Brothers by Rage
Stasis
"And this age...shall end. "
Chiron stared, ashen faced, at the Oracle. People would have to be told. Gods would soon find out. Half gods would be culled.
"Not a second time. Not again. This world can only take so much. The collective mind of mankind can only take so many scars." he muttered, galloping towards the house where the camp councillor sat.
"Ah Chiron." Dionysus called from the porch. "Did the oracle actually sprout some more garbage or was the Apollo kid in another one of his attention fits?" He was absent-mindedly shuffling a deck of cards.
Chiron hurriedly told him the gist of the prophecy he had just heard.
"Mmmm..." said Dionysus, a scowl on his face, the cards falling from his hands. "So, a child of the big three will end or save the age of the gods. Almost makes you wonder which one is preferable."
He looked up at the sky. Thunder cackled. Clouds streaked across a sky which had been clear a few minutes ago. Dionysus didn't know what the oceans were currently like, but he was very sure it would be described as turbulent, seething and so forth. In reality, it could just as well be called angry. Even the shadows appeared unnaturally hostile.
"Yes...and it will happen as the child reaches a certain age. 16 I believe." said Chiron. "Obviously there will be a pact of some sort. An attempt to delay the child being born indefinitely."
Dionysus wearily looked at someone about to be broken. "And what about those about to turn 16? Tyrone I believe, a child of Hades in Los Angeles will be turning 15 in two months. Then there is Whitney, a daughter of Poseidon in Maine. She is 14 now...but for how long? Forever, if my paranoid brethren have their way."
"I am ordered to save them." said Chiron softly.
"You have been ordered by the great sky lord Zeus to look after his brats and the brats of his brats. If he wants to kill them then that is no business of yours." said Dionysus in a cold tone.
"He didn't argue when I fought against another father who tried to destroy his children." said Chiron.
Dionysus sighed. "You know, whenever I try to find morality in this world, it gets so complicated that I need several shots of Jagermeister just to keep up. On the one side, if the half bloods are killed for something they only might do, then that in itself seems undoubtedly evil. And yet, if a mistake is made, and the wrong half blood gets to make this choice, dooming the gods...well the alternative to gods are titans. And everything that person ever cared about will be destroyed. It could easily be argued that most half bloods, and indeed most humans, would prefer their own death to that."
"Evil be thou my good." muttered Chiron.
"Indeed...peace through the blood of innocents. Destruction facing the immortals...they will not act completely rational." continued Mr.D
"We do what we can...and we can only pray that'll be enough." answered Chiron. "There is a war coming and we will fight it."
-BREAK-
"My Brothers...have we all been good? Kept it locked up?" breathed Hades, glancing around the room. He swept his hand to his glass of Ambrosia, knocking some of it to the floor, before disposing of the rest like a shot.
"And you wonder why we keep you in the universal basement." commented Zeus dryly.
"Yes...because it clearly isn't due to my loyalty, which for some reason is always in suspect despite me never having betrayed anyone. Or my honesty...my charm...dear lord, I'm not making all of you all feel inadequate am I?"
"Clearly you're still starved for attention. I know dead men make for terribly company but I thought in your case it might be different." replied Zeus, gently drinking his own ambrosia.
Hades smirked. "Yes yes. Make it known that we despise each other. I'm sure it won't be hard to convince the forces of this...16 year old I'm sincere when I attempt to jump ship."
Zeus began to stand up but Poseidon irritably waved him down. "He's messing with you. You always were far too easy to mess with. "
"Well, most gods probably aren't often exposed to sarcasm or all the other delightful traits of those people who feel that death is the worst thing that can happen to them." said Hades, sitting in his throne of darkness. There was a strong contrast between his throne and that of Zeus, who tried to capture the light and gold which would be appropriate to the lord of the sky.
The contrast was something like a god and his devil.
