Percy and Aurora talked for at least two hours before they both fell asleep. She had never attended a sleepover before, but she sure felt like she was at one when she woke up groggily to flowing water and abundant sunlight, buried deep within the sheets of the bed next to Percy's. For a split second, it reminded her of last summer, when the two would spend every moment chatting in their hospital beds, as they had both faced attempted murder from Luke. Fun times!

Anyway, Aurora was having the time of her life. Not really, but whatever. She blinked, swallowing awkwardly as she glanced over at Percy's messy hair and agape mouth. She quickly smoothed the braid she had slept in and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yawning as she stood and straightened out her wrinkled orange camp t-shirt and sweatshorts.

"Dumbass, you're drooling." She whispered teasingly, nudging his shoulder with her hand. He didn't respond, and Aurora shoved him more aggressively. "Wake up. What happened to wanting me to stay?" No response.

"He won't wake." A deep, rumbling, almost familiar voice filled the cabin, the atmosphere prickling with power. Aurora's stomach dropped.

Aurora turned quickly, her braid whipping her cheek at the fast action.

A man stood directly in front of her, towering over her. He had black hair, a neatly trimmed black beard, a deep tan, and eyes that were identical to the boy sleeping behind her. He was recognizable in a way that none of his siblings were, simply because the exact copy of him was so fucking annoying.

Her jaw dropped, but as rapidly as she opened it, she closed it again. She knew who this was, but she would never give a god the respect they thought they deserved.

Especially when he was looking at her with that smirking, up to no good expression that his son made on the daily.

However, Aurora remained deadly still. It wasn't the fact that the man staring at her with those oh-so-familiar sea green eyes was one of the most powerful gods on Olympus, but it was that he was Percy Jackson's father. That was the terrifying part.

"Lord Poseidon," Aurora murmured quietly, trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. Like, okay. It was Poseidon's cabin. But why was he there now, of all times?

I thought gods don't care about their kids, she thought bitterly. He had made Percy and Tyson feel so awful about themselves and each other as of recently. Who did he think he was, showing his face?

"Are you aware that I can hear that? Perhaps not, although I am right in front of you." Poseidon responded, but he didn't seem upset. The left side of his mouth quirked up into an amused smile. "I am a god, if you recall?"

Aurora's face burned bright with embarrassment. Not that it wasn't true, but she couldn't go around dissing a god. "Apologies, my lord," she croaked out.

She could tell where Percy got his sense of humor from when he broke out into a brief fit of laughter. "My dear daughter of flowers, enlighten yourself." Aurora assumed that was the olden equivalent of lighten up.

"Now, my dear, can you imagine my surprise as I peer into this cabin, as one does to check up on his lovely sons—I am not as horrible of a father as you may think—and I see you, who is not my child, sleeping in my own cabin?" Poseidon asked, but there was a twinkle in his eye as he leaned against his trident. "And calling my Percy all these profanities, no doubt."

Aurora simply shrugged. "My bad," she said plainly. In hindsight, she should've said more to the god of the sea, but she hadn't gotten that good sleep all summer, and she really wasn't sorry. Plus, she was about to go on a quest to save the camp that Poseidon was literally standing in and could fix with a snap of his fingers. So no, she wasn't going to grovel, just like how Poseidon wasn't going to save Camp Half Blood.

"You are quite close with my son, correct?" Poseidon inquired, seeming like he cared.

Aurora shrugged again, crossing her arms. "I guess he's alright."

"You keep him safe," the god commented. "I shall give you my thanks for that impressive accomplishment."

"I do my best. He loves to do stupid things." Aurora replied drily, chuckling slightly as she glanced at the drooling, knocked out son of the god in front of them.

"I am afraid he received that trait from his father. His mother is... well, I sincerely doubt his flaws are from her." Poseidon sighed deeply and shook his head. Aurora had to agree, though. Sally Jackson was the perfect mother. "Will you continue to keep him company, daughter of Persephone?"

