All rights belong to Rick Riordan.
Percy
"Once again, you have impressed us with your bravery and skills in battle!" Zeus' voice echoed around the throne room on Olympus, drawing Percy out of his thoughts and back into the present. The Seven – well, now the Six – had finished their big quest. Gaea was scattered, never to reform (never being a loose term as far as he was concerned), the Greeks and Romans had an alliance (which was admittedly very shaky due to the whole violently trying to kill each other thing), and there hadn't been a new prophesy forecasting his doom again (definitely not due to the Oracle being stolen).
On top of all of this, Leo was presumed dead, as even he and Festus couldn't logically have survived the giant fireball that had disintegrated the primordial they had been fighting, and the gods had only helped for the briefest of moments in the original Olympus, not even having the decency to properly transport them to Camp to fight the big battle.
All in all, not his most successful adventure.
But, apparently the gods were pleased, because they had pulled them out of the cleanup and their grieving to be rewarded. Naturally, this needed to be preceded by immortal boasting but who was Percy to judge other than the person who saved their sorry butts twice in the last few years?
"… first to you, Hazel Levesque." Hazel looked like she was resisting the urge to fan her face at the attention. "You may have any one thing you wish for, be it found reasonable by this council." Zeus finished and looked at her expectantly.
"I… um…" She cleared her throat nervously. "Could I not have to return to the Underworld? I may be removed from this time period, but I've grown to like it." She glanced at Frank as she said this and flushed slightly. Percy grinned; he had seen that they would be a good couple from the moment he met both of them back at Camp Jupiter.
Zeus frowned and turned to Hades, who was standing by Hestia near the hearth. "She is Pluto's daughter, yes? I assume he has an opinion on this."
Hades closed his eyes for a moment, eyebrows knit in concentration. He shook his head and opened his eyes. "He claims to have no knowledge of her escaping the Underworld."
Zeus turned back to her before he could see, but Percy could swear he saw Hades' eyes twinkle with mischief for a moment. "Since that seems to not be an issue, is there anything else you would wish for?"
Hazel was smiling at her father when Zeus addressed her the second time and started at his statement. She flushed and thought hard for a moment, then looked back up to the king of the gods. "Could I get some training on Mist magic?" she asked shyly. Zeus nodded and turned to Hermes.
"Tell Hecate her services are needed in the near future." Hermes nodded and jot down the note on a pad of paper he summoned. Satisfied, Zeus turned to Frank. "Frank Zhang, to you we also grant one wish." Without hesitation, Frank asked for his stick curse to be lifted. There was a good deal of deliberation over this, which Percy found unfair, but in the end they agreed. Jason was officially appointed Pontifex Maximus and given a watch by Hermes that would allow him to teleport between both camps and Olympus to help with the job, and Piper was appointed as his second in command. Percy smiled bitterly to himself at the ease with which their relationship was guarded. I guess having your mother be the goddess of love helps, he thought.
Finally, Zeus turned to Annabeth and him. "And finally, Annabeth Chase and Perseus Jackson, who have defended Olympus twice now. Given what happened the last time you two were here - " Percy met Zeus' glare evenly - "we will only be offering you a wish like the others." He sat back in his throne and looked expectantly at them, though Percy thought he looked more like he was trying to hold back a grimace. Annabeth turned to him.
"What are you thinking?" she asked. Percy thought for a moment.
"Well, Hades and Hestia deserve at least a spot on the council, if not proper thrones... Why, what do you want?"
Annabeth grimaced. "I have no idea."
Percy thought again and grinned as an idea came to him. "Well, if you want to get them their thrones back I have something that could be fun."
Annabeth gave him a confused look but shrugged. "As long as I get to keep you, I suppose I don't need anything else, but your idea better not get us into more trouble."
Percy put a hand over his heart in mock pain. "You wound me with your words, Wise Girl."
She just rolled her eyes and turned back to the increasingly impatient Lord of the Sky. "I wish for Hades and Hestia to be granted the thrones they deserve and a place on this council." Annabeth held her head high under Zeus' suspicious glare, and after a moment he grunted in annoyed consent.
"If the council agrees..." Zeus clearly was hoping his fellow Olympians wouldn't, but to his dismay they nodded in support. He sighed. "So be it. Hephaestus, I assume I can trust you to design and build them?"
"Naturally," Hephaestus grumbled roughly. Hades and Hestia looked pleased and both flashed a quick smile in Annabeth's direction. Zeus nodded and turned wearily to Percy, motioning for him to speak his request. Percy took a deep breath before speaking.
"If it's okay with all of you, I'd like one personal request from each of you to claim at any point after we're done here." Percy hastened to explain as most of the gods (and his fellow demigods) sent him astonished and/or outraged looks. "Nothing earth shattering, I promise, just small favors or help with things I could do myself but would be easier with godly help."
Before Percy could get blasted, Poseidon spoke. "You ask much of us, my son." The god stared at Percy, his expression unreadable. Percy rolled his eyes.
"If anyone here has reason to doubt someone else's sincerity it would be me, considering all of the promises you made to me last year that haven't been fulfilled," Percy paused and met the angry glares from around the room, backing off only when Annabeth smacked his arm, "but if it will calm your nerves I swear on the Styx that none of my requests will be in excess of what is reasonable." Thunder rumbled around the room at his oath but none of the Olympians relaxed. Exasperated, Percy turned to his friends only to be met with looks of incredulity and concern for his well-being. I suppose Romans try to act more properly than I have been, Percy thought to himself, grimly amused. As the council debated, he turned back to Zeus and watched him expectantly, tuning out the arguments to focus on Zeus' expression. After what felt like forever but was probably less than ten minutes – thanks ADHD – the gods finally met his gaze.
