BEELZEBUB'S EYES STAYED GLUED TO the scene playing out before him. He had been watching the same thing over and over again, but for some odd reason, he didn't have it in him to stop.

He watched Percy speak with Mnemosyne, her face troubled.

"He..." Percy bit her lip. "Um, I don't know. Look, I don't want to kill Beelzebub. You've looked through my memories, you know what I..." She gulped. "I'm sick of constantly being forced to fight. Beelzebub did some fucked up shit to me, but I don't want him to die and I don't want to be the reason for it either. I'm glad he wants to find a way for me to go home, but like... isn't there someone that could... you know, help him?"

Mnemosyne blinked. "Are you... asking if there's some form of godly therapy for him?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, someone seriously needs to check him into the closest mental hospital so he could get better and learn to leave sixteen year old girls alone!"

"Unfortunately no. And even if there was, they definitely wouldn't want to help him," the goddess replied, the disgust she had for him written all over her face.

Beelzebub was used to this. Many people, gods, demons and humans alike, detested his very being. Even the humans down in Midgard hated him for he was the Devil, the cause of (most of) their misfortunes.

Percy should've known that. He had told her who he was after all and he certainly wasn't friendly to her either. But despite that, Percy was frowning at Mnemosyne's words.

He knew how she disapproved of his wish to die—she had said so to his face over and over again, but this was different. He wasn't in the room with her and, in her eyes, it was just her and Mnemosyne in the house. She was oblivious to the fact that he had been watching her. She could've revealed her true colors, but that never happened. Her opinion remained the same.

He couldn't believe it. She actually cared about him. How disgusting, foolish, and pathetic. He hated it.

The mark in his chest turned pleasantly warm.

"Of course you would approve of her, Lilith," he muttered bitterly, glancing down at the throbbing mark. "She has the same goal as you: to prolong my wretched life."

Thanks to Hades, he knew now that Lilith would never intentionally extend his life for the purpose of making him suffer—she had never been a cruel person after all. He could never hate her, but he hated the mark she left him with. Her 'blessing' to him.

"Beelzebub, I love you. So I forgive you... for everything. For our sakes, live. That's... m-my last... and final order to you."

So he would do what she wished. He would continue to live, but that didn't mean he wouldn't stop looking for atonement. He would live as she wanted him to, but he would live bitterly, wretchedly, repulsively, and savagely until someone could finally put an end to him.

Then Percy came. His blessing in disguise. She didn't look like much, but she was just what he needed. Her existence was proof that multiple universes existed, and who knew what strong beings resided in them.

And even if that plan failed, he could still use the girl herself.

Despite being a half-breed, she was strong. She may not have the strength of a god now, but he had witnessed her fight against Loki. She held her ground against him, and the power she used... she was clearly used to fighting against tougher opponents—most likely something she got from her previous universe. He knew she would make a formidable immortal if she was turned.

The only issue was that she lacked the will to kill him, let alone do it in the grisly manner he wanted.

How annoying that girl was. Never listened, never paid attention, never did what he wanted.

...Lilith would've loved her. So would Lucifer, Azazel, and Samael.

Suddenly he felt a rippling sensation in the air, an indication that a new presence had arrived. Percy. Just in time to annoy him again.

He flashed over to the foyer to greet them, but something was amiss. Percy didn't greet him back. Nor did her eyes have that childish sparkle in them either. She looked quite dull, in fact, which was unlike her but he didn't care because for once, she was finally quiet.

"Beelzebub," Hades smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. For some odd reason his mood wasn't the best either. "Percy here didn't get the chance to have breakfast. Do you mind...?"

"Of course," he nodded in agreement. He didn't have much planned for today anyway. Just a discussion he wanted to have with her.

Hades nodded gratefully. He kissed Percy on the cheek and then took his leave.

Beelzebub turned around. "Come. Today will be short. I only wish to speak to you about some things."

He didn't bother to check if she was following him, but the soft pitter-patter of her feet told him enough. He led her to the Great Hall where they took their respective seats.

He summoned a bowl of lentil soup for her, but she didn't eat it right away. Instead, her face was eerily blank.

"Now that my mind's all clear, I've done some thinking," she began slowly. "Yesterday. The flies that I ran into while I was at Valhalla. That was you, wasn't it?"

Beelzebub. Lord of the Flies. She should've fucking known.

He gave her a practiced smile. "If you mean that I was one of the flies following you, then no. I merely sent my flies to go find you after your father called Hades to tell him that you were missing. Through them, I was able to see and hear everything."

"You spied on my conversation with Mnemosyne." And not Loki, who she had originally assumed.

"I did." He replied honestly. There was no point in lying.

"And..." She hesitated. This was a bit of a stretch, but her gut instincts were telling her that he was responsible for the other thing too. "When I saw Loki again, I felt this sudden anger..."

"That was also me," he admitted.

"But how?" She demanded desperately. "That wasn't like me back there, how did you even...?!"

"Does the Devil not exist in your world?" He asked genuinely. "You are so painfully ignorant of what I can do. Is this why you continue to act so foolishly casual around me?"

His voice suddenly took a darker edge. His blood red eyes pierced through her and something dark was entering his scleras, like watching an ink spill over canvas.

"I am the Devil, Percy Jackson. I cause destruction through tyrants, cause demons to be worshipped among men, to excite priests to lust, to cause jealousies in cities and murders, and to bring on war. Making a half-breed girl a little angry is nothing compared to what I can really do. Do you see now, why I must be killed? Do you really want someone like me to continue plaguing this universe?"

Hate me, he thought. Abhor me. Look at me in disgust and hatred like everyone else does. Hate me so much that you want to kill me.

Percy couldn't find the will to look away. His eyes were maddening. It was worse than when Mr. D. tried to make her go crazy. Visions of bloodbath flashed through her head like a PowerPoint slideshow. Brutal massacres, innocents being burned at stake because of false accusations, women being raped by invaders. Throughout it all, she could hear the incessant buzzing of flies in the background. Him. All of it was him.

Her nails dug into the table. Her very being was suddenly filled with rage. A slow corruption seized her heart. Monster, her inner voice hissed. He's a monster!

But rather than giving in and running him through with her sword, she stiffly grabbed the bowl of lentil soup and threw the contents at his face. He flinched back and the madness was gone in an instant.

"Urgh!" He cried out, scooting back on his chair and rising to his feet. Hot soup was dripping from his head down to his clothes.

She let out a sigh of relief as clarity finally came back to her. "Never," she said shakily. "Do that again."

He gawked at her in begrudging awe and annoyance.

What the fuck, he thought as soup dripped down his bangs. I wanted you to get angry enough to try and kill me, not throw fucking soup at my face. Damn brat.

"I can't believe you made me attack, Loki!" She cried in outrage. "Are you trying to get me killed, asshole? What if Loki decides to get revenge by, like, cutting my hair or something?!"

"As expected, your priorities are misplaced," he grumbled, snapping his fingers to make himself clean again. "Just for that, I'm not making you another bowl of soup again."

"Why did you even make me do that in the first place?" She despaired.

"I wanted to test out your weapon, Riptide," he explained, taking a seat again and jutting his chin to her pocket, where her trusty weapon was most likely located. "I've never seen a metal like that before and I can tell it's enchanted and cursed."

"You could've just asked about it," she groaned, pulling her pen out and uncapping it. "It's made out of Celestial bronze, one of the magical metals in my universe. And as for that enchantment you sense, well, watch."

She lobbed it at his face. He tilted his head to the side to dodge it and the sword flew at the wall before it clattered uselessly to the ground. But then it disappeared a second later, and reappeared back on the table soon afterwards.

"That's the enchantment," she gestured. "It always comes back to me if it's far enough."

"And the curse?" He asked.

She winced. "That was Ares' fault."

The corner of his lips lifted up slightly in a poor attempt to hide his amusement. "Now what did you do to anger the god of war from your universe?"

"Nothing," she scowled. "I was innocent. That asshole tried to frame me when I was just twelve, and when I found out about it he tried to kill me and acted like a sore loser when I beat him fair and square!"

Beelzebub went still.

Perhaps she shouldn't have mentioned that last part.

"...You defeated a god? At age twelve?" He asked her slowly, and she could practically see the gears shifting in his head.

"No," she said quickly. "It wasn't like that. It—it wasn't like a fight-fight, it was just, um... it was like a competition!" She blurted out.

"A competition."

She nodded her head frantically. "Yeah. I challenged him; if he drew blood first then I'd get the—" she stopped. She really didn't want to have to rehash the whole 'retrieve Zeus' stupid bolt and stop World War III from happening' thing again. "Then he'd leave me alone," she corrected. "And if I drew first then he could turn me into whatever he wanted."

"And you beat him. You made him bleed first." He concluded.

"Yeah..." She admitted rather hesitantly.

"And he cursed you out of pettiness?" That definitely didn't sound like the Ares he knew. "What was the curse? Tell me his exact words."

"'Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse'," she repeated, mocking Ares' annoyingly deep voice.

"Has it ever taken effect?"

She thought back to her battle against Atlas and shivered. "Yes. But anyway, that's all that happened. Happy now?"

Beelzebub's stare only intensified. A part of her wondered what he was thinking, but it was probably best she didn't know.

"...Not quite," he replied smoothly after a few seconds passed. "The main reason I made you attack Loki was to see if it acted like a Divine Weapon. Do you know what that is?"

"A weapon that can only be forged by gods, and the only thing that can kill a god," she recited dully. Poseidon had been the one to tell her about it, and she didn't really want to think about him right now.

He nodded in approval. "Correct. If I'm going to have you kill me, I need to make sure you have the right weapon. Unfortunately, Riptide is not a Divine Weapon."

He waved a hand and a dark mist formed in-between them. Then, pictures started to appear. It reminded her of an Iris Message. It showed her fight with Loki, slow-motioning when it came to the part where she managed to slice his arm with Riptide. The scene paused and zoomed in on the cut.

"I observed your fight closely. While your sword was able to injure your target—an impressive feat, mind you—the injury, unfortunately, didn't last long whereas injuries from Divine Weapons could take hours, maybe days to heal from."

The video played, this time with a timer in the corner to count the seconds it took for Loki's cut to heal.

3.10 seconds.

"Therefore," he went on. "I concluded that your weapon is not at par with a Divine Weapon and, while it can hurt, it cannot kill a god. Should I fail to access the multiverse, I will have to forge you a proper Divine Weapon for you to kill me with. This is cursed anyway. I can't have you risk trying to kill me with a weapon that's cursed to fail you when you need it most."

"Thanks," she said dryly, but there was a noticeable hard edge in her voice.

"...You are upset with me." He noted.

"I'm not upset with you," she said, a little snappishly.

"Is it about your father?" He asked knowingly.

He recalled the other day after her and Loki's fight. He had left the second Odin and the Big Three arrived at the scene, knowing that either one of them would be vigilant enough to realize that they were being watched. But before he left, one of his flies managed to catch a glimpse of Poseidon's face. The god was furious.

"Have I ever told you how much your Poseidon sucks?" She grumbled.

"No," but I have the feeling you're going to tell me anyway.

"Why is this guy so obsessed with perfection?" She wondered angrily. "I've been trying to get along with him, you know? But nothing ever works. And yesterday, even though I didn't purposely try to disobey him, he still got pissed with me anyway! All because I'm not 'perfect' enough for him! Fuck that guy. 'Perfect', my ass, he can't even do a good job at being a decent parent!"

Oh great, Beelzebub thought. Since when did he become the therapist?

"Just when I was starting to think that guy was cool for keeping the oceans clean..." She scoffed under her breath.

"I'm sorry about what happened between you and your father." He said emotionlessly, wanting to move the conversation along. He was not good with emotions.

She shrugged. "S'okay," she mumbled bitterly. "It's not like he's my real dad anyway."

He turned away, a sudden feeling of discomfort welling within him. It was so... wrong seeing Percy genuinely sad over something. He was more used to her being annoying, not... bitter and depressed. That was kind of his thing.

"That's all I have to discuss with you today," he said, abruptly standing up. He wanted to be anywhere but near her at the moment. "I shall call Hades to have him pick you up early—"

"—Wait," she suddenly called out. "...Can you take me to Adamas?"

The request took him by surprise. "...Adamas?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Please?" She gave him hopeful, pleading eyes.

"Oh, fine," he relented.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Adamas' palace was a cruise ship from hell. Literally.

His house was a weird fusion of a floating warship and palace that hovered over Helheim. It was full of canons of various sizes pointing in all directions and had a bunch of tendrils made of flesh and bone that stuck out at the sides. These tendrils had a mind of their own and would occasionally snatch and eat any demons or monsters that flew too close to it.

Had Beelzebub told her that her uncle lived in a floating fortress, she might have taken back her request. Heights were still a big no-no for her thanks to Zeus (unless she was on Blackjack), and even though this Zeus seemed a lot nicer, the fear had already been instilled in her.

But she was already here, so might as well face the music.

The look on Adamas' face when she asked if she could stay with him instead of Poseidon was comical.

"You... want to stay with me?" He asked dumbly, pointing to himself.

"Can I?" She asked hopefully.

"Did Poseidon do something?" He asked suspiciously, looking between her and Beelzebub.

The pair fell quiet, but their silence was enough of an answer.

"Figures," he muttered. "Alright! Just, uh, gimme a sec!" He disappeared behind the door, but before he did, Percy managed to catch him mumbling something about 'baby proofing the house'.

Percy and Beelzebub exchanged a look, but waited outside anyway. They didn't know how long it took, but during that time, a demon flew overhead and was promptly eaten alive by a tendril. Percy flinched when black blood started to fall over them like a waterfall.

Beelzebub swiped his fingers, and the blood redirected itself around them.

"Black blood?" She asked aloud.

"Infernal blood," he explained dully. "Demons of Helheim have infernal blood whereas gods have divine ichor."

"What do you have?" She asked curiously. Beelzebub was the Devil, but he was also a god too at the same time.

The door swung open again before he could answer. Adamas stood before them once more.

"Get in 'ere," he gruffed, grabbing Percy and yanking her into the house. He glanced over at the other god, "Thanks, Beelzebub. Bye now," he said before slamming the door on his face.

"You hungry, Percy?" He asked, eagerly leading her further into his home.

"Uh, yeah, I haven't had breakfast yet," she responded, distracted by the inside of his house. With how the outside looked, she expected the interior to have a gothic sort of style like Beelzebub's house or maybe a dark classical style like with Hades.

It looked more like the inside of a frat house instead; a perfect cross between 'rich asshole' and 'dude who can't fucking clean his house'. There were noticeable blood splatters and broken barrels of what smelled strongly like alcohol, clothes were still strewn around, and one of the rooms they passed by looked like a museum gallery for Valhalla action figures (she even caught a glimpse of Thor!).

They weren't the only ones here too. Like Hades, Adamas had his own servants. But instead of ghouls or lampads, Beelzebub had demons of all kinds walking around like zombies with collars around their necks. They were busy cleaning around the palace and some were even putting those soft corner protectors on tables and shelves and lining the sharp edges with foam tape.

"Um, why are they wearing dog collars?" She asked, feeling awkward. Was this a weird kink thing of his?

"'Cause that's all they are now," he snorted. "Mindless dogs who can only do what they're told."

That was kinda offensive to dogs in her opinion.

"How'd they get like this though?"

"I made them this way. God of conquest, remember? Enslavin' people is easy for me." He said proudly.

Colonizers would've loved you, then, she couldn't help but think.

"Anyway, here's the Great Hall. Do you like pizza?"

Her eyes lit up. She hadn't had pizza in so long. "Oh hell yeah!"

"Good. Don't tell anyone I'm feeding you pizza though, okay?"

She blinked. "Why not?"

He rolled his eyes. "The other Greeks get sooo sensitive about Italy—ah, you know what? Forget I said anything, you're too young to know."

She furrowed her brows. What did the Greeks have against Italy? Before she could ask further, he was already ushering her to his Great Hall.

One of the coolest things about Adamas' house was that he had his own pizza oven—the real deal, bricks and all. Of course, he didn't make the pizza himself (he probably didn't know how to cook), and his... er, slaves were the ones doing all the cooking. They finished in record time and came into the Great Hall like a pack of zombies, setting all the food down in front of her.

Oh yeah, Percy thought while chewing on her third slice of pizza. This is totally better than staying at Poseidon's house.

And then her good mood went plummeting down because she just had to think of that guy. Of fucking course.

Thanks to her mistake, she was now chewing her food a lot more glumly than before.

Adamas was quick to notice it—mainly because he had been watching her out of the corner of his eyes in case she would break (humans were fragile creatures, okay?!).

He cleared his throat awkwardly, wracking his brain for whatever could make human children happy.

"Uh, you like video games?" He tried.

That got her perk up. "Mmh!" She answered, mouth stuffed. She nodded excitedly.

Moments later, right after dinner, she found herself settled in Adamas' gaming room playing against him. Adamas was fully focused, too focused to notice that she was forcing herself to stay distracted through the game. As much as she hated to admit it, but her mind was still very centered on her so-called 'father', their previous argument rewinding through her head like an endless loop.

She gritted her teeth in frustration, aggressively mashing the buttons and pretending the enemies she was slaying were him.

Her life was so much better now that she was away from him. Sure she was in Hell, but she was living with her super cool uncle who liked pizza and video games. She could do whatever she wanted without fearing for her life. This was a good change. She could get used to this. Screw Poseidon. He sucked.

Who needed a dad anyway?

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

"Poseidon—needs—to—DIE," Adamas hissed into his phone as he paced around his room. Another thing he and his niece shared aside from their love of junk food and video games was their inability to keep still.

"For the hundredth time we are not killing our little brother, stop suggesting that." Hades scolded him on the other end of the line. "How is she doing?"

"Well, she hasn't cried in her bedroom in five days," Adamas replied with fake enthusiasm. "I think she's a stress eater though. Is it normal for humans to eat through two boxes of piz—uh, junk food, a carton of ice cream, and four chocolate bars in a day?"

"Wha—you let her eat that much?!"

"I thought she needed it!" He cried out defensively. "And I dunno how humans work, you can't blame me!" Then, more fearfully, he added, "...She's not gonna explode or something, is she?"

"Well... I have heard of cases where humans spontaneously combust..." Hades said warily.

His eyes nearly popped out. "ARE YOU FOR REAL RIGHT NOW?!"

"But not from over-eating," Hades quickly added. "I believe she should be fine. But Adamas, humans require healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. You can't keep feeding her that stuff, it's not good for her!"

"Okay, okay, fine," he grumbled.

"I will deal with Poseidon," Hades then said, which made Adamas grin at the thought of his snobby little brother finally getting the lashing of a lifetime. "You continue caring for Percy. Speaking of her, what is she doing right now?"

"She's in Asgard."

Now that took him by surprise. "Asgard?" Hades repeated. "You took her to Asgard?"

"Yup. Apparently she wanted to apologize to Loki for beating him up or whatever. Made blue cookies for him and everything." She was even nice enough to share some with him too! Something Poseidon would never do. The amount of times Hades tried to drill in his head that 'sharing was caring'... Asshole never learned the lesson. Thank Chaos his daughter was nothing like him.

Hades made a sound of understanding. "Ohhh. That's very kind of her... Perhaps I should go as well to make sure things go smoothly." Or more like to make sure Loki didn't try to kill her.

"Yeah, anyway are you gonna go yell at Poseidon?" Adamas asked eagerly.

"You are not allowed to watch," Hades answered his unasked question. He rolled his eyes. Brothers. They were always so eager to watch the downfall of the other. Thank gods his girls weren't like that.

He started to whine, "Oh come on, Hades—"

"—Goodbye, Adamas," he said firmly. "And make sure to prepare a salad for Percy for when she comes back. No more unhealthy food." He hung up before any more complaints could be made.

While Adamas was busy bemoaning not being able to watch Poseidon get yelled at, Hades had already teleported himself to the foyer of his little brother's underwater palace. Immediately, his form began to change. His shirt and blazer melted off of him like liquid shadows, his legs had shifted into a tail more appropriate for the sea—iridescent black and purple scales with razor sharp fins—and his pointed ears had turned to fins of the same color.

Servants and guards milling around immediately tensed, sensing the god's ire.

"Where is my brother?" He asked them, trying his best to keep his usual polite disposition.

He knew Poseidon could sense him here, but the god of seas had yet to show his face. Most likely because he knew what he was here for. Like a child hiding from their parents to avoid being scolded. Hades would've thought it cute had he not been so upset.

"I-in the library, my lord," one of the servants answered.

He gave them a curt nod before swimming straight for it.

Libraries were always Poseidon's favorite places to go to ever since he was a kid, and it hadn't changed even eons later. It was his place of comfort and solace. He often went there when he got tired of socializing with people or... when something was bothering him.

Something clicked in his head.

He halted in his tracks and turned to a nearby maid. "Excuse me, but how long has my brother been in the library?"

"Oh, my lord has been in there for the past... twelve days, I believe?" She replied.

Twelve days. Percy had moved to Adamas' palace twelve days ago. "I see, thank you."

He resumed his path to the library, now deep in thought. He had an idea as to why Poseidon had holed up in the library for so long... but he had to see for himself if his findings were right.

And if he was right, then maybe things could get better for father and daughter after all.

(But perhaps that was just hopeful thinking.)

He burst through the doors of the library and headed straight to the very back of the grand room where he knew his brother would be. And lo and behold, there he was, sitting at the farthest table with his head shoved into a book.

"Poseidon." He said.

Poseidon continued to read, pretending as if he didn't exist. Hades refrained the urge to roll his eyes. How absolutely childish.

"Poseidon," he said more sternly. "Put the book down when I am speaking to you."

"..."

Without hesitation, Hades stormed forward and yanked the book from his hands.

Poseidon finally looked up to glare at him. "I was reading that."

"And I was speaking to you," Hades snapped, one hand on his hip.

"Why are you here?" Poseidon grumbled. He tried reaching out for his book but with a snap of his fingers, Hades made it disappear into black vapor. His eye twitched in annoyance at that.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Hades quipped, brow raised. "Apparently, you've been cooped up in here for the past twelve days. Hmm... what a coincidence. That's the same amount of time your daughter's been gone. I wonder why that is?"

The blonde scowled fiercely, "Whatever you are suggesting—"

"—Are you perhaps feeling remorse?" He questioned.

"No."

"Is that so?" He said doubtfully. "So you're telling me you've spent twelve days straight in the library without doing any of your duties for perfectly normal reasons."

"Yes."

"And what are those 'perfectly normal reasons' then?"

Poseidon's glare only worsened. "That is none of your business. Are you done here, Hades? Your presence is unwanted. Leave me be."

"I am not a servant that you can boss around, brother," Hades glowered. "Need I remind you of my promise should you fail to act as a proper father? I told you before that I would take you from her, but she seems to enjoy her time with Adamas so maybe the custody should fall to him."

"Adamas?" Poseidon echoed, barely hidden outrage in his voice. "You expect that pitiful excuse of a god to care for a child? My child no less?"

"Adamas cares for Percy, and she's very happy under his care. That's what makes him the better option over you. He cares and actually tries to do his best. You don't."

Poseidon started to grit his teeth together, his fangs glinting sharply and his claws digging into the wooden edge of the table.

"Bare your fangs at me all you want, but I speak only the truth," Hades narrowed his eyes, letting them glow fiercely to exhibit how angry he was truly feeling. "I'm disappointed in you, Poseidon. I know fatherhood isn't easy, but you never even bothered to try."

"How dare you say that," Poseidon hissed. "I have been trying! Don't you remember what she did? She not only disobeyed me, she picked a fight with a god that could've easily killed her in that mortal state of hers!"

For a moment, Hades frowned. Was this worry his brother was feeling? Was he even aware of it?

Poseidon went on, "I've given her an education and the training she needs to be a proper princess and goddess, but all she ever does is spit it back at my face! I thought she was finally on the right track, but then she goes and fights a god for such a petty reason. Childish! That temper of hers is impossible to control!"

"You're not trying to raise a child, you're trying to make someone into the exact copy of you! Percy is not you, Poseidon, nor does she want to be!" He raised his voice. "And temper, really? Loki was the one who started this mess by kidnapping her in the first place—she never disobeyed you, and is it really that surprising that she would lash out at the god who put her in this situation? You're such a hypocrite. As if you wouldn't react the same way."

While the two had their differences, they also had plenty of similarities. Both had wild tempers, though Hades far preferred Percy's temper to Poseidon's—whose solution was to always kill his problems. And don't even get him started on the natural disasters he would create whenever he was having a temper tantrum. He was honestly a nightmare to deal with.

Poseidon may be stoic, but his wrath was always the deadliest between their siblings. Even compared to Hera's explosive rage.

"You know what," Hades began quietly. "Yelling at you is pointless. You will never change, not even for the sake of your own child. This is all my fault."

Poseidon frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I never should've left Percy under your care. Maybe then things would've been better for her. I'll be taking my leave now, Poseidon. Oh and, you needn't worry about having to deal with her. You'll never see again."

Poseidon's claws were piercing through the wood now.

"Goodbye, brother." Hades waved his hand and returned the book back to him. Then, he started to leave.

"By the way," he paused. "I think our father would be very proud of what you've become."

Hades was finally gone and Poseidon was left alone in the silence. He stared at nothing, the book entirely forgotten by him.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Adamas perked his head up when he sensed the familiar presence of his piece-of-shit brother, Poseidon. Usually sensing his godly aura would make him the opposite of happy, but this was different.

Yesterday, Poseidon visited him.

After getting over the near-heart attack he felt, he humored the little brat and asked what he wanted (because he was curious and all, of course).

Big mistake because all it did was piss him off.

Poseidon had demanded to see Percy. As if the fucker had any right. Obviously, he said no, but he spent the entire day pissed off by his audacity that Percy had noticed it and asked what was wrong. He had to tell her what occurred and after several seconds of stony silence, she spoke up with a strangely specific request:

"If he comes by again, slam the door on his face while he's still in the middle of talking."

And now, he would finally be able to do it because Poseidon was here again.

He grinned deviously as he swung open the doors, greeting the blonde with a faux smile that had Poseidon narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Poseidon," he said, all saccharine sweet. "Whaddya want."

Poseidon gave him a scathing glare. "Isn't it obvious, you fool? Let me speak to—"

SLAM!

It took Poseidon three seconds to realize what had just happened.

"Adamas," he growled. "Open the door or I'll blast it open."

"You do that and I'm tellin' Hades," Adamas threatened to tattle without feeling an ounce of shame.

"You are acting like a child," Poseidon glared at the doors.

"yOu ARe ActInG LikE A cHiLD," he mocked. "Sorry, bro, Percy's too busy being happy—something I'm sure she was deprived of while under your care. BWAHAHAHA!"

"You—"

"—Come again next time, byeeeee~!"

The best part about all of this was that Poseidon couldn't do anything about it and just kept on coming back. And Adamas did the same thing, over and over again.

Day 1:

"Adamas—"

SLAM!

Day 2:

"Don't you fucking dare—"

SLAM!

Day 3:

"If you slam that door on me one more time—"

SLAM!

It went on like that for the remainder of the week. By the end of it, Adamas was feeling a little generous (not).

"I've about had it with you," Poseidon was seething, trident in hand like he was ready to tear the whole ship down. "Do you think of me as some sort of fool you can keep messing with, Adamas? Need I remind you that it was I who reduced you to bits and pieces and it was I that allowed Hades to order Beelzebub to repair you? If you do not send Percilla out here right now, I will—"

"—She's not here, dude, chill out," Adamas said boredly while checking out his gauntlets.

"What?"

Adamas looked up and snorted in amusement. "You seriously thought she was here? Have your senses gone dull, bro? She's been gone the whole day. She's at Beelzebub's place."

He had a great laugh at the look on his face before slamming the door again.

SLAM!

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

Percy was at Beelzebub's study, boredly folding a paper airplane while the god busied himself with rummaging through his bookshelves.

"Do you think Loki forgives me?" She asked aloud, more so because she couldn't handle the silence anymore.

"Does it really matter?" Beelzebub sighed.

"Uh, yeah. What if he decides to get revenge by, like, cutting my hair or whatever?"

"As usual, your priorities are skewed. Loki cutting your hair is the least of your worries."

She paled. "Do you think he'll turn himself into a snake and wait for me to pick him up and then stab me?"

He actually stopped to look at her. His brows were furrowed. "Are you mentally ill or something? These scenarios you keep making up in your head are too specific."

"It's a movie reference, dude. Haven't you ever watched an MCU film before?"

"I've never heard of them."

Her jaw dropped. "No way! Don't tell me the movies don't exist here!"

"Do I look like I would know?"

"...Good point. Hey, have you ever watched any movies about yourself?" She had to ask, because there were tons of movies about the Devil.

"I have," he admitted with a grimace. "Only out of curiosity, though. They were all terribly inaccurate. Though to be fair, all the works related to the gods are inaccurate, be it books, shows, or movies."

She chuckled. She remembered when she and Thalia had a laugh over Disney's depiction of Hera in the movie Hercules.

But then she pushed the thought aside because thinking about Thalia—about everyone she left behind—would just make her sad again.

"The books I have on the bifrost are limited." Beelzebub spoke up, giving her the distraction she needed. He returned to the table she was at and sat down. His face was apathetic, but she had gotten used to his company to know that he was actually feeling frustrated.

"I'll have to pay the Valkyries a visit in Asgard. I'm sure they have more information about the gate than I do," he muttered. There was a familiar frown on his face, a frown that reminded her of Nico whenever he was told to socialize with people.

"You're going up to Valhalla?" She realized.

"Unfortunately." He grumbled. He really hated going out to meet people.

She perked up. "Can I go with you?"

He gave her a deadpanning look. "Don't you remember what happened the last time you went to Valhalla? I'd rather not have to deal with that."

Going up to heaven to talk to people was already bad enough, but a walking trouble-magnet tagging along with him would just give him a headache—and gods didn't even get headaches.

"Oh c'mon, please?" She begged. "That was mostly Loki's fault and technically yours too!"

"No," he said firmly. "I'm only there to retrieve the books I need and nothing more. If I bring you along, I'll end up staying there longer than I want to. It's already bad enough that I have to go up there for even a minute..."

She watched him carefully. It looked like it really bothered him to do this...

She bit the inside of her cheek.

"Hey, um, if you really don't wanna go, I can pick up the books for you? I promise I'll make it quick. I won't stop to talk or anything." Which sucked because she really wanted to go see Brunhilde and Göll since the last time she went to Asgard to apologize to Loki, none of the Valkyries were there. But hey, she wasn't about to go breaking promises.

(Always keep your promises kids! Because another kid might get life-long trauma should you break them!)

Beelzebub regarded her silently before shaking his head. "No... but thank you. Loki will be there, and he'll just cause more trouble for you that you can't control."

That... was true. It wasn't like she could teleport away from him like the other gods could.

"Oh..." Her shoulders drooped. "You're, uh, really working yourself to the bone doing all this. Have you been getting any sleep lately?"

"I do not need sleep. What I need is to find a way to die already.""

Yikes.

"...Why do you want to die so badly?" She asked curiously. She knew it was a personal question, but it was concerning to see how desperate Beelzebub had become ever since finding out the truth of where she came from.

He didn't answer right away.

A part of him didn't want to tell her. She was a test subject and nothing more, she didn't need to know personal details of his life.

But a foolish part of him didn't care. Maybe it was because he had grown weak. Maybe it was because deep down, he craved to create a bond with someone and longed for the old bonds he had lost eons ago.

(Initially, he had thought that years of loneliness and self-imposed isolation would strengthen his resolve, but now he realized it had only made him grow weaker.)

"I killed the people I love," he finally admitted. "I wish to atone for it. And the only way to atone is through death."

He was unable to look at her as he said this, refusing to see that sickening softness in her eyes—the same ones that Lucifer and Lilith had given him long ago.

"...I think your friends would rather you live on. They would want you to be happy." She said.

She had never killed any of her loved ones, but there were times she thought it was her fault that they had died anyway. The war had only made things worse. Bianca, Beckendorf, Silena, all those young lives that were lost. She wasn't their killer but sometimes she felt like she might as well be.

"...There is no way for me to be happy when all I do is kill everyone I love." There was despair laced in his voice. He looked down at his hand, the same one that had ripped out the hearts of his dear ones. "I thought a monster was the one responsible for taking them away from me, but that monster was me all along. This is why I must die. Please understand that this is something that needs to be done."

Percy's face crumbled at the admittance, and for once, she didn't say a word.

After that, it was finally time for her to head back. Adamas was there to pick her up, but for some odd reason he was strangely quiet.

At first, she thought Poseidon had done something wrong (she knew he had been visiting daily), but Adamas wasn't silent because he was angry. No, he looked anxious about something instead.

When they returned to his palace, she asked him, "Did something happen?"

He winced.

She frowned worriedly. "Is it Poseidon again?"

He shook his head.

"Then... what is it?" She furrowed her brows in confusion.

He made a weird noise in the back of his throat and pulled his phone out. He gestured to it. "I, uh, got a call from my mom—your grandma, Rhea. She likes to host these family get-together parties sometimes, and um, she's hosting another one. I've been invited."

"Okay...?"

"Poseidon was invited." He added.

"Oh."

"...She invited you too."

The color quickly drained from her face. "Oh." 

— author's note —

Beelzebub: I don't like Percy. She annoys me.

Also Beelzebub: *obsessively watches a scene of her displaying that she cares about him over and over again* *feels uncomfortable seeing her sad and emo*

WE'RE FINALLY GONNA MEET GRANDMA RHEA!!! Percy and Poseidon will be seeing each other again in the next chapter too!!! Any guesses on how this family get-together will go??

I GOT PICREW FANARTS FROM moodchild-artemischild! They're all Daddyseidon:

I GOT MORE FAN MEMES FROM Luna999:

THANK YOU! I ESPECIALLY LOVED THE WMMAP CROSSOVER! 😭

I've been in a picrew phase for a while now so here are some picrews I made too:

My choices for their pokemon teams were very limited tho 😔 i would've probably given the gods an all-legendary pokemon team 

Now onto memes!