Aurora's head snapped up quizzically, and she frowned. "What?" She was expecting safe, or happy. Not company.

"You understand me correctly, Aurora. Will you stay with my son?"

"I mean..." Aurora coughed, awkwardly averting her eyes. "Like, I have to, like, go, but if you're saying... I'll never leave Percy." She shifted uncomfortably. "Like, yeah. Yeah. Yes, I'll stay with him." Her voice was higher pitched than normal and the heat of embarrassment had embraced her neck and gods, can he just leave?

Poseidon hummed with contentment and spun his trident, and just like that, Aurora was out. The god was gone. And Percy would have no idea that that encounter had ever occurred.

ೀ⋆｡🌷

"Come on, wake up!" A voice that wasn't one of the five people Aurora liked woke her up from her god-induced slumber, and Aurora could tell right away.

"What the fuck?" Aurora slurred as she jolted up, pushing the brown haired girl off of her, and quickly recognized it to be Katie Gardner. "Hi Katie, sorry."

Aurora was in the middle of giving her previous head counselor a hug when she realized the crowd around her bed. It wasn't just those who liked her (Miranda, Sam, Susie, the few others), but it was also those who hated her when she revealed her parentage.

She used to think that she wanted this quest, so that her former siblings would like her again. 

But seeing all of them, huddled around her bed in the Poseidon cabin with their smiling, apologetic faces and gifts clasped in their hands... she hated them even more than they hated her. How dare they? They only wanted to talk to her when she was going on a quest. Was that true friendship? No.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was cold as she addressed the traitors.

"We..." Brianna Matthews spoke up, her small voice matching her small stature. "We wanted to apologize. We're so sorry, and we were so stupid. And to think that you're leaving us... well, our hearts are broken. And we wanted to say that we love you, and we always loved you."

"The news was surprising, yeah." Turner Williams added sheepishly. "And we definitely didn't react the best. But you're our sister, despite everything."

"We brought you snacks!" The youngest girl, Ella Caufield, held out the camp's to-go kit on quest supplies: two packets of salt and vinegar chips, one mini Hershey's chocolate bar, nectar and ambrosia, three dry ass granola bars, and an extra camp shirt.

"You're the first one from our cabin to go on a quest and come back alive." Samuel Quincy stated, with a hint of awe in his voice. "We didn't forget that."

"Seems like you did." Aurora choked out through her anger.

"You're the first one from our cabin to go on a quest, period."  Stephanie West corrected proudly.

The twins, Alder and Calix Jones, murmured their agreements. Miranda and Katie exchanged glances of "Are they serious?" and "Just go along with it," but it didn't go unnoticed by Aurora.

Aurora grit her teeth to prevent tears from spilling out of her eyes. Not because she was sad or thought their apology was so heartfelt, but because of how when they thought she was going to die on this quest, that was when they decided to talk to her again.

It was ridiculous. They were acting like she was their savior and so amazing now, but yesterday? One hour ago? Thirty minutes ago? They couldn't care less about her life.

Gods, they were ridiculous! And to think she wanted this? How had she ever wanted a quest? It was the one thing she despised more than anything, and that was quests.

"What am I doing?" She muttered to herself, rolling her eyes at their expectant faces.

All in one motion, she let out a bark of laughter, stood up, and stormed out of Cabin Three.

It didn't take long to find Clarisse, who was staring at the huge ship in front of her. As soon as the daughter of Ares saw Aurora's face, she knew. Clarisse instantly knew, and in a way of showing her affection, she punched Aurora lightly in the shoulder. 

But Clarisse, more than anything, was ready to lead her first and very own quest. It was she who wanted it more than anything, to prove to her deadbeat dad that she was just as good as any legendary Ares son.

"I'm not going with you." Aurora stated firmly, before whispering timidly, "Please don't kill, torture, or kidnap me. I'm so sorry." She couldn't keep up the tough facade in front of Clarisse, it was absolutely impossible. 

