowly turned around to face.

"Can I hold you instead?" She asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the girl. Anubis was always the one to hold her, but now she wanted to do something differently.

His eyes widened slightly at the unexpected request, but a grin crawled over his face—the same happy and goofy grin that he always wore. The ones that suited him best, in her opinion.

He nodded excitedly, unwrapping his arms from her. She wrapped herself around him, sighing softly as she rested her head against his chest.

"Is this good?" He whispered, staring lovingly down at her.

She nodded. "Yeah. This is better."

She closed her eyes.

"Good night, Nubby."

"G'nite, Tiny Princess," he whispered back.

They fell asleep together, one last time.

When morning came, Percy woke up bright and early as she always did. Slowly, she unwrapped her arms from Anubis' slumbering body and quietly crept out of the bed, not wanting to disturb father and daughter.

She looked down. Her bracelet was still on her. Good.

Quietly, she left the room. She made sure to keep out of the servants' sights as she snuck out of the palace.

Ra's instructions echoed in her head. "Tomorrow. 5 AM. Leave the palace and head west. That's your only chance. You miss it and you're on your own."

Head west.

She started walking, picking up the pace.

But she couldn't help but look back at the palace she had once considered her safe haven.

Anubis and Kebechet...

She turned and continued to walk away, but still couldn't help but feel that indescribable ache in her chest.

She was free now, so why did she feel like turning around and running back? 

— author's note —

Teehee 💖

Memes by xaniqlo:

Percy in an Egyptian dress by girlsgrly:

Fanmemes and fanart by spicytunayumm:

Percy fanart by haruyuzuki:

QinZiYan made more Love and Deepspace Percy!MC!!!!: