Actions

Work Header

King of the world

Summary:

AU Beth Boland is sent on a quest with Rio

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter Text

Once upon a time I had tides to control

I had moons to spin

And stars to ignite

And they threw flowers at my feet

When I walked through the town



The dream was weird almost like a memory. As Rio slept he watched himself directing the ocean from a cliff. It was surreal but felt natural at the same time. They crashed on his command and were still with his blessing. 

 

He tossed and turned in his bed as the scene changed and he was walking through an ancient village. People stopped to greet him, thank him for his bounty. From windows petals floated down around him.

 

Waking with a start, Rio looked over at the bedside clock and saw it was four am. His heart was still racing, the dreams were getting stronger, more detailed every night. It was frustrating.



A crack of lightning caught got his attention and Rio frowned. There hadn’t been mention of a storm tonight. Slipping out of bed he wandered to the large picture window in the living room. The sky was a strange shade of grey and the lightning was getting more frequent. It caused a strange shiver to run down his back.

 

Once upon a time I had lives to protect

I had rules to change

And wrongs to set right

And there were people at my side

And there were rivers I could guide

I wanted nothing in return

 

While Rio watched the storm, Beth was caught up in her own vivid dream.  She walked through a wheat field where the boughs seemed to bend to her fingers. In the distance she could see Ruby and Annie waiting for her, waving. As peaceful as the scene was there was an undercurrent of danger. There was something someone wanted her to know but it seemed beyond her.

 

When the thunder started she woke sitting straight up. Hearing the storm she got up to make sure everything was secure. in the living room she found a lightning storm that appeared unnatural. A mist filled the room and a specter floated in.

 

Oh my daughter I had hoped to hide you for the rest of your life but we have need of you or your children could pay the price.

 

At the mention of the kids, she ran up the stairs, letting out a scream discovering that their beds were empty. The specter was in the hallway giving her a sad smile. 

 

I’m sorry my darling they have been taken. They are an anomaly that should have never existed. Zeus is furious. 

 

"Why? Why would he do this?”

 

The answer is in you and you have been given a quest to find them. If you make it before the Harvest moon you can save them. Help is out there but it means dealing with your sins.




Rio moved out to the balcony, but when he stuck his hand out into the rain it moved around him keeping his hand completely dry.  Frowning in confusion a deep voice inside the apartment 

 

My son, your time is at hand. You must find your counterpart for you quest. Your son’s life is in the balance. 

 

“Marcus?”

 

He looked into Marcus’ room but only found an empty bed.

 

“What the fuck have you done to my son?!” He yelled into the open space

 

I hid you better than my other sons. You’re grown, but Zeus has discovered you and your son, and a Son of Poseidon shouldn’t have a son in his opinion. I have bargained for his life and he has given you a quest.

 

Flopping onto his couch Rio held his head in his hands as he tried not to panic for his son.

 

“A quest? You’re fuckin’ sendin’ me on a damn quest?”

 

It’s the only way. As your father, I had hoped to protect you both. Zeus is threatened by my power and my worship and the powers you and Marcus both have. He wants you to prove you can handle the power.

 

“Power? What power? Anythin’ I got, I made!”

 

You think I haven’t helped you? Your shipments never got wet or damaged.  You go to sea to pick up your drugs and the waves keep the coast guard at bay. Those are the powers I have given you son. You possess the power over water and my whole domain.

 

“You gave me.” Rio scoffed. “You gave me a mother who couldn’t handle being abandoned. She tol’ me stories about you. About how you made her feel and then you left.  You left us in poverty! I’m the one who kept us together, kept the needle out of her arm You ain’t done shit!”

 

The voice was still, as if thinking.

 

I am not infallible, I tried to send you signs and servants, but I had limits to not catch Zeus’ attention. The monsters that found you, you defeated easily not knowing what they really were.

 

“How do I get my son back?” Rio asked tightly.

 

If the voice could have sighed, it would have.

 

The one you like but don’t like is to join you on your quest. Their motivation is the same as yours. Look past your differences and history to find what you truly desire.

