Chapter 18: Confliction

I'm back on No Choice after an entire month. I'm getting writer's block for this story.

Hey Plsyes543, what do I reach you at? You just left a period. You said, and I quote, "you can reach me at ." ???

Chapter 18: Confliction

Perses, to say the least, was conflicted. For the first time in a long time he was actually undecided on whether he'd do the loyal thing. From what he'd managed to bribe and wrangle out of Lunara, Artemis and Aphrodite, maybe even Diana and Venus but unlikely, had done something he didn't want to name the night before.

He sat at a tropical bar by the lake in New Rome drinking something alcoholic- he didn't remember the name. Probably something relevant like Neptune's smelly dick cheese or something similar.

His mind was divided in two, as it was with most people on issues. The thing you want to do and the right thing to do, like save your best friend or save a hundred strangers. He knew the right thing to do would be to tell Percy that his fiance cheated on him with his ex-lover. That would be the loyal thing to do, and Perses was the god of loyalty. It was excruciatingly painful to even consider lying to him.

But it wasn't what he really wanted to do. He had no doubt that the news of Artemis' infidelity would destroy Percy, and destroy his relationship with the goddess. He would leave her on the spot, take Selena and leave Artemis on the doorstep.

But what did that mean for Perses? The Roman was genuinely in love with Diana, so he felt with all his heart, and what would the breakup of their dominant forms mean for them? The mental connection would be gone, Perses and Diana would only see each other once a month, like children in the midst of a divorce.

And Selena, who wasn't even five yet, would be utterly traumatized if her parents broke up. She was lucky to have only met her mother recently, it's better she only had one parent than see two parents split apart. Percy would completely excommunicate both of her mothers and take her as the hegemon guardian of the girl. She would likely be prohibited from ever seeing Aphrodite and Artemis again, after all Artemis was nothing to her if she wasn't with Percy, and Aphrodite had already been given so many chances.

But there was the loyalty thing again. What would happen if Percy found out anyway, and he found out Perses knew as well? Percy would feel betrayed, as he should. The mother of his child, his fiance, himself, they all lied to him about something so important, about a betrayal so deep. If there was a way to exorcise your Roman form, Percy would likely do it just so he could throw Perses onto the curb along with the goddesses.

What would be the physical implications of real betrayal? His fatal flaw was loyalty, what would happen to him if he committed what is essentially the most heinous of crimes to himself? The universe would probably implode or something.

So yes, he was conflicted. The moral and the desirable thing to do, which would he go with? Would he rat the goddesses out and ruin their relationship, traumatize Selena and get himself separated from his love? Would he lie to Percy and risk the negative effects of betraying his primary domain, risking getting caught out by Percy and excommunicated?

As he sat there thinking about it, it didn't seem like such a difficult choice on paper, but in reality he was fucked.

"Hey." Diana said smiling as she walked over and sat down next to him. She was wearing some more beach appropriate gear, as the lake was the hotspot of the night for the Magna Convivium. Games and celebrations were taking place until it was generally past the younger kids' bedtimes and the actual parties could begin.

Despite it being nearly six in the evening, Perses was in his blue swimming trunks and flip flops while Diana wore some shorts and a tank top. She also had sunglasses on top of her head which sat unused as the sun was beginning to go down. He tried his best to smile and greet her. "Hey." He said sadly, which she immediately caught on to.

The goddess ordered a drink and sat down. When it arrived with a little paper umbrella sticking out of it she cringed and pulled it out, placing it down on the bar so it didn't disturb her drinking. "What's wrong?" She asked, taking a sip of the non-alcoholic beverage.

Perses didn't lie nor sugarcoat it. It would probably be best to just tell her and even get her opinion. "I know about you and Venus." He said gloomily, to which his fiance choked on her drink. "What?! How?!" She asked.

Perses looked to their right, where Lunara was paddling in the water with her mother Venus. "Damn. I thought she would keep quiet." She muttered to herself. Perses just stared her down. "Did you do it?" He asked, not specifying what exactly he meant.

