Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Saving Siblings and
An Ass-Kicking
Perseus POV
The next evening
The shield was inadequate, to say the least. It had held up for one strike before making dangerous sounds. Before the next swish of his enemy's broadsword bisected it. I still felt pain in my gut and head after my enemy's strikes earlier. Now you may be wondering how we got to this point and I would reply with... 'shit' I dodged Perses's broadsword again and spun to the side trying to stab my xiphos into his armpit.
He caught onto my trick too quickly and closed his arm trapping my sword between his left arm and body. I saw his counter-attack and quickly released the sword and jumped backward falling on my back. "Come here traitor" Perses growled and began stalking up towards me. I saw a flash of black behind him and suddenly a Stygian iron blade was sticking through his heart. He looked confused for a second at the pressure he had in his chest before looking down and seeing the tip of the blade under him and tipping over with the fatal wound.
Suddenly the instigator of this attack was over me and stretching his arm out. I gratefully clasped his arm and nodded to him showing me my appreciation. Hades only grunted back at me which I thought was quite rude but I let it go. I looked around and saw that my other rescued brother Poseidon was on the back foot fighting one-on-one with the Titans general Atlas the Titan of Strength. Hades and I quickly move over to the only remaining fight. Atlas quickly noticed his shift in fortunes and flashed out of the courtyard leaving his companion laying in the courtyard unconscious, but we, unfortunately, couldn't take him with us because we wanted a secret base and he being there would.
I look around one last time and seeing that Perses has bled out and is probably down in Tartarus already, trying to reform which could take quite a while which was determined by the severity of the injury so that he bled to death probably meant that he would be back in under a decade. I returned my attention to my brothers and grabbed each of their shoulders before making a series of flashes all around Greece before eventually landing on top of a mountain.
Now you must be asking if this author has forgotten to add the start of this chapter but don't worry he's just being a little cheeky with this jumping right into the action and then explaining afterward.
Flashback
Four hours earlier
The four conspirators of this ambitious plot were just meeting a mere 30mins before the start of the Titans feast. They were in a familiar dark forest and with Selene just peeking over the horizon with an especially beautiful glow dancing around the small open area where three different roads crossed.
Two men and one woman on one side, while on the opposing side only one woman stood handing a small stopper bottle to a raven-haired man who stood in front of the two other conspirators. The liquid in the bottle had a yellow tint looking like watered-down beer.
The man gratefully nodded and gave the woman a friendly hug before flashing out. The two lovers who had been standing behind him chuckled, amusement evident on their faces before following the golden-eyed man. The woman looked so lost you could almost feel sorry for her, and she followed them absentmindedly flashing out with a distant yet thoughtful gaze.
Five minutes later
A beautiful woman in her early forties stood outside a beautiful black stoned palace looking out on the beautiful hills of Northern Greece surrounding the home of the Titans, you could even see a relatively big city in the distance to the southwest, with the sea glittering if you looked to the south. She saw movement to her left, and her breath hitched when she saw two figures leading one woman out of a side road lazily winding up to the palace and peak of the mountain.
Selene was beautifully rising in the distance but the mother of seven didn't notice any of the natural beauty surrounding her currently only noticing the two young men walking towards her. She absentmindedly noticed her beloved niece trailing behind her babies but that was more of an afterthought.
She rushed forward enveloping the two boys in her surprisingly strong arms. She looked towards Zeus first and noticed his reluctance at the hug but decided it was only because of their lack of contact before. She turned her loving gaze towards her other son with desperate hope. And was rewarded by the shining eyes golden eyes of her Perseus looking back at her. Though the illusions that hid the two boys quickly went into effect again and she was met with some boring browns instead of his beautiful golden gaze.
She quickly ushered them through a secret passage back into her quarters and she was giddy with anticipation at finally getting to talk face to face with her youngest children. They found themselves in the middle of a very opulent bedroom with some relaxing reading chairs in the corner where she quickly directed them.
"So...?" Perseus started awkwardly. Her heart crashed at the lack of connection she had with her children. "I have decided that the best way for you to poison his cup would be to become his cupbearer." Perseus nodded appreciatively at her conversation change. "I agree but who would it be?" Perseus asked looking around at the deities currently present. "You can take this one for the team Perseus" Perseus nodded understandingly and turned his gaze to Métis who immediately shook her head and didn't further comment. "I guess I will be the cup-bearer then" All the other conspirators nodded quickly again and he sighed but agreed.
