EARLY UPDATE BECAUSE OMG DID YOU SEE THE ROR LEAKS??? Also, we'll be seeing the fighters for round 10 next chapter!!! I hope it's Susanoo, I wanna see which storm and sea god is hotter, him or Poseidon 😂

WHOEVER SAID PRINCESSES DIDN'T HAVE it hard deserved a nice punch to the face and Percy would be more than happy to be the one to deliver it.

Ever since Poseidon ordered Proteus to teach her about Ancient Greek history and 'how to be a proper princess', her days have consisted of academic torture that would make even military schools shudder in fear—and she would know, she had been to tons of military schools before.

Every morning, she was forced to wake up at the asscrack of dawn and spend twelve agonizing, mind-breaking, horrendous hours in the library with Proteus with only a food break in-between. The lectures were hell; Proteus had a boring voice that made her sleepy and he was kinda strict when it came to her inability to keep still. Then came the reading assignments. Those were even worse. The tome (which was basically another way of saying 'ridiculously large book') they were currently on was The Creation of the Universe, a five thousand page handwritten manuscript about, you guessed it, the creation of the universe. It was in Ancient Greek but there were so many words on it that they were beginning to swim around her vision.

Then came the 'princess training' as she dubbed it. She had it every day, right after her tutoring sessions with Proteus and up until 11 PM. She was already braindead by the time those lessons started, but Proteus wasn't going to let her exhaustion get in the way. She preferred to have these lessons come in first because at least most of the things she was learning about were cool; like the histories of the other underwater communities, what other species resided here, and Atlantean politics (though the last one was less cool).

But it also came with more physical lessons. Like the proper way to eat your food, the proper way to wipe your mouth ("you must dab! Never wipe!" Proteus would drill into her head.), and her least favorite lesson: the proper way to present herself.

A princess must keep her back straight and head held high, Proteus had instructed her before plopping a bunch of heavy books on her head.

This princess is about to kill herself if you don't let her go to bed! She thought, feeling a headache coming soon. The heavy books stacked on her head made her feel pretty ridiculous. Under Poseidon's orders, she was forced to walk back and forth around the throne room with those books on her head so she could practice 'walking properly' underwater. Meanwhile, he sat on his stupid throne, watching her with hawk eyes.

Proteus pitied her. They had been at this for hours now and it was well past her 'bedtime'.

"My lord, perhaps it's time we let the princess go to bed?" He suggested.

"She can go to bed once she's done this perfectly," Poseidon said, looking all too cozy in his throne while she was suffering under the weight of five heavy books. She knew he was amused by this, sadistic bastard.

"He's just mad because I asked if his dad ate him when he was a baby," she grumbled.

Proteus gave her an incredulous look. "Why on earth would you ask someone that?"

Because I was curious, was her dumb reason. She wanted to see if there were any more differences between this world and her original one. Imagine her surprise when she found out that in here, Kronos, in fact, did NOT eat his kids. Instead, he pretty much just neglected them*.

According to Poseidon, while Ouranos did give Kronos the prediction that his future children would overpower him, this Kronos wasn't paranoid like the one back home. Instead of freaking out and eating his kids (or a rock, in Zeus' case), he laughed his father off and went on his merry way. Sure his children were born a different species from the Titans, but he was never threatened by them. He ruled the cosmos with an iron fist and shunted them aside.

(Poseidon never mentioned it, but Percy had a feeling this Kronos was abusive too.)

Rhea was the one who actually took care of them, and when they grew old enough, Hestia and Hades helped out, with Hestia taking care of the girls and Hades the boys. Then came the Titanomachy Tournament (and she still couldn't believe that it was a tournament and not a war like what her world had—twice!) where Kronos was defeated and killed by Zeus.

This was a really big difference between her world and this one, and she was glad that she learned of it. She just wished the answer didn't come with the consequences of walking around with a bunch of heavy books on her head...

"Because she's been reading those stupid fables the humans wrote about us," Poseidon answered in a clipped tone. "I told you to stop reading those books."

"I read about that before you told me to stop!" She cried out. The books wobbled on her head, and she quickly straightened herself up to keep them still. She was just a few steps away from the foot of the throne now—she needed to make it!

He just shot her an annoyed look before turning to Proteus. "You're in charge of her education, why hasn't she learned this yet?"