Diana's eyes widened as she shook her head vehemently. "No! I mean, I don't know? It's confusing. Look, Perse, Venus and I woke up together... naked. That's it. I don't know why Artemis and Aphrodite ended up that way. They might not have even been doing anything wrong, I doubt Artemis would cheat on Percy least of all with Aphrodite. But at the same time... I can't think of a reason for them to fall asleep in that position." She said.

Perses' mouth was dry. "What do I do, Di?" He asked sadly, before continuing. "If I don't tell him it'll go against everything I stand for. The god of loyalty, lying to his own self about his fiance's potential infidelity. But... if I tell him it could get in the way of us." He told her.

Diana was silent as he continued to argue with himself. "But if Artemis really did cheat on him intentionally without a care for Percy then he has the right to know." He looked down, stuck.

Diana reached out and took his hand. "Look, just do what you think is best. Yes it might seem the right thing to do is tell Percy, but think of Selena. Where's she going to end up after all of this. Do what's best for her and remember, no matter what happens I love you." She said quietly, leaning over and planting a kiss on his lips.

The goddess downed her drink and walked off to play volleyball with Lunara and Venus, leaving Perses with his thoughts.

Later that night, near two in the morning, Perses and Diana returned to their palace. They had dropped Lunara off earlier with Vesta to watch her, and the goddess quickly told them she was asleep upstairs before leaving back to her own home.

Perses and Diana made their way up to the bedroom, tired after a night of partying with all of New Rome and Olympus. They entered their bedroom and Perses flopped down on the bed while Diana got changed out of her wet clothes into something more sleep-appropriate. Perses' shorts were automatically dry and comfy anyway.

She came in and lay down, wearing only some boxers and one of Percy's shirts. Diana cuddled up to her fiance as they both closed their eyes, but before they could fall asleep she popped the question. "So what are you gonna do?"

Perses didn't open his eyes as he answered. He'd thought about it long and hard and came up with his decision. "The right thing, Di. I love you." He said softly. Diana smiled and crawled up his chest, kissing him for a few seconds. "I love you too."

As they fell asleep Diana was soon lost in dreams, but Perses wasn't. He wasn't going to dream yet. He had work to do.

He appeared in their mind realm, where Percy and Artemis were currently staying and where Perses and Diana usually resided. The Greek couple were currently asleep in their mind bedroom, so he probably wouldn't be interrupted.

The Roman sat down at a table and grabbed a pen as well as two pieces of paper, before beginning to write two letters to his Greek form.

Perses woke up the next morning with his fiance's presence absent from the bed. She'd likely gotten up earlier either due to morning sickness or just her body clock thanks to 5am hunts.

He lay there letting his eyes adjust to the light for a while before sitting up just in time for the bathroom door to open and Diana to step out with only a towel on. She smiled when she saw him. "Morning. I fixed Lunara some breakfast, she wants to go watch the gladiators today." She said. Perses smiled back and nodded, before cringing slightly. "Yeah, that'll be fun showing my four year old daughter."

Diana shrugged. "She'll probably be seeing way worse by the time she's ten with the way this world works." She reminded him, making him sigh. As Diana got changed he stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

He kissed the back of her head, resulting in the water being immediately drained from her hair. She thanked him and kissed her fiance back. "At least by the time she's ten we'll have an innocent little six year old and maybe more running around who's eyes we can shield." He reminded her.

Diana smiled as she looked down at her belly. She was almost exactly a month pregnant as the baby was conceived the last time Diana and Perses were awake. She wasn't really showing but as Artemis had noted when they visited the couple in the mid world a week or two before, her abs were noticeably gone and replaced with merely a slim stomach like Artemis.

Diana sighed. "We'll have to set up that nursery sooner or later." She reminded him, making the god shrug. "Eh, we'll do it closer to the time. No point in rushing to do it when we've got nine months." He told her.

Diana raised an eyebrow at him in the mirror. "That's what pretty much every procrastinator says." She told him and Perses shrugged. "I forgot what that means but okay." He said.

Perses himself got dressed without first having a shower and made his way downstairs to the living room. Lunara was sitting on the floor with a plate of toast in front of her while she watched cartoons on the TV. She saw her dad and waved over-exaggeratedly with a full toast in her mouth. "Haa dwaddny!" She said muffled, making Perses smile slightly as he waved back.

