Chapter 16: Breaking The Chain

Like the Dark Lord chapter, this one's gonna be short, and it's just gonna be a memory, if you will. This takes place probably in between chapter 10 and 11 and it's a little bit of fluff and family time for Selena, Arty and Percy.

Chapter 16: Breaking The Chain

The puck clashed against Percy's stick as he blocked it from getting into the goal. "Harder." He said, passing it gently towards his daughter. Selena looked at the puck and glared, channeling her rage into the next play.

Despite it being somewhat illegal, Selena lifted her stick like she was about to make a drive in golf and brought it down to the puck so hard that she ended up getting sent back five feet on her rollerblades. The puck flew through the air and made contact with Percy's shin, and the young god yelped in pain.

After bouncing off the side of his leg the puck ended up sliding into the goal anyway, and Percy laughed as he fell to the ground. "Yes, honey! That's how you score. Break the goalie's knee!" He praised, propping himself up on one elbow and holding out his palm, to which Selena rolled over and high-fived him.

Percy tried to get up and instantly regretted it, feeling a pain in his leg. "Ow, okay, you probably did break it- ah. Okay, good job Selena. Let's- uh, go inside." He said, taking off his rollerblades. Selena looked down at him worriedly.

"Daddy are you okay?" She asked with a frown, and Percy nodded as he got up on one leg. "Yup, it'll heal. You did good with the force, make sure you do that whenever you've got a clear shot." He advised his daughter, who nodded as she took off her rollerblades and the helmet.

The two made their way inside the palace, leaving the hockey gear just laying on the driveway. Percy looked at the clock and yawned. It was twenty to six. "Mama should be home soon. I'm gonna go lie in bed, you wanna come?" He offered, not feeling able to start dinner. Artemis was capable of making grilled cheese sandwiches or something simple like that.

Selena nodded, following her limping father down the hall. "Can we read?" She asked, wanting to try it again. Percy looked back at her sadly, slightly embarrassed that he couldn't say yes. "Uh, we can look at the pictures?" He told her, and the little girl looked slightly crestfallen that she couldn't learn how to read. She had Athena, but her teacher was kinda boring. The goddess of wisdom just made her recite the alphabet and taught her how to count. When was she ever gonna need to know how to do that? Selena just wanted to read!

They entered Percy's room and Selena picked out a book, returning to him with one that looked full of pictures. The three year old pulled herself up onto her parents' bed and sat next to her injured father, opening the book and resting it on their laps. "What's that?" She asked, looking at the picture.

Percy looked at it, and smiled as he realised it was a book about Greek myths. Perfect, he actually knew what was happening. "Well that's a hydra, see how it's got heaps of heads?" She nodded. "It's scary." She noted, looking at each face. Percy laughed next to her. "Yeah, well it's even scarier in real life."

He then went on to explain the story. "That little guy down there is Heracles, remember him?" Selena once again nodded. "He was poopy. I don't like him." She hmphed, blowing a raspberry, resulting in Percy chuckling and ruffling her hair. "Yeah, he is. Now, hydras, when you cut their heads off, more just grow back..."

Twenty minutes later, Artemis flashed into the kitchen. Now that she and Percy were officially an actual thing, she had been given access by the god of Heroes to become a full resident of his palace, allowing for her to be able to flash in it and control it, etc. She checked the time and then looked around, becoming confused when she couldn't see or hear the father and daughter anywhere.

"Selena? Percy?" She called, but received no answer. The goddess put down her silver parka on the chair and went to search. All the lights and tvs were off, at least on the first floor, so she ascended the stairs. Once at the top, she looked down the hallways and saw some light coming from the crack under the door at the end of the hall, hers and Percy's room.

The goddess walked over and cracked open the door slightly to see what was going on. Selena had her head leaning on Percy's shoulder as he was talking, and once she saw what was in their hands Artemis realised they were reading.

Which was a problem considering neither of them could read.

She opened the door and stepped inside. "Hey." She said softly, disturbing Selena, who sat bolt upright. Percy smiled, putting the book down. "Hi, how was your day?" He asked, and his fiance nodded. "It was good, nothing eventful. The hunt's doing alright. What about you two?" She asked.

Percy gestured to his leg. "This little fox broke my leg playing hockey. But good news, she can pack one Hades of a hit." He joked, making her laugh. She knew it was no emergency. For gods, internal injuries like broken bones healed relatively fast. He'd be walking again in two days max.

Artemis smiled and looked at the book. "What're you reading?" She asked, and Percy looked back down at the story. "Oh, we're not really reading, just looking at the pictures. Since I know the myths anyway I'm just telling her."

Selena happily piped in. "Heracles is poop!"

Artemis laughed and looked back down at the book, then up at Percy. "You really don't know how to read, huh?" She asked in amazement. She sometimes forgot that reading was a skill many demigods lived their entire 17 years without learning. Percy nodded and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

She stood there thinking for a few seconds before sitting on the bed next to Selena. "Alright, scooch over, give it here. I'm gonna read for you and you guys are gonna follow along, okay?" She said, taking the book and holding it in front of them. Selena's eyes lit up as she realised she was getting taught how to read and she nodded frantically. Percy was still embarrassed by this but nodded anyway.

Artemis cleared her throat while Selena snuggled into her. As she read, she pointed to each word and she said it slowly, telling them to repeat it under their breaths to learn it. "Heracles walked through the swamp with his nephew Iolaus. It's okay if you can't read the names, they're harder cause they're Greek." She assured them.

"Pfft, I know Greek." Percy said, while Selena repeated it and looked at each word. "Is that swamp?" She asked, pointing to the word that started with Sw. Artemis smiled and nodded. "It is, good girl! Now, he was on the lookout for the nine-headed beat, the Lernean Hydra..."

Sorry it's so short, I just felt like writing a cute little fam moment for the Jackson's. I'll be having another short chapter for Dark Lord coming out soon which is also just family fluff, as well as Pertemis romance, but it is much more important to the story. Also, Sadie posted her own story, which is very... tiktok girl... She posted a 'face reveal' which is just a drawing she made me do of her while she was bathing, and it's not even that good, and apparently she wrote her own biography, tho I haven't read it.

Word Count: 1313