Written for the Querencia Life and Death Quest

Task 1: Write about life. The only requirement for this fic is that it must depict life — more specifically birth — in some manner, and it must be an angst fic.

Percy has been through a lot. Like, a lot kind of a lot, not to brag. He's been through the worst of the Greek Mythology world, he's been through some of the worst of the mortal world and he's been through some of the worst of mental states.

He's tired of everything.

He's been played a pawn since his young age, starting from the abuse since the age of three.

(Apollo flashes in to bless her.)

The abuse was painful, torturous to the younger Percy, but he grew used to it. Sooner than he wished, he realised that things could get much worse. Much much worse than a dozen whips a day, broken beer bottles and being pushed around like a ragged punching bag. Still, little him thought he had it bad then. Current Percy agreed, for a young boy who should be shielded from the horrors of the world, that had been a little much.

Then he turned twelve. A long time skip, yes, but absolutely necessary.

(Poseidon flashes in and blesses her as well.)

He is accused of stealing Zeus' Master Bolt - which he never knew existed before then in the first place! He is sent on a quest around America, nearly gets killed multiple times - still better than him killing others, even monsters -, goes to the Underworld, beats the war god and more. All in his first month of knowing about being a demigod. Well, he does make a fool of himself and gets a put on a manhunt so he isn't really allowed to say much.

He's turning fourteen very soon.

(Zeus reluctantly blesses her, almost definitely with a lot of prompting from Poseidon, Hestia and possibly Hera.)

His best friend gets himself kidnapped, he has to go after said best friend in the Sea of Monsters in secret. His camp's protection is dying, he has to find the cure with Annabeth. His teacher - the first that's ever trusted him - is accused of poisoning a tree that used to be a demigod, he decides to find proof otherwise. He does all that, rescues his best friend, finds the cure and clears his teacher's name. Then he does more, he revives a daughter of Zeus from near death. Still, he wishes he were dead. Then maybe everything would be simpler.

Half a year later, he gets sent to collect two demigods - children of Hades, though no one knows - that get themselves in a mess quickly.

(Artemis takes one look at the girl, her mother and her brother, then blesses her.)

Bianca joins the hunters, Nico is hurt. Bianca gets sent on a quest, Nico pleads for Percy to protect her. Bianca dies, Nico gets mad. Everything goes downhill, and that's just brushing the topic of the children of Hades. Artemis gets kidnapped, along with Annabeth. Percy and the others save her, and Zoë dies. Percy has to hold up the sky too, along with Annabeth and Artemis. Its torture, though not at its finest.

Another half a year passes, its the summer of his fifteenth birthday.

(Hades bites his lip, deep in thought, then blesses the girl anyways.)

The Labyrinth is torturous, and they get lost easily. In a basic rundown, they find and fight in something like a gladiator ring from ancient times, find Nico, get captured and have to get Rachel to navigate the Labyrinth for them, in no particular order. They end the summer with the first battle of the war. He wonders why he's holding on, realises but only grows more withdrawn.

He's turning sixteen soon, the prophecy is soon to come true.

(Hermes looks at him, thinks of his dead son, and blesses her.)

He starts the summer with blowing up a ship and losing a camper in the process. He isn't sure if the prize - some more time before the final battle - is worth the price - Beckendorf. He gets directed to the River Styx for the Curse of Achilles. Its painful, worse than all the tortures he's ever suffered combined, but he makes it out anyways. The battle is terrible, they lose so many campers. Luke kills himself in the end to save the world; Percy isn't the hero but people treat him as one anyways. The summer ends with a new prophecy.

Then he goes missing, gone.

(Hera feels obligated to bless his sister for the things she's done to him.)

Its all Hera's fault. Then again, she technically did save him from suicide.

He appears again, in the completely wrong camp.

(Ares blesses her.)

With the Romans, he makes new friends - Hazel, Frank and Reyna - and gets sent on another quest. To Alaska, the land beyond the gods. He meets Iris with Frank and Hazel, nearly drowns, frees Thanatos, and saves the legion's crown, the golden eagle. He regains his memory, and he's left to deal with the impact of it. He continues to hide his true feelings from the rest of his friends.

The Argo II arrives.

(Hephaestus thinks of his little hyperactive fiery boy of a son, then blesses the girl. Aphrodite thinks of how the boy lets her play with his love life so much, then thinks of her daughter with charmspeak, the one who broke the stereotypes, and blesses the kid.)

It ends in disaster and the Seven fleeing on the ship. Stupid eidolons. He loses control of himself as the eidolons takes over. It scares him, because he likes it. He likes the feeling of not having to do anything, of simply drifting off in nowhere. They fight a lot of monsters while Annabeth tracks the mark of Athena. Somehow, he and Annabeth end up falling into the deepest pits of hell.

Tartarus isn't fun.

(Athena looks at the girl, and supposes she owes it to him for being there for her daughter, then blesses the newborn child.)

They walk through the depths of hell together, suffering the pain. They fall in the river of misery (Percy wants to stay in there forever), they get ambushed, they meet the curses (Percy gets the worst of it, though Annabeth isn't far behind), they reunite with friends, they meet primidorials (and piss them off) and they fight their way out of hell alive. By that point, he just wants to die.

They're out of there, but the final battle is yet to come.

(Hestia smiles warmly at the teen who's deep in thought, then thinks of all the things he's done for them gods as she blesses his sister.)

Percy nearly dies at the bottom of the ocean, saved by Jason. He admits his suicidal thoughts to Jason, who fortunately helps provide him support as much as possible. They fight and he accidentally awakes Gaea with, what? A nosebleed. He supposes he has a valid reason to be upset with himself. To put Gaea back to sleep, Leo sacrificed himself. Percy couldn't help but feel guilty. He tried to kill himself later that night, but failed.

(All the gods flash out.)

So as he looks at his newborn half-sister, soundly asleep in their mother's arms despite having been blessed by twelve gods, with both parents asleep, he can't help but wish her good luck.

Why did she have to be born into this cruel cruel world?

(He just hopes he can shield her from the cruelty at her young age, giving his blessing in his own unique way.)

Word Count: 1244 words

(A/N: As most would have read earlier, this was written for the Querencia Life and Death Quest. Yes, I've noticed Facades hasn't been updated and the lone one-shot from the other fandom I've mentioned hasn't come up yet. I'm going into a relapse. Motivation needed I guess. Prompts help race my mind and after writing these little things, I can actually focus on that one-shot and Facades decently.

Peace,
Summer)