#dark perpollo

Rhodes marriage had fallen apart not long after hers began.

Helios had outed his Mother In Law to her husband at the Wedding Celebration and been cursed by Aphrodite for it.

Not even a few days later their once happy marriage had been in ruins as Helios galavanted off to follow an arrogant mortal around like a lost puppy.

Hephestus had divorced Aphrodite for her infidelity but not before embarising her and Ares before the whole Pantheon and making them both a laughing stock.

Two marriages destroyed. One joyous, the other already on the rocks.

Two centuries later and Rhodes was still furious over the situation.

The enchantment had eventually broken but Helios refusal to cast asside the children and grandchildren he had sired during his infidelity had Rhodes roth with rage.

Her Temper was egged on by their Father and his Lady Wife, both of whom were furious over their daughters treatment at the hands of her husband.

The seas themselves responded to their rulers rage. Even two centuries later, ship wrecks and drownings at an all time high

With so much death and horror taking place within the Seas currents, Perse had been at first unable and later unwilling to draw her Oceanic parents attention to her own predicament.

There was little her father could do and his intervention would not be worth the innocent lives it cost.

And if a part of her cried over her Fathers indifference and negligence towards her well being, she never voiced it. After all, better to suffer in silence then risk discovering that Poseidon had known and simply hadn't cared.

Apollo's behaviour hadn't been too terrible at first, the sun god content to ignore his new Wife's existance for the first decade of their marriage.

They hadn't even consumated the union!

Persedione had tentatively begun to accept the idea that she should treat their relationship as a rather odd vow of chastity that came with a absent boss when Apollo came barelling back into her life.

The god had been consumed by wrath, convinced that she had somehow betrayed her marital vows to sleep with another.

Her desperate pleas of innocence had fallen on death ears and it hadn't been until the god felt her virginity shatter under his own ministrations that he believed her.

Her Lord Husband had been apologetic in the aftermath, tending to her every injury with gentle hands and gentler words but the damage was done.

Intentionally or not Apollo had set the tone for their relationship with his jealous rage and need to own every part of her.

Noone who knew what he had done would be suprised by what followed, for as much as Apollo was lauded as the god of Healing and Poetry he was also the god of Plagues and Curses.

Divine retribution was an artform that he had perfected.

Apollo began taking an interest in his wife but where once Sweet Persedione of the Tranquil Waters would have tentatively encouraged and welcomed her Husband's presence, now she dreaded every interaction.

Every moment between them was marred by violence as Apollo's jealousy and need for control took root and grew into something ugly and cruel.

The Sea did not like to be restrained and Apollo wanted a wife who would submit, not a Riptide that would buck and fight every command.

In the aftermath of that first night Perse had fled to Hera. The goddess had held her as she broke apart before piecing her back together into something presentable that could face her mother without shame.

Athena may be a virgin goddess but her primary Domain was Wisdom for a reason, all it had taken was one look at her daughter to understand what had occured.

Athena had raged, cursed and fumed. Only the knowledge that her daughter needed her more than vengeance had kept her from enacting violence upon her half brother in that moment. - that and the knowledge that if her brother chose to punish her daughter for her mothers behaviour there would be nothing Athena could do to stop him.

Once her little dove slumbered in her Stepmothers embrace Athena had attempted to hunt down her daughters no good father to no avail.

Poseidon refused to answer her calls, most likely believing she was there to 'talk sense' into him over his bastard and her jilted husband. Fool.

With the men proving to be less than useless Athena and Hera worked together to come up with reasons for Perse to leave Olympus and when all else failed, spirited her away to places where Apollo couldn't find her.

By the end of their first century of marriage all of the Olympian Council save her Father were aware of the tragedy her marriage had become.

Apollo had grown sloppy about healing his wifes bruises and it become near impossible to justify how her father had remained ignorant.

Persedione told herself that this was a good thing, her fathers wrath could drown whole continents and she could not bear to carry so many deaths upon her conscience. But the part of her that would always crave her parents love could not help but question why her suffering was so easily dismissed by her sea born kin.

