A/n Hello all! In addition to adding the epilogue here, the last few months I've edited/revised the rest of FAtD. Somewhere along the way, I found an extra 20k words. The story hasn't changed much, per se, but the original was very bare boned and sparse, now there's a lot more detail and added bits so before you read the epilogue I highly recommend you go back and reread the revised FAtD. Revisions include grammatical changes, as well as clarification of ambiguous language and flushing out the story a little more.

I can't believe it's been almost two years since I finished this. Let me just say a heartfelt and emotional thank you to everyone who's supported this story. It's my baby, my first real full-length story, and I'm very proud of it. It's been a fantastic ride. Happy Father's Day and I genuinely hope you enjoy the revised edition of FAtD ~ *

Epilogue:

And Among The Light

~ * Nine Months Later * ~

"That should do it," Poseidon grunted, heaving the last box of equipment onto the deck and bending low to firmly secure it to the floor. "That's the last of the equipment, Nereid?"

"Going through the checklist one more time," Nereid called, walking out of the cabin, clipboard in hand. Her hair was tied back in a sloppy bun, tendrils of hair fluttering around her excited face. She looked up and smiled at her boss, her eyes sparkling, "But we should be all set to go. When does Percy get out of school?"

"He should be out already," Poseidon said, wiping his hands off on his pants and giving the last loaded box of equipment an experimental shove. It stayed firmly put, so Poseidon patted the top of it in gratitude, moving on to greet Nereid.

"He wanted to stop by and see Blackjack one more time before we head out."

Nereus huffed, looking up from his place on the deck. The old seafarer was sitting cross-legged on the desk, trying to untangle a mess of net and looking none too happy about it. "You couldn't have bought him a dog like a normal parent," Nereus grumbled, shaking his head. "No, that's too common for Poseidon's son, he had to get a horse."

"The doctors said an animal would be good for Percy," Poseidon said, crossing his arms and glaring down at Nereus. "Are you suggesting that the trauma my boy's been—"

"I'm saying that buying the kid a horse was unnecessary and excessive—"

"I think it's lovely, Percy really loves Blackjack," Nereid smoothly interrupted, lightly kicking her dad as she walked passed him.

"It's not like I bought him a racehorse or a prized stallion," Poseidon grumbled. "And I have the money, why can't I spoil my only son after all he's been—"

"You'd buy him a prized stallion if Percy'd let you," Nereid laughed. "It's only because he fell in love with Blackjack that you relented to buy him."

"They don't even know what breed he is, and they warned he might be too excitable for someone who is blind, that's all," Poseidon defended.

Getting Percy to accept therapy would be akin to getting Zeus to be faithful to Hera—Poseidon hadn't even attempted it. But when one of the doctors he did manage to drag Percy off to see suggested getting an animal may help, Poseidon hadn't even hesitated. Sure, maybe a dog might have been a more, ahem, reasonable pet, but Poseidon didn't want some mangy mutt slobbering all over his house and besides, he could afford to buy Percy a better pet, dammit. So, of course, once they got to the barn, Percy was totally uninterested in the thoroughbreds and made a beeline instead for the injured, overly excitable misbreed in the back. Poseidon wasn't even sure why he was surprised.

Poseidon found Percy at Blackjack's side, a mere three weeks after his second accident, his still overly clingy and unnaturally silent son utterly enraptured by the pest. The horse nuzzled Percy's hair and Percy laughed, lovingly petting the horse and Poseidon knew they weren't leaving without him. A shame, he thought, staring at the thoroughbred he had in mind, but the way Percy's eyes light up when Blackjack nuzzled his hair had Poseidon offering more money than the horse was worth to the surprised owner.

"Alright, Poseidon," Nereid allowed, obviously not believing him the slightest bit. "But Percy's got Blackjack now and he loves his pet dearly."

"Yes, well," Poseidon said, pulling out his phone to check the time.

He purposefully angled the phone away from both Nereid and Nereus—he may be a besotted parent as both Zeus and Hades loved to continuously tease him about, but that didn't mean he couldn't pretend otherwise. The screensaver on his phone was a picture of his son. Percy was smiling, his face tan and carefree, head thrown back as he laughed. He was sitting atop a dark horse, Blackjack, one hand on the horse's neck and the other flung high in the air, trying to wave in Poseidon's general direction. What an idiot, Poseidon thought fondly, a smile curving up his lips as he swiped passed the home screen and opened his messages.