"Indeed. Of course, most gods know there's a time and a place...Olympus has never been the place, nor has there ever been a worse time. We are immortal. My children do not threaten us. This age was supposed to be the perfect one...an eternal cycle of the children killing the parents ended by us...and for the first time, we are told we are threatened by our own..."
"Might I point out that the reason Athena, Apollo and the rest have not decided to overthrow and kill us may be due to the fact that we haven't gone the usual route of trying to destroy the merely because they could destroy us? Killing our offspring, even half bloods...well, that might make them reconsider." said Poseidon, sitting on his own throne of wood.
"From what some of the titanly remains in my basement told me, Kronos went insane near the end. The paranoia of something which cannot be killed is something which we cannot face, nor become." said Hades softly. "Imagine, bleeding, being ripped apart and dying again and again and again for all eternity. That is what we damned our father to. He's always plotting. Always thinking. I'm starting to fear it's his very hate which fuels all the chaos humanity has experienced."
The brothers were silent for a while.
"Very well." said Zeus briskly. "We must deal with the threat without antagonising the half bloods. If worst comes to worst, we can probably remove one or two of them. It is a shame how monsters track them sometimes..." He sighed.
"They might suspect..." began Poseidon only to be cut off by Hades.
"They won't. I'm already the archetypical villain hellbent on killing all heroes remember? They will side against me, not against the gods as the whole."
"And what of your own children?" asked Poseidon.
"I'll speak to Apollo. Varied medical problems, maybe you can take one or two out with one of your little beasts if they go to near the ocean." answered Hades.
"And the most important thing...no new children." said Zeus. "It is immoral do condemn them to a live with death before the age of sixteen."
Hades glared at the two of them. "Acceptable. But I demand an oath, from the both of you. Sworn on the river Styx. It should actually make it easier to explain all the monsters charging the kids...although it probably won't deter you two much."
"Do you think we such slaves to our desires that we would risk damning all for a single night of-"
Hades waved him off. "Yes. Yes I do. And believe me...I'll be watching the both of you."
-BREAK-
I feel like a sort of bloody mist.
I never truly experienced anything bad before this punishment. During my fight with my father, he managed to actually damage my body. I was wounded, but my body healed. My mind stayed. I could smile at him and dump his worthless corpse in the ocean. Suitably desecrated of course. And cut into a few million pieces.
Ah...corpse. What I wouldn't give to be one of those. I'm sure dad would too.
I once almost reassembled an entire arm. Hades came and scattered the pieces as quickly as he could.
I will kill them all. I will kill or destroy anything which can remember them or give any hints that they ever existed. To a certain extent...
You see, you can't kill a god. But after thousands of years down here, in the very heart of all evil...
I may have found something damn close.
"Well...another year has come to pass." said the Lord Zeus, alone with the only two beings that rivalled him in power. And who weren't chopped into millions of tiny bits or otherwise imprisoned.
"Lovely...we should commemorate this year...maybe call it the year of utter stupidity...or maybe the year of banging a television talk show host despite the fact that the offspring might end all life...too long? How about -
"Hades, enough." sighed Zeus. "How long have you known about Thalia?"
"Oh you know." answered Hades. "Long enough to cancel all my long term investments. Write a will. Write that book I've always had in me." He sighed. "She's what? Ten? Good age. Hope your conscience isn't bothered by the fact that you made her knowing full well what he life expectancy would be."
"Hades, be calm. We all make mistakes. Surely there is some other option here...we might be able to avert the problem through none violent means." said Poseidon.
Hades smiled. "Where was all this delightful protest when we were doing the first round of culling? Does panic have to be fresh in order for it to justify the killing? Has eternal doom just stopped being terrifying? I've already sent several of my pets after her. She won't survive."
"You've left nothing to chance?" asked Zeus.
"Not sporting enough for you? It doesn't matter...I plan to spend the next few millennia free of eternal agony thank you. She is..." he paused and his eyes unfocused. "Either extremely talented or extremely lucky. It seems she has escaped."
