Rating: K+
Synopsis: The Seven fulfilled the prophecy. Now, it's time to end the war. The ruthless powerhouse and the unassuming writer arrive first. [Oneshot]
Class of the Titans is not owned by me. I only own my characters and my Titan War II verse.
Warning(s): coarse language
Those Who Take and Those Who Give Immortality
"There is a khan's daughter
Who steps on in a swinging manner
And has the marks of twenty tigers,
Who steps on in a graceful manner
And has the marks of thirty tigers,
Who steps on in an elegant manner
And has the marks of forty tigers,
Who steps on in a delicate manner
And has the marks of fifty tigers."
Mongol Epic Poem
::
-From the notes of Honor Nakayama-
-Compiled by Murua Sekibo-
-09/12/10-
::
The former Olympus High School had been transformed after the attack on New Olympia. An attack that, naturally, was covered up thanks to the powers of the deities. Everyone wanted the knowledge of the Second Titan War to not become public knowledge. The war would be hidden. To reveal it would just bring the topic of religion up and that seemed to always end in destruction.
The high school was transformed. Rebuilt. The campus now sprawled across two city blocks, was four stories high above ground and the human part of it ended sixteen stories below ground. Of course, there were multiple hidden dimensions, pocket dimensions and the like, within the school itself and the accompanying dormitories. Then there was Hermes' portal to consider. Olympus Academy was massive, to put it lightly.
Theresa Sinclair had seen plenty of large buildings in her seventeen years, her house being one, but this was completely insane. She didn't even know how many pocket dimensions and portals the Academy had, and she was supposed to be the magic expert of the team.
Not that her expertise helped much.
It was still difficult. Even after the six months, to get past what she had done when she lost control. She had nearly killed everyone. It was with her potential that they managed to fulfill the prophecy and defeat Cronus. Finally. Finally. But of course, it was never that easy. Things with Gods and Goddesses, Spirits and Spells, they were never easy and simple and straightforward.
They had beaten Cronus. They had turned the God of Time into a mortal. That beat him pretty damn thoroughly.
But he wasn't imprisoned. He wasn't back in Tartarus. He was still out in the world, still plotting, still trying to shove Zeus off the throne, trying to kick Hera off the throne, trying to take over the planet, the universe, everything.
They hadn't heard from him in ages but no one thought that he was gone. They hoped, certainly, they hoped. But they weren't naïve enough to believe that he was gone. That naivety had left ages ago.
They had beat him, but they hadn't imprisoned him and now they knew more than ever to look at the fine print of each and every prophecy they had cross their table.
Oracle didn't mention another prophecy, but he did mention having a protégé of his own. Cassie. They still hadn't met her but Theresa's senses were telling her that Cassie was in fact that Cassie. The videographer intern who had been profiling Neil for a story months ago. The same videographer whose mind Theresa had wiped in an attempt to keep the truth of the deities, of magic, out of the public eye.
She couldn't shake the feeling that it was partly her fault for Cassie's reported newfound aptitude for prophecy and prediction. Wiping her mind may have triggered some latent gifts.
Theresa just hoped that she wasn't another descendent, that she wasn't related to Cassandra of Troy or something.
::: Theresa, ::: Atlanta's voice came over her PMR.
Reflexively, Theresa lifted the PMR from her belt and questioned, ::: Getting bored? :::
::: Athena's and Ares' protégé just showed up. She's gotten Cronus' attention. :::
The plan, thus far, had just been to gather some more descendents. More protégés. Train them and get their help in fighting Cronus because, judging by the photos changing in their history textbooks, Cronus was building up an army of his own and there was no way the seven of them would be able to stand against Cronus by themselves. They had already gotten Medelia back, and the Olympians had been hunting for other descendents since. Athena and Ares had been fighting over who got to be the mentor to one of the descendents for the past two weeks now. None of the seven – eight now, technically – even knew who the descendent was.
::: She? ::: Theresa repeated.
::: Yeah, she. Some girl named Temulun. :::
::: Where am I meeting you guys? ::: Theresa questioned, heading for her convertible.
::: You're going with Odie. You two are in the fighter. I'm with Archie and Jay on the bikes via the portal. Herry and Neil are taking the Gryphons. :::
::: Okay. I'll head to the hanger then. :::
::: Later. :::
The connection died. Theresa turned away from her convertible and jogged into the Academy, heading straight for the stairs to head down two levels and reach the hanger. Already there was Hephaestus, who handed her a helmet and instant before Odie arrived. He grinned at Theresa before taking his helmet and climbing into the cockpit of the fighter jet. Theresa strapped herself in and Odie started up the jet, explaining, "We're heading to Toronto."
