Silk sheets caressed Percy's bare skin and a strangled scream escaped his lips. He jolted up, immediately realizing what had happened.

While he was yet again waking up in a bed, it was different from the golden one of the bedroom he had been in - his and Apollo's bedroom, he realized with a shudder. The bed he was in was much less decadent, twin-sized albeit still plush beyond belief, and it only took him a few moments to realize he was in a fucking cell.

He supposed it was nice for cell standards. There was a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a wardrobe, and a door that he assumed led to a bathroom. The only indications that it was a cell he was in were the cold stone ground and, quite obviously, the bars that made up an entire wall of the room, revealing a hallway beyond that he most certainly would not be able to make it out to if the lack of door said anything.

He attempted to walk towards the bars, only to realize, with a clang, that golden chains attached the matching cuffs he had been wearing before to the ground at the foot of the bed.

"Don't fucking panic," Percy muttered to himself. Futilely, of course.

How the hell was he supposed to get out of this one?

"I'm disappointed, Perseus," an all too familiar voice drawled behind him.
Percy whirled around to lay his eyes on the sun god who was leaning against the wardrobe and sure as Hades hadn't been there a second ago.

"You're not going to get away with this," Percy spat immediately. Maybe not the wittiest or most original insult but it was naturally the first to come to mind.

Apollo rolled his eyes as if merely annoyed by a child's antics. "I clearly already have," he said lazily.

"My father will come for me," Percy insisted. "My friends will too."

Apollo sneered. "It's been a year, Perseus. If you believe they're still searching for you then you're delusional. Besides, we're on Delos. The only ones able to step foot on this island are the ones I personally admit. As for your father," a slow smirk spread across Apollo's face, "I'm certain he'll be pleased to find you've finally accepted immortality. You know as well as I do how much he doesn't want to see his favorite son go."

A year. He had lost an entire year of his life. A year that he would never get back.

"You're fucking insane," Percy bit out.

Apollo tutted. "We'll have to tame that tongue of yours, my love. Again. Which leads me to my next point," Apollo said slyly. He began sauntering towards Percy and the son of the sea willed himself not to tense at the approaching god. "How in the name of my father did my influence over you shatter? It's quite inconvenient."

Apollo was standing directly over Percy now. There was something deep and searching in his blue eyes as he leaned forward and cupped Percy's cheek in his hand. Percy flinched and jerked away from the touch, scrambling backwards over the bed to press his back against the wall.

Just like that, in the blink of an eye, Apollo's expression shifted from mild annoyance and slight amusement to complete and utter fury. A wave of heat swept through the room - Apollo wasn't known for keeping his rage concealed.

His hand shot forward, slapping Percy across the cheek. Hard. Percy's head snapped to the side, his cheek burning.
Apollo moved again before Percy could even react, his hand around Percy's neck. Not tight or painful, but applying just enough pressure to demonstrate that he was in control.

"You're mine, Perseus. Mine. One way or another, under my influence or not, you will be mine forever," Apollo growled. Flames danced in Apollo's eyes and Percy couldn't recall a single time he had ever felt this kind of fear.

Percy spit in the sun god's face.

Apollo was reacting before the glob of saliva even made contact with his tanned skin. Percy's chains yanks at his arms, shifting from behind attached to the ground to being attached to the headboard of the bed by some kind of magic. The chains shortened until Percy was dragged across the bed, the cuffs around his wrists attaching directly to the headboard and his arms suspended over his head. He couldn't think of a more degrading position to be in.

Percy was forced to stare at Apollo as he slowly wiped the spit from his cheekbone with the back of his hand. His expression had shifted to something far more neutral but fury was still evident in his now-golden eyes. Slowly, Apollo brought his saliva covered hand to his mouth and slowly, sensually, ran his tongue over it, licking it into his mouth in one clean swipe. Apollo's eyes flitted to Percy's, greedily waiting for a reaction.

Bile rose up Percy's throat and he gagged, once, twice, tilting his head back as far as he could against the headboard.

Apollo laughed coldly. "You must know that we've shared much more than just spit, my sweet. Though I have to say, your audacity is astonishing."

"My audacity is news to you?" Percy snarked back, forcing an at least semi-confident facade. He couldn't cower before Apollo, he just couldn't.

"We'll fix that too," Apollo purred. Apollo reached forward and stroked the side of Percy's face, his eyes softening and his expression doing something akin to melting. "Don't worry, my love. I'll fix this. I'll fix everything. Everything will go back to the way it was, the way it should be. I swear," he whispered. It sounded more like a promise to a lover than a threat. Percy wasn't fooled.

~

"Perseus."

Percy gasped and his eyes jolted open. He had fallen asleep, like a fool, but he wasn't sure if it was his own fault or Apollo's doing.

"Perseus."

Percy's eyes darted towards the bars, his eyes landing on what appeared to be a middle-aged man standing on the outside. Salt and pepper curls, blue eyes, elfish features, a white chiton, and a pith helmet sprouting wings tucked in the crook of his lean arm.

"Hermes," Percy whispered, sitting up.

He was relieved to find that he was now longer chained to the headboard and that his chains had reattached themselves to the ground.

The god's shoulders sagged. In relief? Or pity? "Perseus," Hermes sighed again, "how are you?"

Percy scowled, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Well I'm currently being held captive in a cell by an insane god against my will while chained to the ground. So I'd say I'm doing just dandy, thanks for asking."

"Perseus, boy, I've come to help you," Hermes said, almost urgently.

Now that got the demigod's attention.

"Help me?" he said slowly, rolling the words around on his tongue and testing the water. "And why exactly should I trust you? Apollo is your best friend, isn't he?"