 

As fast as it started, the storm ended and Rio was left sitting in his dark. As a child, his mother had told him stories about his father, this mythical person he had never met but that she loved completely. That love had destroyed her mind and will to live. Leaving him to fend for himself. Eventually joining a gang to make sure they had a roof over their heads and food on the table.

 

Standing up Rio realized that he needed to do damage control first. He texted Elena, Marcus’ mother and let her know they were headed out of town for his week so she wouldn’t be trying to reach him. Then he had to figure out who was supposed to be on this damn quest with him.



As he dressed he looked at himself in the mirror the scars from months ago stood out marring formerly smooth skin. Rio sneered at the image. That whole situation was one of his own making.  Looking back, he could see why Elizabeth would see him as the greater evil. She hadn’t been ready yet for living in the grey, he had pushed her too far. 

 

Coming back from something like that wasn’t going to be easy but she was the only he knew that had the same motivation for the things he did.

 

Rio’s dark car pulled into Elizabeth Marks driveway, the house was dark save for one light in the back. He had kept track of her movements and activity, moderately proud she had found her own way to create and launder funny money plus she had used that income to build a legitimate cash business in a Marijuana Dispensary.

 

Letting himself in through the backdoor he was surprised to see Elizabeth sitting at the counter with her head in her hands.

 

“Elizabeth.”

 

Hearing her name Beth raised her head showing a tear stained face. With everything that had happened that night, seeing the supposed dead wasn’t terribly surprising.

 

“Is this a night of hauntings? Have you come to torment me some more?”

 

Rio shook his head. “Nah, that ain’t my deal. Same as you, I got a visit from the beyond. Marcus is gone, I’m guessin’ your kids are too. You and me we gonna find them by goin’ on some fuckin’ quest.”

 

Blinking Beth stood. “Marcus is gone too? Who is behind this?”

 

“Whatchu know about the Greek Gods?”

 

“I suppose the normal stuff we learn in school. The ghost or whatever mentioned Zeus, said my children were anomalies, whatever that means.”

 

“Means one of your parents was a god. We should find out which one is yours. Mine’s Poseidon, God of the Ocean.”

 

“This can’t be happening,” Beth moaned running her fingers through her hair. Rio moved closer using his pinky finger to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. 

 

“You look good mama, hair’s darker.”

 

Beth scrunched up her face. “Dean always said bright red hair made me look like a stripper. Once he was out of the picture I decided to be me.”

 

“Yeah, this fits the Boss Bitch I know.”

 

Sighing Beth gave him a weak smile, “Don’t feel like a boss or a bitch right now. I need to find my kids.”

 

“You and me both Elizabeth. Been told that means working together, you up for that?”

 

Beth took a deep breath. “Of course I am. What about you and our issues?”

 

Rio tightened his jaw before sighing. “We find those kids an’ we call it even. See where we stand afta.”

 

Nodding, Beth moved towards the stairs. “Let me get dressed and we can talk. I’m guessing you have a better idea of what’s going on than I do.”

 

Not waiting for his response Beth quickly washed her face and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. 

 

When she returned she found Rio making himself a cup of tea and the coffee maker had been started.

 

“You should get a cup, ‘cause what I gotta tell you is gonna seem crazy.”

 

Beth snorted. “I just had a ghost in my house calling me daughter, we’re well past crazy.”

 

“Yeah, so the spirit called you daughter? That means your mother is a goddess. You’re a demi-god like me.”

 

Just saying it aloud helped things fall into place for Rio. The reason he kept letting her off the hook. Technically they were family in a warped sense that only makes sense in Greek myths.

 

“That’s not possible.” Beth denied. 

 

“Tell me a lil’ about your ma. She kind and lovin’?”

 

She thought to the past and her miserable childhood and shook her head.

 

“Not particularly. I was more of a daddy’s girl until he walked out.”

 

“You sure he walked out? Not taken or killed?”

 

Beth frowned she had never given deep thought about why her father had abandoned them. 

