This is my first ever fanfiction, a gift for my little sister, and a lot of effort has been put in to make sure all the details of any Greek mythology are accurate at root. Obviously, I'll mess around with certain things to fit the storyline, but the basics are absolutely accurate (I hope!). Relationships will be toyed with, OCs added, the group dynamic messed around... I'm having a lot of fun with this. Reviews are most definitely welcome! :) -Mariampjo
In the dying light of the day, the council of the Olympians took on a more sinister approach. Where the summer of a few years ago had once left the room full of memories, both sad and happy, and most definitely vivid, now it lacked the light that had grown from the defeat of the Titans. The same light that had once painted smiles on the faces of all those sat on their thrones now seeped away, leaving them sitting defeated, again, by something that had not truly began.
"Zeus-," Hera began, to which the rest of the Gods turned to silence her, speaking only with their faces.
The quiet of the throne room was uncomfortable, smothering, as Hera's husband stood at the window, gazing down at New York, and then back up the sky as though he was waiting for something.
And in fact, he was. Apollo's seat stood empty amongst the rest, and though it was early morning, the time in which he would be riding his chariot across the sky, bringing the morning to the mortals, the sky looked to be arguing with itself, stuck in the middle of a dark grey and a very pale blue; something which two of the Olympians noted with graveness.
Poseidon and Athena, notable enemies, glanced at each other as though they shared a thought. Their children, known to be more than just good friends, looked to be reflected in the sky. The blue of Percy Jackson, the grey of Annabeth Chase's eyes- it covered the sky, just for a moment, before the sun rose again, a hushed sigh of happiness exhaling along the room.
"Well," Dionysus, the god of winery, rose to his feet, and stretched out his arms lazily, "It looks like we were worrying about nothing. Everything's fine. Can I go now?"
Zeus turned on his feet with a stare that broke Dionysus's confidence, watching him stagger back down to his seat.
"Something is not right. Still." He mused, to which the Olympians groaned in annoyance.
"Brother," Poseidon began, "Surely if something was in difficulty with the light, the morning would not come? And it looks to have done, there is nothing wrong here."
"You are wrong." Zeus retorted, to which a smatter of lightening painted the sky in golden, wavery, licks. "We are waiting for Apollo before you are all dismissed."
"Good luck with that," Artemis sighed, playing with her bow in boredom. Twin of the Sun God, the pair were known to argue with one another, and looking across the throne room now, she saw her, for better word, family agree with her, rolling their eyes at Zeus's stubbornness.
Her true family lay with her Hunters, a group of teenage girls preserving their independence and the nature of the natural world when the rest of the demigods lounged at Camp Half-blood waiting for a moment to usurp one another and win the approval of their parent. She did not want to think about Camp Jupiter. The Roman world of mythology baffled her, almost changed her entire existence.
But demigods… It was all so pathetic to her, all a battle of rivalry which was rooted in fickleness and greed. Which was why she would never have a child who grew up with such a twisted ideology. Not that all of them were like that, she mused. Looking at Poseidon and Athena, she knew some demigods weren't so terrible. Not even Hades' spawn was that bad. Or Zeus's. Or Aphrodite's. Or Hephaestus'…
Just some demigods. If there was anything she hated, it was boisterous children. And exploitative, poisonous men, constructing their patriarchal society. But that was an entirely different matter.
A blast of light roused her from her thoughts, and from the sleep that had overtaken Dionysus, Hades, and Hephaestus. Artemis tried not to grimace at Aphrodite's loathing look to her husband, and seated herself upright, feeling the flames of Hestia's hearth bathe the throne room in a more comfortable light, now.
"Yeah, I did my job,
but it's not all happy news-
I'm still awesome though."
Apollo sauntered towards his seat to find he had been pulled back by Zeus.
"Explain." The god instructed, to which Apollo gulped, swallowing not only his spit, but his confidence. Artemis had to fight to conceal her amusement.
