anti-curse
pairing: percy jackson x daughter of apollo!reader
summary: whether he knew it or not, percy jackson made the world a better, brighter place — and you intend to protect him, no matter what path the fates leads you down. fuck prophetic dreams. the future wasn't written in stone.
warnings/disclaimers: mentions of typical demigod things (battles, weapons, etc.); this is set during the heroes of olympus series so roughly follows that plot + features the seven demigods; mainly inspired by book!percy (dark hair, sea green eyes) bc that's the one i fell in love w growing up; characters are aged up from the book (reader + percy are meant to be 21-22 y/o) bc i imagine there was more time between prophecies/series....anyways, please enjoy <3
when you first met percy jackson, he almost shot you through the chest with an arrow.
given that apollo is your godly parent, you often found yourself at the archery field, which happened to be one of the first stops on percy’s tour of camp half-blood. after that first mishap, your other half-siblings were, understandably, too scared to let percy try again — frankly chiron seemed a bit hesitant as well — and you could sense that percy felt disheartened. so, you flashed the boy a reassuring smile before giving him a few pointers and a second chance. when he smiled back at you, you felt a fluttering in your stomach that told you percy jackson would be more than a little important in your life.
archery still wasn't percy's strong suit, but your gut feeling turned out to be true. you and percy had dealt with a lot since then — a handful of quests, several prophecies, more than a few near-death experiences, a titan war, and, maybe worst of all, high school. you couldn't imagine getting through any of it without him by your side, and you knew the feeling was mutual.
so, you were entirely anticipating that percy would be hurt by your announcement during dinner.
“no way that’s happening.” percy laughs, as if he can’t believe you’d suggest something as ridiculous as not having him accompany you on your quest. he remains unfazed, takes a sip of his electric blue coke before gesturing to the empty seat next to him. “come on, sunshine. have something to eat.”
the nickname sends your heart into a frenzy as you sit next to him. you and percy had never been anything other than friends, but sometimes....sometimes you look at his dangerous ocean eyes and wind-swept dark hair and it makes you blush. sometimes you consider the way his laughter fills you with warmth and his smile holds a thousand memories, the way he teases and winks at you and you decide that he makes your world so much brighter. sometimes you remember how sarcastic and thoughtful and loyal and reckless he is, his heart of gold and unpredictability of the sea. and you start to think that maybe possibly you'd fallen in love with your best friend.
that was not the issue at hand, though. you summon your favourite food and drink, but don't particularly feel like having either. percy returns to his conversation with hazel about how the two of you would drive up to montauk after you finally got your license, any time either of you needed to escape your reality, even just for a night. you'd sit on the beach, stargazing and roasting stale marshmallows and wishing to stay there forever. hazel seems to think that sounds like a nice escape, and percy promises that once the eight of you fulfill this prophecy, you'll all go to the beach house together, which makes hazel break out into a grin.
you can't help but smile at percy who loves his friends, who has loved you for so long. that feeling is quickly replaced by a pang in your chest that reminds you what's at stake. from the corner of your eye, you notice annabeth across from you, who looks at you like you’re a puzzle she can’t quite solve. you're trying to hide it, but if anyone can read you better than percy, it's annabeth. she knows something is weighing on your mind. you briefly lock eyes with jason, who you had gone to earlier for help, from the other side of the room, where he sits between piper and frank.
if you weren’t so distracted, you would have been able to enjoy dinner. the eight of you — all demigods of the current great prophecy — hadn’t been all together in a while, and it was nice to share a meal aboard the argo ii despite the reality of why you’d all been traveling together. leo had equipped the ship with magic plates and cups, and with the lively jokes and stories filling the air, you could almost imagine it was an ordinary summer evening at camp. you could almost forget that tomorrow, you had to go on a quest to rescue apollo and artemis from python, a monster so powerful your father barely defeated him thousands of years ago. you could almost ignore the impending war with gaea and the giants, and the doomed fate of the world if you were to fail. the one thing you could no longer ignore, however, is the gut feeling you have about the fate of the boy sitting next to you if your quest is to unfold the way you had first planned it.
you clear your throat, an attempt to interrupt the group's conversations.
“i was serious earlier,” you declare. “you’re not coming with me, percy. jason is.”
the smile percy had on his face fades. his eyes are filled with concern and disbelief, as he glances at you. “i – i don’t understand.”