10 minutes later
Two deities walked up to the central throne in the Titans throne room where an unkempt man sat with absent eyes that flashed dangerously from time to time seemingly at random intervals. Perseus took the opportunity to look around and was, suitably impressed, though he thought it was a little dull and dreary for his taste. The throne room was a massive hall with twelve ginormous thrones in a lazy U ring. The walls and ceiling were dark color with only flickering torches lighting them.
The Mad Titan King finally noticed us when we had been kneeling awkwardly for about a minute before he addressed us. "So wife, who have you brought into my presence?" The man glanced subtly at his mother with confusion evident at the remark. The woman mentally reminded him 'mad, remember?' Perseus's confusion faded taken over by a little bit of amusement at his father's state of mind. 'Just think about the power the mortals have over us deities' Perseus thought to himself while mentally shaking his head at his fellow deities oversight. 'The Power' he reverently thought to himself again, gaining pleasant tingles in his body at the thought.
"This is a mortal that has garnered my attention and I decided to give him a boon, and he asked for the honor of being your cup-bearer for this night." Rhea replied while standing to her feet and presenting Perseus to his father's golden eyes who focused and he stared with a heavy and searching gaze at the 'mortal'. "Hmm, I suppose as a favor to my lovely wife, I could do give him the honor" He eventually replied though he still glinted with interest in the back of his eyes before they lost their focus and he continued looking out into the void. Rhea's amulet hidden under Perseus's clothes working perfectly.
The amulet worked simply, only hiding godly energies, and having the ability to hide power from even the most scrutinizing gazes, but it was too powerful for its container so it was slightly unreliable especially in crucial moments like these. But it held up for now. "Now leave me, I have a feast to get ready for" he shooed them out and the mother-son duo quickly moved out of the dark throne room. After they got a ways away from the great hall they slowed down to a leisurely pace reconnecting with each other with a bit of small talk.
They eventually arrived back at Rhea's quarters fifteen minutes before the start of the feast. They met up with the rest of the conspirators and then they separated in different directions with Rhea moving towards where she would escort her husband, the lovebirds went on a romantic stroll planning to join the feast a little later and Perseus went to the kitchen where he would meet Hecate for the potion/poison before the feast.
Three and a half hours later
They were well into their cups at the three-hour mark into the feast and most of the visitors had moved over to other locations for a variety of reasons probably concerning... nightly workouts. After another half-hour, the hall was nearly totally deserted by conscious beings with most being Aurai(sky nymphs) the only other(conscious mind you) beings there were was Kronos, an inconspicuous cup-bearer who was fixing the Titan King's last drink and dropping something into it by 'accident', two lovers who were 'unconscious' on one of the tables in the hall and two Titanesses still talking about whatever they had to talk about.
Kronos took the goblet absentmindedly and held it for a minute still just staring out towards the roof at something. He finally placed the goblet to his face and dunked the whole goblet in one go. He didn't notice how he suddenly had the attention of everyone besides the Aurae who were still cleaning up and minding their own business. Suddenly Kronos let out a chocked grunt like he was trying to hold something in. He raised to his feet with a furious expression he expanded until he was at twenty feet of height before suddenly doubling over and getting knocked out by his... 'double trouble' Perseus was placed right behind his father's rear and he did feel pity to the one(well probably more, maybe ten?) having to clean that mess up (*yuck). The Aurae fled the hall immediately, apparently very skittish beings.
Suddenly Perseus heard wet flops on the front of Kronos and quickly moved around him. He was met with a sorry-looking bunch all piled up with liters of saliva and other bodily fluids soaking them. He snapped his right hand and his siblings dried up but they were still a little out of it, probably the massive amount of alcohol their father had consumed flooded them down in his stomach(which was another disturbing detail about their... living quarters for the last decade at least). He absentmindedly noticed two baby-shaped stones laying beside his siblings with grim satisfaction at his changed fate.
They finally managed to get to their feet and he was met with five gazes who had varying amounts of thankfulness showing but still it was the sentiment that counted, right? He looked at his two other brothers and saw both had muscular and handsome frames not very different from Perseus's and Zeus's funnily enough, the identicalness of their bodies was almost uncanny. Though that's where their likeness stops with one having quite similar hair as Perseus with sea-green eyes, and the other had hard and gruff but not unkind onyx colored eyes with a little bit more control on his black hair than his brothers.
While Zeus was the only male child of Kronos with blonde hair, he shared it with one of their sisters who had long blonde hair to the small of her back looking a little bit like ripe wheat. She had kind soil-colored brown eyes and was quite beautiful for mortal standards, though even not being the most striking woman of her siblings, Perseus felt a weird connection to the woman. Perseus finally managed to tear his eyes from her and absently noted the striking beauty of the woman standing beside the blonde-haired woman.
