"Why should they be allowed to roam around put our children in trouble? Their a menace if you ask me," the person said.
"Good question," the reporter said encouragingly.
"If we…"
Annabeth turned off the television in the big house. Nobody was in the mood to watch the news.
"I can't believe their acting like this!" she growled.
They had defeated Zeus only about two weeks before, one result being the mist who cared to know how the two were connected were shocked about the close connection of the former sky god and the powerful force that kept their world hidden.
With the mist gone, the secret world of demigods and monsters had been revealed to the world. First there was confusion; mortals did not understand how something so radically different from what they were used to so seamlessly hide right next to their own world. Confusion turned to anger, and anger turned to fear like it always does.
Mortals were having anti-demigod rallies by the thousands, and most monotheistic religious groups openly condemned them, calling them "blasphemous," "evil," and "freaks of nature."
"Annabeth, when's the trial again?" Percy asked. Since the revelation, there had been intense legal and political debate about the status of demigods: Should they be considered human? If they have rights, what are they? Do they get citizenship? Should they be segregated from humans, or should they be be allowed in interact? The General Assembly of the United Nations had been called back into order specifically for determining whether or not demigods counted as people.
"It's next week!" she snapped.
"No need to get angry," Percy said, putting his hands above his head.
"I… it's just been difficult," Annabeth sighed.
Everybody had been under a lot of stress lately. Most of the group that had fought Zeus head on had been injured during the fight. She had only gotten out of the infirmary the week before, and had almost immediately taken on the role of organizing a courthouse style defense for demigods as a species, something Percy was confident in her ability to do, as she was one of the camp's best and brightest. She was troubled by the recent death of one of her closest childhood friends: Thalia Grace.
Thalia had been killed by her father in the final battle against Zeus. Though her fight had lasted only a moment in time, and a single hit was all she had time to deliver, all that were there had agreed that she fought valiantly.
Time passed quickly at Camp Half-Blood like time always does when something must be done. The next thing Percy knew campers from every cabin, and children of almost every god and goddess that had a demigod at camp, were pilling in to one of two camp vans. Though they all had neat, formal clothing on, each and every one of them had armor and weapons made out of regular mortal metal on underneath in case it got ugly.
As the vans got closer to New York, where the trials were being held, Percy's nerves went from bad to worse. What if we lose? He thought worryingly, I can't fight my way out of something like that. I can't even run, after today, the whole world will know my face.
Percy could see protesters through the windows of the vans as they drove down 1st street. Even though he knew that there would be racists and bullies everywhere that would hate him for anything, it didn't stop the fact that the shouts of "abomination," "frauds," and "satanists," accompanied by signs with "There is only one god!" "Save your souls," and the occasional "Get the aliens off our planet!" written on the them.
A guard escorted the group inside the building and brought them to a moderately sized waiting room, locking the doors from the outside once everyone was inside.
"Why do they want us waiting in here? Wouldn't it be easier if they had us waiting in the court room?" one of the Stoll brothers asked, strategically slipping into Ancient Greek. If the room was bugged like Annabeth believed it might be, the language was going to be a hurtle towards whoever was listening to the tape. Due to the fact that the United States was currently the primary host country to the demigod people, it had gained the right to lead the trials, which were being conducted in English.
"It's actually quite common for the defense to not give testimony in each other's company," a daughter of Themis whose name was Kimberly said, "so they don't change details to match their friends.
"They'll likely have one of us most of the time as the main defendant, but have us in here the rest of the time."
As if on cue, a middle aged official opened the door. "Come with me, the trial is about to begin," he said, rendering Kimberly's theory incorrect.
They were led to the General Assembly Hall and shown to a group of seats towards the front. Not one of them could fully deny that they were at least a little bit nervous.
The pomp and circumstance of starting the trial went around Percy's head with a blur. Soon the first witness was called to the stand. Percy didn't catch the person's name or title.
"We don't know anything about any of them!" the person, who was a middle aged man who had an air of being an experienced politician, said. "We've never seen any of them. Hercules, Achilles, Theseus, and the likes happened two, close to three, thousand years ago. They disappeared, and now their back!" The testimony continued along these lines for several minutes. When he had finished, Annabeth took the stand.
"Demigods have going in and out of human affairs for almost all of history. Alexander the Great was a son of Zeus. The Caesars were the great grandchildren of Aphrodite. Most Leaders in European history are the children or grandchildren of gods. Just in America, George Washington, the first president, was my half-brother, a child of Athena. Most of the higher-ups of the allied forces in World War Two were children of Zeus and Poseidon." Her testimony went on along those lines.
