Pairing: Percy Jackson x black!fem!reader
Synopsis: true fulfillment comes from finding a partner who complements and understands you, offering a safe haven to be your true self, regardless of external pressures or backgrounds.
Warnings: none, Y/N is daughter of Apollo, Y/N is the younger half-sister of Clarisse La Rue, sisterly love
Every day was the same for you. You’d wake up, get ready for the day, eat breakfast with your cabin, spar with your older sister, have archery practice with Chiron, get praised by your peers, sneak away to get some alone time, participate in capture the flag, have dinner, sit at the bonfire with your cabin, and then get ready for bed.
Here you are currently, getting ready for the day. Brushing your teeth, washing your face, doing your hair, the usual. You grabbed your bow, wooden bow with Apollo’s symbol engraved in it in gold. It was a gift from him. Many people at camp considered you lucky, to be given a gift from your godly parent was a great honor.
Though you didn’t care for it, you would rather have had his time than this gift. Other than the fact Apollo had it made for you specifically, the bow wasn’t anything special. If anything you hated this bow. You’ve tried burning it, that didn’t work. You’ve tried just getting rid of it on a quest, that also didn’t work since it came back to you a few hours later.
Clarisse tells you all the time that you should feel honored that Apollo had graced you with such a gift, even more honored that he went out of his way to bring you to camp yourself. You didn’t feel honored though, if anything you felt hollow. You and Apollo hadn’t spoken since the day he’d brought you to camp, he didn’t seem sad over the fact your mother had died that day either.
But why would he? Apollo was used to all his romantic relationships not working out, some of them even dying. So what makes your mother any different? That day, he was just making sure his precious little prodigy made it to camp safely. Couldn’t have you dying before you were able to spread your wings…no, can’t have that.
You sighed softly, softening your grip on your bow which you didn’t even know had tightened. Though it wasn’t surprising, thinking about your father always left a bad taste on your tongue. “Wow, you must really hate that bow.” Your half sister, Valerie said with a smirk, her arms crossed as she leaned on your bunk bed. “Is it obvious?” You asked sarcastically with a soft scoff.
Valerie was someone you found yourself being able to confide in if you needed to rant about your father. Clarisse wouldn’t ever be able to understand, she couldn’t. After all, she lived and breathed for Ares’ approval. Just a second of his attention would make her day. She would tell you about how some kids would kill to be in your position, they’d kill to be claimed at all.
She wished Ares had as many expectations for her as Apollo does for you. “You know you can’t escape this, right?” Valerie said as she walked over to you, putting a hand on your shoulder. “I mean, after all, it’s your destiny to become one of Apollo’s strongest children to have ever lived. Isn’t that what he said the Fates have bestowed upon you?” She asked.
“Yea.” You said. “Doesn’t mean I like it though, I mean, what’s so special about me? I’d rather not be claimed than have to be held on this high pedestal.” You tell her. She hummed. “Well, sometimes life deals the worst cards to its strongest soldiers because life knows we can handle it.” She said. “Sure. Let’s just head to breakfast.” I said, shrugging her hand off your shoulder as you left the cabin.
You made it to the dining pavilion and got in line, some nymphs served us our breakfast and we went to sit down at the Apollo table. You noticed some of your siblings’ faces drop when you showed up to the table, but you were used to it. You didn’t have many friends around campus, not because you were shy, but because you didn’t want to potentially leave any of them behind.
That was your destiny, become one of the greatest children of Apollo who ever lived, and then die in glorifying battle. You would die sacrificing yourself so another person could live and you wouldn’t be able to escape it. This part of your prophecy is not something you’ve told Valerie. No one knows this but you, Apollo, and the three Fates. And since no one knows this, many people either assume you’re stuck up and think you’re better than everybody or you’re just shy.
Apparently, your siblings, other than Valerie, see you as stuck up. If there was one thing you hate about Camp Half-Blood, it’s that you have to eat at your assigned tables during breakfast and dinner. If you didn’t, you’d probably be sitting by yourself or with your sister, Clarisse. Maybe even with Luke and Annabeth, they’re nice to you.
You feel like Annabeth and Luke can understand where you’re coming from. Luke’s the best fighter at camp, and Annabeth is Athena’s pride. They’re both held to high regards, destined for great things. You finished my breakfast quickly and discarded your plate. Since you didn’t have to make offerings to the gods until dinner, you just went to the shooting range.
You’d stay there for hours just working on your bow skills, even though you never missed your target. Your bow gripped tightly in your hand and you picked up some arrows that were lying on the ground. Shooting helps you clear your mind. If you felt like you were too stuck in your head and worried about your future, you’d just stay here for hours. And that’s exactly what you did today, stayed for hours.
“So, you’re just going to stay here all day and not come see me at all?” You knew that voice all too well. Clarisse walked up to you, her arms crossed over her chest and her dark brown curls blowing in the wind.
“Sorry, I was just thinking.” You tell her, lowering your bow as you turn to face her. She hummed, looking at the targets that were now covered in multiple arrows (some arrows even having arrows inside of them).
She walked over to the targets, touching the wooden arrows that stuck inside of them. “Definitely the work of a prodigy of Apollo, that’s for sure.” She said, her fingers grazing the arrows. You winced slightly at the word ‘prodigy’. She turned to look at you.