She had soft light brown colored hair matching her cold and hard eyes with a beautiful figure though he personally wasn't that interested, well he was attracted but ignored it. He also saw the last woman standing at the last one on their side again who was a kind and gentle looking brunette with a more modest prettiness than her sisters with more of a nurturing and loving aura than her fellow brunette haired sister who had a more snobbish air while not unkind she definitely was a harder woman than her sister, and when she noticed the closeness between Zeus and Metis her eyes narrowed in jealousy even if she had no connection to the young man.
The blonde-haired sister again was a mix between the two eldest and youngest sisters with a beauty that would have demolished any mortal opponent but with a more humble air with kindness showing in her almond-shaped eyes. Perseus observed her even longer noticing that she also had trouble looking inquisitively at him before finally managing to break her gaze.
Perseus decided to be the voice of reason like he usually was between his twin and him letting his illusion drop, which the light brown colored woman noticed immediately and eyed him with a predatory gaze. "Come quickly we have to move quickly before the Titans notice us" He began to walk towards the exit via the main door before a shout stopped him.
"My babies!" Rhea said with joyous tears flowing down her cheeks running up to her newly rescued children. Perseus sighed with annoyance at the 'warning bell' but he put up a kind facade for his now happy mother. "Mother we can do this later at the rendezvous point, flash away immediately" he finished in a more strong voice and while Rhea looked at her children with a pained smile she flashed out immediately.
"The second try, let's get going" he gestured to his sisters "You girls, with Zeus, Hecate and Métis will run out of the palace grounds and flash out immediately while I, and... What are your names?" He asked the two male escapees. "Hades and Poseidon" The now Hades gestured respectively."So we will hold off any response from the Titans, understood?" All the deities present nodded the older children of Kronos just relieved that they would get out of here, while the conspirators had already agreed to the plan. Even if their pride only reluctantly accepted(*cough *cough Zeus *cough *cough).
The conspirators and escapees rushed up the main aisle between the tables up to the main doors for a quick escape. The reason that they had to get out of the palace grounds before flashing out was because of a ward that only allowed certain keyed in Titans to teleport inside the palace wide ward like Rhea but she couldn't take anyone with her, which was the reason that she quickly flashed out without taking anyone with her. They could have broken it eventually but that would have been a very time-consuming endeavor to do for the natural inferiority of the power the gods/fourth-generation deities(from Chaos the Creator) could exert as godlings without strong domains.
So the deities had to do it the hard way, or the mortal way as Zeus lamented during a planning session after he was informed of it. They managed to exit the great hall and went quickly down the corridor directly forward. They came to another set of heavy dark oak doors that were quickly pushed aside by Perseus's godly strength. They arrived into a rectangular courtyard with one opening at the opposite side where they could feel the ward bordering. They had made it two-thirds along the way before two Titans suddenly flashed in oblivious to the escapees before they crashed into the pair.
The two sides quickly backed up to each of the sides of the courtyard with Perseus's group with their backs towards the closing doors of the palace behind him. And the Titans opposite with their backs to the opening of the courtyard. Perseus played for time and began in a friendly voice "Why hello honorable Titans, we have things to do so excuse us". He moved forward but stopped when they brandished their weapons and the taller Titan said in a gruff voice "I don't think so" Perseus backed up again to his group. He mentally relayed his plan to his comrades and executed the plan by slowly circling to one side while the Titans mirrored him after a minute but also closing in all the while completely oblivious to their mistake.
When they had eventually switched places Perseus shouted "Now!" And he bull-rushed the two Titans with his newly reunited brothers while Zeus silently led the rest the other way, and with godly speed and stamina, they managed to clear the ward and quickly flashed out.
All the while this was happening the two Titans had taken out their weapons, a broadsword and spear for Perses and Atlas respectively, the two Titans. they had cautiously mirrored their opponents a little nervous at the amount of opposition they had before becoming incredulous at seven of their enemies fleeing before they even tried. Their eyes widened when they flashed out and the bull rush the three remaining opponents started. They summoned some weapons, a celestial bronze xiphos, a Stygian iron long sword, and a celestial bronze spear for the man in the middle, the one on the right and the left one respectively.
Poseidon twirled his spear feeling the balance before launching himself at the biggest Titan with a roar while Hades silently but quickly following him. Perseus then decided that he could take on one Titan alone and went to the slightly smaller Titan.
Perseus arrogantly mocked his opponent "So who are you supposed to be then?" Perses didn't reply with a word and swiped his broadsword with the flat of the blade striking the godling in his side and launching him onto his but a couple of meters backward onto the dusty ground of the courtyard.
