Zeus' First Quest 1

THIRD PERSON POV

I'm late! Percy's thoughts screamed as he raced down East One-hundred-and-fourth. Annabeth is going to kill me!

Finally, the Empire State Building loomed in view, the many windows covering the offices hidden inside, Mt. Olympus hovering at the top, invisible to mortals, and a white van parked in the front with "Delphi Strawberry Service" emblazoned on the side. In front of the doors were a group of teenagers and a man in a wheelchair.

Percy huffed up to a blond girl, panting from his long run, and gave her his famous crooked grin.

"Finally!" Annabeth exclaimed and gave her boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek.

"It's time to go." Chiron called over the different conversations between the demigods. He spun around and wheeled himself through the doors as the others trailed behind him.

Inside the lobby, the man behind the desk was reading a book of some sort. Chiron wheeled up to him and stated "600th floor." The man looked up from his book and tossed Chiron the key. "Thank you my good man." Chiron said before wheeling towards the elevator and pressing the button.

As the demigods piled in, Percy whispered to Annabeth, "How come Chiron gets it! I always get in an argument." Annabeth laughed as the doors dinged closed.

ONE HOUR LATER

The campers were all seated on the floor at the end of the gods' thrones, watching their parents argue AGAIN.

"The ocean has more life than the sky!" Poseidon yelled, glaring at Zeus.

"DOES NOT! The sky has plenty birds and insects!" Zeus thundered, (that never gets old! ; ) glaring right back at his brother, refusing to back down.

"Well mortals go to the ocean for pleasure!" Poseidon retorted as water started to form on the floor around his throne.

"If you're going to go so low to pull the mortal card, than MORE mortals watch the sunset." The king of the gods countered with contempt filling his voice.

"ENOUGH!" Hera yelled. "When will this end?" she muttered quietly to herself before addressing her brothers. "Just ask the demigods." She stared pointedly at them like, why didn't you do this earlier?

"Fine…." Zeus and Poseidon grumbled, the two being too stubborn to rely on such common and lesser mortals.

"Percy?" Poseidon asked.

PERCY POV

I sat next to Annabeth, her fingers interwoven with mine as we watched the gods fight above us.

I was suddenly brought back to the present when Dad asked "Percy?" He was pleading with me to take his side, but Zeus would then kill me.

"Is the sky or sea better?" Annabeth whispered in my ear when she saw my confusion. I gave her a grateful smile before standing up and walking before my father and Zeus.

"That's not fair!" Zeus screamed indignant. "Percy's your brat, of course he's going to pick the ocean."

Dad put his hands up in a surrendering manner while he said, "Just hear him out."

I bit my lip while I thought, and yes, I DO think (on occasion) "Umm…..well, I think they're equal." All of the gods looked at me funny, almost like they couldn't believe I was saying that. Zeus was especially surprised that I was partially helping his case and not arguing for Dad all the way. "You're both right. A lot of people go to the beach or watch the sunset, but a lot MORE people watch sunsets AT the ocean." I quickly turned around and walked back to Annabeth before the gods had a chance to incinerate me.

I'm not afraid of the gods, quite the opposite actually, but when I learned how Annabeth responded the 8 months I spent at the roman camp, I can't leave her like that again. If I died, she might do something stupid so I've been a lot more self-conscious about my safety.

A FEW HOURS LATER

"…..monster numbers have decreased exponentially. Brother, how is death traffic go-" Zeus was cut off by Apollo.

"Dad, we've been doing this for HOURS. I'm bored, can we do something?" he pleaded on his throne.

"As much as I hate it, I agree with Apollo." Artemis stated, her disgust clear to the demigods.

"Thanks Sis." Apollo said grinning like a madman.

"DON'T CALL ME SIS!" Artemis screamed at her brother.

"Good, I'm bored too." Zeus said, grateful for an interruption. "Why do we have to have so many duties? Like it's not tiring enough being King of the Gods, NNNOOOOO…..I have to watch the sky and argue with my brothers." He gave an exasperated sigh and slumped into his throne.

I leaned over to Annabeth, whispering into her ear, "What the Hell? They got the easy life."

Zeus straightened up in his throne and glared at me. "What did you say?"
he spat.

I stood up defiantly, completely ignoring Annabeth as she tried to pull me down. "I said you got the easy life. You should be grateful you're still ALIVE after all these millennia. If you were a demigod, you would be fearing for your life every DAY." Annabeth tried to grab me again, but I was on a roll. "You should be GRATEFUL you can sit on your asses all day just talking. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause one day, you're going to wake up with Oranos at your door and think back to today, wishing you could go back in time. You can live free of danger so take advantage of it."

I stared down Zeus while he scoffed. "Danger? You demigods live in your little camp and train all day, no monsters are there to kill you."

All the campers stoop up with me, no longer caring about offending their parents. "you have no IDEA what we gave to go through to live every day!" I screamed back, the anger so strong it was almost visible. "We fight for every breath every second of every day, ESPECIALLY on the quests YOU send us on!"

Dad turned to me in confusion. "Percy, surely you're exaggerating just a little."

Surprisingly, Athena agreed with him. "You and my daughter always come back fine, it can't be like that ALL the time, I mean, you fought against Kronos' ARMY and won with few losses."

"You know what? I'm sick and tired of this! You WILL learn some damn respect whether you're a god, shit or no shit!"

With that, I stalked out of the throne room, grabbing Annabeth as I went, while the gods stared on in shock at my outburst.