"percy,” jason jumps in carefully, aware that he’s treading through dangerous waters like you had warned him. “y/n and i were strategizing earlier and it seems to make the most sense, given our powers combined."
percy shakes his head. “but — but you can’t just make last minute changes. we’ve already got everything set. right, valdez?”
leo shrugs, swallowing a mouthful of chicken before responding. “i don’t know, man. i’m no expert in quests, but it seems like i’m not the one who should be deciding this.” leo looks at you, and you nod gratefully.
you've been on edge since last night, and to calm your nerves you fiddle with the gold chain around your neck. it was a gift from your father: a necklace with a music note charm that can transform into an electric guitar or a bow and quiver. thankfully, you hadn't had to need both at the same time.
“it's up to me. and i want leo and jason to come with me.”
“then i’ll come too,” percy's voice remains calm, but insistant.
“isn’t there that thing about quests usually being done in threes?”
“that is true, piper,” percy agrees. he tilts his head towards you, like he's calling on you to remember. "exceptions have been made, though. like that one time with zoe." that had been years ago, when demigods from camp half-blood and hunters of artemis joined forces. five had been sent out on a quest, but only three came back. you shiver at the thought.
"or my quest through the labyrinth," annabeth recalls.
"but won't that also change our other plans, though?" hazel asks.
"not necessarily," you pipe in, your voice more assertive. "if jason and percy just switch. no harm done."
"we're not interchangeable," percy grumbles.
"hera sure seemed to think so!" leo searches the room for positive responses to his joke, but the most he gets is a half-hearted laugh from frank. "too soon?"
you take a deep breath. "it's not a big deal, really."
"it kind of is," percy counters. "you've never gone on a quest without me."
"you've gone on quests without me," you point out.
"that's...that's different."
"why? because i'm so weak that i need the son of the sea god to protect me at all times?"
you're giving percy the coldest stare you ever have. he hesitates to hold your gaze.
"you know that's not what i meant," he sighs.
"then what did you mean?"
percy looks at you, his eyes and tone softer. “look, sunshine, let's just stick with the plan, alright? we can just —”
“gods, you never listen, do you?" you finally snap. "you're not coming! i don’t want you there, percy!”
percy stares at you, stunned. you look around the table, and everyone looks back at you, wide-eyed. they weren’t used to this side of you, your sudden outburst not fitting in with your usually sunny disposition.
“well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” leo jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood, with less than ideal results.
“you saw something in your dreams, didn’t you?” annabeth realizes.
her conclusion makes you freeze.
demigod dreams are always significant, carrying vivid images of monsters, messages from friends or enemies. some children of apollo like you had visions of the future — pseudo prophecies that are supposedly set to unfold given the path you’re on. technically, you weren’t supposed to share your visions, something about messing with fate or destiny, but that didn’t mean you had to accept the way things were.
what you saw in your dreams last night, what might happen to percy, made your blood run cold.
you would defy all the laws of the universe and divine rules if it meant you could protect him. so fuck the path the fates are attempting to lead you down, and fuck prophetic dreams. you refuse to let percy die. no matter how frustrated you’re acting towards him in this moment, you know he would still do the same for you.
you figure that the future isn't written in stone, right?
either way, you're willing to challenge destiny for percy jackson.
without answering annabeth, you get up from the table and take a deep breath, carefully avoiding percy’s gaze.
“i go with leo and jason, or i go alone.” your voice is steady, fighting the heavy beating of your heart and tears caught in your throat. “either way, i leave in the morning.” you exit the mess hall before anyone — before percy — can protest.
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Girls’ Night!
Referenced kidnapping and missing persons, human trafficking mention, vague fictional politics
[Directly follows In the Dog House]
Beth tracked the truck through the city by camera, determining it was headed southwest toward the farmlands. It certainly narrowed her options, the rolling hills quiet save for the spare bellow of a cow in labor. Most places here were family owned - quiet homesteads that hadn’t moved in centuries save for fire or war. But there was one that stood out on this side of town: the Lahey horse barn.
If she was supposed to be looking for an enemy of the O’Hares, it would be that former-crime family. Their fall from grace hadn’t been, well, graceful or slow, in large part due to the youngest O’Hare turning traitor when arrested. They had plenty of motive to kidnap the poor bastard, with East as an unlucky witness.
(He wasn’t dead. It was intuition more than faith; no body had turned up and he wasn’t worth much to them dead. Or so she told herself.)
If the pair of lost boys were anywhere, they were with the Laheys. And it seemed she wasn’t the only one with that deduction.
It was hard to hide vehicles on these open roads, but the small convertible ahead of her was doing its damndest - black paint, no lights…if Beth hadn’t come up behind it in her own car she would never have seen it. Her headlights illuminated its driver for a split second, and she had a good guess as to their identity. The senior O’Hare may have been a heartless bastard who didn’t pay a ransom for his own children, but it seemed it wasn’t a hereditary trait in the family.
