With a flick he tossed the goddess back, making her stumble and fall over onto the grass of the Temple Garden below her. With another flick of his wrist Percy erected another barrier, one meant to contain noise and sight as the goddess coughed while getting to her feet.
...
He felt three slight flares of power just within said barrier but ignored them in favor of focusing on the goddess.
"You're angry and I get that, so, I'll let that one go," he said, his voice hardening as he glared at the goddess. "But I'm only forgiving for so long." He then shook his head as he took a breath to calm himself. "Listen … I understand that you're hurting an—"
He stopped as Athena shouted as she attacked, her fist coated in a golden, crackling glow as she threw a punch at his face which he caught, a burst of static erupting at the contact.
"Understand!" she screamed as she wrenched her fist back only to try another, uncaring that he kept blocked it too. "How can you understand anything!?"
Another swing, this one wilder and glowing with more power. Percy swatted it away, watching as the goddess stumbled as she was carried with the throw until she stopped and turned back on him.
"That isn't your granddaughter lying on a hospital bed!" the goddess shouted as attack after attack came. "You've never had children of your own only to watch them die because you can't do anything!" She went for a high kick but he caught her at the shin and held on yet she didn't stop as she hopped and kicked with the other leg getting him to let go. "To just sit there, useless, hearing their prayers and cries. To close your own heart and stay away because you know you'll lose them some day!"
She jumped, her fists raised together as they crackled with power, before coming down. He jumped back as she impacted the ground, charring the grass and imploding the ground beneath it in a small explosion. He watched her get up, panting as bits of dirt fell around her. The shimmer of power around her was getting noticeably weaker, her frame starting to shake from the strain but she still kept coming.
She gave a sloppy charge, her right fist coated in the golden energy and static as she roared with her punch. He caught it at the wrist, the crackling fist inches away from his face but he wasn't looking at it. No, his gaze was on Athena's face as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. The goddess that had always seemed so strong yet cold when he had been a mere mortal. The face of seeming indifference and disciplined control that had once intimidated and humbled him.
And he couldn't see a trace of it now.
It took a few seconds before she started to pull at her wrist but he wasn't letting go. Realizing she was stuck, she screamed as she punched with her free hand and he did nothing to block or dodge. His face tilted away as the sting of her fist meeting his cheek made itself known but he didn't complain. She punched again and he took it to the jaw even as his gaze never left hers before he released her other hand. She barely paused at the sudden release but continued nonetheless, her angry tears flowing as even her eyes started to lose the heated glow to leave dull grey behind.
With each blow she got sloppier, the time between punches growing as her breathing got harder. He could see the tremble of her legs as she pushed herself, past the exhaustion and running off raw emotion. A final punch came that landed against his chest with a dull thud, the goddess swaying slightly as her arms dropped to her sides. She stumbled his way and was about to fall until he gently caught her shoulder, her head landing against his chest as he looked down at her.
"Why?"
Her voice was soft and warbled as her shoulders started to tremble, her left hand coming up to grab at his shirt as she lifted her head enough for him to see her face. Her dull grey eyes met his as the tears continued.
"… Please," she pleaded as she tugged at his shirt. "You brought me here because you thought I could change, right? That I could let go of my pride and do something with myself? Well I'm here, begging you," she said as her legs started to give out but Percy held her before she could fall as he slowly dropped to one knee, his gaze never leaving hers as she started to sob, her head resting against his chest.
"I … I don't want to lose any more of them. Cloelia, my children, they're all I have left… I can't just stay away and let them die. Not like before. "
He looked as the tears came, listening to the crying goddess as her shoulders quaked with every shuddering breathe and chocked sob. He felt his mouth drying as his left arm moved to holding Athena along her back, slowing rubbing circles to try and soothe her if at all possible.
"Percy," she said through a hiccup, her eyes nailed to his, "Save her and I'll do anything you want…"
He looked sharply at her, barely hiding his own shock as he searched her eyes. Even as the tears came and her body shook, her eyes were steady and determined. He didn't doubt for a second that she meant every word and that shook him. His right hand clenched as he swallowed softly, their gazes locked.
She opened her mouth to say more but whatever it might have been was lost as Percy acted, gently tapping her forehead with his right hand. A minor sleep spell with a barely visible distortion of air fell over Athena's face before her eyes fell closed and she went limp in his arms, fast asleep. He took a shaky breathe as he looked at the goddess, watching as some of the tension in her frame melted away.
With another deep breath he adjusted the goddess in his arms, one tucked under her legs at the knees and another across her back as he stood up. Her power signature was faint and he knew he needed to get her back to the hospital, otherwise she would continue to lose power and worsen her condition even more.
With but a thought the barrier he'd erected came down and he turned, his gaze meeting three sets of worried eyes. Hestia, Andromeda, and Rhea all walked up to him, their eyes shifting between him and the goddess in his arms. He looked at all three of them, spreading his senses drinking in their presence as he let it soothe the turmoil within.
"You heard all that," he stated, his gaze falling to the goddess in his arms.
Soft 'yes's replied to him as his gaze came back to meet theirs.
"And you know what Cloelia's condition is."
All three nodded, their faces getting grim at the mention of the godling.
"You want to save her," Andromeda said, her voice soft as all three of his wives looked at him.
He nodded, his attention lowered to the goddess in his arms for a moment. He memorized it all. The tear tracks left on her pale cheeks, the way her hands gripped his shirt as she twitched, a sniffle or two escaping her.
The way she felt so small and light in his arms, her normally powerful and humming aura depleted to an echoed whisper. And yet this Olympian had been ready to do anything and everything, even putting herself on the line, if it meant saving and protecting the family she had left.
'No, not just an Olympian. A mother.'
His face rose as he looked at his wives, his voice firm.
"I am going to save Cloelia."
He met their gazes without an ounce of doubt, knowing down to his core that his choice had already been made the moment he saw how far Athena was willing to go. He wasn't entirely sure what his wives had decided, if at all, but if it was a no, then he was going to go through with it. He couldn't save everyone all the time and he couldn't protect everyone from every little thing no matter how much he wished otherwise.
But he wasn't going to abandon someone that needed him and he could help.
He'd been ready to see some disagreement, whether because he'd made the choice on his own or because they didn't agree with it. Regardless he'd been ready for that and to apologize even if he was still going to go through with it. Instead he got two warm smiles from Rhea and Andromeda but it was Hestia's troubled one that got his attention but then Andromeda spoke.
"Good," she said as she shot Hestia a side glance before turning her attention to him. "We were going to tell you that we wanted to save her as well." He started feeling lighter at knowing that but before he could comment Andromeda continued.
"But we need to have a talk about something more." She then looked at the sleeping goddess as she made a tiny whimper and shivered, a bit of a cold sweat starting to show on her forehead. "First we need to get her to the clinic."
"Right," Percy responded before all of them were enveloped in a wave of darkness.
...
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