AN: Hey guys , HOA11 here , I hope you enjoy this story ! Please , follow , favorite and review ! I need constructive criticism guys , so that I can smoothen the creases in my writing. Without further ado , let's get on with the story !
DISCLAIMER: All rights to the Percy Jackson universe are reserved by Rick Riordan . I do this for fun and do not gain any monetary benefits from this.
Chapter 1
The Gods of Olympus barged into the throne room in full battle regalia, expecting the fight of their immortal lives. Instead, they found Luke Castellan's body sprawled motionless on the ground while Percy Jackson shakily got to his feet. Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena was keeled over sideways, unconscious. Percy, paying no heed to the assembled Gods, stumbled over to her, hoping, praying, that she was still alive. He let out a relieved sigh after he felt her steady pulse.
Percy, overcome with sudden fatigue suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, unconscious. The Gods exclaimed in alarm. Poseidon rushed forward and fell to his knees, cradling his son's head in his lap "Apollo!" he shouted in panic. Apollo walked over swiftly, kneeling next to his uncle and placed a hand on Percy's forehead. A warm, golden glow spread from his hand into Percy, and after a moment or two, Apollo sighed in relief.
"He's going to be fine" Apollo said, making the other gods sigh in relief, a trait not generally attributed to any of them, except perhaps Hestia. "He used too much of his power, much more than was safe to use." Apollo released a pulse of golden light into Percy and then laid a hand on his uncles shoulder. "He'll be okay in a couple of minutes uncle P" he said comfortingly, sending Poseidon a reassuring smile.
Poseidon, too relieved to speak, nodded, smiling gratefully at his nephew, before looking down at his son with pride.
Apollo, meanwhile, went to check on Annabeth. After diagnosing the problem, he sent a beam of light into her head. "She suffered a minor concussion" he said, rising. "She'll come to right about now."
Sure enough, Annabeth started moaning softly, her hands going to her head. She opened her eyes blearily and looked around with confusion. Suddenly, realization dawned upon her and she looked around wildly, searching for Percy. She got to her feet when she saw Percy and rushed over to him, worriedly looking at his face.
"Will he be alright?" she asked her mother who was looking on silently.
"Yes child, he will be perfectly fine in a few minutes" Athena spoke softly.
"Thank the gods." Annabeth sighed in relief before brushing his hair out of his eyes tenderly.
At her touch, Percy mumbled and moved slightly. Everyone watched with bated breath as he slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.
His eyes focused on Annabeth ."Are you okay Annabeth?" he asked, concern plainly visible in his eyes .
"Yes, Seaweed-Brain, I'm perfectly alright" she said, smiling at his concern for her.
Percy let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he sighed, relaxing. "Hey dad " he spoke softly.
"Son, I cannot tell you how proud I am of what you have accomplished, along with Annabeth" Poseidon replied, smiling at his son.
Percy smiled brightly, happy to hear that his father was proud of him.
"Help me sit up, will you ?" Percy asked his father. "I feel so helpless, just lying on the ground."
Poseidon helped Percy to his feet and pulled him into a hearty embrace. Then he turned and went over to his throne, seating himself, a contented smile on his face. Percy and Annabeth were left in the middle of the room.
Zeus cleared his throat pointedly. "I'm sure I speak for everyone here by requesting a brief summary of how you managed to defeat Kronos" he said gruffly, not pleased at having to speak so politely to a mere mortal.
Percy took a step forward to begin his narration.
"Me and Annabeth came into the throne room as quickly as we could, knowing that Kronos would be here, trying to destroy your thrones, so that he could remove your seats of power and establish himself as ruler of Olympus. I had a brief fight with Chronos in which neither of us landed a serious hit, even though we both managed to land glancing blows on each other."
The Gods' attentions were riveted, as they listened to Percy's tale with utter concentration. After hearing that he had taken on the titan king in single combat and had even managed to land a few hits on him, the looks on their faces changed to those of disguised admiration and awe.
