Appreciated Serenity

Percy's POV

"Eurynome told us to find a golden sword that rests in stone, do you know what she was talking about?" Jackson asks.

"Who's that? I question, not recognizing the name.

However, they ignore me,"It's neither close nor far. You're looking for the Kindred known as Aegis, one of my sister blades. And the one that was held by King Arthur, the sword known as Excalibur." The floating figure explains.

"King?" Nimue asks but he glares back with silence.

"And what do you mean by neither close or far?" Jackson continues on.

"The last that was heard from it...was probably when he placed it back down within Avalon, but nothing more comes to memory. May I ask why you're desiring such a blade?" He asks back.

"From our last encounter, we nearly lost some people cause we weren't able to defend ourselves, then learning that we weren't able to defeat them without one of the Kindreds in the first place." Jackson informs, causing the Kindred to awkwardly laugh out between us all.

"What's so funny?" Adam catches his attention, halting the laughter.

But similar to me, he gets ignored. "You" He points towards Athena, "Kindreds were built to be tied to an owner, however there's some loopholes to that-that Oracion has seemingly found."

"Those being?" She asks with a keen interest.

"You bare his mark, the will of the Underworld and Anubis' blood, someone who he deemed to be a friend. Try lifting me again." He lays the blade across the ground this time.

Athena places her hand across the hilt, this time the winds circle her with a calm embrace. Gradually lifting the sword up to a comfortable height as she grunts out her energy. "There!" She lets go of her breath, holding the sword up in front of Saint.

"With a little bit of lenience on my soul, it appears you can decently lift it." He smiles before Athena suddenly drops it out her hand with an awkward wrist twist, "But"

"BUT!? IT ALMOST TORE MY HAND OFF!" She screams back at him after it abruptly twisted out of her hand.

"But, it was intended for Oracion as I mentioned before, look at your hand." He points at her as she looks down, showing us small scratches along the skin that could bleed at any given touch.

"It felt fine though" She explains with confusion.

"Oracion is a Lycan, a primordial wolf that was able to survive the harshest conditions with fur that was more accurately described as armour. You are not that." He grabs his own sword back, planting it back within the stone. "Your husband however, may be able to. Inform him of my existence then ask him to come back here, alone."

"But Chris isn't a Lycan either!" Adam shouts.

"I'm aware but from what Oracion told me, he's both a god, the son if his friend, King of the Underworld and eternally shifted into something similar to his own form. It's possible." He urges us to try.

"Avalon, is that not the frozen world?" Jackson returns back to the subject.

"It is" Saint confirms.

"I've barely been able to accept winter, now you're gonna say we head into some desolate snow biome?" Arthur complains.

"You seem to misunderstand the word frozen, it's more accurately described as. Stuck" Saint tries to explain further.

"That absolutely doesn't help at all" Arthur sighs while looking at Nimue for guidance.

"Time?" She blurts out.

"Cursed zones have existed for as long as the gods have been reincarnating and dispersed. Chronos' soul rests within that ground, tearing it from reality itself and placing it within its own container of sorts. For whatever reason, anything that remains there completely stops aging or having their passive time changed." Saint confirms.

"Wait I don't remember anything like that" Jackson fails to recall.

"Jackson, you and Irene never got to see it. Do you not remember why?"

Jackson scratches the back of his head in annoyance, "I don't"

"Sh-e" He stutters out as a piece of light erupts from his chest, slowly splitting further down the middle as he fights it.

"You as well!?" Jackson rushes to him, urging him to stop speaking, which he promptly does.

"I can't speak for much longer, whatever that was. It's still eating away at me it seems" He scratches the inside of his chest as if trying to tear something out. Much like how Oracion was able to listen for the heartbeat of the reincarnating wolves, I was able to hear a remnant echo of the Kindred's voice." He leaves his arm resting inside him, causing the swirling wind around him to become visible as it runs through his head.

"You're...so close-" He sounds out with a feminine voice, making the others spiral out with baffled looks. "-Yue...Christopher..." He finishes.

"Why those two?" I question.

"She's calling out to them because they're the closest, but that's as far as I know. Once again Athena, bring your husband here. Alone." He plants his palm against the sword's hilt, flowing his body back into it.

"Something must have happened for Yue and Chris to be together, right?" Adam urgently nudges us on to exit the cave, blindly walking backwards until bumping into someone before we could warn him.

"And why is that!? Cause your work buries me like a landfill site so you act as if I can't ever leave the pack house!?" Yue smacks him across the head.

"Ow..." He whimpers like a baby, taking a few steps back and pretending to hide behind me.

I flick Adam's head knowing that's his exact thought process, "How comes you're here?" I ask her.

"I went down to the Underworld and found something interesting with Chris, ignoring the fact that Cerberus was totally threatening me" She shrugs off as if it's nothing.

"He what!?" Athena shouts, damn well enough ready to fight the beast in Yue's place.

"It's fine, Chris controlled him, you guys wanna check this out with me?" She gestures while heading back through the cave with us.

"Was it a sword?" Arthur asks.

"No, it was a golden light above a maze like area, what made you think it was a sword of all things?" She responds back to him.