"Ah, well," Proteus looked embarrassed. "We're still in the early pages of The Creation of the Universe."

"'Early pages'?!" She sputtered, forcing her head to keep still. "We're on page 2,299!"

"There's five thousand pages in that book." Poseidon deadpanned. "You're not even halfway."

"We're, like, ⅔ at least!"

"..."

"..."

"...Proteus, make sure you teach her how fractions work in the next lesson."

"Yes, my lord." He sighed heavily.

Percy blinked. Did she get something wrong? In her defense, math was never her best subject!

"I'll allow you to go to bed now," Poseidon told her. "But don't forget that Beelzebub is expecting you tomorrow."

She took the books off her head and nodded in response, feeling a sense of relief. At least this meant she wouldn't have to do grueling lessons anymore. Or wake up at the asscrack of dawn.

With his dismissal, she left the throne room to retire. Poseidon and Proteus remained.

"Her studies are going well, my lord," Proteus began. "She's always curious about all sorts of things, which means she's eager to learn. She's just... hyperactive."

"Hyperactive," the blonde echoed blankly.

"She can't keep still and has trouble focusing," he clarified. "But rest assured, I have high hopes that she would make a good princess."

"...Good," was all he said.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Percy was a little nervous about what Beelzebub was going to have her do. Before coming here, Proteus advised her to 'wear something she didn't care about', which came from Beelzebub himself. That pretty much told her that she would be doing some physical activity that'd get her dirty. Maybe he was gonna have her run in the mud. Or fight something.

Either way, it didn't matter because all she had in her closet were pretty clothes that she didn't want to risk dirtying. So she decided to just put on the first thing she grabbed. It was a layered chiton, the first inner layer being a near translucent cream colored and the second layer being blue with golden designs. It was slitted on the sides, but she didn't care because at least it covered her Achilles spot.

Her Achilles spot... she shuddered at the thought of Beelzebub finding it. He already suspected her of having the curse, she didn't need him finding her one weakness. The most annoying part was that he always asked her about it. Suicidal tendencies or not, she wasn't going to lower her guard around him!

Beelzebub greeted her with a nod of acknowledgement after she had been dropped off by Hades.

"So, what're you gonna have me do this time, Beelie?" She asked.

He sighed. "Please don't call me that."

"Does it annoy you?"

"Yes."

"Then that's too bad, Beelie," she smiled sweetly in return. It was pointless to ask her to stop. She had been calling him 'Beel' or 'Beelie' ever since the day he decided to tie her up. "Soooo, what're we doing today?"

"I'll be having you do a series of physical tests," he began to explain. "As you know, demigods are rare here, but you're the first of your kind. I want to see how you differ from other demigods. The closest sort of demigod to you is Heracles before he ascended."

He pulled out his phone and a hologram appeared. There were three side-by-side pictures of the same man. On the left side was him with spiky black hair and blue eyes. He had no shirt on, revealing his muscular chest. In the middle, he looked a bit older but with long white hair. He was even more muscular there. But in the third one, he was so muscular he could put WWE wrestlers to shame. His hair was orange now too, and he had red tattoos all over his chest.

She hated to admit it, but Heracles had a glow up.

"This is Heracles when he was still a human," Beelzebub pointed to the left picture. Then he pointed to the middle one, "And this is him after he drank Zeus' blood and became a demigod."

"A human with the strength of a god," she said aloud, remembering what Hades had told her about demigods here.

He nodded. "Correct. Aside from the Valkyries' curious case, this is another way one can become a demigod. As you can see, no one is born a demigod, they become one."

"And then there's me..." She trailed off awkwardly.

"Yes, and then there's you," he agreed, tapping his phone. The three pictures disappeared. He tapped again, and a bunch of graphs and diagrams showed up, along with a series of words and numbers that she could hardly read. "Luckily, I was able to collect enough data on Heracles when he was still a demigod. As you proceed with my tests, I will compare your results to his."

Oh great, tests. She hated tests. She always did poorly when it came to them. The only good thing about this one was at least it was a physical test. Back home, she excelled at any physical activity. P.E. was the only class that was an easy A, which was only natural since she was a demigod.

But something told her that whatever Beelzebub had in mind was going to be much worse than a high school Pacer Test.

"This way," he said, turning around to lead her to the creepy laboratory section of his castle.

