A lot was on his mind as the son of Poseidon lay on his bed in his room back at Riddle manner. 

Home at last. In the end, it had been an arguably "successful" quest even if only three lived to tell the tale (as the prophecy had said would happen). Bianca Di Angelo was killed by a giant man killing machine and Zoe Nightshade was the one to perish by her father's hand and had been returned to the stars by her dear goddess. Perseus promised to himself that he would honour them, to remember these two who were both so young and old. Although they might have had differences in opinions, they had all shared a camaraderie in their mission and it would be shameful to forget those who fought beside him. 

After saving both Artemis and Annabeth, the remaining demigods were brought to Mount Olympus where the Gods were having their annual council meeting. Perseus had to listen and smile through discussions about whether or not he and Thalia should be allowed to live as the both of them were risks in the eyes of some of the Olympians. He could understand of course, at age 16 one of them was going to become a catalyst of destruction and Thalia's birthday was coming in two days. Was he suppose to like it however? No, he bloody very well doesn't. 

So the daughter of Zeus decided to become a Huntress of Artemis, forever somewhat immortal at the age of 15. Thalia became the maiden goddess's new lieutenant and solved almost all their problems. He wished her well, truly he did. But now it puts him in a rather tight spot. He was now the prophecy child once again when he had thought he was "free" from that particular role, something his father frowned about when he had told him but in the end it was something that had to be dealt with. 

Kronos would only stand in the Dark Lord's way to greatness and if Perseus had to die before he could fulfil his role as his heir? Then so be it. Certain things had to be sped up that's all. There was no other option even if it destroyed all the work Voldemort had put in training and raising the younger Riddle. That wasn't an issue for the sea green eyed boy, his loyalty to his father was never in contention but it was a lot for one person to handle. However... he wasn't really the only one was he?

Nico Di Angelo was a son of Hades. 

Gods, that had been a disaster.  Telling the young boy that his sister died in battle had been difficult as Nico was just still so naive and bright eyed even after seeing first hand how dangerous things could be for demigods. Innocence was something the likes of them couldn't afford but even someone like Perseus, though he was not even the reason why Bianca had died, felt regretful for having been the one to take away that innocence. 

Di Angelo just broke, his powers over the dead showing itself when four skeletal warriors, stragglers from Thorn that must've somehow followed Riddle, came out of nowhere and were suddenly swallowed by flames and the earth. Remembering the hints and little things he's observed from Bianca, observations that had to be shelved in lieu of the quest, and the fact that only she had been the only one able to permanently kill the undead warriors, it made sense that the Di Angelos were children of Hades. It made even more sense when Nico ran away and left behind the figure that Bianca had found in the junkyard and given to the son of Poseidon to give to her brother. It was a figure of the Lord of the Underworld. 

Perseus knew that Nico admired him, probably even put him in some pedestal when he came swooping in Westover Hall with a sword and powers that seemed to come straight off his fantasy games. But the demiwizard was not one to shield others from the horrors of the world, doing so would be dangerous when they lived in the one they did.  

Although he did not know the younger boy for long, he felt a sense of protectiveness over Nico. So he was honest, held none of his retorts back when the other lashed out in grief even if it was a little harsh. If Di Angelo was to survive he had to grow resilient, had to be strong. It was how Perseus lived and it was how Nico will have to live. It didn't stop the newly discovered son of Hades from running away but at least the other didn't resent him. Well, that much.  

Perseus felt kind of bad, and he rarely felt so. He had told Nico, hell he refused to promise the boy that everything would go alright, that his sister was going to be safe because it was a quest and people die. But he was just a boy, just a kid who now had nobody in his corner except for a distant god as a dad who can't do shit anyway.

He's been in that position before, but he had been a baby, without anything to loose and everything to gain when one Lord Voldemort decided to adopt him. 

And it seemed like Nico was being influenced by some deity as he had mentioned something about nightmares. Perseus just knew that this was all going to come back and bite him, bite them all, in the arse but what else can he do? Di Angelo was gone and he had to go home as the winter break was over. 

After a promise to Annabeth to keep in touch, the both of them now sporting matching strands of gray hair like some fucked up version of friendship bracelets, and a good bye hug from Grover, he sadly once again left his friends. 

So, he finished the quest and he returned home. 

Many things has happened since he's left. 

Malfoy was moving forward on his revenge plan to get Buckbeak the hippogriff put down for injuring his arm which Perseus knew was going to get the Golden Trio to go and do something stupid. Despite the son of Poseidon not wanting to see such a majestic creature like the hippogriff to end up dead due to human ignorance, his father once again warned him to not get involved and Perseus couldn't help but seethe at Malfoy doing bullshit like this without telling him. It raises questions on what else the blonde would do when he wasn't around... it seems like Malfoy needed a reminder to stay in check. 

He can never have one school year not dealing with bullshit can he? Though then again, since his father had none of his plans currently going on it would just mostly be him dealing with the aftermath of other people's messes. 

Soon, Christmas break would be over and he will return to Hogwarts. Soon, he will be be expected to act as Perseus Riddle, the half blood Slytherin and leader of his year. Though perhaps it was time to consider his position in internal house politics... 

Hey guys, sorry for the wait but I just suddenly had no motivation to do anything for awhile but I managed to write something so I hope you like it! 

I think it's important to mention that as I started this series this ages ago, my writing has drastically changed (its kind of embarrassing reading the earlier stuff tbh akdjgak) and I'm a little unhappy with certain things so there might be a lot of inconsistencies with how I portray characters and so on in the older books and right now because I really want it to fit what I have in mind at the moment as I really want to go in a darker direction. 

Also, happy pride month, fuck racism, sign petitions and donate if u can to blm and have a nice day :) 

-ThatBookFanatic

Song rec: 

Rank & File / Moses Sumney