Percy continued, after stopping to take a breath. "Finally, he used his time powers and created a time field around me, slowing my movement drastically." "Then, Annabeth came forward and called out to Luke reminding him of a promise he had made to her, long ago. During the time when Luke, Thalia and Annabeth were running away from the monsters together, Luke promised Annabeth that he would never hurt her" Percy explained, as most of the Gods were probably in the dark about Luke's promise.
Annabeth picked up the story. "He regained control of himself for a brief moment, and motioned for me to give him my dagger. I decided to trust him and handed over my dagger to him and he started peeling off his armor to expose his Achilles spot. When he was about to stab himself in the chest, Kronos managed to take back control of his host body. The last thing I remember is Kronos throwing me to the ground and my head hitting the floor, after which I blacked out."
"When Luke regained control, Kronos' time field failed and I luckily managed to hit his Achilles spot, which was under the breastplate that he had taken off" Percy explained. "As he was dying , he regained control of his body. He begged for forgiveness and said that he'd realized that he had been wrong to join Kronos."
The Gods listened, transfixed, and all of them were amazed by Percy's bravery and humbleness. Here he was, having defeated Kronos, the strongest titan and he was not boasting, even minutely. Even though he had shown great skill in fighting Kronos, he had just attributed it to his being lucky. He really was the greatest hero Olympus had ever seen.
"The rest of the story you know, my Lords and Ladies" said Percy, concluding his report.
Zeus cleared his throat , about to begin his 'grand' speech when suddenly the doors burst open and Thalia raced in, looking for her Seaweed-Brain of a cousin, hoping he hadn't gotten himself injured. She smiled joyously as she saw him with Annabeth relatively unharmed, in the middle of the room. She went over to Percy and hugged him tightly, elated at seeing her pseudo brother safe and sound. After pulling back, she turned to Annabeth and hugged her, relief flooding her system at seeing both of them alive.
"Never thought you cared so much about me, Pinecone-Face" Percy smirked . The expression was mirrored by Annabeth as she saw Thalia's disgruntled look.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever floats your boat, Kelp-Head" she smiled mischievously.
Zeus, tired of being kept out of the spotlight for so long, pointing his symbol of power into the air and released a crackling bolt of electricity, which left behind an acrid smell which Percy recognized as ozone. Everyone turned towards him as he stood from his throne.
"Olympians! Today, because of our might and majesty, Olympus has been saved!" he boomed, puffing out his chest
The majority of the Olympians rolled their eyes, having known this would be coming. After all, Zeus wasn't the God of drama and theatre for nothing.
"Zeus is as humble as ever" Percy whispered to Annabeth, making her stifle a giggle
After a long winded speech in which he praised the bravery of the gods along with their mighty power, Zeus finally acknowledged the Demigods
"However, in this war, we have also been aided by our faithful demigods, without whom Kronos and his army might have been a little more difficult to overcome" he mumbled, getting the words out quickly, as if they were like poison in his mouth.
The Gods shook their heads, bemused, knowing that without the demigods, Olympus might well have been overcome by now and razed to the ground.
"A little more difficult?" Apollo asked, mischievously.
"Okay, okay" grumbled Zeus. "A lot more difficult. Because of their loyalty to Olympus, I suppose some of them should be rewarded." He snapped his finger and suddenly Clarisse La Rue, Connor and Travis Stoll, Nico di Angelo, Grover Underwood and Rachel Elizabeth Dare materialized in the room, surprised expressions adorning their faces.
"Demigods and Mortal, it has been decided that due to your loyalty to Olympus, your courage and strength, you shall be rewarded!" Zeus boomed, determined on keeping himself the center of attention.
"Clarisse La Rue, step forward!" Ares said, looking at his daughter with something bordering on pride.
Clarisse walked forwards, first going to Zeus' throne and kneeling before going to Ares' throne and doing the same. She then straightened and stood beside her father's throne.
Ares gave Clarisse a new, better looking version of 'Maimer', her spear which had shattered in her fight against the Lydian Drakon. He also heightened her battle sense, giving her better reflexes and reaction time during a fight.