"We will grant your requests only because of your loyalty and your oath," Zeus grumbled, shooting a glare at Poseidon as he did. He refocused his gaze on Percy. "But be warned, we will hold you to your words. Any request that we see as unreasonable will be refused."
Without breaking eye contact, Percy nodded curtly. "That's as fair as I can expect, I suppose. Thanks." He stepped back and grabbed Annabeth's hand, ignoring both the Olympians and demigods staring at him.
Zeus cleared his throat. "Well, if we are done here, congrats and enjoy the celebrations for winning again." Percy scowled and Annabeth gripped his hand tighter, but Zeus waved his hand before he could express his thoughts and left in a flash of lightening. Some of the other Olympians took this as their cue to leave and flashed out as well. Ares nodded to Frank before flashing out while Aphrodite came up to Piper and Jason and crushed them in a massive hug, squealing. Percy noticed Hazel head over to where Hades – no, Pluto now – stood by the hearth waiting, a small smile on his face. Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand briefly as he saw Poseidon and Athena start towards them.
"Did you want to split up for this?" Percy asked Annabeth softly. She shook her head emphatically.
"I'm not letting you out of my sight again," she murmured back. "Besides, my mother can deal with it after sending me on that cursed quest." Percy rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb and nodded in understanding. As their parents neared, Athena scowled at Percy. He rolled his eyes and turned to his father.
"Hey dad." Poseidon smiled at Percy and nodded to Annabeth, who returned the gesture.
"Hello Perseus, Annabeth."
"Hello Poseidon, mother," Annabeth replied, nodding to Athena as well. Percy held back a smirk at the miffed expression on Athena's face at being greeted after her rival.
"Daughter," Athena nodded back, ignoring Percy.
"You have done well yet again," Poseidon rumbled proudly. "I am glad to call you my son Perseus, and I am glad that you have someone such as Annabeth to help you."
Percy smiled. "Feels like I'm helping her more often than not." Poseidon laughed as Annabeth elbowed his side at the comment. Athena merely scoffed.
"As it should be. Without her you'd be dead one hundred times over by now," she stated haughtily.
"And without Perseus we would have been defeated more than once," Poseidon responded. Athena pressed her lips together angrily but was cut off before she could retort to the statement.
"Did you just come over here to argue or did you want to say something to us?" Annabeth interrupted, annoyance clear in her tone. Percy looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
"I thought I was supposed to be the impolite one?" he asked, amused. Annabeth elbowed him in the side again but didn't break eye contact with her mother. Athena stared back for a moment before sighing and rubbing her temples. Percy thought the gesture looked more annoyed than tired.
"Congratulations on winning the war and surviving again. I am… proud of the resourcefulness you showed during your trials," Athena said. She quickly spun away and left before either of the two demigods could respond. Annabeth gripped Percy's hand tightly.
"An olive tree isn't even that cool," Annabeth muttered angrily. "She should invented pizza or something." Percy and Poseidon both quirked an eyebrow at her before the god burst out laughing yet again.
"Perhaps for one of Athena's spawn you aren't that bad," Poseidon stated jollily after he calmed down, winking at Annabeth. He started to walk away but Percy quickly dropped Annabeth's hand and caught up to him.
"Hey dad," Percy started unsurely. Poseidon stopped and turned to him, amusement still sparkling in his eyes.
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if maybe you could help with my first request?" Poseidon's expression immediately became more serious.
"What did you have in mind, son?" Percy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Well, I wanted to meet with Tyson about something, and I know Annabeth would be ecstatic at the chance to see Atlantean architecture, so… I was wondering if maybe we could come visit sometime?" Percy finished hopefully.
Poseidon frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose if… well then I would need… but that might…" He continued to mutter quietly to himself as Percy looked on optimistically. Finally, Poseidon sighed and met Percy's gaze. "Amphitrite will not be happy with me, but we can make it work."
Percy took a relieved breath. "Thanks dad. This means a lot to me."
"Of course," Poseidon smiled back. "I'll let you know when I have everything in order for your visit." Percy flashed his own grin and waved as he headed back to where Annabeth stood waiting. She grabbed his hand when he got close enough but didn't acknowledge his presence otherwise. Percy followed her gaze and smirked as he realized she was staring at the columns by the doors.
"Second guessing your designs?" Annabeth shook her head and sighed.
"No. I didn't finish everything before you went missing and I guess they got impatient and did it themselves." Percy caught the tired resignation in her tone and frowned.
"But you were doing some cool stuff!"
"Well of course I was," Annabeth grinned at him for a second, "but it's too late to add anything now. I'm sure dear old mom finished whatever was left." Percy pulled her into a hug as they stood there for a moment, waiting on their friends to be ready to head back to camp.
"Someday you'll build something even better, I'm sure," Percy mumbled. He kissed the top of her head and straightened up. "But for now, we've got a camp to rebuild, so get your big brain working, Wise Girl." Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly before moving to regroup with the rest of the heroes. He smiled at the implied Seaweed Brain and followed after his girlfriend, already planning how to use the rest of his requests.