Before she could step through the door, she caught a glimpse of something green and red in the corner of her eyes and glanced over at it.

There was nothing there.

"Something wrong?" Beelzebub asked her.

"Uh, nothing," she mumbled.

They continued. He led her to a different room she hadn't been in before. It looked like she had walked into a futuristic gothic lab setting. The walls looked like they were made of dark titanium as if to keep any lab experiments from breaking out—and there definitely were a ton of them.

Lined around the walls were massive cylinders filled with a glowing greenish liquid. Each of them contained some sort of creature that she wouldn't even be able to conjure up in her worst nightmares.

She stopped in the doorway, wide-eyed and scared shitless. Sure she could breathe underwater, but she definitely didn't want to be locked in any of those giant tubes.

"What is it now?" He sighed, turning around to face her.

"What exactly are you planning on doing to me?" She asked, trying not to sound too nervous.

He followed her gaze to all the people he had contained. The corners of his lips lifted up faintly in amusement. "Oh, do you believe that I'm going to put you in one of those? No, that's for a later date."

Her shoulders relaxed. "Oh thank gods—wait, what?"

He ignored her. "For now, I'll have you on this."

He walked over to a treadmill. It looked pretty normal—the type you would see in a gym—except, for some reason, there were a bunch of wires hanging over it. When she looked closer, she could see white patches attached to the end. She had seen enough hospital dramas to recognize that they were electrodes.

"I'll have you run on the treadmill. Meanwhile, you'll be hooked up to the electrodes that'll record your biological signals."

She bit back a groan. Her outfit wasn't best for running for an indefinite amount of time, but to be fair, none of her other outfits were.

She stepped on the treadmill and allowed him to attach the stickers onto her. By the end of it, there were so many strings stuck to her that she looked like a life-sized marionette doll.

"Alright," she sighed, feeling like an idiot. "Start the treadmill."

Beelzebub had conveniently forgotten to tell her that she would be running the entire day—the little shit. One of the perks the Curse of Achilles gave her was that her physical capabilities were increased. If it hadn't been for that, her bones would've felt like jello by the time it was finally over. He didn't even bother to tell her what her results were. In fact, he had been eerily quiet the whole time, watching her like a creep while occasionally writing things down on a clipboard.

"My gods, Beelzebub, you're working the poor girl to the bone!" Hades had exclaimed when he finally came back to pick her up.

She couldn't help but stiffen when he got closer to her. She didn't know if she was just feeling paranoid, but it felt like his eyes were roaming all over her body, watching her dress cling on to her skin. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, only to catch a glimpse of something red and green disappearing with a blur.

...What was that?

"Bring her back here tomorrow," Beelzebub was saying when she returned to their conversation. "I plan to give her a series of tests throughout the week. The first one is complete."

Hades nodded, casually throwing an arm over Percy's shoulder to bring her closer when he noticed her trying to inch away. He looked a little confused by her action, like he was thinking 'hey, why's this kid who I was acting really weird to suddenly creeped out by me?'.

"Understood," Hades replied. "We'll be taking our leave then. Thank you again, Beelzebub."

He teleported the two of them away and dropped her off at Poseidon's palace where she was finally allowed to rest.

The next few days went by like this.

Every day, she'd be sent to Beelzebub's castle and he would perform another outrageous physical test on her. It got to the point that she was actually beginning to miss the Pacer Tests in high school gym class.

She was pretty sure the whole purpose of these tests was so he could see whether or not she had the physical capabilities of killing him, and there was absolutely no way she would give him that satisfaction. While she doubted her own skills to beat him in a fight, she decided early on to fake the results anyway by pretending to suck.

(Which honestly wasn't that hard. These tests were unnecessarily strenuous anyway.)

The worst part? It was that she kept getting that inkling feeling in the back of her head, like someone—aside from Beelzebub—was watching her. It was bad enough having Beelzebub watch her do all these super hard physical tests but having another spy on her? Nope, she wasn't going to have it.

"Okay, that's it," she grunted in frustration. She tossed aside the giant weight he was forcing her to lift—a 'strength test' he called it—and angrily turned to him, breathing hard.

Beelzebub gave her a blank look.

"Either you have a sentient Christmas tree walking around in here or someone's watching me and you know about it!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "So fess up! Which is it?"

"The sentient Christmas tree."

