Coming of Age Ch. 34 (Percy Jackson) (Patreon)

A/N: Clarisse makes her decision, Percy and Ares have their fight.

Make sure to read the Closing Author's Note to understand how this chapter's vote works!

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Percy can’t help but tense a little bit when the now-familiar sound of Clarisse pulling her spear from her back and from its coverings with a flourish reaches his ears. But he doesn’t dare take his eyes off of Ares. As the crackling of Clarisse’s lightning spear fills the air, Percy finds his faith rewarded just a moment later.

“I see my enemy, father. He’s right in front of me.”

Clarisse comes to stand by Percy’s side, her gaze focused solely on the stunned God of War. While Ares comes to terms with his daughter’s betrayal, she spares a single moment to give Percy a look and a nod of solidarity, though she can’t quite keep the blush off of her face as she does so. Something that Ares doesn’t fail to notice.

“You…”

Percy grits his teeth as Ares turns his blazing gaze back in his direction. The God of War sounds positively incensed now. Honestly? Good. Let him get angry. Let him feel enraged. Ares can’t possibly be nearly as angry as Percy is at all of the gods and their bullshit. Not after it cost him his fucking mother literally five minutes ago.

Still, he forces a cocky grin on his lips and tilts his head to the side, looking at Ares in amusement.

“What’s the matter? You’d think a God of War would be happy to see his children rebel. One would have to be so very insecure to expect blind obedience.”

Ares’ grip on his baseball bat tightens so much that Percy can hear the creaking of the bat’s metal and the God of War’s leather gloves alike. A sneer spreads across Ares’ face as he beholds Percy like Percy is a particularly loathsome insect.

“I might be happier if I knew she didn’t have to be led to it by YOU…”

Wait, no-

“… Adonis.”

Percy jolts as if struck. Part of him had even seen it coming at the last second, but what was he supposed to do? Should he have interrupted Ares, called for a timeout, and said something like ‘Look I know we’re enemies, but revealing the person I reincarnated from would be a big no-no, I already told Hestia I don’t want to know.’?

Yeah, that definitely wouldn’t have worked out well. Still… Percy has to admit, the revelation leaves him reeling. Not because of who he turned out to be in a previous life, but because THIS was how he found out. After denying himself answers, after telling Hestia that he didn’t want to know because he just wanted to live his own life… it was motherfucking Ares who spilled the beans.

Though, admittedly that made sense. Percy hears Annabeth gasp behind him, and he reaches the same conclusion that she did albeit a moment later. No wonder Ares hates him so much. Adonis was a lover of Aphrodite in the old myths, wasn’t she? In fact, some variations of the story said that…

“I killed you with a boar once. Should have just killed you with my own hands back in that diner and been done with it. Luckily, I still have time to rectify my mistake before Aphrodite finds out you’re back.”

… Yep. Adonis had died to a great big boar and some of the myths had claimed Ares was the one who set it on him out of jealousy. Well, Percy supposed that was confirmed now. Not only that… he was Adonis. Ares revealing as much made it impossible to deny anymore. It wasn’t like Percy could remember his previous life suddenly or anything like that… but having a God call him by his previous reincarnation’s name gave him this strange sort of soul deep certainty that it was the truth.

Suddenly, Ares points the bat at them and it transforms into a flaming bronze sword.

“You always had a way with the weaker sex, Adonis. Even my daughter seemingly can’t resist your wiles.”

Was that why it felt like nearly every woman he’d ever met was throwing themselves at him? Fuck, that couldn’t be it right? Percy doesn’t get much of a chance to spiral in that regard however, because Ares suddenly flicks his gaze to Clarisse… and subsequently deals with her so quickly and so contemptuously that Percy barely has time to blink.

“I didn’t give you that spear so you could turn it against ME, girl.”

CRACKLE! HISS!

Clarisse suddenly screams, and Percy whips around to see her own weapon electrocute her. His eyes widen and he takes a step forward to try to wrest it from her grasp, but as soon as it starts, it stops. The damage is done though. Clarisse drops to the ground and even as the spear rolls from nerveless, twitching fingers, she’s smoking… and clearly incapacitated.

Whipping back around to Ares, Percy grinds his teeth even harder. Of course the bastard had given his daughter a poisoned gift. Of course the God of War had made a backdoor into a weapon he’d gifted to one of his children. What a fucking monster.