"Well, it was pretty hard to drive the sun around this morning. So you were right to be suspicious." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. For a moment, the youthfulness of his eyes disappeared.
"It felt like I was fighting with something. Like there wasn't enough light here anymore, like there wouldn't be for some time now. And… I think it's happening again."
"We can get it back, though. Just send some demigods to do it, they love that stuff. Phil Jensen and Annie Charles, whatever," Dionysus chugged on a can of Diet Coke in boredom, ignoring the hostility of Athena's gaze.
"Annabeth Chase," She corrected, looking at him with disgust, "And she has done enough for us."
"So has Percy Jackson." Poseidon muttered, the throne room filling with the hush of conversation, again.
"Not enough." Zeus said, beckoning with his hand for Apollo to continue.
"It looks worse though, than last time. The herb of Gigantes, you guys remember that?"
"We are not fools, brother," Artemis swung her bow back onto her shoulder, readying herself to go back to her Hunters. If this was the herb again, they'd be able to get it back.
"Let me finish, sister," Apollo remarked, with a cat-like grin growing on his lips. "This is that story. History repeating itself. With something more."
The gods stopped their conversations, their preparations to leave, and stared at him.
"Something… more?" Hephaestus looked uncomfortable, running his hands through the curls of his beard in a detached way that was symbolic of his anxiety. Sparks flared between his fingers, but he barely noticed.
"The fire of Prometheus." Apollo stated.
"Yes, another story that has already passed. Why are you regaling us with this trife?!" Hera stood to face him, to which Apollo chuckled, his insecurity at facing the queen of the Olympians carefully masked by his playfulness.
"Because these two things have combined. The rise of Gaia, the rise of the Giants, it's all happening too quickly for the Gods. We risk living in darkness, living without a light that will just breed hostility and the giants to awaken and rifts to occur. And the eventual collapse of us, again, can't forget that bit!"
"Make sense, Apollo, you speak too much." Athena raised her eyebrows in her surveying of him.
"Okay," He said, sighing, " Prometheus wants to steal the fire from heaven for man again. That fire is what gives us warmth first. Then, it gave warmth to the mortals. I understand Zeus was more than just annoyed at Prometheus for doing that, but he didn't give it all. He hid some of the flame inside a fennel stalk, and as we all know, Zeus had him chained to a mountain and set an eagle to peck his liver. Simple, right? We had Demeter, nice lady," He commented, hoping to not offend her, "Search the fennel to find it. But we all know some of it got left behind. So the day comes and goes, but it's never the same as the way we once saw it. But the mortals don't know that, they never saw it in its original state. Neither did the demigods.
Now multiply that with the fact that the Giants, sons of Gaia that we once tried to destroy 'cause they hate us and wanted to kill us, too, still have their ma trying to find the magic herb to grant them immortality that Zeus found before her and forbade the Sun, Moon and Dawn to shine when he did. And he hasn't told you guys that the herb is missing again. And so is the fennel plant."
"Not all of it." Demeter said, "I have kept some, knowing that it's blessed with some of the magic of the day."
"And it got stolen, too." Hades broke his private vow of silence to which all heads turned to face him. "Foolish of you, Demeter."
"Be quiet," She snapped, "I will have my children go search for it!"
Hades glowered, the pair of them ready to launch at one another when Athena spoke, wisdom growing in her words.
"So to conclude, we are to live in the dark for a bit….
"Starting tomorrow, somebody's gotta go tell the demigods their new quest today," Apollo offered up, interrupting her.
"… until the plants are returned to us. Risking the fact that Giants might find it before us, and become immortal. Why does Prometheus want the fire?"
"They're in cahoots," Dionysus laughed quietly to himself, "Obviously. Steal the plants, help the Giants become immortal, they'll help their mama and wreak havoc on our world. And terminate our existence, of course."
"Sounds fun." Hades said, absently playing with a jet of blue fire on his finger. "What do we do now?"
Zeus exhaled loudly, pressing his fingers to his temple as though the thought pained him.
"We let the demigods know."