“Why do you hate being his pride so much? That means he’s proud of you and your progress so far. You should be happy for than anything.” She told you. You just shrugged at her words, you knew where this conversation was going. You hated every conversation you two had on this topic.
“I just…I want to feel like a normal kid, y’know? All this ‘being destined for great things’ isn’t who I am.” You tell her, looking down at the bow in your hands. It felt oddly warm, every time you looked at it, it started to feel warm.
“This may not be what you want, but it is who you are.” She tells you, standing in front of you. Her body was blocking the sun from your view. “You were born with talents many demigods could only dream of having, what I dream of having.” She tells you. And here she goes, starting her famous rant about how you should be grateful for the life that was bestowed upon you.
“You were blessed by your father since birth, he and the Fates saw your future. You would become a hero, one of the greatest children of Apollo to have ever lived.” She tells you. “You know how many kids here wish they could just be claimed? You don’t. You won’t understand, because Apollo brought you here himself.” She continued.
“Your powers are stronger than the rest of your siblings. While some can only shoot a bow or heal, you can do almost as much as Apollo can. Sure your powers are still far weaker than his, but you’re not just some average kid of the sun god either.” She tells you, she then put a hand on your shoulder.
“You don’t understand how much I wish Ares would give me that kind of attention.” She says to you. “I’ve been training every day, since I first got here, to be the ideal daughter of Ares and earn just a smidge of his approval.” And this is what you hate about this conversation. You hate the fact that she’s right, she always is.
You don’t have to work hard to earn Apollo’s approval, you know he’s watching you and that he’s proud of your accomplishments. You don’t have to wonder what his face looks like, you’ve seen it up close. You don’t have to wonder what his voice sounds like, you’ve held a conversation with him before. And even though you know she’s right, there’s just something inside of you that stops you from accepting any praise or recognition from Apollo.
You nodded. “You’re right.” You tell her, just like you’ve told her every other time you’ve had this talk. She pulls you into a hug, something she’d never do if there was anybody else around. Not because she’s embarrassed, but because she doesn’t want to be seen as ‘soft’ or ‘weak’.
“I just want you to understand and appreciate how lucky you are compared to the rest of us. I’m glad you don’t have to go through what I do.” She whispered to you. You hugged her back tightly, your fingers gently gripping her orange shirt. She pulled away a few moments later and you let her go.
“I know you’re going to do great things one day, even if you don’t think so.” She tells you. This is what you liked about Clarisse. No matter how many people at camp feared her or how rude she was to everybody else, she loved you. Her baby sister, the one person she knew she could feel loved and appreciated by no matter what. And it’s true, because no matter what Clarisse did, she would never be viewed as a bad person or a villain in your eyes.
“Thanks, Clarisse.” You told her, a small smile on your face. “Anytime, Y/N.” Just as she was about to leave, she turned around once more. “Oh, and be at sword training tomorrow. You won’t be able to use that special little bow of yours in every fight.” She says with a teasing smirk, one you’d grown accustomed to over the years.
“Doubt that, but I’ll be there tomorrow!” You tell her as she turned to leave once more. You sighed once she was gone, and turned and looked at the targets you were previously shooting at. “I’ve been shooting for hours now, maybe I should take a break.” You said to yourself quietly, walking over to the targets and taking the arrows out of them.
It was dinner time, you sat at end of the table with Valerie. “I heard that we got a new camper earlier today, apparently he killed the Minotaur.” She whispered to you. “Really?” You whispered back. “Are you sure he killed the Minotaur, I mean, it’s a little hard to believe since he must’ve not found out he was a demigod until maybe yesterday, right?” You asked her. She shrugged and continued to eat her food.
“You never know, maybe he had an adrenaline rush. That tends to make people be able to do a lot of crazy things they aren’t usually able to.” She said. “Well, how come I haven’t seen him around?” You asked her. “He was with Luke the whole day, and you left the shooting range after being there all day just when they were arriving.” She said to you. “Right…”
You both finished your portion of food and went to pour the rest in the fire as an offered to Apollo. “I saw him today, I mean we didn’t talk, but I got a good image of what he looks like.” Valerie said, scooping her food into the fire. “Yeah?” “Yeah, he’s only a bit shorter than you, and he’s got blonde hair and blue eyes.” She informed you. “He looks a bit scrawny as well. And he also sucks at almost everything here, you should’ve seen him when he tried to shoot an arrow. He almost took everyone’s head off their shoulders!” She exclaimed.
You chuckled at her words. “So the new boy sucks at almost everything? I wonder who his godly parent must be.” Valerie hummed. “I wonder if he’ll even get claimed…a lot of kids are growing up at the Hermes cabin without ever knowing their godly parent, I feel bad for them.” She said softly, voicing her concerns.” You nodded. “Yeah, I wish everyone could know who their parent is, it isn’t fair to them.” You said in agreement.
“Hey, look, he’s over there.” Your sister said, pointing over at him. When you looked over at him, you could see that he was already looking in your direction. For the split second that your eyes met, it was like you could sense something within him. It was like there was a strong surge of power inside of him that needed to be unlocked, you could sense that there was something special about him. Then he looked away.
It wouldn’t hurt to get to know him, right?