"Thank you father" Clarisse murmured, before joining her comrades in the middle of the room again. Ares simply nodded in return.
After Ares resumed his seat, Hermes stood, a happy smile on his face. "Connor and Travis Stoll. My sons, step forward."
Both Connor and Travis kneeled in front of Zeus before kneeling in front of their father. Then, they took up positions on either side of his throne.
Hermes gave each of them a pair of winged shoes, like the ones Luke had had, although he had stolen his pair from his father's palace. Both were sneakers and had wings jutting out of the sides. The only difference was that one pair was red while the other was blue.
"Thanks dad!" Travis and Connor chorused already thinking of the pranks they could play on campers with the help of the flying shoes, even as they went back to where Percy and the others were standing.
Hermes nodded to them and sat down , Apollo taking his place. "Rachel, as you are a mortal, you do not have a godly parent. However, since you can see through the mist and look into the near future, I would like you to offer you the chance of becoming the Oracle of Delphi, to issue prophecies and advise the campers" he said, speaking confidently.
"I humbly accept your offer, my Lord Apollo, and swear allegiance to you" Rachel supplied, stumbling slightly over the words.
Apollo nodded, pleased. He raised his hand and a poison green mist descended upon Rachel, completely engulfing her. She spasmed, as Apollo imbued some of his godly power into her, falling to the ground. After the smoke cleared, she shakily rose to her feet. Her eyes were now shining with hidden power, and had changed color, as they were now green, tinged with blue at the edges. She bowed to Apollo again, before walking back to the group of demigods.
"Grover Underwood, step forward" Zeus spoke commandingly.
Grover shook like a leaf as he walked over to Zeus, his knees shaking. He kneeled before Zeus, eyes fixated on the ground, overwhelmingly shy and terrified before the king Of Gods .
"Since you are not a demigod and thus have no godly parent, I will grant you your reward" Zeus supplied. "You, Grover underwood are now a lord of the wild because Pan has blessed you. To help you on your quest, you are hereby placed on the council of cloven elders, which will help you gain authority and support amongst the satyrs."
"Thank you, my lord Zeus" Grover bleated, a blissful smile on his face, as he all but forgot his fear. It had been his dream to join the council of cloven elders and now he was finally one of them! He was smiling brightly as he rejoined his friends.
Hades stood up from his temporary throne, eyes falling on Nico. "Nico di Angelo, son, step forward" he stated, a brief glimmer of pride passing over his eyes.
Nico kneeled in front of Zeus and then knelt in front of his father. After being told to rise, he took up a position at his father's right hand side.
"Nico, I am pleased to admit that I am very proud of you right now, just as I always was, and always will be. I bestow upon you this sword, 'Executioner'. It is made of Stygian iron and only people who have my blessing may use it" he said solemnly. Nico's eyes widened as he took the blade from his father. It felt perfect in his hand, as if it was designed for him and him alone. It was beautiful balanced and looked deadly because of the aura of darkness exuding from the wickedly sharp, jet black blade.
"Furthermore, with your permission, I will grant you the title of Prince of the Underworld. You shall help me patrol my realm and maintain order as you see fit. What say you?"
"Thank you, father" Nico said, happy to know his father cared about him so much as to offer him such a high position. "I humbly accept this honor."
The Lord of the Underworld smiled briefly at his son before sitting down on his temporary throne. "I will tell you more later" he said, to which Nico nodded his head.
Zeus stood up and called out once more. "Thalia Grace, come forward!" Thalia went over to him and kneeled before his throne. "My daughter, you have made me proud. Joining the hunters of Artemis, and becoming their lieutenant is no small feat and I am proud of you. I will give you the ability to control winds along with heightening your ability of manipulating lighting and thunder."
Thalia nodded gratefully at her father before stepping back.
Athena stood up, a small smile adorning her pale face. "Annabeth Chase, step forward!" she called out, her eyes indicating how proud she was. Her emotionless grey eyes softened for a brief time, enough for her daughter to notice the pride shining in her mother's intimidating grey eyes.
