Jaylene Olebar: oh gods please dont have Krosabeth! / Okay, ew. That's actually making me want to be sick. No, it will not be Krosabeth (where the fuck did you even get that shipping name?). This is gonna be Rhenos.

Chapter 10 - Winter Solstice: Part 1

"No," Kronos said firmly, "absolutely not. I've played along to the daughter of Athena being here, but if anymore demigods come to Olympus I swear I'll leave."

"You can't leave," Hestia reminded him.

"I can sure as Tartarus try," Kronos retorted. "I'll just jump and see what happens."

"You'll be flattened," Annabeth pointed out. "It's physically impossible. The sheer force of the fall will crush your limbs. You'll resemble a pancake."

"Maybe I'll just push you off instead," he snapped. "That would solve at least one of my problems."

Annabeth smiled, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "And cause many more in the aftermath."

Kronos scowled and turned back to Hestia. "No. Do I need to say it in a different language? Nac oes."

Annabeth frowned as she looked up. "What language is that?"

"Old Tongue," Kronos said, not taking his eyes off Hestia. "I don't care what Zeus says. I say no."

"What you say doesn't go," Annabeth reminded him.

"I say it does," Kronos snarled back. "Tell Zeus to shove it up his-"

"Please don't finish that," Zeus' voice said from behind him. "It's tradition, Kronos. Surely you understand tradition. It's become a tradition of yours to explode one building every other morning."

Kronos glared furiously at him. "I will not remain here while there are demigods prancing around!"

"You have no choice!" Zeus boomed. "It's the Winter Solstice tomorrow, and the demigods from Camp Half-Blood will be joining us. Just because you are here does not mean we won't allow them to come. You have been here for over four months now. Surely you can last two days with the demigods also here."

Kronos ground his teeth. "And if I just so happen to slip and accidently kill a certain grandson of mine?"

"Percy Jackson and the rest of the demigods will have the same protection that Annabeth does."

"You are welcome to retreat to your room if you need to," Hestia added softly. "I won't expect you to stay near them."

Zeus nodded slightly. "Hestia's right. You're stuck up here, but you don't have to be near them if you don't wish to. We'll inform them that you are here, and then you can leave and do what you want." He paused before adding, "As long as it's not destroying anything. And you have to be there during the meeting. That's one time I won't trust you, and certainly not on the Solstice."

Kronos glared at Zeus for several long moments, but over the past few months he'd been arguing with Zeus less and less as time went on. He finally nodded, although very reluctantly. "As long as they understand that my room is my room. And so they're not allowed in."

Zeus nodded. "Yes," he agreed, not wanting to have any of the demigods harmed because they'd decided to enter Kronos' room. "Now, I believe Ares is waiting for you in the arena?" he prompted.

Kronos instantly shot past Zeus, intent on reaching the arena before his punching bag got bored of waiting for him. Ares had decided that he wanted to see how Kronos found and somehow convinced Zeus that it was a good idea, and since then the two had regularly fought – although Kronos was only allowed a single dagger he still continually won.

"I thought you'd decided to skip for the day," Ares called as Kronos entered the arena.

Kronos scowled at him. "Zeus decided to accost me."

Ares smirked. "He told you the plans for tomorrow?"

Kronos' eyes narrowed. "He told me your plans. I will be remaining away from the demigods as much as possible. I hardly need Jackson trying to get me to kill him."

Ares lifted his broadsword. "Ready to get creamed, punk?"

Kronos glared at him. "You need a lesson in humility," he shot back.

Ares smirked again. "I'm not the one who's a little kid."

Kronos launched himself towards the god, who quickly parried the rapid strike with his large sword. The clash of metal on metal struck up around the arena, soon drowning out the sounds of Olympus and for little more than a minute, Kronos almost could have been back at Othrys. Almost.

Kronos finally saw a gap in Ares' defence and slipped forwards closer to him, using the length of the dagger to his advantage. He disarmed Ares with an intricate twist of the dagger and turned to lope out of the arena.

"Hey!" Ares yelled after him. "We're not done here!"

Kronos fisted his small hands. "I am," he said over his shoulder to the war god as he stalked back to his room in Zeus' Palace. He had some planning to do for the next day.

Kronos crossed his arms as he settled back against the edge of Hestia's fire pit. The Olympians all had their eyes on him, each of them already sitting in their thrones. It filled Kronos with a sense of nostalgia and immense annoyance to see them seated and practically humming with power. He scowled and started toying with the fire under Hestia's watchful gaze.

The throne room doors opened and Kronos firmly kept his gaze firmly planted on the fire as Zeus spoke. "Stop there, demigods," the King of the gods said. The demigods stopped near the entrance of the throne room, most of them looking confused. Annabeth was tense, knowing what was about to happen.

