A/N: And I'm back! Obviously. Anyways, 30K words! Yahoo! And 100 reviews too. You guys are awesome!

So, yeah! I managed to trip and fall down on asphalt, so now my hands hurt and there's a gash in my elbow.

Also: Read my profile! It's where I put updates and things. If you're wondering when I'm going to update something, then it's probably going to be on the top part of my profile. For example, if you were wondering where I was the last week or so, there would be something on my profile that addresses it, usually near the top.

Also, yeah. Sorry for the big gap, I know you were waiting for awhile for an update and I didn't get it out as fast as I usually do. This past weekend has been crazy for me.

Chapter 21

(Percy POV)

When Hestia is unable to slap a smile on something, you know she's pissed.

That was the case when Zeus just happened to mention something about Matt and Annabeth's trials.

I wasn't too keen on even seeing those two again, but I supposed I didn't have a choice. I gritted my teeth and nodded my head stiffly.

Zeus waved his hand, and with a flash of light, Matt and Annabeth appeared in the room.

They were in Hephastus Brand chains that not even a god could break out of, so the two were thoroughly contained.

Once they saw where they were, their eyes widened in shock and terror.

Instantly, Annabeth looked towards her mother and wailed, "I'm sorry, mother, I'm sorry! I was really stupid..." Athena shushed her with a glare.

"You do not deserve to be called my daughter," she replied, her voice laced with seething anger, but also with disappointment and sadness. Annabeth looked down, tears streaming down her face.

Matt's eyes strayed towards his fathers throne, or rather to where his father's throne used to be. His eyes shone in outrage.

"What've you done to my dad?" He exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

Zeus replied. "That's none of your concern."

"Yes it is, he's my dad!"

"You are yelling impatiently in front of the entire council," Athena spoke. "This is not helping your odds."

Reluctantly, Matt shut up.

Zeus called everything to order. "Alright, well, I'm not in the mood for some big, long, boring trial, and we already know that these two are guilty, so now we just have to decide what to do with them," he reasoned.

"Well, there's always the fields of punishment!" Hades offered, disturbingly cheerful.

I glanced at Hestia with wide eyes at Hades's idea of fun. She shrugged.

"Tartarus," Aphrodite tossed out merrily.

"Torture, pain, death, dismemberment," Hades listed on.

"I think that Tartarus seems the most reasonable," Zeus said. Hades faltered, rather crestfallen.

"Alright, so let's take a vote, then?" Zeus prompted.

"All in favor?" Hermes spoke, for what felt like the first time in a while.

Almost every hand went up. Those who hesitated were Athena, Hestia, and I. Athena glanced at her daughter and seemed to steel herself before raising her arm above her head. Hestia looked slightly guilty at dooming them to such a harsh fate despite what those two have done, but eventually raised her hand as well, eyes bursting into flames. That's another way to know she's pissed off at something.

Annabeth was tracking the whole thing with her eyes. When her mother raised her hand, she looked down and started silently crying again. Then, her eyes fell on the one person who hadn't raised their hand yet: me.

"Percy?" she asked, momentarily taken by surprise. Then she turned pleading again. "Please?" her voice cracked.

For another moment, I hesitated. Then, I remembered just what she had done: siding with Matt, hurting my friends, stabbing her own mother.

I raised my hand.

Annabeth looked crestfallen, and began to cry, loudly this time.

I realized I didn't care. She harmed my friends.

"It's settled, then. Matt and Annabeth will be sentenced to Tartarus immediatly," boomed Zeus. With a clap of his hands, Zeus then summoned the chasm that lead down into the Earth.

"Any last words?" Zeus questioned.

Annabeth sobbed and shook her head.

Matt glared at the entire council, but remained silent. He tried to put an arm around Annabeth protectively, but Annabeth pushed his arm away and continued crying.

"Alright, then," Zeus sighed, before removing the chains on the two with a flick of his hand, and then sending them tumbling into the pit.

After a few seconds, Zeus waved his hands once more and closed the chasm, leaving behind an untarnished marble floor.

"That was . . . depressing," I commented. Nobody disagreed with me, for once.

Hestia nodded, then flicked her head towards Athena so subtly that only someone who was looking directly at her would have noticed (in other words, me). Why was I looking directly at her? Well, erm...

I switched my gaze over Athena. She seemed to be spacing out. She must've been trying to come to terms with the fact that she had sent her own daughter to hell, and I suppose as a parent, that's the worst thing you can possibly do. (I wouldn't know for sure though. I'm not a parent.)

I got Hestia's message, which was something like We need to talk to her after the meeting.

"Ahem," Zeus coughed. "Well, we've introduced Percy, and we've sentenced Mark and Annabeth." Athena flinched visibly. "So, if anyone else has any news to report, or anything to say, now would be a good time," Zeus forged on without noticing Athena's discomfort.

Most of the gods shook their heads, but I tentatively raised my hand.

"Yes?" Zeus asked.

Suddenly, all eyes of the council were on me again, except for Athena, who was still staring into space.

"Umm . . . I was wondering," I started. "If we could bring back Iapetus and Damaesan from Tartarus?" I asked hesitantly. I knew this statement would not go over the council well, considering that the duo from the swamp consisted of a Titan and a Giant.

"Why would you want to do that?" Hermes scoffed.

Demeter looked affronted, and Athena, for once, did not partake in the conversation at all.

Hestia, however, nodded like she understood, and said out loud, "Explain."