Eventually even Zeus became concerned for the petite goddess, partnering with Hades to grant her a Chthonic domain.

He claimed that it was so she could help clean up after her fathers tantrums but the all saw the satisfied glint in his eyes as he ignored Apollo's silent fuming to softly explain to his granddaughter that the domain allowed her to guide drowned souls and any who died without proper buriel rites to the Underworld for judgement.

It would be alot of extra work, far away from Olympus.

Perse was exstatic, forgetting decorumn for a moment to hug her grandfather tightly as she professed her thanks. No one commented on the tears that spilled from sea green eyes, just as noone had commented on the burnt bronze band of bruising still visoble on her wrists.

It was not just the escape from her hisband that had the Sea goddess so excited, but the fact that these new duties allowed her to help her poor sister Kymopoleia who had been terribly overworked these last century as the only Chthonic god able to gather drowned souls.

The 2 had always gotten along but quickly became close working togethwr as thwy realised how kuch they had in common. Kym's feelings of isolation from the family were a mirror to her own and the storm goddess's position as an outcast from the atlantean court placed her firmly within Perse domains and made her easy to relate to and love.

Kym brought out the rebellious part of her and never shied away from the more wild parts of her nature.

In the long hours thet worked side by side it was easy to admit to her troubles and worries.

Kym was the only member of hwr Sea born kin to realise the state of her marriage and often caused storms to batter Delos as retribution for Apollos brutish behaviour.

The realisation of her younger sisters state and how their parents had failed to pick up on it due to their focus still being on Rhodes furthered the divide between Poseidon and the eldest of his children.

Kym had never quite forgiven him for dismissing her anger over her forced marriage so readily. The fact he was indulging Rhodes as she shrieked about her husband but had little time for Kyms concerns over her own marriage had hurt. Learning that his continued indulgence of her least favourite sibling was not only causing her more work but had left Perse ignored and vulnerable to a husband who had turned violent turned that pain into seeds of hate, not that their father had noticed.

By the end of Perse's second century of marriage Rhode final began to calm and their parents were able to look away from their middle child long enough to realise that it had been almost 70 years since either their youngest or oldest daughter had visited atlantis

Apollo and Zeus ended up coming to blows and the fight was loud enough to draw Atlantis and Erebus attention. The fight between father and son, king and heir only fanned the flames of the rumours that had begun circling from Hera and Zeus screaming match . -> side note: this is how Poseidon learns his daughter is missing and Apollo throws Zeus under the bus to distract his father in law from any rumours that might still be circling pertaining to his own abysmal behaviour. (Zeus allows this as despite Apollo being a little shit that's his son and Poseidon will kill him if he learns about what Apollo has done. He can't kill Zeus. Probably)

That said, though Apollo doesn't blame either for what happened, he is obscenely jealous over the fact that Dionysus isn't his son and oscillates between pretending Dio is in fact his child and that he loves him as his own (delusional) or pretending that Dio doesn't exist(extra delusional and makes council meetings a nightmare at times).

Dionysus greatly prefers the later and grits his teeth through the former because he knows if he doesn't at least try to play along when Apollo gets like this it is his mother who will suffer the consequences of Apollo's twisted fantasies being broken.

Persedione's subsequent disappearance after she was raped was also the situation that made Apollo realise he wanted and cared about Persedione as more than an easy fuck and that she wasn't a doll for him to pull apart and put back together.

That at some point he had fallen for his wife without realising and a big part of his rage towards her was due to him wanting her to want him back. The god of knowledge did not like realising this as he prides himself as a god who is more emotionally aware of himself than others.

Had he bothered to really think about it, he would have realised that no matter how many times he 'took' her affection and love it wasnt the same as something freely given. He craved reciprocation that would never come after what he had done.

Frankly he should have realised his feelings when she was raising Asclepius because that's when his fantasies about her became less... violent in their focus? But he's knowledge not wisdom or emotional insight despite his claims to the contrary.