"I heard Hestia talking the other day, something about Percy joining the swim team?" Nereid asked, marking something down on her clipboard.

Poseidon frowned, still not entirely sure how he felt about his sister and Nereid talking on a regular basis. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was a very bad thing.

"Yes, apparently RHS's swim coach saw Percy during gym and thought he would make a good addition to the team," Poseidon said. "It'd be a good sport for him."

"Yes, that it would," Nereid agreed. "And being part of a team would also be good for him. Have you talked to him about it? Does he want to join?"

"We haven't talked about it much, I'm letting him think about it. I think he wants to, though. I don't know, we'll see. He's got all summer to decide."

"How's he getting here then?" Nereus grunted, giving up and breaking out his old fishing knife to put the knot in its place. Poseidon eyed him warily, typing out a text.

"Thalia's bringing him."

"You trust her to drive him?" Nereus asked, frowning up at Poseidon.

Poseidon's hackles rose a little, as did his exasperation. "He's my son Nereus, not yours. And yes, I trust Thalia to get Percy here safely. While her driving may normally leave something to be desired, she takes extra care when Percy's in the car. Won't even turn right on red and that sort of thing."

Poseidon turned around, shoving his phone back into his pocket and getting ready to head below deck for a quick check when he heard it; tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

That sound was as familiar as the call of the waves by now and Poseidon turned, casting his eyes across the dock to find the source. Percy was making his way up the dock, waving behind him at the black car that peeled out of the dock. There was a bag slung over his back, a pair of dark sunglasses perched atop his nose and a smile on his face. His cane tapped the way for him, lightly swinging from side to side as Percy walked forward with ease.

"There he is," Nereid said fondly, holding a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun. "Hello, Percy! How was your last day of school?"

"It sucked!" Percy called back with a grin, slowing down as his cane felt out the edge of the boat. Nereid leaned forward, gently tapping his shoulder and Percy let her help him onboard the boat.

"All done with the eighth grade huh?" Nereid asked, tsking as she fussed with the collar of Percy's shirt. "You're covered in horse hair. I can't believe you'll be a freshmen next year."

Percy's face flushed a little under the attention but Poseidon knew he secretly liked the fussing. It reminded him of his mother, Poseidon thought. Or, it just reminded him that he was loved now, and he had people who cared about him immensely.

"I mean, RHS is weird," Percy complained. "It's seventh through twelfth grade. It doesn't feel like I'll be a freshmen, it feels like I just got done being a level two freshmen."

"The seventh and eighth graders are separated from the ninth through twelfth graders, it'll feel different, trust me," Poseidon said. "And hey, Nico'll be a seventh grader next year so you'll get to bother him.'

"I can't be seen with a seventh grader," Percy tried to scoff, eyebrows pulling together as he took his sunglasses off, propping them up on his head.

Poseidon snorted, wondering just who the boy was trying to fool. "Oh please, sure, you won't be Nico's oversized second shadow like Thalia wasn't stuck to your side like glue this year."

Percy scowled but didn't dispute the point. Because he knows I'm right, Poseidon thought smugly, ruffling Percy's hair.

"Stop that," Percy complained, batting at his father's hands

"How was Blackjack?" Poseidon asked, hip checking Percy to the side to reach over and grab Nereid's clipboard.

"Good, Annabeth's going to watch him while we're gone then. I showed her all the stuff around the barn. Blackjack seemed to know something was going on, he didn't want to let me leave. Hey, did you see Thalia's new car?"

"Yes, it's horribly excessive," Poseidon said, pulling Percy below deck, ignoring the snort Nereus gave.

Like the brat he was, Percy snorted too. "Sure Zeus is the only horribly excessive parent in this family."

Poseidon knocked him upside the head. "Quiet, brat."

"Jerk," Percy scoffed right back, grinning as he temporarily leaned against Poseidon.

Poseidon enjoyed the closeness, letting his hand curl around the nape of Percy's neck, knowing moments like this would be few and far in between as his son grew older. Sure enough, Percy pulled away a second later, tossing his bag carelessly into Poseidon's study.