She gave him a deadpanning look.

He let out a sigh and called out over his shoulder, "You might as well come out, Adamas."

A figure finally materialized out of the shadows.

When Percy saw him, she wondered if this guy was a god or a cyborg. He radiated with power just like Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus, but he looked to be made of metal parts instead of having a humanoid appearance. He had bright red hair like a firetruck and what little skin she could see was green. There were black markings on his face too. His head seemed to be the only thing humanoid about him.

What made him look like a cyborg was the rest of his body. All of it was just metal parts. He actually looked like a giant, robotic, fly because of the mask he had on. It was retracted to reveal his tattooed face, but she could see a pair of large fly eyes along with six bone accessories that looked like fly legs.

"Percy, meet Adamas. He's your uncle."

Her jaw dropped. "Uncle?!"

Beelzebub nodded. "Yes. Your uncle."

"But... but he's green."

Adamas scowled at her. "And you're a lil' shit, what about it?"

She could hardly feel offended. Right now, she was too stunned. There was a fourth brother? She had never heard of a god named Adamas before! Did he exist back in her world, or did he only exist here?

"Now, now, don't fight," Beelzebub chided them in his monotone voice.

"Tch!" Adamas crossed his arms. "I can't believe you're really Poseidon's spawn... You're so... runty."

"I'm not a runt!" She cried out in offense.

"You're not even six fuckin' feet kid, you're a runt."

"Well—" It took her an embarrassingly long time to find a comeback to that. "At least I'm not a creep! You've been watching me for a whole week now! What's up with that?"

"When I heard my little piece of shit brother got himself a brat, I had to come see it myself," he snorted. "Turns out I had nothing to worry about."

"Worry about?" She tilted her head. "Why would you need to worry about me?"

His face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Shaddup! I didn't say that!"

"It's alright, Adamas, you can tell her the truth: you were afraid of her." Beelzebub drawled.

Adamas turned to him so fast he could've gotten whiplash. "I was NOT afraid of her!" He snapped, which made it very obvious that he was lying.

"Fine. You were afraid she'd be like your brother."

"I was NOT!"

Percy relaxed. After witnessing her newfound uncle's comedic reaction, she no longer felt scared of him. Now, she just felt curious.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Adamas sent him a glare, "Don't you fuckin' dare—"

"—Your father nearly killed him," Beelzebub deadpanned. "I had to piece him back together, quite literally. But there was so little of him left that I had to create new body parts out of machinery. Ever since then, he's been staying down in Helheim while everyone else believes him to be dead."

Now that she knew it was possible for gods to really die in this world, she was even more horrified by the news. "That psycho tried to kill you?! Oh my gods, he tried to kill me too!"

His eyes went wide. "No fuckin' way."

She nodded hastily. Finally, someone who could understand what she was going through!

"Uh, yes way! I accidentally spat a meatball on him and he tried to skewer me with a fork! I'd be dead if it weren't for uncle Hades!"

"BWAHAHAHA! YOU SPAT A MEATBALL ON HIM?!"

"Yeah and he nearly killed me for it! Uncle Hades made him apologize to me though."

"Damn! You're dad's really fuckin' crazy, huh?"

"Gods, you have no idea...!"

"Uh, I think I kinda do."

Since the test was interrupted, Beelzebub had no choice but to let Percy finally rest—not that he minded since he already had all the data he needed for today's test. He let her rest in his conservatory, with Adamas following along to continue talking to her.

His conservatory was nothing like the garden Persephone made back in Hades' palace. While hers was bright and lovely, his was dark and gloomy. Nevertheless, Percy still couldn't help but be impressed. None of the flowers here looked familiar to her. They looked to be entirely made up—probably from him. Some looked part monster; with teeth sticking out of vines instead of thorns, others looked poisonous; with dark green fumes puffing out of them.

Beelzebub had them sit under a gazebo where a plate of pan-roasted sweet potatoes awaited them. Or Percy, to be more specific. Since she was the only one who needed to consume food.

"So," she began to speak through a mouthful of food. "Why'd my dad try to kill you?"

Adamas scoffed and crossed his arms. "It was so unnecessary. All I did was ask if he wanted to help me kill our brother and instead of sayin' 'yes' like a normal person, he fuckin' slashed me in half!"