He feels like a fool for taking so long to put together that he has basically been pulling Loyalties pigtails but worse, so tries to ignore it and focuses on scheming over how to steal her heart.

In his mind it shouldn't be that hard to take given how many hearts he has stolen. But he fails to consider that all of his tricks and romantic ploys would not work on someone who had seen his absolute worse.

Any chance of Persedione loving him sailed a long time ago and she is not going to react well to him trying to play happy family.

She will suspect it of being a trap or ploy to fuck with her.

Apollo eventually realises that Dionysus is the only thing guaranteed to make Persedione go along with his fantasies so the god is more often a prop or tool in Apollo's delusions. It's not that she love's him more than Asclepius like Apollo sometimes likes to claim to hirt her but Persedione knows that though Apollo has some fondness for his brother, Dio is not his son and he is capable of hurting him where he would never dream to hurt their little healer.

Dionysus is aware to some extent that Apollo uses him to coerse his Mother and hates it. Apollo lives solely because his mother doesn't want Dio to be stained by the crime of kin slaying.

Apollo, though he has implied that he could has never actually caused Dionysus harm. He still remembers when Persedione used her domains on him and how long he took to heal from it. The world where Apollo is stupid enough to actually hurt Dio and not just threaten to is the world where Persedione ends him -> there is a spin off running around in my head where this happens and Perse ends up on the run from Olympian justice afterurdering her husband/the kings heir

//

Dionysus' powers:

In alot of ways everything that Dionysus is originates from his mother.

Either due to watching how she is treated, how she raised him or just something he picked up from her whilst he was in the womb.

Others might have been distressed to realise how intwined they were with their parents but Dio is a mamas boy and adores how alike he is to perse and how little he shares with his father or brother/step-father.

Even his Zagreus aspect links him and his mother given her chthonic ties.

Madness isn't as clear cut though most of it can be atributed on Perse.

Despite their claims to the contrary, none of the Greek gods are bastions of mental stability.

Persedione takes the biscuit though after all she's been through and like how Zeus inherited the seeds of Kronos paranoia, Dionysus got a seed of Persedione brewing madness.

Perse adores her son and raises him with all the love and care she possibly can, but she has just spent over a century being put through unspeakable horrors and had been self harming to the point Thanatos ended up checking in a few times before she was gifted the child she craved.

All that is to say, no matter how much she loved and tried to protect Dio, her trauma was always going to leave it's mark and played a pivotal role in him gaining Dominion over Madness.

Dionysus grows up being taught by his mother in the mornings (reading, writing, mathematics, poetry, history...), followed by an afternoon of tending to the plants with the Nymphs and Satyrs (roots of his fertility aspect) and finished off with an evening spent with his mother once more as she trains him to fight and defend himself.

Every third day is for play and laughter

He is never alone and never without something to do or learn.

But Dio is a smart boy who loves his mother and notices that she tends to disappear for sporadic periods of time.

Eventually he manages to lose his babysits fornlong enough to follow her.

it's the first time he sees his mother breaking down, it won't be the last.

As he grows up Dionysus desire to help his mother shapes his power and influences what kind of god he will become.

By mid teens he begins to see his mothers trauma induced madness clearer and works with the Nymphs and Satyrs to comfort and care for her as she had him growing up.

There is an incident where Dionysus is cursed with Madness but it wasn't Hera in this and it was merely the straw that broke the camels back when it came to Madness belonging to him rather than the cause.

After Hera helps Persedione break the curse of madness they all feel the domain settle within him.

By that point he was the foremost expert of his time when it came to the mind, treating his mother as best he could without her realising and a few nymphs that had been similarly traumatised by different gods.

Dionysus and his mother are co-dependent, protective and clingy.

Once Dio ascends and Persedione regains her immortality the two will end up anchoring their sanity on one another which is great for them and not so much everyone else as one of them spiralling will drag the other down with them and they make it everyones problem. On the plus side thos also means that their highs never seem to peak as they create a feed back loop.