Hermes ducked his head. "He and I are quite close, yes. But I'm afraid my friend has gone too far this time. He can't kidnap the hero of Olympus and get away with it," Hermes said. He suddenly looked up, his eyes piercing into Percy's soul, an urgency swirling about in his irises. "A war is brewing, Perseus. Your father... in the millenniums that I have known him, I have never, not once seen him this furious. The seas haven't been at rest for months. And Apollo is slowly beginning to neglect his duties with each passing day. It's more than war - it's an apocalypse. I simply can't let this happen."

"I thought gods don't meddle in other gods' business," Percy said coldly, hoping he was concealing his shock at hearing about Hermes's so-called apocalypse. And his father? Percy had no clue he was that protective over him.

"I'm quite fond of mortals; I would rather not see your father and Apollo destroy them all. I'm also quite fond of you, Perseus," Hermes said, unexpectedly imploring. "Every god has quite the affinity for you actually, Perseus."

"You mean an affinity for my ability to accomplish quests for them," Percy sneered. Maybe he should have been sucking up to Hermes. After all, the god was looking like his only glimmer of hope for escape. Then again, it was feeling pretty difficult to act anything but resentful at the moment.

"Some of them, yeah. But I don't think you understand just how much Olympus is in debt to you," Hermes said. "Everyone is with you."

"And does everyone know I'm here?" Percy asked.

Hermes winced. "No one. I only figured it out that you have been here the whole time a few days ago and only because Apollo told me himself. Look, I understand that Apollo has done a hideous thing and needs to repent for his crimes. You don't deserve to be here. But I don't know if I can sit back and watch him be punished yet again. I just... I need to sort this out diplomatically. So in the meantime I'm going to get you out of here and then try to get through to Apollo." Hermes's shoulders sagged and Percy wasn't sure if he had ever seen a god look so human, so hopeless.

Percy decided not to bring up how there was no getting through to Apollo. He had permanently tipped over the line of insanity the second he drugged and kidnapped Percy a year ago.

"Okay," Percy said slowly. "So what's the genius plan then? I hope you've noticed that there's not even a door out of the cell."

Hermes nodded. "Apollo is the only one that can get you out of here. The cell's enchanted so that he's the only one that can teleport in and out."

"You're not inspiring a lot of hope."

"Just listen. He'll let you out if he believes you're under his influence again. The only thing is that it's impossible for that to happen. You were under his influence because you swore an oath to him, but when I found out what Apollo was doing to you, I immediately went to Horkos."

"Horkos?"

"The god of oaths. He's pretty uppity about it. I called in a favor and got him to sever your oath and your tie to Apollo. Permanently," Hermes explained.

"That's why I was remember everything?" Percy leaned forward. Hermes nodded.

"Apollo doesn't know me or Horkos was involved in getting your free will back, but he's certainly realized by now that it won't work again. This makes him much more dangerous because he's going to be trying all new techniques to control you. What's important is that you must resist," Hermes explained. He was speaking faster now, occasionally looking over his shoulder.

"And if he hypothetically stabs me with one of Eros's love arrows? How do you suggest I resist that?" Percy narrowed his eyes.

"Oh please," Hermes scoffed, "Eros would never in a million years allow for Apollo to lay his hands on one of his precious arrows. Besides, I have a plan."

"Well?"

Hermes dipped his hand into his pith helmet and when he pulled his hand out, he held a little glass vial between his fingers, filled with some sort of vibrant pink liquid.

Percy was on his feet in a second, his eyes wide and his heart suddenly beating fast. "What the fuck is that, Hermes?" he demanded.

"Relax, Perseus," Hermes said quickly, "its water with some pink food dye and edible glitter. Apollo doesn't know that though. Listen closely. I'm going to tell him I stole it from Aphrodite for him. He's going to believe me and force you to take it. Now what you're going to do is struggle because obviously you don't want to consume a love potion and you won't go down without a fight, but eventually Apollo is going to win and force it down. Aphrodite's love potions kick in with the first drop that hits the tongue so as soon as it goes down, you stop and you act confused. Then, a few seconds later, you start acting like you completely adore Apollo. You act for your fucking life and in two day's time when you're out of this cell and Apollo has let his guard down, I'm coming back for you and I'm going to get you out of here. Do you understand, Perseus?"

Percy swallowed, slowly but surely processing everything that had just been dumped on him. He didn't think he could do it. He didn't think he could ever pretend to be in love with Apollo again, ever be his little puppet again, much less for two days. The thought of doing so suddenly made him feel inexplicably short of breath with panic. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't touch him, kiss him, smile at him.

"Hermes," he managed to choke out.

"I'm so sorry, Perseus," Hermes said, somber.

"Hermes, I can't do it," Percy said, rapidly shaking his head and well aware that he was finally, finally, finally giving in to the panic. He felt a tear fall down his cheek and didn't bother brushing it away. "I can't."

"I wish there was another way, truly, but this is our only option. Apollo is the only being on the entire face of this planet that can get you out of this cell and Apollo's only going to let you out if he believes you're smitten with him," Hermes said. "Two days. Two days and you'll be free from him forever."

Percy closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He was unable to fathom how he would possibly make it those two days, how he would be able to pull off pretending to be in love with someone who had ruined his entire life.

But he had no other choice.

He opened his eyes slowly and nodded. "You better get me out of here as fast as fucking possible, Hermes," he said slowly. A recognizable fierceness had returned to Percy's eyes, an unbeatable will to survive.

At whatever cost.

Word count: 2361
Next chapter: The finale! Apollo gives Percy the fake love potion and we see how things do or don't work out!