 

“I don’t know, mom just said he left and then she kind of did too. There was a lot of yelling and other  ugliness that I tried to protect Annie from.”

 

“How often she take it out on Annie though?”

 

Her memory provided her scenes of her yelling at Annie to shut up but it was nothing like what she went through.

 

“She ain’t your biological mother, your pa was seduced or fell in love with a goddess. We need to figure out which one which means a road trip.  Why don’t you call your ex an’ tell him that you takin’ the kids on a road trip so he ain’t expectin’ them any time soon. I did the same with Marcus’ ma.”

 

With everything going on Beth hadn’t thought about Dean, it was currently her week but his would be coming up. Thankfully she doubted he would care too much as he usually just dropped them off at his mother’s.

 

“Good point. Why would they have never told me?”

 

Rio sighed. “Zeus don’t like it when the gods have children with mortals, he fears them bein’ too powerful. The gods survive on worship, so some gods are more powerful than others. Like mine, he is the god of the sea and water.  People pray for rain. Keeps him strong. So if they have a kid they tend to try and hide them. Monsters love killin’ baby demigods, less than nice people smell bad to monsters helps hide the scent of demigod11866160

.”

 

This was all so overwhelming. Beth felt her head spinning.

 

“You’re saying my dad married mom so that monsters wouldn’t find me. I have to talk to Ruby.” Beth muttered.

 

“I’m guessin’ that Ruby already knows. The one you gotta break it to is Annie. “

 

“Why would you think Ruby knows?” Beth asked feeling even more confused.

 

“For the same reason, I keep givin’ you chances. Like knows like. Call her tell her to head over and we’ll know for sure.”

 

 Knowing he was right Beth picked up her phone and texted Ruby, and despite the early house she got a response right away.

 

“She’s on her way. I wonder why she was up.”

 

“That crazy storm early weren’t natural if she’s a demi it would have woken her up.”

 

Beth nodded, figuring of all the things that had happened this morning it was the most normal.

 

“It took Ruby fifteen minutes to arrive and she was moderately surprised to see Rio standing there.

 

“So not dead, you had that smell about you.” She told him tersely. “Whose kid are you?”

 

“Poseidon.” Rio responded tightly. “Whatta ‘bout you?”

 

Ruby’s eyes went wide and she let out a low whistle. “One of the big three. Figures you’d be of that line. Mine is Apollo. You spend time at the camp?”

 

Rio shook his head. “Nah, I had things to tend too here and apparently I fought monsters. What about you?”

 

“Me either. Mom wanted me hidden as much as possible. Thankfully my grandmother was a miserable sow and kept things at bay until I was grown.”

 

“Unless you know who Elizabeth’s god parent is we headed to the camp.”

 

Ruby shrugged. “Not a clue just knew she was one of us. It was pretty obvious her human parent didn’t say anything to her.”

 

“She is right here. “ Beth interjected.  They both ignored her.

 

Rio ran his hand over his short hair. “Road trip it is then. We need to know what we got on hand. With the kids gone missin’ there ain’t time to waste.

 

Irritated with being Beth waved her hand in front of their faces.

 

“Anyone care to tell me where we’re going?”

 

“We’re goin’ to upstate New York, place called Camp Halfblood. Most kids like us get sent there for trainin’ an’ hide from the monsters until their sent on quests. You an’ me we skipped that part.”

 

“New York? But that’s so far.”

 

“You ain’t got kids to watch so we got time. Pack a bag mama and we’ll hit the road.”

 

Beth looked over at Ruby who was nodded. 

 

“It's for the best Beth really. They should be able to help you there.”

 

“What about Annie?”

 

“Call her from the road and I’ll try to explain to her too. Still this is your quest. We’ll do what we can from here.”

 

Beth hurried to pack a small bag. She hoped that wherever they were going would have laundry.

 

Finally they were ready and Rio was plugging their destination into the gps. He looked over at Beth who was still pale and reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.

 

“We’re gonna get them back mama, I promise.”

 

Feeling her eyes starting to well again Beth gave Rio a weak smile. “I know, I trust you.”