"Well, they're really nice, actually. I've met them, and Bob seemed to miss being on the surface a lot," I elaborated.

"Nevertheless, they are still a Titan and a Giant," Zeus put in.

"Well, they're my friends, and they helped me survive both times in Tartarus."

Nobody looked completely convinced. "Look, they've saved my life before, and I owe them," I argued back. Everyone seemed to be quiet at that.

"How about we allow them to come to the surface, but only if they swear loyalty to Olympus." Zeus offered.

"That's fine, actually. Damaesan will probably start a farm or something," I added, chuckling at the thought of the bright red giant plucking berries off bushes.

"A vote then?" Zeus asked. A little over half of the Olympians raised their hands. Athena stirred looked around, then fell back into her stupor.

"Well, we have a majority, Perseus. It looks like your friends will be joining us on the surface, then," Zeus decreed.

I nodded.

"Alright, does anyone else have anything important to share?" Zeus said, finally starting to sound bored.

Nobkdy spoke up.

"Okay, then. Council dismissed."

Most if the gods flashed out of their seats directly. Zeus vanished with a crackle of thunder. Eventually, the only ones left were me, Hestia, and Athena.

Hestia got up from her throne and resized herself to human height.

I rose, then frowned in concentration. Eventually, I was able to allow myself to shrink back down to my normal height.

Hestia clapped her hands.

"See, I told you it would go fine," she proclaimed proudly with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, sighing a little. "That was still really, really depressing," I commented.

Then, I glanced at Athena. Hestia followed my gaze, and her smile vanished to be replaced by a frown.

Athena was still sitting there, looking less shocked and more thoughtful.

Both me and Hestia picked our way over to the base of the throne.

"Umm, Athena?" I called out. Hestia rolled her eyes at my lame introduction.

She didn't stirr.

"Hey, hello?" I tried again.

This got a reaction. "What?" Athena said, shaking her head around in confusion. "Oh," she added, realizing the meeting was over.

She stood up, then shrunk back down to human size, still maintaining a slightly somber attitude.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Yeah, I cut straight to the chase. Maybe not the smartest move, but hey.

"Yes, yes, I am fine," Athena responded quickly. A little too quickly.

"I'm sorry, but it really doesn't seem like it," I admitted. She froze for a second.

"Is it about Annabeth?" I continued. She froze again, then looked down.

Hestia moved towards her. I looked at her in confusion, and she merely rolled her eyes. (She was doing that at me a lot lately.) But, I figured she knew what she was doing. After all, she's known everyone for thousands of years, so she can probably read them better than I can.

Sure enough, Athena started shaking slightly, and I realized she was crying. Hestia carefully pulled her into a comforting hug, while slowly patting her on the back.

"Shh," Hestia said.

"I am a terrible mother," Athena sobbed, no longer silent anymore.

"No, you aren't," Hestia tried again.

"I sentenced my daughter to Tartarus!" She continued. "I am a terrible mother," she added again.

"No, no," Hestia murmured. Athena rubber end her eyes free of tears.

"You were not a terrible mom, Athena," I spoke. She looked up at me. "You helped her a lot over the years," I pointed out.

"What makes you say that?" Athena questioned.

"You helped her find Thalia and Luke," I spoke. "You gave her the magic baseball hat for her birthday-"

"And look what she did with it," Athena cut me off. "She stabbed your friends. She attacked us. She attacked me!" Athena broke into a fresh wave of tears.

"I can't help but think that it was all my fault," she continued, softer. "If I had been a better mother, if I had been there for her, then maybe ..." she trailed off.

"It wasn't your fault," I told her. "Annabeth made her own decisions. She sided with Poseidon because she liked that stupid champion of Poseidon," I added, sighing with the last part.

"Really?" Athena questioned earnestly. I was surprised she didn't know. Before I got kicked out of camp it was sort of obvious that Annabeth had taking a liking towards the new hotshot son of Poseidon. But if she didn't know, that meant that this whole time Athena thought that Annabeth was fighting against her for revenge or out of spite, and that must have been terrible for the goddess to bear.

'Yes," I answered back honestly. "I should know, she was the one who basically dumped me for that one idiot," I added under my breath.

"I," Athena said in shock, "I'm sorry."

"Ehh, don't worry about it," I said, waving the apology away. "But, like I said, it's not your fault."

"So she wasn't mad at me?" Athena asked again.

"No. What she chose had nothing to do with you," I reassured her. By this point, Athena had stopped crying, and I noticed Hestia was giving me a discreet thumbs-up.

"Oh. Then I've been feeling guilty for no reason all this time," she finally concluded. Sighing with relief, she continued. "I feel a lot better now. Annabeth made her own decisions, and she was punished accordingly," she finally said with finality.

Then she turned to me and Hestia, who had pulled back from the hug and was standing next to me now.

"Thank you both," Athena said. "I feel better about the situation now. I'm grateful that you talked to me," she added with a small smile before dissapearing in a flash of light.

Hestia smiled at me. "You did well," she complimented.

I shrugged. "I just said what she needed to hear."

"And that made all the difference, didn't it?" She pointed out. "Now, are you hungry? We can still catch a late lunch," she continued.

I looked down at my stomach, which chose that moment to let out a low rumble.

"You bet," I said, grinning.

A/N: And that's it! Slightly shorter than the rest, but I figured you guys have been waiting long enough, so u wanted to get this posted. Thanks for reading!