Perseus was winded by his fall and drily heaved on the ground beating himself up by his stupid decision before abruptly remembering the reason for his current situation. He was kicked in the abdomen sending him another couple meters further.
'Get your shit together Perseus' he thought and sprang up ignoring the pain in his gut. He found himself staring at the stone solid pectoral muscles of his opponent and was yet again punched through the air. This time he spun up to his feet in a flashy way(he couldn't help himself). This decision was immediately punished harshly by yet another punch to his already hurt gut yet again propelling him into the air.
He finally got his shit together and actually orientated himself instead of simply standing up and hoping for the best. He saw Atlas on the other side of the courtyard mirroring his state with his two opponents kicking the shit out of him before he getting to his feet and tanking a hard blow to his gut, counter-attacking with a powerful swing to the head of his attacker. Poseidon was hit in the head with a definite K.O hit if he had been a mortal that is. He was merely stunned and thrown to the ground while Hades occupied the space he had previously been in countering the counter-attack with an undercut powered by his godly strength sending Atlas's head spinning familiarly to Poseidon's a couple of seconds earlier, though without the fall.
Perseus decided to take inspiration from Atlas and raised to his feet yet again to face his foe. His combatant came with yet another powerful punch towards his abdomen and Perseus tanked the hit. Not, he was yet again reminded of his natural inferiority to the Titans, and this time he began to feel his pride giving up, and when he rose this time he decided on a different approach.
Perseus began to run, not in the direction of his opponent but the other way thinking that he could use his smaller frame to his benefit.
Perses raised one eyebrow in incredulity at the stunt. The Titan shrugged and flashed in front of the 'fleeing' opponent and decked him in the face when he sprinted past him oblivious at Perses's surprise strike.
Perseus POV
I was greeted painfully by Gaia yet again landing suddenly onto my back and I slid a few meters before coming to a halt. I decided to ultimately go with the classics with a sword and enchanted shield. I stumbled up to my feet and summoned my favored xiphos from where I lost it 'Wow, I had completely forgotten about it. Probably my numerous head traumas' I thought to myself sourly before also summoning my shield.
Perseus began to yet again circle with the Titan. "So what is your name?" This time paying attention to any attacks. "Perses" was the grunted reply I got from my opponent, he had also summoned his weapon a truly massive broadsword. I cleared my head and sent a probing attack at Perses's left side. He of course blocked it with ease and replied with a strike at the godling's head. I rolled to my left and stabbed like a viper at the Titan's side. Perses yet again managed to block it with his massive broadsword. And hit me from the other side with his non-dominant hand to my face. My head snapped to the side reeling from the punch.
I backed up a few steps and then decided to place a line in the sand so to speak. Perses came in with an overhead strike at me and when it hit my shield made strained sounds at the hit, but it held. Perses looked surprised at my stand and immediately swiped his sword at me from his left I tried to block with the shield, but it splintered into two identical pieces with me still in the 'danger zone' 'fucking shit shield' I thought to myself before first recognizing that a) I made/enchanted the shield and b) I had a fatal sword within twenty centimeters of my chest cavity.
I raised my hands dropping my shield and sword with godly speed and reflexes when he went past them and they raised the sword vertically in an impossible show of timing and reflexes in such a short time. Perses actually looked shocked before being literally punched back to focus by my strong counterattack in form of a punch to Perses's face. I summoned my gear back into my hands getting ready for more.
And with that, you are caught up with recent events.
End of Flashback
Perseus POV
The mountain we arrived at was named Mount Olympus, Zeus, and I thought it was an adequate name for our new mountain home. I saw the other escapees and conspirators lined up in front of us looking around at the area probably already informed of our plans for this place. We quickly joined them and I thought
'This will be a new chapter for the Gods of...Olympus, yes that sounds nice(I will have to remember that as a suggestion to Zeus)'
End of Chapter
As you can see this is the start of 'Percy's personal arc in this story starting as your typical god: prideful, slightly detached from reality, arrogant, megalomaniacal tendencies, and power-hungry. But his arc will be this 'impossible' personality change to a more recognizable one, but that will be quite a while down the line. His 'defeat' in this chapter is meant to be a wake-up call for Percy to show him that his pride probably isn't too smart to listen to too much of.
Perseus and co have finally met the rest of the original Olympians, except one who will be introduced soon not next chapter but probably the one after that. Can you guess who it is? Please answer if you know who it could be as reviews;)
I know I'm horrible, trying to trick you into reviewing this story but I would appreciate it.
Thank you for reading yet another installment of Brother of Zeus.