Percy nearly choked on a potato. In-between coughs, she sputtered, "You tried to kill your brother?!"

He waved a dismissive hand, "It was Zeus, so it's okay."

Oh. Well that made a little more sense.

"It wasn't just that," Beelzebub droned. "He started a whole coup."

"Ugh don't remind me," Adamas bemoaned his failed usurpation, sinking into his chair. "It would've been sooo awesome, kid. I had 49 members of Zeus' council and a good portion of the thirteen Olympians on my side! I even freed the Titans and Giants from Tartarus and conquered Typhon—I was ready to take him on! But my dumb ass thought it'd be a good idea to invite Poseidon for some brotherly bonding. I thought the little shit would appreciate it! Killin' members of the family is how we get along!"

"I-I'm sorry, you said you conquered Typhon? The most powerful enemy the Olympians have ever faced? That guy? You beat that guy?" Percy almost felt faint. It took all of the Twelve Olympians to take Typhon down back home, but in here, one lone god she never even heard of was able to defeat him.

"What, like it's hard?" He snorted in amusement. "But anyway, you know your stupid dad never once looked me in the eye? For millions of years that lil' pisshead never bothered to look at me and the one time he did was when he fuckin' skewered me! Had the audacity to give me a long-ass speech before it too. Ugh, he shoulda just skipped to murderin' me instead of makin' me listen to his stupid speeches! You ever heard him make a speech, kid?"

"Um... no?"

"Good!" He barked. "They suck!"

"How come no one ever told me about you?" She wondered.

"Another thing you could blame your dad for," he rolled his eyes. "Stupid bitch forced all of the gods—from all pantheons—to never utter my name. They all complied without a single protest 'cause they're scared shitless of 'im. He pretty much just erased me from history."

So it was never the Twelve Olympians, she realized. It was always Thirteen. Is it the same back in my world too?

"I'm sorry..." Percy said sympathetically. "I didn't think my dad would be that much of a horrible person..."

He shrugged. She couldn't tell from his expression if it really bothered him or not. "It's whatever. The whole reason I started watching you was to check if you were a mini him or not. Good news: you're not. Hope you stay that way, kid. Your dad's a piece of shit."

She managed a smile. "Oh don't worry. I'll never be like him."

"And Beelzebub," he sent a narrow-eyed glare at the aforementioned god. "You better figure out a way to fix her ascension, ya hear me? She's not annoying, so the kid's my new favorite."

He nodded cordially. "Of course. I'll do my best."

Hades still hadn't arrived even after Percy already finished eating. She decided to explore the rest of Beelzebub's conservatory to pass time.

Some of the plants looked dangerous. Actually, she was pretty sure 99% of them were all lethal. But her ADHD-addled brain couldn't help but ignore all warnings and get close to them anyway.

"These plants look so cool!" Percy marveled, grinning. "Did you create some of these flowers yourself, Beel?"

Adamas snorted. "'Beel'?" He shot him a look, like he was saying 'you're actually gonna let her call you that?'.

He ignored him and responded to her, "In a way, yes. All of these flowers were originally from Persephone's garden, but I experimented on them and they turned into these."

He had no idea if she was listening to him or not. Her whole attention was glued onto a particularly large purple flower. It was bell-shaped but upside down, so the opening was facing her instead of at the bottom. He knew what it was immediately.

"Percy," he called out sharply.

Naturally, she didn't listen and instead, curiously peered into its dark opening. She cringed when she got a whiff of it. It looks like that Pokemon Victreebel, but gods it smells bad!

"Hey, why does this thing reek of dead bodies?" She wondered aloud.

"Percy, get back. That one's—"

Before he could finish the sentence, a large slimy tongue stuck out of the plant's opening. It wrapped itself around her body before pulling her into its mouth.

"—Carnivorous," Beelzebub finished, sighing heavily.

"HUH?!" Adamas panicked. "What the fuck?! Did this thing just eat her?!"

He looked about ready to obliterate it, which Beelzebub couldn't allow. He was rather fond of this plant. It was one of the first successful plants that he created and he had affectionately named it Golbu (which was Persian for "fragrant").

"Let me handle it," he said before Adamas could go swinging. Calmly, he reached into the plant's mouth and managed to grab ahold of Percy's flailing limb. Effortlessly, he pulled her back out. She flopped uselessly at his feet.