Most of the testimonies followed their lead, bringing up historically significant people, exposing world leaders, talking about the theology of other religions, and playing on people's general fear of the unknown.
Finally, it was Percy's turn. He was the last, and Annabeth had instructed everybody on the kind of testimony to give if they were last.
"I was born in a public hospital in lower Manhattan on August eighteenth, nineteen ninety three," Percy said, "My mother was a poor teenager, with no family and no high school diploma. Her parents died in an accident when she was three, and she had dropped out of high school to take care of the uncle that raised her when he got cancer. She was at Montauk beach when she met my father, the Greek God Poseidon. When their relationship turned sexual, she quickly became pregnant.
"Her troubles didn't just because she had grabbed the attention of a god. Due to a mixture of ancient immortal laws and an oath he had sworn to his brothers, my father could not stay. So she was a poor teenaged mother, no family, no money, no high school diploma, and the father of her child unable to step in and help.
"I don't deny that I was difficult for her growing up. I had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and kicked out of three schools by the end of third grade. She had married a smelly asshole that hit her so my scent would be hidden from monsters. It worked, I stayed safe until I was twelve and had finished with sixth grade three and a half years ago. Through all of that I did not know I was a demigod, or anything about Greek Mythology.
"The point of my story is that being a demigod isn't easy. Even though someone can live their whole life without ever suspecting they're a demigod, there are still problems, and not all of them are from their heritage. The only thing that separates dangerous demigods and dangerous regular people is the charisma they have. There are too many problems in our world, and none of them will be solved by condemning us. I have come to think of us as the champions of the people. Whenever a major crisis had risen for the masses, we have come to face it and lead them out of it. Thank you." Percy got up and left the stand.
"Meeting adjourned. The jury will discuss," the clerk said. Percy let out a breath he did not know he was holding.
oO0Oo
The demigods got together and walked outside as a group.
"Do you think we have a chance of winning?" Malcolm asked.
"I don't know," Annabeth replied.
A rock came flying towards them. "Get out of our city!" someone yelled before a running up the stairs at them with a knife.
Clarisse rolled her eyes, and when the mortal got to them and thrusted the knife into the group, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. She squeezed and twisted it slightly, then threw him back a few steps. "Try that again, and you won't get your hand back," Clarisse said. Annabeth nudged her a little bit with her elbow.
"What?" Clarisse hissed, "Oh yeah." Clarisse turned towards the crowed that seemed to be growing in both size and anger. "We will hurt none of you if you don't attack first!" she yelled out.
"I think it's a good idea to go back inside," Annabeth suggested, and led them back inside the building.
Once back inside, the group found the first room they had been brought to upon arrival.
Occasionally, they would send Nico out with one of the Stoll brother's to steel chips, soda, cards, and similar items to help chase off boredom. None of it really did work, but it every tun provided a temporary distraction to the entire group every time it happened.
"When do think it'll end," Silena sighed to Clarisse.
"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, I don't…"
The door opened. "There you all are! The verdict is about to be given, you need to be present for it," a plump middle aged woman said. The demigods collected themselves, half of them still in a bored dazed, the other half excited, all of them incredibly nervous. If things went sour, they need to get out and back to Camp Half-Blood fast. The magical boundaries had never been tested against bombs.
The entire court sat politely as the demigods took their seats, a contrast to the crowds they had stepped into hours before.
The leading official stepped up to the podium.
"What to do about demigods was a tough decision," she began, "We did not know if we could full trust them. We did not know if their tendencies could harm the human species. We do not know the effects on science that studying these people could bring. Evidence has been brought forward that they have been integrating themselves with us since before Christ, not drawing suspicion to themselves as demigods even to those that believed in their existence. They have apparently innovated in every known period of change in human history. We have been forced to Include them in the UN Charter for human rights. The United States of America have agreed to negotiate government of a demigod settlement."
The sound of happiness filled the hall.
oO0Oo
Eventually, the US agreed to let Camp Half-Blood run it's own affairs as a US protectorate. All known demigods were allowed to travel to Camp Half-Blood and gain naturalized citizenship.
Fear of demigods settled enough over the next hundred years until employers were confident enough to hire them.
A/N: A bridgeway one-shot between my story "The Long Road to Peace" and my drabble "The Long Road to Peace: How the West Was Won"