“Just you and me now, Adonis, as it always should have been. A duel to the death. Bolt for Helm. Winner takes all. You understand you’ll lose, of course.”

Ares is growing more animated and amused now as he begins to walk forward, step after step. Acting like the battle is a foregone conclusion. He’s hiding his anger behind a thin veneer though; Percy is pretty sure. Pretending as though this is all so beneath him, when really… he’s pissed. Percy though, Percy can’t do it. He’s just so done. Lifting Riptide up and setting his stance as best he can on the sand, he sneers at the God of War.

“Bring it on, bitch.”

Ares actually pauses at that. He’d been swinging his sword back and forth as some sort of intimidation tactic as he went, but now he stops even that.

“… Excuse me?”

Percy lets a grin spread across his face that doesn’t reach his eyes. The pure vitriol and venom that leaks out into his voice is in no way manufactured.

“You fucking heard me. If you were a real God of War, you would never have relied on this bitch behavior, Ares. You would have declared your intentions openly. But you know, deep down inside, that you couldn’t get away with that. Because even after all these millennia, you’re still a weak-ass bitch afraid of your elders. You-!”

Percy had every intention of pissing Ares off with his tirade. But in succeeding, he should have expected the God of War to interrupt his monologuing. With a roar of fury, Ares suddenly lunges forward and it’s all Percy can do to turn the impaling thrust the Greek God goes for aside with Riptide. He barely deflects Ares’ opening blow and just from the way THAT makes his arms rattle, he knows he won’t be able to fully block a single strike from the War God.

At least… not here anyways. As Ares follows up with an overhead strike, Percy is already backpedaling. He’s not foolish enough to turn and run and give Ares his back in the process, but he’s also not foolish enough to try to stand his ground. He fully believed everything he’d said about Ares being a weak-ass bitch, but that didn’t really change the fact that the God of War was so much stronger than him it wasn’t even funny.

But maybe not in water. And so Percy dodges, deflects, and probes Ares’ defenses, all while backpedaling back towards the beach. He’s not expecting to actually get a hit in, which is good because he simply doesn’t. Despite Ares’ anger, despite the War God’s rage, his defense is as strong as his offense. Percy, regardless of whose reincarnation he is, is just a lowly demigod at the end of the day.

… And then his feet hit the surf. He feels strength trickle into him and takes another step back. And then another. Ares pauses, burning eyes narrowing as Percy quickly reaches knee-deep waters. The God of War watches him, even as Percy holds Riptide up in a guard position. Then… Ares smiles. That’s the only warning Percy gets before his divine opponent is upon him once more.

With the power of the ocean flowing through his veins and Ares being forced to wade through the water without the blessings Percy has, one would think the tides would be tipped in the Son of Poseidon’s favor, right? Unfortunately, it really doesn’t work like that. Not only does water boil and evaporate around Ares at such a fast rate that he’s not impaired by it whatsoever, but also… the bastard had clearly been holding back.

Power now flows through Percy’s veins. Being in his father’s domain makes him so much stronger, something he’d learned and used to great effect all the way back in Camp Half-Blood. Unfortunately, it’s not enough. Percy’s inheritance definitely makes him a lot stronger than your average mortal, but stronger than a God of War? No shot.

Especially since Ares had clearly just been toying with him before. Once they’re in the water, the War God picks up the pace and even with the strength of the sea and all of the benefits of being a Son of Poseidon flowing through him, Percy is barely able to keep up. It’s all the more infuriating.

Ever since he turned eighteen, it’s just been one thing after another. First he loses his mom, then he gets accused of being a thief and told the only way to prove his innocence is by finding the real thief. That alone was fucked up enough, but then when he finally figures it all out, finds his mom, and even convinces Hades that the true culprit is actually Kronos… the God of the Underworld still fucking forces Percy’s hand.

And now here he is, fighting Ares after learning the truth that he didn’t ever want to learn. Knowing he was a Reincarnated Soul was one thing. Knowing he was once Adonis and had history with multiple Olympians was another entirely. Percy was just so done, but despite all of that he STILL couldn’t beat Ares. He was so angry, so fed up, and so ready to get his own back.