"Oh, gross," Adamas stepped back, making a face.

"URGH!" Percy gagged in disgust. Her whole body was covered in dirty green gunk. So was Beelzebub's arm.

"I tried to warn you," he droned, looking unbothered.

"I-it smells so bad," she whimpered. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

His eyes widened in alarm. "Don't—"

She vomited right at his feet.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Beelzebub made a mental note to keep Percy away from the conservatory after that incident. He also made sure to write down 'inability to listen to instructions' in his report about her. 'Sensitive to bad smells' was another thing he made sure to add.

The testing process was almost done, but he had already come to a conclusion: Percy was not as strong as a god. She could not compare to Heracles back when he was a demigod. She was far too weak. Her physical capabilities—her strength, speed, stamina, endurance, etc.—exceeded that of even the most athletic of humans, but she was no match against a god.

She would never be able to kill him in the state she was in now.

...Or at least that was what she was trying to show him.

She wasn't exactly a good actress. He saw through her farce right away. Not only did she barely break a sweat, but the heart monitor he had her strapped to made it all too obvious that she wasn't struggling as much as she claimed she was.

Her interference was quite annoying, but he already had a taste of her physical skills back when they first met and he had to chase her around his house, so he had a feeling she wouldn't be comparable to a god.

But he knew she would be far more impressive once she turned into a goddess. All he had to do now was find a way how.

His current problem? Adamas. His initial plan was to use Adamas to lower Percy's guard so he could see her slip up and possibly admit her secrets. But that didn't work. It backfired on him actually. Not only did her guard stay up, but Adamas' presence was getting in the way of what he really wanted to do:

The final test.

There was still one particular test he wanted to try out on her, but he knew Adamas would never allow it. It was too dangerous. Unfortunately, ever since he introduced the two to each other, Adamas kept coming over to oversee the testing procedure and hang out with Percy afterwards.

He hadn't realized how taken Adamas would be with Percy. It had only been a few days since they had met and he could see that the unruly god of conquest was already soft on her. Ironically, she had conquered him.

Not that Beelzebub was surprised. Percy had a sort of magnetic presence that drew people to her, but not the sort of deadly allure that came from sirens or succubi. She was friendly, she was warm, she was a breath of fresh air. Even to him, despite the fact that he had scared her. She didn't seem to care that she was surrounded by all kinds of powerful beings that could put an end to her.

If she liked you, she would treat you like a friend. And even if she didn't like you that much (like she did with him), she would still treat you with some level of decency.

He wondered if she was even capable of hate. She didn't even hate him after he had tied her to a chair and terrified her with the words spilling from his mouth. Instead, after learning what his plans were for her, she pitied him. It would've been offensive had she not been so earnest about how much he 'deserved to live'.

(It reminded him all too painfully of Lucifer. Lucifer had been so warm and good, even to a cursed being like him. He had foolishly dismissed Beelzebub's warnings and reached out to him, wanting to give him a friend he so desperately needed. And Beelzebub had been weak; eons of loneliness had made him cave in to the first act of kindness and what did he give his friends in return? Nothing but a brutal death.)

But none of that mattered. Kindness or not, Beelzebub was still willing to use her.

Today, Adamas would be out of the way and so, he could finally enact the final test. And she wouldn't be allowed to hold back on this.

A low growl caught his attention.

He turned to the side to face the deadly creature hiding in the shadows. The second they made eye-contact, the growling turned into whimpers of submission.

"Patience," he said dully. "Your food will be here soon."

His senses tingled, informing him of two familiar presences arriving in the foyer of his castle.

"Ah. Never mind." He drawled. "She's here right now."

He motioned for the creature to move forward while he melted into the shadows. Waiting.

Meanwhile, on Percy's end, the castle was eerily quiet. Usually Beelzebub would be at the foyer waiting for them, but for the first time ever, he was gone.

"I can still sense him here. Perhaps he's busy with something." Hades mused. "Would you like me to wait with you, Percy?"

"No," she answered a little too quickly. "It's okay, uncle. I can just wait in the living room."

Don't stay, don't stay, don't stay, she mentally prayed. Her moments alone with Hades were scarce ever since her terrible stay at his palace. The only time they were ever alone together was when he came over to drop her off at Beelzebub's place and to pick her up. Those moments barely lasted five minutes tops.

