"Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon," Zeus spoke gruffly. Percy sighed internally. He had no doubt been discussed heavily before he made it to this point. "You come before us, the Gods of Olympus, seeking Godhood. Normally, I'd smite a mortal as presumptuous as yourself on sight, but certain... advice warned me against it." All faces in the room other than the demigoddess next to him looked at Hestia, who only smiled.
"Alexandria Asirios, my daughter," The Goddess of Wisdom looked towards them with a smile that looked just as sinister as it did serene.
Alex's breath caught. "You're the voice in my head." The realization was unquestionable. Her mother smiled apologetically.
"Indeed, clever child. I have tried to give you the best advice that anyone possibly could, although you chose not to heed it... Disappointing." Multiple gods and goddesses knew what she was trying to do. Some of them agreed, even. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was trying to distance the two demigods, even if they didn't know the lengths she had just gone to to do so. Unfortunately, neither Percy or Alex were 'in the loop' enough to understand the manipulative plots at work. "Come here, my daughter."
Almost robotically, the girl started walking towards the goddess. "Alex...?" Percy's voice wavered as his only friend literally turned her back on him. The girl turned back at him, and there were tears in her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to dispel them, but failing. Her eyes, with the pupils flickering in and out, were screaming with agony. Agony at being forced to choose between the woman she had wanted to see her entire life and the man who had been there for her when nobody else was.
There were tears in Percy's eyes, too. Looking through them, he saw the Goddess of Wisdom staring intently at her daughter, her eyes literally glowing as she channeled power. He looked back at his friend. "I..." He changed his sentence. "...trust you, Alex." Unknowingly, he all but gave her to Athena, as the pupils of the girl's eyes disappeared, and the irises gleamed like pools of light, just like her mother's.
His heart cracked. He had come here to gain the power to protect her, yet, instead, he had lost her. Zeus interrupted with a gruff clearing of his throat. "Yes, yes, very... interesting." His tone said that he thought the opposite. "However, we have come to the decision to leave it to a vote. Should you somehow appeal to a majority of us," This was spoken with no small measure of amusement, "You will be granted your immortality as long as your swear your loyalty to us. Otherwise, you will be tossed off this city and used as a target for my Bolt. Do you agree?"
Perseus tried to crack a smile, but the threat was no doubt very real. He wondered if being smote by Zeus would look bad on his application for Elysium when he got to the Underworld. "I do." Zeus grinned wickedly, no doubt thinking that he was about to have an onslaught of support against the boy, and a reason to kill such a powerful being, and a child of his brother no less.
"Wonderful. I will start the vote," a golden tally lit up in the air with two sides, one headed by the Greek characters "υπέρ", and the other headed by "έναντι". For, and against. "Against." A golden mark appeared under έναντι.
"I second that," Hera spoke up immediately after her husband, although her face was sour, and she glared at the man, who was stoutly refusing to look at her. Another mark shimmered into existence.
Hestia came to the defense of the mortal who she hoped could change Olympus for the better, and his father was not far behind. The votes read 2:2, although that changed into 2:3 as Athena voted against. "He is a danger to this council. He is unpredictable, manipulative, and most of all... corruptible."
"His friendship with your daughter does not make him manipulative, Athena." The normally cheerful Goddess of the Hearth glared at her niece. "In fact, I'd say that planting thoughts-" She was cut off by Zeus.
"That is not a vote, and has no place here, sister. Be quiet." The King of the Gods barely shrugged when Apollo voted in favor of, equalizing the vote count. He frowned for a moment when Hermes' vote came quickly after, but dismissed it. Demeter had no connection with him, she was the most heavily neutral in the chamber outside of Aphrodite.
"I apologize," She smiled warmly, "But I will have to vote against. I have little knowledge of your exploits or your intentions." Perseus smiled back.
"I understand, Lady Demeter. I would not ask you to vote for a risk without prior information." The sentence seemed to change the woman's opinion, but it was too late, as her vote tallied up against him. She sent him another, sadder smile, and instead entertained herself with a couple plants growing out of her throne.
"Kid's a warrior. Seen it myself." Swords, lances, maces, and more comprised the God of War's throne. "Man's got some talent, and some heart. I'll vote for his godhood. It'd be nice to have someone to spar against for eternity." The praise from the man seemed surprising to many throughout the room. Hell, it was probably surprising to him to the god himself.
"Thank you, Lord Ares."
Ares nodded slightly to him. "Don't disappoint me, boy."
For the first time, the vote was now in his favor, 5:4. Hephaestus and Artemis still hadn't voted, as well as Aphrodite, but he didn't need to rely on her vote. Zeus noticed this as well, and grit his teeth.
Now, the God of the Forge took the spotlight. "I vote for the boy's immortality. I have seen him in action, and his head and heart are both good, as well as his arms... And his ability to slice through automatons..." The boy blushed uncomfortably at the reminder of how he had destroyed most of the population of the forge at Vesuvius before making it to the turn-off switch, but thanked the god for his support nonetheless.
Six votes for, and four votes against. All he needed now was for Artemis to- "Against." The demigod's eyes locked onto the female half of the Twin Archers while she looked at him with conflicting emotions.
'Fuck, I knew I should've trained harder with that bow.'
GUYS GUYS PERCY JACKSON IS GETTING A SERIES ON DISNEY+ HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! IT'S EVERYTHING WE EVER WANTED! RICK IS PART OF IT! IT'S FUCKING DISNEY! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES-
I think you get the idea.
Anywho, Artemis has voted AGAINST Perseus! Who could've possibly seen that coming ~~even though I foreshadowed it~~? I hope you guys enjoy this week's chapter of TRoD. Share some reviews, they give me power :-)
Seriously though, see you next week!
- PJO Fan Power
For some reason, this chapter didn't update yesterday. It has been uploaded today (Monday). Sorry for the lateness!