"Morning, princess. You excited for the gladiators?" He asked. Lunara swallowed all the toast and nodded rapidly. "Ya-huh! I hope someone dies!" She said in awe at the idea. Percy's eyes were slightly wide as he put some bread in the toaster.

Upstairs Diana realised that she'd never notified Venus about Perses' knowledge of what happened the morning before, and so decided to mind message her. Venus? Venus? She called through her mind.

It took a moment before she got a response. Yes, darling? She replied, making Diana roll her eyes. Perses knows. She told her, intentionally not elaborating just to scare the love goddess. Oh gods, how did he react? She asked worriedly.

Diana smiled before relieving her anxiety. It's okay. He understands it's not our fault. We just can't understand why Aphrodite and Artemis would do this. She told her. Venus was silent for a second before asking. Is he going to tell Perseus?

Diana immediately replied. I don't know.

In their mind world the Jacksons were only just beginning to wake up. Like Lunara, Selena was sat in the living room wrapped up in a blanket on the floor watching TV, though she was watching Scooby Doo whereas Lunara was watching Looney Tunes. Artemis was making pancakes for the three of them while Percy had only just gotten out of the shower.

He dressed himself and walked downstairs into the kitchen. The god kissed his fiance quickly, not noticing the guilty look on her face before she turned her head back to focus on the pancakes.

"Are you cold or is it just me?" He asked, and Artemis shrugged. "If you think it's cold, put the fire on." She recommended, and the god walked over to do so. He passed Selena on the way and pet her head like a dog, resulting in her turning her head up to look at him while she was wrapped in her blanket. The little girl gave her father a smile, her missing tooth very noticeable, before turning back to her cartoons.

The god threw some logs in the fire before grabbing some matches. He lit one off and threw it in, and the wood soon went up in flames.

Percy walked over to the main desk in the room where two envelopes sat out in the open. One had a very big and bold 1 on it, while the other was marked with a 2. He took that to mean the order they were supposed to be read and thus picked up the first one.

Percy opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, before reading silently to himself.

Perce,

It's Perses talking man, your other self. I have some really bad news, which is inside envelope number 2, but the purpose of this letter is to provide a warning. This news is something you deserve to know, something I'd feel I'd be betraying you if I did not tell. It's really bad and I know reading it will absolutely fuck you up.

The reason I'm writing this warning isn't to provide some sorta disclaimer saying you're not gonna like this. No, you never like bad news but you always get it. I'm writing to say that I'm leaving it up to you to decide whether you know what this bad news is.

At first it seemed obvious that I should tell you but the more I thought about it the more I realised that maybe it wasn't the best thing to do. I won't go over the exact reasons cause that would just give it away but I just want you to know that if you open that envelope, Selena's life will be ruined.

This information is probably gonna be the deciding factor in your happiness maybe for a few years, maybe forever. But I know you, I know you'd gladly throw away your happiness for the ones you love, you'd stay in a world of lies and pain if it meant your loved ones could live in one of ignorance and bliss, you've done it so much already. We've done it so much already.

So I beg of you, Percy. Do it for her.

Do it for her.

Perses.

By the time he finished the letter he had already made his decision. Percy put down the first letter, picked up the second envelope and threw it into the fire.

Do it for her

So no, that's not the last we'll see of the Aphrodite-Artemis affair. I just don't know where to go from here. Sorry for this really short chapter. Got major writer's block. Probably gonna update Long Walk Home next.

Also another thing happened this weekend... I may have taken some pads of crushed up ice with my dinner, and I may have taken too many. Soon enough my tongue is burning, my throat and head hurts and my step mom is rushing me to the hospital. I didn't technically OD, but I took enough to the point where it was really irritating my tongue and mouth, which is a starting sign of meth mouth. Basically if I keep taking it my teeth will fall out. Thankfully I'm trying not to anymore, my dad chucked me in rehab and it sucks balls and I hate it and I can rehab myself just fine.

So yeah, I did the bad thing with the drugs yet again, first heroin, then pills, then mdma, now meth. Maybe I do have a problem.

How do I continue this realistically? And no, not threesome lemon like you keep asking.

Word Count: 2743