Her feelings about Hades were... complicated. When she first came here, scared and confused, Hades was one of the few people to welcome her with open arms. He protected her from her 'father'. He took care of her when Poseidon wouldn't. She began to see him as her uncle, as family.

But at the same time, he seemed too obsessive towards his family and there was a good chance he may have mentally broken his own wife after eons of their marriage. And after the revelation Persephone gave her, his hugs and kisses no longer seemed as familial as she initially thought they were.

The scariest part was that this alone wasn't enough to make her run for the hills screaming. Yeah he scared her, but a part of her was telling her to forget about it all. This world was scary and he was one of the few nice gods here that she was allowed to see on an almost daily basis.

Is it really so bad to cling on to him? He doesn't seem to mind, that fucked up voice kept telling her. Gods, she wondered if she was going through Stockholm Syndrome or something.

To her relief, Hades either didn't question her eagerness to get rid of him, or he just didn't mind.

"Alright," he nodded in acceptance. "I can sense Beelzebub somewhere in the conservatory. Just wait for him here."

He was about to teleport away, but paused as if remembering something. He turned to her with a small grin.

"Remember: behave for Beelzebub." He teased her, still finding amusement in what happened the first time he had left her alone with the dark god.

She could feel her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I will," she promised sheepishly, as she always did.

Before he left, he made sure to kiss her on the head and she didn't know whether to be disgusted at the act, or be disgusted at herself for nearly melting at the affection. Aside from her mother, she never had any adult figure in her life be this affectionate towards her, this doting, this loving. She had to remind herself that Hades' actions didn't exactly have the most platonic intentions.

Once he was gone, Percy had nothing to do but laze around Beelzebub's living room. But even that was getting boring.

So she was left with two choices.

A) She could go look for Beelzebub so they could finish up with the last test or...

B) She could continue waiting around his living room and touch every single thing he owned in order to sate her boredom.

He probably wouldn't appreciate option B, so she went with option A: look for him.

She pushed herself off his antique couch. I'm pretty sure uncle Hades mentioned him being in the conservatory? Let's see if he's still there... Fortunately she still remembered the way there.

He probably wouldn't be happy to see her there. Ever since the incident with the man-eating plant, he had pretty much forbade her from ever stepping foot in his conservatory. She had a feeling he was actually more upset about her vomiting on him than the thing with the plant.

As she strolled through the hallways, she couldn't help but feel as if a pair of eyes were watching her. Her first thought was her other uncle, Adamas, but he told her that he would be too busy to hang out today. Plus, something about this didn't feel right. It was something she hadn't experienced in weeks since arriving in this world.

It was the sensation of a predator following their prey. A monster waiting to attack her.

It can't be. Lamia's curse doesn't work here! She tried to think positively, but she was sweating anxiously.

And then she heard it, the sound of a monstrous growl that made the hairs in the back of her neck stand up.

She whirled around and saw it; a dark, hulking figure on all-fours whose back nearly touched the ceiling. The hallway was poorly lit so she could hardly see it clearly enough, but she could see its burning eyes glaring right at her. Then it let out a powerful bark and its whole body went up in flames.

It lunged at her.

Her instincts went into overdrive. She didn't think, letting her body do all the work. In one second, she was standing at the end of the hallway about to be dog food, and in the next, she was stepping to the side to avoid its fiery jaws and slicing Riptide through its neck.

The flames were extinguished before the body and head hit the floor.

She was breathing heavily, shocked.

Before she could even piece together what the fuck just happened, a figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Beelzebub, and he was smiling.

"I'm impressed, Percy," he commended her, looking very pleased. "I didn't expect you to kill it, let alone do it so quickly. It seems I've underestimated you."

His gleaming red eyes then traveled down to the sword in her hand. Shit, she cursed.

"But I can't help but wonder where this combat experience came from or that interesting weapon of yours. Care to fill in the blanks?"

— author's note —

* Ok so I got the impression that Kronos did NOT eat his kids in the ror verse because we get to see brief flashbacks of the Olympian brothers' childhoods. And, well... none of them were growing inside of a crazy Titan king's stomach, so yeah.

Also, the whole "Percy not being able to do fractions" is just a running joke I wrote about in my other PJO/HP fanfic series lmao. For those who've read it, Beel is basically gonna take the role of Ethan 😭