Despite having talked about having Neptuna move on once the danger was clear, the two had yet to separate due to the potential threats MacGonagall warned them about. Something was definitely fishy about Mister Olympic and Perseus was definitely on the radar of some dangerous individuals now. So even though several months passed without incident Perseus never let his guard down.
His life would take a new turn, as unexpected as the one that started all this, one early spring day while walking casually. It was still cold and there was still snow on the ground despite it being late March. He was walking in an alleyway in New Haden trying to take a shortcut home when he spotted a neerdowell harassing a short and petite lady who looked younger than she was due to the fact she was a compact little womanlit.
Perseus was originally going to ignore it, after all it wasn't any of his business. However, his second-sight activated and he could see the short woman was a holder, her inner self filled with a glowing and sparkling silver energy. Based on Perseus' knowledge of the different Armatus there were two possibilities to whom her god partner was. Tsukuyomi or Artemis.
Perseus saw that as the guy got more persistent, the short woman's aura flared up, making Perseus think the woman was about to manifest her weapon on an ordinary guy. So Perseus chose to intervene. He walked over to the two and looked right at the man. “She's already made it clear she's not interested, so buzz off before someone gets hurt.”
The man started getting aggressive with Perseus. “What are you going to do scrawny?” Perseus gave the man an angry expression and took a step forward. “I'm not going to have to do anything, because you're going to turn around and walk away.” The man took a step back, then looked at his own foot in surprise that he seemed to move on instinct. He turned around and left.
The woman, who was practically an entire foot shorter than Perseus, gave him a light shove on the back. “I didn't need your help, I had it handled. I'm not some damsel in distress.” Perseus looked her right in the eyes. “I didn't step in for your benefit, I stepped in for his. How about I escort you home so you don't end up hurting some poor guy that has no idea what he's dealing with.”
The woman looked at Perseus with an angry expression but eventually it softened. “Fine, I'll allow it, but only because you seem like the stubborn type that's not going to let it go easily.” She turned around with a huff and started walking. Neptuna manifested in front of Perseus, floating. She gestured a hand at the short woman and spoke to Perseus in a somewhat angry tone. “You know that she can tell you're a holder at this range, right? Other people might not have second sight but they can sense when someone near them has an Armatus.”
Perseus nodded. “So how far are we walking?” The woman practically snapped back at Perseus. “All the way to New Rhodes, so you're going to be stuck walking with me for a solid hour.” Perseus grumbled. “That's quite the distance to walk, don't you have a car or at least a bike?” The woman scoffed. “I was walking to clear my head after I had a fight with my sister. She may be older but she sure as shit isn't wiser.”
Perseus chuckled. “I definitely understand that. I practically disowned my own older brother because he keeps making the same mistakes.” The woman looked at him, her expression curious. “Have we met before? You seem familiar.” Perseus shrugged. He was normally good with faces and she did look familiar but he couldn't place it. “Well if you're a local to the area we've probably bumped into one another. I've lived in New Haden all my life.”
The short woman scoffed. “That explains your fashion sense. You probably picked up that mess at a thrift store.” Perseus looked at his Kerberos Sport shirt and zip up hoodie. “Actually I got these at the mall-mart. Though that's not much better.” She scoffed again. “My family has lived in New Rhodes for a while now. My mom owns a business there.” Perseus nodded. “Must be nice, not struggling just to put food on the table or having to make sure every door and window is locked while never leaving vehicles out in the open at night. Must be nice to not wake up to the sounds of planes, trains, and automobiles or the sounds of gunfire. It must be soooo nice to be born into money.”
The woman crossed her arms and looked forward again. “Hey, it's not like it's my fault your parents were poor. They probably put themselves in that position through bad financial choices.” Perseus snapped back. “No, families like mine get pushed down by families like yours. Anytime we show signs of climbing out and building something for ourselves your kind swoops in and finds a way to either claim what we've gained was already theirs or conned us out of it. We wallow in the mud because we were forced there more often than the cases where we end up there on our own. Families like yours get where they are by walking on families like mine all so they don't have to get their fancy shoes dirty. The wealth of your kind is literally built on the backs and labor of mine.”
The woman let out a huff but didn't respond. She simply remained quiet until they officially crossed over to New Rhodes. It was easy to tell the difference as the quality of the materials used to construct buildings went from the cheapest possible legal materials to higher grade stuff. The older buildings were made of bricks or sometimes even marble. This was a huge change from the wood pulp and cheap concrete buildings of New Haden. The two continued to walk for a bit when Perseus broke the silence. “So uhh… how tall are you exactly?”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
She turned to glare at him. “Well how tall are you, mister skyscraper?” Perseus shifted from side to side. “Six feet, three inches.” The woman had an expression of shock. “Jesus Christ man, you must have been a hit on the basketball team. You're almost a full foot taller than me. One inch shy in fact.” Perseus chuckled. “I actually can't aim or throw to save my life. Only sport I've been good at is track. Five four, Jesus that's tiny. You're as short as my mom.”
The woman glared at Perseus. “How'd you end up so tall with such a short mother?” Perseus shrugged. “I'm a good three inches taller than my dad too. The only one in my family is an uncle on my mom's side that's seven feet tall.” The woman refocused on looking ahead. “Jesus.” The two fell silent for a while when Perseus started looking around as he recognized the particular neighborhood. “I know these streets…” The woman took on a sarcastic tone. “Oh? Do you get to New Rhodes often?”
