"What could be worse than hummus?"

"Hubris means deadly pride, Jackson." Aurora explained, not glancing at the boy. Percy felt his stomach churn, as if he'd eaten hummus.

Annabeth agreed. "It's thinking you can do things better than anyone else... even the gods."

"You feel that way?" Percy inquired.

She looked down. "Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is fucked up? What if we could do it all over again from scratch? No more war. Nobody homeless. No more summer reading homework."

"I'm listening." Percy leaned forward, resting his chin on his fist.

"I mean, the West represents a lot of the best things mankind ever did—that's why the fire is still burning. That's why Olympus is still around. But sometimes you just see the bad stuff, you know? And you start thinking the way Luke does: 'If I could tear this all down, I would do it better.' Don't you ever feel that way? Like you could do a better job if you ran the world?"

"I think I'd fuck it up even more," Aurora snorted quietly.

"Yeah... Me running the world would kind of be a nightmare." Percy admitted, concurringly.

"Kind of?"

"Oh, shut up."

Annabeth watched their exchange, cocking an eyebrow before letting out a low whistle. "You guys are lucky, then. Hubris isn't your fatal flaw."

Percy saw the way Annabeth's gray eyes shifted towards Aurora, and he realized—well, he should've known it—that he wasn't the first person to know Aurora's fatal flaw. And that was fine, because she had so many people close to her that it was almost a given. But, being that person for Aurora... it made him sort of feel special, in a way.

But Percy wondered what his fatal flaw was, and how particularly fatal was it? Annabeth had nearly killed herself to figure hers out, because of her hubris. She swam to the island because she wanted to become greater. Aurora's was deathly, turning her mind against her and causing her to fear failure, which was very common as a demigod. Causing her to put unnecessary pressure on herself, which Percy hated with his entire being.

So what was Percy's? How far would he go?

"So, was it worth it?" Percy asked Annabeth inquisitively. "Do you feel... wiser?"

The daughter of Athena gazed into the distance. "I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke..."

Aurora and Percy winced in turn. Luke knew this about Annabeth. If he didn't, he could figure it out. Percy was sure Luke knew about Persephone, and Aurora.

If he had this to hold above their heads...

"Percy." Aurora grabbed Percy's elbow, pointing behind him. He turned, and up ahead was another blotch of land—saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows. Just like he'd seen in his dreams.

"Are we..." Annabeth trailed out, her voice discordant with slight fear as her gray eyes fixated on the island as well.

Percy's Poseidon-given senses confirmed the daughter of Athena's belief as he nodded curtly and sharply. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.

They had reached the home of the Cyclops.

"Welcome home, Jackson." Aurora muttered, getting up grimly. She offered Percy a hand, and he took it. She smiled radiantly, the way she always did while approaching a dangerous situation. Percy hadn't realized when she started doing that, but it was a constant in all of their recent violent interactions, and it provided a sort of blanket of comfort, in a way. Like, if Aurora was smiling, everything would somehow be alright. The sun reflected against her strawberry blonde hair, spotlighting how it had lightened from being on the ocean for all those days. However, Percy hadn't expected her sardonic quip, and nearly strangled her right then and there. "This is where your daddy likes to get freaky."

ೀ⋆｡🌷 the mother of perora speaks ...

word count: 7710

date published: july 26, 2024

currently listening to: waiting room by phoebe bridgers 😁 (whenever i write scenes like this i need the most heartbreaking playlist)

thoughts: woahhhhhh siren scene done! honestly, the only scene i was looking forward to doing in som besides everything that's been done already (circe's island). now there's only the cheek kiss at the end!! and we're almost done with act two omgggg i'm so excited for ttc you have no idea. i have a lot of stuff planned and i think you guys might hate me but you know it's okay!

shoutout to ryleefallenleafzz for the idea of the notebook "you're dumb" "i could be that" i thought it was such a cute idea and wrote it in. if you guys have any specific things you want from percy and aurora, comment it and i'll try to write it in! i love feedback and suggestions <3

and to clarify, (in case it wasn't blatantly obvious), aurora's fatal flaw is her fear of failing to meet people's expectations (in turn, her fear of not being perfect, because the expectation of her is perfection). i know, it was insanely repetitive, but i wanted to make sure you guys fully understood what aurora's fatal flaw was. it's very complex (sort of). anyway you guys now know the full extent of her backstory! yay!! so excited for everyone to see more of her fatal flaw play out in the later acts bc it's a huge part of all of her decisions and the angst of perora in acts four and five (they're very angsty).

i love you all so so so so so much, thank you for reading, and as always, have a wonderful day! kisses to you all 💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋💋 ALSO WHO NOTICED THE QUOTE DROP (aurora's quote from the introduction/HAVEN chapter with the aesthetics and playlist) i love that quote its so fun!! (it's not fun but whatever) 

ANOTHER THING (this is a LONG ASS authors note but whateverrrr) TYSON'S CASTING GOT POSTED YESTERDAY AND I THINK THIS IS PERFECT TIMING BC TYSON IS LITERALLY GETTING RESSURRECTED IN THE NEXT COUPLE CHAPTERS OF HAVEN i think the casting is literally perfect walker and daniel somehow look like brothers?? but daniel diemer is PERFECT as tyson and i know they will all do so amazing im sooo excited

(p.s. i'm going away next week without my computer so i won't be here to respond to comments and stuff, but i'm presetting the publishing of the next chapter so hopefully it works! i'll be back august 4 but i'll miss you all so much <3)