CHAPTER 6: PRISONERS

Athena had never felt so helpless. Never ever.

First, she failed to protect her daughter and watched as she was murdered in front of her eyes. The scene of Dionysus' sword plunging deep into her gut was horrifying. But at least she died in the arms of the person she loved the most.

Percy. Percy Jackson.

The goddess of wisdom had misjudged his character. He loved her enough to fall in Tartarus with her. He loved her enough to give his life for her. She was happy that they both died together. Maybe at a very young age for nothing, but she was satisfied that they both died together. She remembered, how Zeus had separated the humans from their other half. These halves kept searching for their soul mates. Maybe, Percy and Annabeth were other halves of each other. It was a pleasant thought for Athena. Her daughter was one of the very few to find her true soul mate.

A few drops of tear trickled down her chin. Her stormy grey eyes kept replaying the moments when she had first seen Annabeth as a baby, her achievements, her quests, her bravery and her strong knowledge. She was a true daughter of Athena. She deserved to have the proper funeral rights. A mausoleum made for her. She had saved Olympus not once but twice, along with Percy. They both deserved better than all of this.

Oh, how she wished that she could go back in past and change all of this. Everything would have been different. Her daughter would have lived. Percy and Annabeth would've lived happily ever after, married and having kids.

Athena herself, of course, had never been a direct grandmother to someone. She had never been called Granny before. She noticed how all the mortal children love their grandparents. And the grandparents pamper them back making them spoiled.

The mortals thought that they have greater issues than anybody, that their life span is too short, that their lives are full of miseries. But it isn't, for they don't understand the curse which comes with immortality. Watching your loved ones die in front of you was the biggest of all curses. Your hands would always be tainted with blood when you are immortal. At one point of time, there would be an innocent and a guilty murdered by you. There was no denying that.

Immortality.

Mortality.

Athena sighed loudly. She wondered about the condition of Poseidon. Last she saw, he was wounded pretty badly.

Her eyes searched for the sea god but she found nobody.

She, herself was chained to these awful dirty walls. She couldn't see anything. It was pitch black. No one could tell if it was day or night time. There was no sign of any living organism but there was this quite snoring sound. She cautiously, moved forward, as far as the chains would allow, following the direction from where the sound was coming. Soon enough, the smell of the sea reached her nose. It was Poseidon who was snoring.

Quite to her surprise, she found herself relaxing. She took a deep breathe of the scent. Warmth spread across her whole body. Somehow, she found quite a pleasure near Poseidon. The sense of reassurance, hope and delight filled her mind. She smiled at him. There was something about him which had attracted her for millennia.

"Enjoying my scent, huh?" A heavy sleepy voice murmured near Athena's ear.

Athena jumped in surprise and took a few steps back. She hadn't realized that that he was awake. She was so deep in her thought about his scent that she didn't feel Poseidon's snoring coming to an end.

She blushed hard at the thought that Poseidon had felt her taking deep breathes near him.

"You didn't answer my question." There was a note of amusement in his voice now. It angered and surprised Athena that he could still joke at such grave situations. All the signs of happiness, embarrassment and blushes faded away from her mind and was replaced by coldness and anger.

"You still have the mind to joke when both our children are dead?" said Athena, coldly.

Poseidon remained quiet for some few minutes and then answered, "You see, Athena. I mourning for my son but crying will not help. Crying for my dead son won't help anything. If you cry over your dead daughter, she won't come back to life. Instead, I'm fond and proud of my son. He died protecting your daughter and your daughter died protecting my son. They both fought against injustice. I am proud of them. "

Athena stared at Poseidon. The darkness had adjusted to her eyes by now and she could see his face almost clearly. Then she sighed, "I guess you are right. Nothing can bring them back to life. But I cannot stop myself from crying. The vision of them with blood..." And Athena broke down into tears. Her eyes shut together tightly and thick and hot tears poured out of them.

The sea god cupped Athena's small face in his chained hands, "I think it's okay to cry. I would've cried as well but it's against the law of nature for a man to cry."

Athena laughed slightly. Then she became serious again, "Do you-Do you think they will achieve Elysium? "She asked hesitantly.

"Of course! They will achieve Elysium."

Athena nodded her head slightly. Poseidon wrapped his hands around Athena's small body as they both together sat down and the wisdom goddess rested her head on his chest. Soon after sometime, he felt her breathing slow down. She had fallen asleep.

Poseidon leaned against the wall and stared into the darkness.

So much happened in one day. So much.

He looked down at the small face of Athena and smiled gently.

He thought to himself, this was the beginning of a great friendship.

It was only friendship, wasn't it?

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