Perseus shook his head. “No, but I've been to this particular area a few times. My uhh… ex lives around here I guess you could say.” This caught the woman off guard and she once again looked at Perseus. “Your ex? You've had a girlfriend?” Perseus shook his head. “She was a game playing witch who was already dating some himbo and normally only went for handsome morons who more often than not treated her badly.”
The woman's expression changed to a deadpan one. “I definitely know someone like that. Good on you for getting out of that toxic relationship. You may be an overly blunt ass hat but even you don't deserve that sort of treatment.” Perseus chuckled. “You don't know that for sure. I could be an awful person.” She chuckled and looked forward. “Nah, I don't think so. After all, you went out of your way to save that scumbag from the ass whooping of a lifetime. That's not the action of a bad person.”
The two returned to a silence when finally the woman stopped. “This is me.” She turned and walked up to her house and Perseus went pale as he saw it. The woman jiggled the handle. “Locked. Aaaaand my sister moved the hide-a-key again. Guess I'll have to go in through the back again.” She sighed. “Come on, the least I can do for your trouble is give you some food.” She noticed Perseus' expression. “Something wrong?”
Perseus shook himself off. “No, I'm good. I'll just head home, you don't need to return the favor or anything.” The woman o put her hands on her hips. “I'm not taking no for an answer.” Perseus sighed and reluctantly followed her. “Yeah, okay.” The two went to the back door where the woman opened it and they walked into an entry room. “Just wait here and I'll bring you a sandwich or something. Don't touch anything or go anywhere.” Perseus nodded. “You don't have to tell me twice.”
Perseus waited patiently and eventually walked over to a little padded bench likely used for sitting on while putting on or removing shoes. After a while Perseus heard footsteps. His head naturally shot to the source when someone slowly and shyly walked out from around the corner. It was Aida. The moment she saw that it was Perseus she lit up and ran over to him, giving him a big hug. Perseus smiled and tousled her hair. “Hey Aida, it's good to see you too. Sorry I haven't visited but things didn't work out with your sister.”
Aida pulled away and pouted, but then she smiled again and swayed back and forth wordlessly. She then gestured. “
The woman comes out holding a small plate with a sandwich on it. “I hope ham and swiss is fine because that's all we had for sandwich stuff.” She then paused when she saw Perseus interacting with Aida. “Have you two met?” Perseus looked over at the woman. “Yeah, Aida here is a good egg. I've uhh… been in this house before.” She looked back and forth between Aida and Perseus. “But Aida doesn't talk to anybody.” Perseus chuckled. “She doesn't talk to me either, she has other ways of communicating.”
Aida makes a few gestures at the woman. She cycles through a few expressions. “Ah, that checks out. So the woman wasn't just like my sister, it was my sister.” She sighed. “June is such a mess sometimes. The fact Aida likes you is enough for me so I'm not going to freak out at you. Allow me to properly introduce myself I guess. The name's Jade.” Perseus nodded. “So you're the full sister. Only one I haven't met is the other step sister.” Aida corrected Perseus. “
”
Perseus blinked a few times. “Oh, right. I'm not sure why I was under the impression it was all sisters.” Jade handed Perseus the sandwich. “Honestly Aiden isn't what most would call traditionally masculine. So even if you'd met him I still wouldn't blame you for thinking that.” Perseus nodded as he ate the sandwich. “My name's Perseus by the way.” He said between bites making sure there was no food in his mouth.
Jade chuckled. “You know if I had a nickel for the number of guys I've known named Perseus, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot but it is strange it's happened twice.” Perseus narrowed his eyes. “I mean it's not exactly a common name so I guess. You can just call me Percy.” Jade took the plate once Perseus was finished with the sandwich. “Well I doubt we'll be running into one another again, but whatever.” Perseus gave Aida one final pay on the head. “I mean I might visit just to say hi to Aida here, she's rather attached to me for some reason.”
Jade looked at the two interacting. “Yeah, it is unusual for her. But as long as it's nothing weird I really don't care. She's just sixteen after all.” Perseus frowns. “I'm not some creeper, but I understand your concerns.” Perseus bowed lightly. “Thanks for the meal, I'll be going now.” He then made his exit and power walked away from the building with haste.
Jade turned around and nearly bumped into June who had just entered the area. “Was someone here just now?” Jade scowled at her sister. “No one that concerns you, just a gentleman who offered to walk me home after saving me from beating someone to a pulp. No big deal.” June looked at Aida who had a big smile on her face and squinted. “Whatever.” She said in a dismissive tone before walking back into the building.
Perseus made it home and immediately took his shoes off and plopped down on the couch rubbing his feet. “I really have to stop walking across the three cities like that.” Neptuna had her arms crossed. “You really shouldn't be sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. What if she attacked you?” Perseus groaned. “Then I would have fought back. Until the threats pass I'm still a holder so I'm not worried about it.” Neptuna moved her hands to her hips. “I won't always be here you know.” Perseus sighed and nodded. “Trust me, I'm well aware of how temporary our arrangement is. But for now, I'm just going to take a big fat nap.”
Neptuna eased her stance. “Just be careful, okay? I don't want you getting yourself hurt.” Perseus chuckled. “You really need to do something about your attachment if you plan on jumping ship eventually. I don't want you to regret moving on.” Neptuna floated herself to look like she was sitting on the couch next to him. “One day at a time alright, just because I care about you don't be getting any weird ideas.” Perseus laid down on the couch. “I'd never dream of it.” He slowly dozed off with Neptuna fading away shortly after.