Both vehicles pulled over, hidden from the distant horse barn by shrubbery and a stonewall. Beth left her vehicle first - she knew the fact that she was a woman made it easier for people to trust her. (Less likely to suspect she would stab them in the back.) She was pleasantly surprised to see another woman step from the convertible, though knowledge soured the revelation.
Of course the lost sheep was looking for the latest lamb abandoned by the shepherd.
“Liza O’Hare. You’re awfully far from your latest boyfriend’s penthouse.” Beth kept her voice light, a sober undertone matched by the woman’s hard eyed appraisal. She had none of the usual finery Beth had come to associate with the wealthy grifter. She wore simple trousers and a button down shirt, with hair tired back in a tight bun. Professional.
(Beth wouldn’t admit it made her more attractive than her usual attire of tule slips or miniskirts. The agent was on the clock, after all.)
“And you are?” The thick Irish brogue rolled off her tongue with annoyance, impatience in her poster as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Agent Beth Adams. MI5.” Beth huffed, breath fogging in the cool night air. “Officially, I’m just Beth Adams tonight. Kidnappings aren’t Security Service jurisdiction.”
“Then what are you here for?” Liza’s bite was startlingly defensive, endearingly protective.
“Not your brother. Though I’m sure getting the little bastard back home alive would be a bonus.” Beth almost wished Jackson was here. Tact wasn’t her strong suit, and Liza’s suspicion was only increasing. “Friend of a friend got nabbed with your brother. I need to get him home safe, or I’ll never hear the end of it.” She took half a shuffle forward, and Liza’s hand was at her hip - surely on a readied firearm. Beth sighed, glancing at the barn in the distance. “We’re both trying to save these boys a bit of pain. I don’t know about your brother, but my friend of a friend has had more than his fair share and I’m not interested in leaving him another night with those fuckers.”
Liza’s expression was difficult to watch in the dim moonlight, but Beth could swear she saw the grifter’s eyes widened a fraction as she reached a realization.
“He won’t be there another night. Sale dropped off the listings a few hours ago. Buyer is probably coming by tonight - ”
“Sale?” Beth felt frustration simmer hot under his skin. Of course - she should have checked the human trafficking listings - “Do you know who’s buying?”
“No. But if they contacted the Laheys this quickly, they knew what, or who, they were looking for.” Liza pulled a pair of night vision binoculars from the backseat of her car, aiming them toward the barn and watching the distant movement Beth could only barely make out.
“Should I be worried that you know more about my friend of a friend than I do?” It was only half a joke - how Liza O’Hare knew East well enough to recognize him by a red market listing was a question for another time.
“Like you said both want these idiots alive and safe come morning.” Her tone changed, soft but colder. “Watch our six. Looks like there’s movement from the south.”
Liza was right, there was the almost imperceptible sheen of headlights over the distant hills. Beth took out her own binoculars, comfortable with her back to one of Europe’s most wanted. Jackson must have been rubbing off on her - trusting a criminal like this…
(To be fair, the situation was dire enough that the notorious Liza O’Hare was trusting an agent as ruthless as Beth.)
“Black BMW from the south. Rental car - might be our buyer.”
“Bad timing - black pick up truck just left with two from the barn.” Liza clicked her tongue, tossing the binoculars into her car. “They’re not here.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Why send your burliest boys away when the most dangerous part of a transaction comes up?” Liza sighed, grimacing. “Lahey is trying to stall. He lost one - or more likely both - of them and is having his boys track them down while he tries to keep the buyer busy.”
Liza was getting into her car by the time Beth realized she was meaning to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“They’re not here. I have a pretty good guess where they are, knowing my brothers. No point hanging around here.” Liza nodded her head to the passenger side of her car. “Lahey is a dead man and this barn is a dead end. We just need to get ahead of that truck and stay ahead of the buyer.”
Beth was already climbing inside the convertible, bag from her own car tossed in the back. No point trusting Liza halfway in this - they were a team. At least for tonight. She gave a sad glance to the rear view mirror, the rental car door opening but the figure too distant to see.
“What makes you so sure the buyer will kill Lahey for not having his…product immediately available?”
“Red market isn’t the kinda business where one…misplaces a sale. Best case scenario the buyer thinks Lahey is incompetent and inexperienced - which he is - and that makes him a liability. Worst case, the buyer assumes Lahey was baiting them for someone like you.”
[Directly before Professionals]
(Part of my Freelancers: Changing Tides series)
Taglist: @stargeode @sacredwrath @genuineformality
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