"Our navigation table is in the center of the room," Poseidon said, giving Percy a little shove towards the common room. Percy nodded, poking his cane around the room as he slipped inside. He wobbled a little, laughing at himself as he tried to force his body to adhere to the bobbing of the boat.

"You'll get your sea-legs back soon," Poseidon promised, walking in behind Percy. "Map's on the table, you all done packing?"

"Yep," Percy said, popping the 'p'. "Everything I need is either in my bag or we brought it out last night."

"Good," Poseidon said, running through Nereid's checklist as he stepped around the navigation table.

Percy leaned over to the table, holding his cane off to the side as he reached out and felt around for the map. It wasn't hard to find, the damn thing took up half the table, but Poseidon was quite proud of it. It took him forever to find the stupid thing. The enlarged map was firmly taped onto the table, the world and, more importantly, its seas and oceans rising to life. Literally rising, the countries and landforms raised off the map for Percy to feel and everything properly labeled with braille. A braille map. Poseidon smiled as Percy's fingers traced over the map, trailing up the east coast before halting over their spot, marked with a bright blue pin. Not that it mattered to Percy, but Nereid was found of color coding things.

"So we're going down the coast, stopping by Florida to help Lilaea and then heading out to the Great Barrier Reef right?" Percy asked, letting his hand travel south, tracing the path as he spoke, fingers finding each destination pin that proudly stuck out of the map.

"To start, yes," Poseidon agreed. "The Great Barrier—"

"—Reef is having jellyfish problems, yes I know," Percy snorted, tilting his head so his smiling face was visible.

"Oh that reminds me, Nakamura wants us to stop by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium," Poseidon said, snapping his fingers as he grabbed a new pin from the open plastic container on the table and reaching over to find the aquarium on the map.

"The Japanese one? That like really big one with the other whale sharks?" Percy asked excitedly, letting his hands get nudged to the side as Poseidon pushed down the new pin.

"That's the one," Poseidon agreed, sitting back. "We'll go up there and then see where the ocean takes us. Who knows?"

"And someone's taking care of our aquarium while we're gone?" Percy said.

"No I was going to leave them alone and let nature take its course," Poseidon mused. When Percy scowled up at him, he laughed. "Yes, Perseus, somebody is coming to take care of our beloved aquarium while we're away. I wouldn't leave our poor fish like that."

"I know," Percy said. "Hey, if we go to the Japanese aquarium, maybe Thalia and Nico can fly over since we'll be on land."

Poseidon thought about it. "If you'd like to see your cousins this summer, as if you didn't get to see them enough during the school year, then I supposed their fathers could fly them over. If Hades lets Nico out of his sight that is. But they're not coming back on the boat with us, they annoy me enough on land."

"You love them," Percy dismissed, tilting his head back down towards the map.

"No, I love you and therefore tolerate them. Here," he reached across the table and took Percy's hand, putting it back on the home pin. "We're going south down to Lilaea's—she's super excited—then going down a little bit further south into the gulf. I want to run some tests on the red lionfish there. Maybe we'll find a sunken ship or two to explore while we're at it. Then we're crossing over to catch the humpback migration. We are going to tag and track some of the gentle giants. Maybe we'll swim with one if we catch a straggler or something. I don't want you in the middle of a bunch of them, though."

Percy huffed a little at that, rolling his eyes.

"Then yes we follow the current and ride it down to Australia, where we'll stop by the Great Barrier Reef. We'll probably spend a long time there, we think it might be a new species of jellyfish causing all the problems. Then, whenever we can spare the time, we'll head up to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium."

Poseidon watched as Percy's fingers mapped their route, curving around the flattened globe beneath them. Without his sunglasses on, his scars were starkly visible to Poseidon, the first looping around his temple and the second cutting across his cheek. But his cheeks were round and his face full of color, eyes bright and thoughtful however sightless they may be as their owner hummed.

"So . . . you ready to set sail?" Poseidon asked, reaching forward to ruffle Percy's hair. Percy tolerated it this time, leaning ever so slightly into the contact.

His son reached out to curl his fingers around the cane at his side, tilting his head thoughtful to the side. His mouth curled up into a smile, his whole face alight and blessedly, miraculously, happy. "Yeah Dad, I'm ready."