Chapter 10

The next morning, the demigods drove back to their house, and found Athena and Poseidon waiting for them in the kitchen, along with Helen and Frederick, all four of them drinking coffee.

"We'll be leaving now," said Helen, as she and Frederick took their coffee and exited to the living room.

"Mom?" asked Annabeth, the first one to enter the kitchen, "Lord Poseidon? Not to be rude or disrespectful or anything, but what are you two doing here?"

The other three entered the kitchen right after she finished, and greeted the two Olympians, before asking the same questions themselves.

"Before we answer that," said Athena, "I would like to ask you and young Perseus here a question. Has your friendship status changed recently?"

The question caught everyone not godly off guard.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing," said Thalia, "throughout the movie yesterday, Annabeth was on your lap Percy, and only got off to eat. And you two slept in the same sleeping bag as well. What's up with that?"

"Well, you see," said Percy, "me and Annabeth are, um, well, we're dating."

"You're what?" asked Athena, narrowing her eyes.

"We're dating," squeaked Percy, hiding behind Annabeth.

"Annabeth," said Athena, in a deadly calm voice, "please tell me he's lying."

"He's not," said Annabeth, a little more confident than Percy, "me and Percy are dating mom."

"Congratulations!" said Poseidon, "I knew it would be soon."

"Wait what?" asked Athena, "You're okay with your son and my daughter dating?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" asked Poseidon, "she makes him happy, and by the looks of it, he makes her happy as well."

"Don't lecture me about my kids," snarled Athena

"I was merely making an observation," said Poseidon

"Well, I for one do not stand for this," said Athena, "Annabeth, why would you want to date someone as… as idiotic as this one? I think we all know you can do better!"

"It doesn't matter if I can do better or not," said Annabeth, "I love Percy and he loves me. I don't know what I'd do if he was taken away from me."

"Well, I'm not stopping you," said Poseidon, "and Athena, you'd better not do anything to my son, or there will be war."

"You'd risk war just for this relationship?" asked Athena

"If it concerns my son's happiness, then yes, I would," said Percy

"Fine, then I won't harm your son," said Athena, "however, Annabeth, you're coming with me."

"What?"exclaimed every other entity in the room, but none could stop Athena, as she transformed into her godly form and teleported back to Olympus, along with Annabeth.

"Annabeth!" exclaimed Percy, as he looked back to where she was standing, and soon broke down crying.

"Percy, she's gone," said Thalia

"Don't worry son," said Poseidon, "I'll do all that I can short of war to get Annabeth back to you. But if worse comes to worse, and war is unpreventable, then let's pray that we have the Fates on our side."

"No," said Percy, "NO! She can't be gone. We just got together."

"Don't worry, Perce," said Nico, "we'll find her."

Without warning, Percy suddenly dashed out the kitchen. Thalia, Poseidon, and Nico soon ran after him, and followed him out the door. They just exit, when they see Percy transform into a seagull and fly towards where their birdly pets are.

"Let's hope that our birds help him live," said Thalia

"Don't worry," said Poseidon, "I have alerted Sally, Thunder, and Pedro of what just happened. You two better check on him every now and then to make sure he's okay. Not now of course, he needs space, but soon. Meanwhile, I'll be on Olympus and try to get Athena to release her daughter and permit them to date."

"All right," said Thalia, "thank you Lord Poseidon."

"No need to be formal," said Poseidon, "just because you have to do it when my brothers are here, doesn't mean you have to do it when they're not. Uncle should be just fine."

"Okay, Uncle," said Thalia, "will you inform us about whether Percy and Annabeth'll be allowed to date?"

"Of course," said Poseidon, "I'll Iris Message every Friday, unless something urgent happens that you two might need to know right after. If I need to tell Percy, I trust you two to tell him without fail."

"Don't worry Lord Poseidon," said Nico, "we'll do our best."

"Uncle applies to you too Di Angelo," said Poseidon, as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the smell of the sea in his wake.