 

“Ain’t sure you should do that but in this I trust you too. The drive ain’t too long but there’s a hike as well. We’ll get a hotel tonight and hike to camp in the morning.”

 

Settling into the passenger seat Beth sighed. “If you don’t mind I might try getting a little sleep. My world has been upended again and I’m exhausted.”

 

Rio nodded watching her from the corner of his eye watching as she got comfortable and closed her eyes. It wasn’t long before she was asleep. He started a classical guitar playlist and started to drive.

 

The drive allowed him to really take apart the situation and ruminate on what Poseidon had told him.. He understood why Zeus was challenging him for Marcus. Even being a quarter demi god had perks.

 

Beth’s situation was unusual. Not that she hadn’t been trained at Camp Halfblood but that she had no idea she was a half blood. Rio had waited for two years to ask her about her parentage but she never brought it up, never knowing that part of their attraction was their powers. It was why he knew it would never burn out.

 

Although Rio hated to disturb Elizabeth, he woke her in time to pull out her passport at the Canadian border. She seemed surprised but let him do all the talking. Once they were though she smirked at him.

 

“We’re on our second honeymoon?” she teased.

 

“Yeah, we looked too comfortable to on our first one an’ you can’t tell customs you’re goin’ on a quest.”

 

 Beth laughed. “Fair enough, would you like me to help drive?

 

Rio let out a short laugh. “You ain’t drivin’ my car darlin’, unless I’m bleedin’ out.  I’m fine, we only have four more hours. But let’s stop for gas and lunch before gettin’ back on the road.”

 

Stopping at a Swiss Chalet because Rio insisted he did that any time he crossed the border. They refilled on snacks and gas and headed back over the border into New York State.

 

“Well other than we’re exhausted and scared parents. This trip hasn’t been too bad.” Beth admitted. “I’m glad you’re here. Don’t know what I would have done without you filling in some of the holes in my education.”

 

Rio shook his head. “Nah, you’da figured it out. Still a Boss Bitch from what I hear.”

 

“Are you keeping tabs on me?”

 

He gave his typical ‘I know you’re not stupid’ look.

 

“You shot me, you think I ain’t keepin’ an eye on you? Might get the inclination to do it again.”

 

Beth opened her mouth to argue but closed it with a snap. She looked at him trying to figure out if he was joking or not. Either way this was not the time to start fighting.

 

Rio huffed as she turned away and looked out the mirror.

 

“We might as well get part over with ma, ain’t got time for other issues to distract us.”

 

“Why? Why did you do all of it?”

 

“Thought you were ready to deal with your problem. Didn’t anticipate how much I’d pissed you off. Mistakes were made.”

 

Beth was silent other than a sharp snort.

 

“How’d you survive?”

 

“I’m a demigod, We’re hard to kill.  Told Turner I wouldn’t snitch so he left me there to die, I always keeps ambrosia in my pocket, heals us right up.” He told her.

 

Shaking her head Beth sighed. “There is so much I don’t understand.”

 

“Yeah it’s a lot ma, the camp will be able to explain it better than me.”

 

She nodded, “Mostly I just want to know what I have to do to get the kids back. It’s a parent's worst nightmare.”

 

Rio didn’t answer but she could see his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly at the thought.

 

Soon they were pulling into a nondescript hotel that Beth wrinkled her nose at. “We’re staying here?”

 

Rio pulled their bags from the trunk and nodded. “Yeah, we need the stench to hide us from monsters. With the Camp close they like to hunt here. Detroit’s safer, city is such a mess it keeps them away for the most part.”

 

“Monsters, who would have thought I’d be talking about monsters that are real with you.”

 

“Yeah who would have thought.” he said dryly as he let them into the room.

 

“You wanna shower first?

 

Beth nodded and headed to the bathroom after pulling out her pjs. The hot water felt good as she tried to relive the past twenty-fours or so. She felt emotionally drained and knew she didn’t have time to fall apart.

 

Rio was sitting on the edge of the bed staring into space when she came out. Walking over she took his hand and squeezed it.

 

“We’re going to get them back.”