Percy was starting to realize why babies always did the most suicidal-looking things. If he had to endure this for any longer, he would try eating staplers too.
Once he could sit up, he began exploring the house he had lived in for the past few months with his eyes. And quite honestly, you could hardly call this a house.
It was a shack. A rickety old shack somewhere in the woods.
Its door was a single block of wood that Percy doubted even a motivated bear could move. But the walls shivered every time it rained, and the roof felt like it would run off with the wind if it felt inclined to.
His father cleaned obsessively so the shack maintained something akin to hospitable, but one day, a tree fell and caved in the roof.
The scattered pieces of wood and leaves absorbed his father's attention for days.
The scarred warrior glanced at the roof, cringing.
"Don't worry, little Perseus. I'll close that hole in a single day, or my name isn't Thalos!"
Thalos was unable to close the hole in a single day. It rained that night too, so their dining room was flooded with dirty water.
This set Thalos into a frenzy as he spent the entire next day cleaning. If there was one thing Percy had to give his father, it was that he was persistent.
The man was terrifying yet doting and overprotective. He kept Percy in the room all day in fear that the dirty water would give him an infection, but he compulsively checked on him every three minutes.
Percy constantly cried to get his father to help him sit up; this way he wasn't stuck just looking at the roof all day.
He could alternate between looking at the bed, the desk close to the wall, the wardrobe, the window that was always tightly shut, the…
"Ahhhhhhh!" Percy screamed suddenly.
His father charged in, ready to kill an army of dragons. The katana at his hip wasn't drawn from its scabbard, but his gaze was already sharp enough to cut anything.
He searched the room for a few moments with his eyes, his gaze glossing over Percy for a moment. Then he kicked open the bathroom door and checked inside there too.
Once he was sure everything was safe, Thalos sighed.
"Perseus, you have to stop doing that. Don't worry, I'll carve something for you to play with, okay?"
Percy stared at his father dully.
What do you know of my pain, motherfucker? I've been seated here for ten fucking hours, noticing every groove in the freaking floor.
Thalos took the baby into his arms and whispered.
"It's okay, Perseus. Your mommy will be back any day now."
His mother, Hecate, hadn't returned since she left for her father's territory. Best-case scenario, she had just been captured and couldn't escape.
Worst-case scenario, she had abandoned them and given in to her family's demands.
Thalos' grey eyes softened as he stared into his son's eyes.
"You have her eyes. Well… at least sometimes you have them!"
His father's hearty laugh only made Percy surlier. Watching Thalos temper his Arete every day had been interesting at first.
But nowadays it only made him angry that he couldn't do it himself.
The ritualistic cutting of his own skin was the foundation of his father's school, Blood Demon Sword School.
Arete, or Fighting Spirit, could be focused into an object or used to enhance your abilities.
Blood Demon Sword was trained by infusing your sword and skin with your fighting spirit, then testing your will to cut against your will not to be cut.
It was baffling how this was a confirmed method of getting stronger. Sitting in a room alone and cutting yourself sounded more like a cry for help than a way to train.
Thalos sighed.
"But I really do miss her."
BANG
There was a snap of wind rushing in the room. Thalos turned, one hand on his sword, the other carrying his son. The cold aura rolling off him made Percy turn pale.
A woman fell to the floor, gasping for air like she had run a marathon.
"I've missed you too, my love."
Thalos' eyes widened, he ran over to his collapsed wife.
"Hecate!"
Thalos picked up his wife in one hand and carried her over to the bed. They hugged tightly for a moment, Percy stuck uncomfortably in the middle.
Then she took him into her hands and laid kisses over his chubby cheek. Percy did his part to act his part as a baby reunited with his mother.
Wait, shouldn't he be more reluctant? He hadn't seen his mother since maybe a month after he was born. When Hecate pulled him away from her lips, he managed to take in her face.
She was beautiful like a foreign piece of art. Some piece of culture brought into your life that you never knew you needed so desperately.
Her hair was a startling white that reflected light. Her olive skin was so smooth and perfect, Percy wanted to bite her cheeks.
He actually did that once he got close enough.
Hecate yelped.
"Perseus! Don't bite me."
Thanks to that bite, however, he was able to glimpse her most beautiful feature in its best moment.
Her eyes glimmered with joy, a bright and alluring purple shade that seemed to hide the mysteries of the world.
She sniffed him a little, scrunching her nose.
"Has he had a bath today?"
Thalos' smile fell like a crashing plane; he brought his hands to his head.
"How could I forget?" he murmured. "I was too concerned with the stupid roof. I didn't give him a bath."
"It's okay, we can just bathe him now," Hecate tried comforting him, but Thalos seemed to be already panicking.
"The house is contaminated already, what if he gets sick?"
"It's a bit of water, Thalos. Not the plague that wiped out Nikia."
"I'm a horrible father. I've failed my son—"
Hecate wrapped her arms around him again, her expression so tired yet so indescribably happy.
"You kept our son safe and happy while I was gone for months. I guess I'm a bad mother then."
"No, Hecate. Of course not. You went out to fight for us, despite all the danger."
"Then I guess you aren't a bad father either."
Thalos looked a bit lost by the strange logic, but an unwilling smile crept over his face. Hecate kissed him, and they remained in that kiss for a while.
With Percy stuck right in the middle.
"Ahhhhh!" He screamed suddenly, jolting the lovers and sending them into a frenzy as they checked every single inch of him.
"He's been doing that a lot recently," Thalos explained. "I think he's just really bored."
They took him into the bathroom, cracking a few inside jokes between themselves. Percy dreaded the cold bath, but after months of it, he just bore with the cold.
Thalos picked up a bucket to go outside and fetch some water, but Hecate stopped him.
"Allow me, my love."
She swept her hand through the air and chanted in a language foreign to him. He had the urge to call up his system and ask why it wasn't translated.
Blue dots lit up in the air, swirling through the room in a dazzling dance. Percy's jaw dropped, he stretched from his father's hand, reaching for the blue stars.
Hecate pointed her hand at the basin he always bathed in, and the lights spun around it.
Water flowed from the lights, slowly at first, but it became faster and faster. Once the tub was filled, Hecate's chants changed.
Now, verses were strung together at a blinding speed; this wasn't the same long chant she used to fill the tub. This one happened in a single sharp breath.
A single red light erupted over the tub and distorted the air with its heat waves. The single red light lingered for a moment then disappeared.
Thalos went over and put his hand into the water. He grinned proudly.
"Just perfect."
Hecate leaned against the wall, her magenta eyes growing a bit duller. Thalos rushed over to her and helped her stand and then sit at the edge of the tub.
"You should rest, Hecate. You must have wind-shifted to travel from Tria this quickly. You shouldn't use Spiritmancy too much."
Hecate wasn't laughing despite her exhaustion.
"But we won, Thalos. I beat my father and that snake, Sion. The king saw everything. How he killed Galan too. We're getting our own territory, far from Tria and its problems."
They both looked mad with joy, but Percy was more focused on the dazzling display of magic.
Finally, things were getting a little fun.