"My daughter, you have done very well, and have made me proud. As you know, when Kronos attacked, he did a great deal of damage to Olympus, before you two ultimately stopped him. As for my gift, I ask that you accept the role of 'Official Architect of Olympus'. If you accept, you will be in charge of redesigning Olympus and may do so to your hearts content" Athena smiled.
Annabeth gasped, all other thoughts momentarily flying out of her head as she realized that her lifelong dream had actually come true. Tears of joy formed in her eyes as she looked at her mother joyfully.
Percy looked on with a slight smile on his face. He knew that it had always been Annabeth's dream to be an architect and to create a monument that would last a thousand years. Her dream, it seemed , had come true, and Percy couldn't be happier for her.
"Thank you for this great honor, my Lords and Ladies" she choked out, thanking them all since she knew it had to be a unanimous decision, as it involved all of them. "I accept your offer with gratitude."
She went back to stand next to Percy , who pulled by her into a brief, strong, one-armed hug. Already, her mind was racing with possibilities and ideas, working in overdrive.
Finally, it was time to reward the hero of Olympus.
"Perseus Jackson!" Poseidon bellowed, pride shining clearly in his ocean green eyes as he eyed his son. "Come forth."
Percy stepped forward and knelt at his father's feet after having done the same in front of Zeus. "Rise, my son" said Poseidon.
He looked around at the assembled Olympian deities. "Does anyone think he is undeserving?" he asked. None of the Olympians argued, all of them knowing and agreeing that Perseus was more than deserving of the greatest honor that could be bestowed upon a demigod.
"Perseus" said Poseidon, addressing his son . "We would like to offer you the gift of immortality and offer you Godhood."
Percy's breath caught, as realization dawned on him that he was being offered Godhood, immortality. However much he loved the idea, one look at Annabeth's shining eyes was enough to make up his mind for him.
"My Lords and Ladies, I respectfully decline" he said clearly.
"WHAT? " shouted Zeus , enraged that anyone would turn down their generous offer. In fact, he was tempted to blast Percy then and there, but he resisted the urge, knowing that doing so would cause him many problems later. He was incensed nonetheless. "YOU WOULD TURN DOWN OUR GENEROUS OFFER ?!" he asked angrily.
All the God's and Goddesses were murmuring quietly amongst themselves, shocked that he had not accepted.
"Hear me out, Lord Zeus " he uttered respectfully. "I am honored that you would offer me Godhood, but my life isn't here, as a god. It is with my friends and my family and I would not be able to bear living without them. Also, I would also be of more help to Olympus if I'm mortal since I would not be restricted by the old laws and would be able to help where gods cannot."
"Hmm" Zeus murmured, seeing the wisdom in the demigod's words. That didn't mean he had to be happy about it. "Well alright then" he grumbled grumpily.
Percy nodded his head gratefully. "However, I do have something else in mind. I want you to swear on the Styx that you will carry out my wishes" he said, determination flashing in his eyes.
Zeus, was torn between declining and accepting because after all, even thought he was a mortal demigod, Percy had been their most useful asset in the war and had proved himself as an excellent warrior and a powerful ally. Finally, he decided to honor the young demigod's wish.
"Alright then" he said. "I swear on the Styx to grant your wishes as long as they are reasonable and within my power to grant." He swore solemnly.
Thunder boomed loudly, as his promise was sealed and made unbreakable.
Perseus nodded gratefully before clearing his throat.
"Lord Zeus, firstly, I request that you Lords and Ladies claim your children as soon as they arrive at camp. Many demigods joined the titans in the war because they felt betrayed by their parents who were supposed to care for them. They were angry that they had been unclaimed by their godly parents and had been left in that state , alone and confused. This anger against you fueled their desire to join Kronos, and many did just that, weakening Olympus by tearing it down from the inside.
Although he would not admit it openly, Zeus could see the wisdom in Perseus' words and decided to honor his request. After looking around the room and seeing that none of the Gods seemed to object, he relented. "I swear upon the Styx to claim my demigod children when they reach camp" he said solemnly as thunder boomed overhead, signaling the acceptance of the oath, sealing it.