"Temulun, right?" Theresa questioned as they headed down the runway and out a couple blocks away via a road that no one ever traveled on. Magic was useful that way.
"Yeah. Surname Huang."
Theresa frowned, "I think I've heard of her."
"Your Dad's probably done some business with her family's business. The Huang Corporation owns a hell of a lot of stuff. Tech stuff, mostly. I've modified some of their products for us."
"The Huang Corporation? Zeus, that's her family? Who's she descended from?"
"I have a theory, based on her name, and the fact that Athena and Ares are fighting over who gets to be her primary mentor," Odie said. She could hear him smirking, to her irritation.
Theresa frowned as clouds rushed below them, "You aren't going to tell me, are you?"
"Want it to be proven first."
"Thought so," she rolled her eyes. "Can't even give me a hint?"
He just smirked.
::
"What the hell is that?"
Neil was impressed by the fact that she barely flinched when he landed in front of her atop Adrienne, one of the Gryphons. He would have screeched.
Her clothing was slightly rumpled but clearly designer – her jacket was gorgeous, he needed it – and her sleek black hair hung pin-straight across her cheekbones and small almond eyes. Judging by her eyebrows, which were red, she dyed her hair. She had forgotten to dye her eyebrows. That was unfortunate. He would have to fix that. She was tall, 5'10" at least, and gained an extra two inches with her heels. She looked like a stiletto person. The boots she was currently wearing were probably rare in her closet.
"A Gryphon," he said, patting Adrienne's feathered neck. "I'm Neil." He gestured to Herry, "That's Herry."
She stared at them, "You're that model."
Neil beamed, "Why yes, yes I am! You've," he slid off Adrienne and slid up to her with a broad smirk, "seen my work?"
She cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah. Most people have. I just happen to be good with names."
Neil frowned, "Thanks." He thumbed back to Adrienne, "Get on."
"What? No. There is no way I am getting on that thing."
"She, actually. Adrienne's a she."
"There is no way I am getting on her."
"Alright, you'll just be killed or captured by the giants then," Neil shrugged, gesturing to the giants that were currently being held off by the rest of the team. Two had already been taken out courtesy of Atlanta, Archie, Jay, Theresa, and Odie. Herry was sprinting forward to join them while Neil was tasked with getting Temulun the hell out.
Temulun frowned at the giants then promptly whirled around and strode past Neil. Without a word she flung herself onto Adrienne's back. Neil stared. She raised an eyebrow, "Well? Aren't you coming?"
"I'm driving," he said.
"Fine," she sighed, moving so that he could climb on Adrienne in front of her. "You should know that kidnapping me is a really bad idea."
"I know that your Dad's Ji Huang. That CEO guy."
She scowled at the mention of her father, "He's not the one you need to worry about. I am."
Neil turned slightly, "Y'know, you're kind of intimidating."
"I know," she smirked, looking down at the battle. "What kind of a plan do they have? Just attack and hope for the best?"
"Jay always has a plan." Neil reported over his PMR that he had retrieved Temulun.
"Apparently it's to attack and hope for the best. Should grab one of them, interrogate him, find out who dispatched that team to attack and/or kidnap me." Temulun frowned as the team began dispersing, retreating.
"We know who's in charge," Neil said.
"Who?"
"Cronus."
"…who?"
"The God of Time and a bunch of other stuff."
"So grab a giant, interrogate him, and find out what their ultimate goal was for me. If they were going to kidnap me then they obviously had a reason as to why. I want to know what that reason is."
Neil commented, ignoring her suggestion, "You're really calm."
"My family built their own wealth, but we were originally illegal. I was born here but my parents weren't, nor my brothers. People don't like us because my family was originally here illegally. People don't like me because I'm a Mongolian-Chinese Canadian, because I'm tall, because I'm female, because I'm wealthy, because I'm smart, because I exist. People don't like my father because he's an idiot, he's not white, he was illegal, because he's an ass. People, powerful people, don't like me and my family so they target us. This isn't the first time someone's tried kidnapping me, or killing me, and I know how to fight."
"Giants?"
"Those are new."
"Freaking out yet?"
"I did my freaking out twenty minutes ago. I'm done now."
::
"Temulun, glad you could join us," Hera said, walking towards the irritated teenager. They hadn't taken one of the giants to interrogate, to Temulun's annoyance.
"Hera, I presume," Temulun said, nodding to the Goddess.
"Correct, and these are Athena and Ares," Hera said, turning to gesture to the two other immortals.
The blue-haired woman smiled warmly at Temulun, "Are you ready?"
Temulun stared at her. She looked to the couch where a Japanese teenager was sitting, her notebook open in front of her and scribbled across in various languages.
"This is Honor Nakayama," Hera introduced.