"As heartening as that might be to you, it's actually very bad for us." said Poseidon, looking at Zeus. "This talent...she seems to be the type to have a prophecy about her."
"Not just her..." said Hades softly. "Apparently she had help...a certain Luke...he's only a bit older...yet such skill...a child of Hermes I see...we'll have to kill them both."
"What?" said Zeus suddenly. "He cannot be the child of the prophecy. There is no reason to-
"He has a crush on her. Or some affection. Feelings at the very least. If we kill her, he might yet turn against us. Figure out what we've been up to. A child like that in the hands of our enemies..." said Hades.
"It seems you've become paranoid..." commented Poseidon softly.
"Really? Perhaps the paranoia is good for something, eh Percy?" asked Hades mockingly.
"You too?" asked Zeus, who started looking a lot less guilty.
"Quite." answered Poseidon. "He's about eight. There will be NO killing him until he is at least twelve."
Hades laughed like a madman. "We would make father proud...all this plotting and morality in killing your children. Very well. I shall wait until he is...shall we compromise? Ten."
An argument broke out, with Zeus remaining silent while the other two fumed and ranted. Finally, Zeus broke the silence.
"Hades, what you said about us acting like our father...rings true. If we continue acting like him, our own children will eventually start doubting us. And we will fall. We all know the nature of prophecies. They are inevitable. All our attempts at delaying them may merely be dust in the wind. So...our children... we do not have to kill them outright...we only have to ensure that they never become sixteen." said Zeus.
"Stasis." asked Hades. "I suppose you could turn Thalia into a tree or something. And Percy into a, I don't know. Possibly a reef?"
"But we have to be subtle. We have to ensure that the other demigods believe it is necessary." said Poseidon. "As if turning her into a tree is saving her from monsters."
Zeus sighed. "Hades, keep attacking her. Make the attacks progressively worse...and if she nears camp half blood...ensure she will not make it to the border."
"And Percy?" Hades asked.
"Wait until he's ten...then the same." suggested Zeus.
"The same thing happening to two heroes, both who are known to be a threat to us?" responded Poseidon. "It'll be too transparent. Make him join up with Thalia and Luke. Then we'll take care of all three of them together."
"You know, maybe I should just pop down into Tartarus and figure out how dad would have handled this situation...maybe he'll have a fresh take on the whole patricide thing...no? Oh well. Just offering."
-BREAK-
I have failed too many times. Too many times has my body been reduced to this state. Again. And again and again. Every time I have tried the same basic strategy and each time it has failed.
But today...something which cannot be forgiven had happened. My father, Oranos, had neared completion. And the gods had realized nothing. There will be a new war between the gods and the titans and I will have no part in it.
I am a known master of manipulation, a liar and a betrayer. But now I can no longer keep a consciousness long enough to think in multi word sentences. I only desire one thing.
Vengeance.
With or without my brothers and sisters, I shall stand upon Olympus, and make them all pay.
Author's notes:
Sup. It's been about four years since I actively wrote PJO fanfics, and in all honesty I had lost all hope in fanfiction in general. Then I read "Dark Respite", quite possibly the best fic on this site, and here we are.
Some notes before you begin reading the entire thing (if you intend to):
I have not read any of the heroes of Olympus books, nor will I.
This will contain elements from the first four books, but not the fifth, seeing as Percy won't be swimming in the Deus Ex Machina river nor will everything be so god damn easy.
The ages of the four main characters had been intentionally changed (Thalia, Annabeth, Luke and Percy.) And they will be "ooc." Of course the very different lives they've been leading my have influenced their personalities somewhat, but from my other stories, I've learned that people don't buy that.
Lastly, this will be a bit darker than the series, (the Labyrinth will contain far worse things than a thousand regenerating skulls, people will actually lose limbs, as you might expect from all the swordplay and the gods will be a lot less comic modernisations and a lot more plotting deities who want to live forever.)
All that being said, enjoy.
Next chapter: Hunted