Zeus turned to look at Kronos. "Demigods, before we start this meeting, I would like you all to be aware of our guest. All of you have heard of him, and many of you have met him and seen him."

"Zeus," Poseidon said, "you're stalling."

Zeus scowled at Poseidon briefly before turning to the demigods again. "Demigods, meet Kronos. Kronos, meet the demigods."

The demigods all looked completely horrified as they stared at Kronos, who ignored them and merely continued controlling the fire. At least until Hestia took the fire away from him. He glared at her before sighing.

"What? You're expecting me to stay something?"

"How the Hades is this possible?" Percy demanded, glaring furiously at him. "And Annabeth's been coming here while he's been here?"

"Percy, I came here of my own free will," Annabeth reminded him. "Besides, Kronos only constantly splashes me with water from that lake by your statue, alters the inscription on your plaque to something that you don't want to know, and occasionally causes buildings to explode."

"Occasionally?" Artemis demanded.

"Often," Annabeth corrected. "But he hasn't tried to kill me yet."

"That's only because he can't, else Chaos will make him fade," Zeus said. "And now that that's over with, come on in, demigods – Kronos, take one more step towards the door and I'll ground you – take your seats."

Kronos scowled and crossed his arms, halfway to the throne room doors. "I'd rather return to your palace," he said, pointedly glaring at the demigods. "Then they can't annoy me."

"Willingly returning to your room?" Poseidon asked in amusement. "That must be the first time you've done that."

"We all know he prefers to destroy things rather than rest," Hades said from his temporary throne.

Kronos raised an eyebrow. "Please," he drawled, "just because I'm forced to stay here doesn't mean I'll play along with your little games. Destroying your temples is the only way to entertain myself."

Hestia smiled. "That's not the only way you entertain yourself. I seem to remember you doing something completely different in the nights."

Kronos stiffened and growled at her, causing the eyes of the demigods to widen at the animalistic sound. Zeus smiled. "Go, Kronos. Hestia, would you go with him?"

Hestia nodded. "Of course," she said, rising from her seat by the hearth. "How long until you want him back?"

Zeus tilted his head to the side as he thought, staring thoughtfully at Kronos. "Give him the day. This won't take that long, but I'm sure it's best to keep him away from the demigods as much as possible… mostly. Annabeth, I'm assuming you'll continue redesigning Artemis' temple… again?"

Annabeth sighed. "Yes," she agreed. "And if he would stop destroying it then it would be lovely."

Kronos smirked. "But then I'd have to find out a way to destroy the other temples."

"That's the point," Annabeth snapped.

"Kronos," Hestia called, "stop dawdling."

He sniffed and shot her a glare. "I don't dawdle. You're moving too fast." He stopped in front of Percy, looking up at him. "Don't worry, Jackson. I've not forgotten you. If you'll excuse me," he stepped around Percy before muttering, just loud enough for the demigod to hear, "maybe I should visit your parents some time. Fifth avenue, isn't it?"

Percy stiffened and spun to face Kronos' back as the Titan continued on. "You little-"

"Percy!" Poseidon cried as the water from Bessie's bubble of water erupted out towards Kronos, and the other gods expressed various shouts and sounds of shock, but it was Annabeth whose voice he heard.

"Percy!" she yelled. "Stop!" The water froze, swirling angrily above Kronos as Percy glanced at Annabeth. "Percy, the ancient laws! He's trying to get you to attack him so he can fight back!"

Percy stopped, his head snapping back around to Kronos to see the Titan tilt his head to the side, still facing away from Percy. "Damn it, Chase! Why do you always ruin my fun?"

"Get out, Kronos," Zeus said sharply.

Kronos turned around and mockingly bowed to Zeus. "As you command, My Lord," he sneered, before storming out of the throne room.

"Maybe you should have told him the demigods were coming before yesterday," Hades said in amusement. "Though I do agree with you, Poseidon. Seeing father as a child is definitely entertaining."

"Horrifying," Athena corrected. "Chaos' plan isn't working."

"Alright," Percy said, turning to face the gods and letting the water retreat back to Bessie. "Would someone explain what in the name of Hades that bastard is doing here? On Olympus!"

The sound of a distant explosion met their ears, followed by sighs from the Olympians. Artemis' eyes narrowed dangerously. "That better not be my temple again."

So I sorta have to apologise for not updating on the 15th... but here the chapter is. And I'm sorta offended... only 1 review?

So yeah, I'm hoping you all liked the little Percy-starting-to-attack-Kronos thing.

I can split the Winter Solstice into many more parts, so tell me if you have any special requests for what Kronos or the demigods do.