Dionysus also inherited a small spark of his mothers domain of a Rebellion and spends most of his mortal and immortal life guiding his followers to let go of their fears in order to subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful in search of true freedom and exstacy.

//

Children / Demigods of Persedione:

Persedione endgame is Thanatos x Persedione x Hekate but I don't see why we might not get anew god out of it and Dio a baby sibling.

fun fact: Whilst all Demigods are Persedione's children due to her title of 'Mother of Demigods', her champions are the only ones recognised as such by Olympus. Perse can act as a legal guardian for most Demigods in need but only her champions are regarded as her children and recorded as such.

its a hold over from before the ancient laws and something Athena petitioned for. Odysseus was recognised as the first child of Athena despite not being a brain baby due to his position as her champion and Persedione followed in her mothers footsteps.

One of the ripple effects of this au is that Hades didn't curse the Oracle.

Don't get me wrong, The man was still unbelievably furious at his lover's death, but he wasn't backed into the same corner he was in canon.

Persedione managed to fix things between him and Demeter (it helps that Hades is a phenomenal husband, especially when compared to Apollo) so he visits her and Persephone during spring and summer and Demeter visits during the cold months; Zeus and him are on relatively good terms thanks to Persedione and Persephone dragging the two into their odd co-parenting situation surrounding Zagreus/Dionysus (close enough that unlike Poseidon he knows the man isn't well and hasn't been since the beginning of the last century. It's hard to be angry at someone you know isn't in their right mind); Athena surprisingly has been someone he's gotten close over the past few decades too (Hades had offered comfort and someone she didn't need to be strong for and the wisdom goddess had recognised the genuine care stripped bare of manipulation for what it was and clung to it)...

Most importantly though his kids, family and court are accepted at Camp Elpis and New Athens.

Many of his kids/legacies have held or currently hold important positions within the city state and there are several temples to him and his court where offerings are laid in thanks.

Proper burial rites are being given!

So yes, Hades is angry but not enough to punish an innocent.

It helps that the Oracle is still just a child and even now Hades cannot bare to disappoint his favourite niece. Not when he will need to return to the underworld and face Persedione's ghost.

So the Oracle lives and dies a peaceful life with May Castellan (who's still a virgin because her relationship with Hermes wasn't sexual in nature) eventually taking on the mantle of Oracle of Delphi.

Apollo's Oracle's rarely find a home in Camp Elpis or New Athens, their patron antsy about having what's theirs cut off from them by the wards.

Instead they live within his closest temple to the camp with demigods visiting them for prophecies as needed when called upon to engage in a quest.

Luke still runs, the temple that houses the Oracle of Delphi is no place for children and the son of Hermes can feel the contempt that this building of caged divinity holds for him with every step he takes in it's walls.

He was not a child born of intimacy between his mother and godly father but his existence throws doubt on May Castellans purity and it hates him for it.

The priests and priestesses are worse for all that his mother, caught up in the splendor and mysticism of it all, fails to see it.

Luke in their mind is a slight against their god.

Luke has nightmares of Ichor stained floors; burning flesh, a beautiful women's screams reverberating through the temple as her pleas go unanswered and cruel gold eyes throughout most of his childhood.

These dreams do not stop until he runs, only then are they replaced by that same womens soft smile as she guides demigods of all ages and periods onwards to safety and home.

When Luke first dreams of Athena as she begs him and Thalia to protect her youngest child he can't help but notice as she smiles in relief at their agreement that she shares the same grin as the woman from his dreams.

//

As for Rachel, whilst she still becomes an oracle she takes on the title of Oracle or Speaker for the Grove of Dodona.

How this comes about is rather fun.

At some point during Apollo and Persedione marriage Zeus reached out to his mother for help because he did not know what to do.

Politically his hands were tied, should their marriage be ended it would have devastating consequences for their pantheon.

But the Athenide is his favourite grandchild, mother of his favourite son, daughter of his favourite child and he does not wish for her to suffer.

So he goes to Rhea who has been in a dishearteningly similar position when it came to Kronos in hopes she might know a way to help.