Up on Olympus, Poseidon starts a campaign to let Percy date Annabeth after failing to persuade Athena into letting them. For weeks, they stayed at a stalemate since Athena worked to prevent this from happening. Aphrodite, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Hades, Hephaestus, Hestia, and a bunch of minor gods joined Poseidon's side, while Ares, Demeter, Artemis, Hera, and Dionysus and a few other minor gods joined Athena's side. Many of the minor gods stayed neutral, to not incur either of the Olympian gods' wrath lest they choose the wrong side. Zeus had realized that the debate was too big for the Olympian Council to handle, since for one side to win, there needed to be a difference of 5 gods/goddesses for a side to win, and with the Olympian council split 9-5 in Poseidon's favor, (A/N Hades and Hestia are on the Council and are considered Olympian gods here) but asking the minor gods did nothing to change that favor. One day, Hecate came up to Poseidon after a debate.

"Poseidon," said Hecate, "I have decided to change from being neutral to joining your side."

"That's great," said Poseidon, "may I ask the reason?"

"You see," said Hecate, "I had forgotten that Percy had helped me with one of my potions, so I felt that this would clear up the debt."

"Thank you Hecate," said Poseidon, "I'm sure that Percy would clear you of your debt after this."

"Also," said Hecate, "I think it would interest you to know that Morpheus and Nemesis have joined Athena's side instead of staying neutral."

"So now the count is 9-6 in my favor," said Poseidon, "do you happen to have a truth potion?"

"Yes, why?" asked Hecate, who then realized the reason

"I plan on having Hermes slip some of the potion into the nectar that Athena drinks during meetings," said Poseidon, "I haven't told anyone, but I feel as if there's another reason why she's doing this, and I intend to find out."

"Of course," said Hecate, "should I tell Hermes of the plan?"

"No, let me," said Poseidon, "everyone on Olympus is finally starting to pick sides it seems, and also getting on edge on who to trust. If you were to tell Hermes of the plan, he may or may not trust you, but if I give it to him, then he will do it."

"That makes sense," said Hecate, "and everyone is starting to pick sides. Even those who stayed neutral before are starting to pick sides for the sake of getting this argument over with."

"I'm guessing that was part of your reasoning," said Poseidon, smiling a bit

"More or less," said Hecate, smiling in response, as she got a vial of a light green liquid and handed it to Poseidon, "here's a vial. I almost forgot I had it with me."

"Thank you Hecate," said Poseidon, "now to find Hermes."

"Not a problem, Poseidon," said Hecate, as she left Poseidon to find Hermes, which is what he did after calling his name.

"Listen, I need you to slip this in Athena's drink right before the meeting today." Said Poseidon

"What is it?" asked Hermes

"It's a truth serum," said Poseidon, "I just got it from Hecate."

"Oh," said Hermes, "so you're going to get Athena to tell the truth about her actions."

"You got it," said Poseidon, "now go quickly."

Hermes poofed off and Poseidon started walking to the throne room. He entered, and sat on his throne, just when Hermes poofed onto his throne, along with all the minor gods. Poseidon looked over to Hermes, who slightly nodded. Poseidon smiled in response, and after checking Athena took a sip of her nectar, which she did, said, "Zeus, is it okay if we start with the debate over the mortals' love life first?"

"Is there a reason?" asked Zeus

"I think this will be the last day," said Poseidon, causing Athena to smirk since she thought he would give up after today's efforts.

"Okay, first off," said Poseidon, standing, "Athena, why did you not allow your daughter to date my son?"

"Because I don't want any of my children dating any of yours before I could date you," said Athena before she could stop. She then realized what she said, and angrily asked, "Poseidon, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," said Poseidon, "all I did was get a truth serum from Hecate, and had Hermes slip it in your nectar. Now, did I really do what you said I did?"

"No," said Athena, responding as quickly as ever, "I made it up. What's happening? Why can't I control what I say?"

"Easy," said Hecate, "the truth serum I gave him is powerful enough to get a Titan to tell the truth."

"Poseidon, I really hate you right now," said Athena, "one for what you did and two for making me feel this way about you."

"I've been telling everyone that she's in love with Poseidon," said Aphrodite, "but no one believed me."

"It's not that we don't believe you," said Zeus, "it's just that Athena's always had been telling such convincing lies that we weren't sure whether you were telling the truth."