If this were a story, this would be where Percy got some sort of power up. This would be where all of his anger and frustration would combine and crystallize into some sort of epiphany that would allow him to turn the tables on Ares and defeat the War God once and for all.

… But real life didn’t work that way. It was never truly fair. And Percy was beginning to realize he was never going to beat Ares in swordplay. He’d been so naturally good at it back at Camp Half-Blood. It had come to him so easily that Percy had barely even had to train. On top of that, being in water made him even stronger and faster, and he honestly felt unstoppable.

Until now. Until he was facing down a God in a duel and realizing he wasn’t good enough. But you know what they say… if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Ares wanted to play underhanded games with the weapon he’d given Clarisse? Fine… Percy could do the exact same thing.

He’d tried to make Ares mad enough to make a mistake earlier. He realizes now it hadn’t worked. But there was another trick Percy still had up his sleeve and Ares was foolish enough to give him the chance to enact it. So secure in his victory, the God of War actually pauses for a moment, giving Percy a wicked smirk as the ocean water boils and evaporates around him, sizzling into nothingness.

“Reaching the end of your rope already, Adonis?”

He really was. Even with the ocean revitalizing him, Percy was finding out that his stamina wasn’t actually bottomless. Much like the oceans themselves, it did have a floor, regardless of how deep his well of strength ran. So… all or nothing.

Without a word, Percy pulls Aphrodite’s Scarf free with a flourish. Ares’ eyes immediately widen, before narrowing as Percy wraps the scarf around the forearm and wrist of his sword arm, using it like a brace.

“So you retrieved that from Waterland as well. I’ll enjoy peeling it from your cold, dead corpse and delivering it back into my paramour’s hands, Adonis.”

Smiling thinly, Percy lifts Riptide again.

“The name’s not Adonis, jackass. It’s Percy Jackson. And you might not enjoy doing so… especially since Aphrodite already told me to keep it when I tried to return it to her back in Hollywood.”

Ares freezes at that and you could hear a pin drop in the silence that momentarily follows before the War God’s response.

“… What?”

Grinning wickedly, Percy tilts his head to the side.

“Oh? Didn’t know about that? Yeah we ran into her on our way to the Underworld. She didn’t tell me this whole Adonis thing, but I guess it makes sense why she invited me into the back of her limo for an… extended discussion. Afterwards, I tried to give her scarf back to her, but she told me to hold onto it. As a mark of her favor.”

So much bold-faced lying it wasn’t even funny. The thing was, Percy could imagine all of this happening in his mind’s eye now that he knew he was Adonis. Fuck, between Hestia, Medusa, and the Nereid, his track record for boning supernatural hotties was actually pretty high as it was. It wasn’t hard to inject all the right sort of confidence into his voice, even as he faces off with the God of War. And in the face of that confidence… Ares believes him. Because he’s a fucking idiot.

This time, the roar that the War God unleashes is genuine and a whole lot more powerful as he leaps at Percy. This time though, Percy is more prepared for it, having gotten used to Ares’ speed. And with the water he’s in assisting him, he can move out of the way in time. But not just that… as Ares descends, Percy rolls forward and at the same time strikes upwards with Riptide.

… His goal had been the leaping God’s genitals. Gelding Ares, even if he died right after, would be a fitting end to Percy’s tale, he figures. But alas, the God of War twists at the last second and instead Percy just scores a hit across his thigh, slicing through flesh like butter and sending divine blood, a golden ichor of sorts, spraying across himself and the water.

Percy stiffens at the feeling of God Blood on his body. It feels… strange. Not necessarily a bad strange, but-

“YOU DARE?!”

He doesn’t get a chance to really think about it too hard, because Ares is moving at him, limping now but no less deadly. And Percy knows he’s pretty much on his last legs. He knows he’s done the best he could. This might very well be it, in the end…

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A/N: Alright guys, so there's going to be some divine intervention here, but there are multiple gods who might intervene, so I'm gonna let you guys vote for which god steps in to save Percy. However, I'm not letting you guys know which it is. True Mystery Box style :P

I will let you know what the options are, however: Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Kronos.

These seem like the four that make sense to me for intervening in this moment. Poseidon because Percy warned him about Ares, Hades because Percy just left him, Aphrodite because Percy is using her scarf, and Kronos because he's the one who stops Ares from killing Percy in canon.

Good luck!