"Gods, Miller, you're lucky I love you." Clarisse huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You're so fucking lucky that I love you so much because I'm so great and I found you a replacement before you even came to me."

"What? Why?" Aurora asked. She didn't want to be seen as untrustworthy, or a flake.

Someone called for Clarisse on the boat, and the girl nearly—nearly—smiled as Chris Rodriguez offered her a hand. She took a deep breath and patted Aurora on the shoulder.

"I'll see you later, princess." Clarisse winked, and Aurora frowned with confusion.

"The fuck you mean, see me later?" Aurora's gut nagged her, and she could hear Poseidon's voice urging her to keep his son company.

"Go to your little water boy, Rory, and I'll catch you in the Sea of Monsters!" were Clarisse's final words before she blew the daughter of Persephone a kiss goodbye and walked onto her ship.

Maybe Aurora was feeling a little slow that day, but it took the honk of the ship's horn and a good two seconds for her to process the information. But soon, Aurora gasped, and ran as fast as she could to the seashore.

It wasn't long before the sound of harpies caught up to her that she realized that Percy was being a dumbass, and he also didn't tell her that he was doing this, which was sort of offensive.

While her feet slapped the dirt and wood that led her to the sandy beach, it also occurred to her that she was doing the exact thing she had just quit: going on a quest. Aurora had been so enraged that her siblings only apologized because she was going on a made-to-die quest, so she told Clarisse no. But as soon as she found out that Percy was going on an extremely illegal one, she ran towards him, hoping that he would receive her with open arms.

She was a bitch.

Percy turned around just in time, because almost simultaneously, the two demigods lunged towards each other, and Percy hoisted Aurora onto this majestic, strange creature that was half horse half fish.

Before either of the four—Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Aurora, that is—could utter a single word, Percy commanded the hippocampi to turn and plunge into the waves.

And just like that, the quest had begun.

"Hi," Aurora panted, clinging to Percy's middle as their hippocampus began swimming.

"You came?" Percy's grin was wider than she had ever seen before. "I thought you were on Clarisse's quest."

"Yeah, well, I'm here now." Aurora breathed out, resting her forehead against his shoulder. "Don't get all happy that I chose you. I didn't."

"I can't say I'm not happy, 'cause I don't lie to you, Ro. I couldn't be more glad." He whispered quietly with a beam, before catching Annabeth's suspicious and smirking expression. The daughter of Athena raised a brow, and Percy bristled. Aurora had no idea what they had spoken about before she had arrived, but she was intrigued. "Or else I would have to deal with your stupid smart blonde friend all by myself."

Aurora laughed, the first genuine one she had had in a while. "What a shame, she could've beat your ass. Sorry to be an unwanted guest."

"You, unwanted? Impossible." Percy joked back.

That whole day was a mess—the whole week had been—but Aurora mentioned none of that. None of Poseidon and the Demeter children's unwanted visits, none of Clarisse telling her to go on Percy's quest instead of hers, none of Aurora's deprecating and loathing feelings.

None of it.

Because in the ocean, riding into the unknown, it was just Aurora and Percy and Annabeth and Tyson. It was just them, relishing every single second before chaos erupted.

ೀ⋆｡🌷 the mother of perora speaks ...

word count: 2288

date published: may 31, 2024

currently listening to: supercut by lorde (sooo good)

thoughts: i am overjoyed because guess what?? we're over 80k reads and 3k votes into haven! god this is not real life isn't real pinch me. alsoooo i fully planned on having aurora be on clarisse's ship and meeting percy tyson and annabeth in the som, but then i realized that the ship they run into in the first chapter of the quest is luke's and not clarisse's and so i decided against it bc then we would miss guinea pig percy and circes island rory, and the sirens and all of it. so little change :) love you all have an amazing weekend!