"Supposedly there's an object down there tied to a Kindred, I can't see how it wouldn't be, right?" He looks onto Nimue who's zoned out while walking straight.

"And what's a Kindred now?" She huffs out with annoyance.

"A soul that's been attached to an object, essentially." Jackson answers for him as he looks flabbergasted, unable to define the word.

"Thanks" She quickly responds, focusing on Jackson more than usual and causing him to ask.

"What's wrong?" He tries looking at himself as if some dirt was on him but she keeps the same expression.

"You seem off, did something happen?" She looks to one of us to see if we've noticed it.

"He regained his memories...and-"

Jackson cuts me off, "And that was about it. I just remember some stuff I honestly would rather of kept forgotten" He stares just behind us, turning back with an oddly still face.

"Hold my hand Jackson" She reaches out to him without warning, grabbing his hand despite his stutter. "Melanie used to have these sort of...pauses, I guess you could say. And it looks like you're having exactly that." She smiles to him.

"Y-you don't have to" He tries to pull away but she keeps him beside her.

"Yeah, I do." They continue to walk ahead of us, slightly faster than us actually.

"Who's going in with us?" She comments to the group.

"We never really thought about it, but probably: Jackson, me, Athena?"

"Nope, if Chris comes here then one of us needs to be watching the souls pass over. Sorry" She explains, making him eye Adam next.

But Yue buts in, "Nope! Fucker you aren't leaving ahead of me this time, get to work at the pack house. I'm taking your spot."

"Bu-" He gets cut off by her.

"Adam, no." She shuts him up as he now looks towards me like a sad puppy.

"Hey, that's your co-alpha. None of my business." I gleefully smile, desperately avoiding eye contact with him.

Jackson picks up where I left off, "In that case it'll be me, Percy, Nimue, Arthur, Melanie and Yue?"

"I'm not too sure about Melanie coming, I promised to let her see it but I need to confirm the safety of it first." She confirms.

"So I can't do that for Percy?" Adam questions.

"Melanie's always been one of the weaker, we've never known why but her Luna status seemingly never gave her any physical difference from an Omega." Yue explains.

"Wait she was an omega?" He coughs out with a startle.

"Yeah, she was"

"An Omega becoming a Luna, I've never heard of that before."

"That's cause most Omegas get rejected by their Alpha mate for being so weak, but I couldn't just do that to her! Have you seen her little dimples when she smiles!?" Yue obsesses over her mate. "Besides, I can protect Percy. Although I'm decently sure he's above me at this point" She laughs, visibly tightening her grip on Jackson...who's laughing alongside her.

I cover my eyes from the sudden change in brightness as we step outside the cave, "I'm not sure about that honestly. We'll see who needs protecting though", I lightly smile before holding my stomach again, the small tingles inside me feeling like something's tapping against my flesh.

"Adam, first order of bullishness" She turns to him, letting go of Jackson's hand. "We're looking to expand the pack house, find the space for that."

"Okay" He sadly responds.

"Your Betas have been complaining that there's fewer people willing to participate in pack training, help him with it"

"Sure"

"Yasmine's been saying her back hurts, go massage it"

"Su-what"

"No clue, hop onto it. I wrote them down and left the list on Nimue's door, be useful for once."

"YOU WERE GONNA SHOVE THESE ONTO ME!?" She blurts out.

"Yes, but I fail to see how that's a key detail here. Alpha of the Humans, you haven't been pulling your weight either." She waves it off, avoiding eye contact with Nimue.

We all circle around the centre of the village, "Aren't you three tired?" Athena asks us.

"Why would we be?"

"You spent three days in that canvas, are you sure you don't?" She asks again.

"It was hours for us, I'm speaking mostly for myself here but I'm pretty sure we're fine" I stare between Jackson and Nimue.

"I feel normal, you?" She directs to Jackson.

"I'm fine to keep going" He confirms.

"Perfect, Adam say your goodbyes as I steal your mate for a bit." Yue winks.

"Remember I'm just over on this side, it's not like the other times we've been separated, okay?" He assures me, "And you have Crest this time, not just yourself." He continues to console me.

"Yes, I'm aware Adam." I nudge into him knowing he's scared of splitting from me, which he warmly welcomes, gripping tighter by the passing second that we stay in this position.

"Athena" He simply quotes while tapping his head a few times

"Adam" She responds, doing the same.

"And what's that supposed to mean" I disrupt them.

'None of your business' He pings into my head before planting a kiss on my forehead and jogging off to Nimue's home.

"I sort of feel bad" She folds her arms, looking at his figure shrink in the distance.

"Well you're not wrong, Adam's always put the work on others. Whether it be me or Alex." Athena explains, making Yue drop her arms.

"Well if you're saying it too then the guilt's gone, let's move." She urges us all on as Jackson leads.

"What did you do to Jackson by the way?" I take her attention while he's further up.

"I just held his hand" She smiles back.

"You, the guru of emotions simply held his hand? No gifts or anything?"

"Percy, sometimes people just need that. Even if they don't know it" She winks again before continuing alongside the others.

"Even if they don't know it" I repeat to myself, sort of starstruck by the simplicity.