Rhea looks at the situation and choses to grant Persedione the only comfort she can, the same comfort that had granted the Titaness moments of solitude and respite from her mad husband.

Rhea gifts her grandchild the forest of Dodona.

The forest cannot be found or entered by men, nor anyone without its mistresses approval.

Persedione goes there officially to contemplate what her sight shows her but unofficially escapes there whenever Apollo is especially wrathful and she needs to hide until he calms.

Unlike Apollo, Persedione does not have many Oracle's/Speakers.

In fact, before Rachel, Persedione has only ever had one other Oracle.

If it's possible to handle a situation with diplomacy and kindness she will. But Percy is no longer the 12 yr old who had never touched a sword or spilt blood, she understands that sometimes when people are being unreasonable you have to make them listen to you.

Kym plays badcop for the most part, handling the messier aspects of ruling as she knows Percy takes no pleasure in violence, threaten or loom over foolish dignitaries.

It's all in good fun and allows the older woman to indulge her violent tendencies whilst protecting the only family she has left.

However there are occassions where some fool goes too far and Kym steps back to watch the show as her baby sister reminds everyone exactly who she is.

That before she was their sweet queen, Percy was one of the only mortals to survivor Tartarus, a Titan Slayer, Saviour of Olympus...

Percy tries to be the kind of person her mortal mother would have wanted her to be.

But as much as she is Sally Jacksons daughter, she is also Poseidons and the Sea Wrath is something to behold.

After her Marriage, some mutter over history repeating itself, others delight in Olympus and Atlantis ties being strengthened and few glower over what they recognise to be a distraction from their sorrows.

All agree though that the happy duo are well suited to one another.

Purification and Poison, Plagues and Healing.

Both gods so bright amd beautiful, their very presence lighting up any room they enter as they bring delight to any they so much as smile at. Each god so wonderful that you oft forget the long shadow they cast only to recoil in horror when something manages to wake the terrifying beast that sleeps within them.

They are everything you crave and everything you fear.

Apollo and Persedione.

God of Truth and Goddess of Loyalty.

When working together their powers have a choke hold on the entire pantheon.

Before their marriage the gods were on the brink of a civil war but once their oaths were spoken...

Truth coils into Loyalty, Loyalty raps around Truth and 2 strongest gods of the greek-o-roman pantheon coil their power around every being left within their realms and pounce.

Few if any have the strengtg of will to turn from loyalty and truth.

Before- Before. Percy never would have even cosidered acting like this, but now?

She does it without thought.

Their realm is so fragile after all the losses and wars that another so soon would end all who were left.

They cannot allow it.

She cannot allow it.

So she weaves her domain between every god, immortal, halfblood.... allowing Truth to guide it in strengthen bonds, forging new ones and securing those whos ties were once fragile.

Eaxh time she does this, she feels a part of her mortality die

On darker nights she asks herself in Annabeth would hate what she has become. Whether she could forgive the lines she has crossed or if, after what happened in Tartarus, this is one step too far.

On sad nights when the loss is too sharp and she finds herself too exausted from ruling or crying to care, percy sits in the trainong room where she witnessed Triton turn to ash and begs someone, anyone to return those they lost.

On good nights, those that start off fleeting and rare but gradually become more common, she curls up against her lord husband alongside the surviving gods who have become their inner circle and tell one another stories of those lost.

This rag tag group of people ranging from those she already considered friends and others who she would have named enemies are quickly becoming family to her.

Hermes who jokes and gossips about the news he has delivered whilst playing checkers against Persephone. Kym who arm wrestles Thalia whilst arguing with Hazel and Nico about their mutual duties as psychopomps. Athena who reads aloud architecture books from where she's sat bellow them so that Percy can braid her hair. Apollo who holds her tight as he discusses punishments for the damned with Persephone to send over to her lord husband...

They grieve and then they celebrate the lost. From there they begin to smile and joke and try to be happy because the ones they lost wpuld be furious at them for wallowing.

They move on, because they have no otjer chpice if what's left of the world is to survive.