One by one, all the Gods and Goddesses except Artemis who remained seated and Hestia, who was viewing the proceedings from the blazing hearth at one side of the room, rose to their feet and swore upon the Styx to claim their children as soon as they reached camp, as they all agreed with Percy's mindset.
Percy nodded, pleased. He then asked Zeus to build cabins at the camp for all the children of the minor gods and goddesses. Many demigods of the minor gods and goddesses joined Kronos because they had been shunned and had not had proper homes at camp and had no place to call their own. They had been given no importance and the resentment they felt towards the Olympians had caused them to join Kronos, in the hopes of receiving better recognition in his ranks.
After once again glancing at the Council, Zeus accepted, agreeing with Perseus' logic yet again, surprised that the Olympians had not thought of doing this before.
"As for my last request, I want you to give both Lady Hestia and Lord Hades their rightful thrones on the Olympian Council " he requested. "Both deserve their thrones, and to be inducted into the Council" Percy said forcefully.
The gods gasped as they comprehended what Percy had just said. Instead of asking for favors for himself, he had decided to help two people who he didn't even know all that well. He really was the perfect hero, placing others needs before his own, and trying to make the world a better place to the best of his abilities.
Zeus, disgruntled, pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing and looking up. Finally, he sent a brief smile toward Hestia and Hades before saying "Welcome to the council, brother, and you as well, sister." The Olympians rose from their thrones and chanted in Greek and when they were done, Zeus raised his hand, causing two new thrones to erupt from the ground .
Hades' throne was as black as night, smooth and glossy, with precious gems embedded in the metal. It glowed with a powerful black aura, marking Hades as one of the elder Olympians .A depiction of his symbol of power, his helm of darkness was etched artistically right above head height, in silver Stygian iron.
Hestia's throne was made of a material much like Olympian silver, but it was a comforting shade of orange-yellow. Her throne gave off an extremely overpowering aura of comfort and hope, marking that Hestia was indeed the eldest Olympian. Her symbol, the hearth, with crackling flames in the middle, was, like Hades' embossed into the throne, right above where her head would be.
Before going over to his throne, Hades came over to Percy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Perseus, I thank you for what you have just done. The underworld is forever in your debt, nephew" he said solemnly.
He then walked over to the throne and reverently seated himself in it, sighing contentedly as he sat down. Hestia came over to Percy and gave him a strong hug to show her appreciation.
"Thank you so much, Percy" she whispered, small tears forming in her eyes, as she struggled to hold in her joy. "The world will never be without hope if there are people like you in it" she said, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek before settling herself on her throne .
"Perseus, is that all ?" Zeus asked wearily.
"Yes, my Lord, I thank you for granting my wishes" Percy said gratefully.
Zeus just nodded gruffly. After that, he visibly cheered up and said "It's time for the celebrations to begin! Tell the muses to crank up their instruments. Dionysus , prepare the wine and tell the nymphs to prepare a banquet!"
Everyone started to trickle out of the throne room to celebrate their victory. Some of the gods stopped by Percy and thanked him for his services. They assured him that they'd stick by their promise and would claim their children as soon as they arrived at camp. Annabeth was by his side the whole time. Finally, the throne room was empty, aside from Percy, Annabeth and Lady Athena who was looking at Percy questioningly from time to time, as if she was trying to figure out something about him.
"Annabeth, go ahead, I'll meet you there in a minute" Percy murmured to her.
Annabeth looked surprised but nodded as she walked out of the throne room, and went to join in the celebrations.
Percy mentally prepared himself and strode over to where Athena was standing, a knowing look on her face.
Percy took a deep breath , steeling his nerves before starting.
"Lady Athena" he began …
AN: There we go , guys , first chappie done ! This chapter was sort of a prologue, to indicate the story's time line and current status so it was short-ish (4200 words). Chapters will hopefully get longer after this. To those of you who have read, thank you so much for giving an aspiring young writer a chance! Love ya guys !