"Another descendent?" asked Medelia, entering the room alongside Persephone. She was training with her magic before being allowed out into the field.
"Her ancestor is Homer," explained Hera. "She has taken it upon herself to continue her ancestor's task and record your tales for the world to hear, and read."
"But we don't want the war to be public," Odie pointed out.
"It'll be a fiction series," Honor spoke up, her voice accent-less.
"Nevertheless," said Hera, "you will still receive the honour your ancestors received before you. In Honor's words you will be immortalized as heroes."
Temulun looked around at the surprised faces. She frowned, "What are you all talking about? What war?"
"Sorry," said Jay, moving forward. "You ever hear of the Titan War?"
"Mythology," Temulun glanced at the deities, "sort of."
"We're at the beginning of the second one."
"Cronus, the God of Time, he wants to rule the world and all of the deities," Odie explained.
"We're stopping him," Atlanta said with a determined grin.
"All of the deities?" repeated Temulun.
"The rest of the Greek Pantheon," Jay nodded. "And others."
"Like…Norse Gods, Buddha, Allah, Sekhmet?"
"Pretty much," Jay shrugged. "We're the ones that are going to stop him. I'm the direct descendent of Jason of the Argonauts. Atlanta's from the line of Atalanta. Archie, Achilles. Herry, Hercules or Heracles, whichever. Neil is descended from Narcissus. Theresa from Theseus, Odie's ancestor is Odysseus, and Medelia's is Medea." He gestured to Honor, "Hers is, apparently, Homer."
"And mine?"
Jay hesitated. He didn't know.
Odie grinned.
"You, Temulun, are the direct descendent, the one the most similar to," Hera said, "Temujin."
Odie punched the air, "Ha! Knew it!"
Archie leaned over to Atlanta, "Who the hell is Temujin?"
"Most people know him from his other name, don't feel bad about not knowing who he is," Odie said, patting Archie's shoulder.
"Well, what's his other name?" asked Theresa, looking puzzled.
"Temujin was the birth name of the guy who ruled over an empire larger than Alexander the Great's." Odie grinned conspiratorially, "He was called Genghis Khan."
Jay's eyes widened.
Temulun's mouth dropped, "I…I'm related to Genghis-fucking-Khan?"
"Many people are," Hera says, "as Aphrodite and Dionysus well know. You, however, are the one who has not only his blood, but his mind, his spirit."
"That is so creepy."
"You, however, will make those inherited traits your own," Athena spoke up, "and I would be happy to help in that proce-"
"She wouldn't," interrupted Ares. "I would. Your ancestor knew the value of instilling fear into his enemies, of making them fear the very thought of his name. He let the rivers run with blood and the-"
"It's your choice," Athena said with a forced smile that clearly said but choose me.
Neil raised his hand, "Is Jay still leader?"
Jay stiffened and snapped his head back to look at Neil. Theresa gasped and promptly punched Neil in the arm, "Neil!"
"Ow! It was just a question!"
"Of course," Hera nodded. "That, I believe, would be the wisest choice. Temulun, after all, still has much to learn."
Temulun nodded, gnawing on her bottom lip, "Apparently I do."
"This is gonna be an awesome book," Honor gushed.
"It's a war."
"I'm not the soldier here. I'm the war journalist, and this will make a fantastic story."
"Happy to help," Archie commented dryly, rolling his eyes.
Honor just grinned.
A/N: Probably not my best work, as I'm writing this while sick. Oh well. Anyway...a massive story idea came to me about 4, 5 years ago after the COTT finale. The concept of a Second Titan War on a massive scale – I'm talking time travel, space travel, dimension hopping – with more descendents, more villains, and more deities. I began creating OCs and fostered my love of crossovers through the idea, writing little snippets of things; crossovers, battles, backstories, biographies, codes, the history of a vampiric society, how werewolves and skinshifters operate, stuff about Avalon and Camelot and Stonehenge, etcetera. I've gotten down the beginnings of an outline but haven't written a complete one capable of creating an epic involving the Titan War II.
Thus, this oneshot takes place inside the Titan War II verse. However, don't watch for any Titan War II verse epic in the next year. I've got other projects I'm working on. The only time an epic (or a novel, something long) will rear its head is after a year, at the very least.
I may come back to the Titan War II verse later, with a oneshot, or drabble. I have a ridiculous number of characters to work with in this verse so it's always an option. In fact, in my fic Maelstrom, Pansy was originally created for the Titan War II verse as a descendent of Pandora. She's now morphed into someone different from her roots in the Titan War II verse, but if I ever do introduce Pansy in the Titan War II verse I'll be changing her around so she at least doesn't have the same name as the Maelstrom!Pansy.
Hope you enjoyed!
R&R