"She's right," said Athena, "I am in love with Poseidon. I have been ever since the Athens incident. I'm also sorry that I risked his and mine own child's happiness for mine."

"All right, case solved. Athena's daughter and Poseidon's son will be allowed to date," said Zeus, causing everyone to cheer, which ended quickly as Zeus raised his hand, " Although, I will have to punish you for causing this much strife. I think replacing you will be sufficient. Those in favor?"

Ares, Hera, Zeus, Hades, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Hestia, and Poseidon agree, while the rest disagree.

"Okay," said Zeus, "since it's an 8-6 vote in favor of replacing Athena, so be it. Athena shall now be replaced by a minor god voted on upon the minor gods present today. You have 5 minutes while the rest are off to do whatever."

Zeus then exited in a flurry of thunder and lightning, while the rest rolled their eyes as they teleported out. Poseidon teleported to the nearest fountain, and threw a drachma in.

"Iris, show me Percy Jackson," said Poseidon, as the mist formed an image of a seagull surrounded by another seagull, a raven, and an eagle, the later three looking as worried as they can for a bird. "Listen son, I've been trying to convince Athena to let you date her daughter, and I think that you will be happy to know that from this day forth, you two will be allowed to date."

All four birds perked up and looked at the Iris Message.

Poseidon nodded, "I'm not kidding. I was able to get Athena to reveal the truth behind her actions today thanks to a truth serum from Hecate. However, Zeus is punishing her by taking her off the Council. I know for a fact that your loved one will be returning by the time you wake up tomorrow, but if she seems not as happy as she should be, then you know why."

The seagull in the middle, which Poseidon guessed was Percy, started nodding so quick the Sea God was worried his head would come off. The seagull stopped nodding and screeched happily, and flew off, right through the Iris Message, effectively disconnecting the call. Poseidon sighed in relief that his son is back to his old self, and started walking back to the throne room, when he was approached by Athena.

"Listen, Poseidon," said Athena, "I really didn't want our children to get this hurt. I guess I was just jealous that Annabeth was able to convince one of your kids to go out with her before I could get you to love me."

"Listen, Athena," said Poseidon, "I don't mind, though I would have thought being the Wisdom goddess, you would have realized the consequences beforehand. I think, however, that it's good that you let out your feelings now, and not hold it in any longer. Who knows what may have happened in the future if this had not happened."

"I don't want to think about it," said Athena, "and I really to realize my mistake, and want to repent. Therefore, I ask of you to let me bless your son with increased wisdom and smarts."

"Of course," said Poseidon, "there's no one stopping you. And listen, just between us, I do love you too, I just don't want to get on Hera's nor Amphitrite's bad side."

"I understand," said Athena, "thank you."

"Now come on, niece," said Poseidon, "we got a meeting to get back to."

The two flashed back to the throne room, and watched as the rest of the Olympians (Hermes and Apollo) walk back in.

"Have you decided yet?" asked Zeus

"Yes we have my lord," said Nemesis, "we have decided to nominate Hecate to become the replacement Olympian for Athena. We have discussed this and feel that Hecate should have the honor of at least being on the Olympian Council, especially considering that magic is now on its demise, and may indeed disappear, along with our dear friend Hecate, within the coming centuries. WE honestly hope that this will be the happiest end of centuries for her."

"It is then decided," said Zeus, "Hecate shall be the new Olympian, taking place of Athena. All hail the new Olympian, Lady Hecate."

Hecate then walked up to Athena's throne, which transformed into a throne decorated with crossroads, gates, torches, keys, and also a cauldron where the cup holder would be. Athena, after giving up her throne for Hecate, went and stood along with the rest of the minor gods.

"Good," said Zeus, "now that that's over with, I suggest we have a party to celebrate this event."

"What about what we were going to talk about before?" asked Hera

"Honestly," said Zeus, as he scratched the back of his neck, "I really want to celebrate the ending of this stupid debate. Besides, we can continue this tomorrow."

"Fine," said Hera, as she flashed away, signaling her acceptance of the party.

A/N Reviews are much appreciated