Fatal Flaw: Empathy (Nico di Angelo)

Chapter Eight

Don't own Percy Jackson. If I did, I probably wouldn't be here... nah that's a lie.

Aletha hadn't expected her father to be so formal. Percy seemed to be casual with him. Instead, Aletha bowed on the floor of the Andromeda. "Father. It's good to meet you."

His deep rumbling chuckle resonated in her chest. It felt like home. Her mother had always said that her father could laugh enough to make the earth shake. Aletha didn't know she'd meant literally.

"Call me dad. Father makes me feel old. And don't be shy, Aletha. I'm sorry about Lila. She was one of my best friends and amongst my favored loves."

"Good to know. I heard about the law, so I don't blame you." Aletha spoke clearly.

"You have her voice you know. You probably don't have her fatal Flaw. Hers was insecurity. You seem confident. Got that from me, huh?"

The two chuckled together before Aletha spoke up.

"I'm not insecure right now. But I could become insecure if I don't learn to be a bit like Percy. It's hard to live up to a brother who's saved the world. Twice. And been in a huge prophecy. Also twice."

Poseidon nodded gravely and grabbed his daughter's small hands in his own. How he hated that they were bigger than they'd been when he'd seen them in the shores of Sicily 14 years ago. How he hated that he didn't get to help shape yet another child unfortunate enough to be borne to him. (Khwat? Khwat am I writing?????) "To start, you need a weapon suited for you, huh? That's how every hero starts. And how every demigod that lives past twenty."

He waved his hands in the water, and two clams had appeared in them. "Percy was pretty much built for sword fighting, but you? You have a much smaller build, and having seen te way you roast people, savage by the way, reminds me of a deadly eel or snake. Something quiet like you are to everyone, but fierce despite that."

He pulled a pearl out of each clam, both had opened, and he had picked each out at the same time. He lose his hand sober them, and when he opened them, there lay two armbands in Poseidon's palms. He pushed one onto her left hand. "This is Σκύλλα, Scylla. Named after the seven-headed monster from the Sea of Monsters." When Aletha opened it, Scylla was a silver blade that had seven savagely jagged edges. They zigzagged across one side. "It will not return to it's form unless it knows you are protected. And if you are not, the jewels," he pointed at it in the inlaid line of blood red jewels that made the 'Σ' in it's name. "Glow."

Poseidon continued, and put the other band on Aletha's right arm, who once again released the blade. "Χάρυβδς, Charybdis. Named for the hurricane. While Scylla relies solely on your physical ability and bloodlust, Charybdis helps to channel your magical ability. I understand you've made an oath, so this will give you all the power you would usually have. It also helps for physical abilities. They are both destructive, especially wen you put the two with a daughter of Poseidon. It would be like battling the sea of monsters itself." The cool silver blade had a slight bluish tiny and a line of blue crystals glowing in the 'X' of the first letter. "Now, I would love to stay and chat with you, but I wouldn't want to keep you awake, hmm? Goodbye, Aletha."

"Bye dad," She said waving, "thanks for the daggers!"

A totally normal conversation for the both of them.