CHAPTER SUMMARY
Hades and Persephone interrogate Cho. Ron, Hermione, and Percy discuss their plans with the Order. Camp Half-Blood plays Capture the Flag.
BEGINNING NOTES
Chapter Rating: General Audiences
Content Warning: None
Word Count: 3840
This is the last one for today.
And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.
Credits at the end.
_ANNABETH_
The plan was simple. So simple, in fact, that there was no way for it to go wrong.
The Athena cabin ran into the dining pavilion with their team's flag: a silver banner with an owl on top of an olive tree. Then came Ares, with their blood-red flag with a bloody spear and boar's head. The entire camp cheered as the two cabins waved the flags on their respective sides of the pavilion.
Everyone dispersed to chat, trash-talk, and gather armor, weapons, and magical items for the upcoming game. Annabeth headed towards Percy, standing with Nico, Hazel, Blaise, Hestia, and Lou Ellen.
"Hey, wise girl," Percy said. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "So, who's on our team?"
Annabeth shoved him away, laughing. "You really wait until the last minute, don't you, seaweed brain? It's Athena, Poseidon, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Hecate. Ares has Hephaestus, Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, the minor gods, and the Hunters."
Percy groaned. "Your cabin couldn't make some deals? The red team has the three biggest cabins and both archer gods? And all the minor gods except Hecate?"
"You know the minor gods put together have about as much as the Hermes cabin. They aren't that much of a threat in population. We'll be fine."
"Still unfair," Nico contributed. "I wonder who sucked whose-"
"They collected on a few favors," Will said from behind them before Nico could say something that would make Hazel blush. "Apollo's worked with Ares many times. Ares knows alliances as well as Athena knows strategy."
"Eavesdropper!" Nico accused. "Ares spy! Get on your side of the pavilion!"
Will huffed. "And here I wanted to kiss my boyfriend good luck."
Nico huffed. "Fraternizing with the enemy? Typical Apollo."
Percy pretended to throw up. Hazel hushed him.
They kissed. It was just a peck, but tender enough that Annabeth felt like she was intruding on something. When they parted, they wouldn't stop staring into each other's eyes until Lou Ellen literally pulled them apart. "Earth to Will! Ares is that way!" She pointed to the other side of the pavilion.
Nico gave Will one more kiss before he joined the rest of his cabin. Everyone did the smart thing and ignored the blush on Nico's cheeks.
Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hazel, you're guarding the flag with me. Use the Mist on anyone who comes our way." Hazel nodded. "Blaise, Hestia, I want you on the west border; protect our runners with magic on their way back from the creek. When you hear an owl hoot, cross the boundary line and cast a shield spell, so you create a runway for them to get through; that way the red team can't flank them. Percy, you're on border patrol."
Percy groaned. "Why am I always on border patrol? I know, I know, sea god, water, but I can do more than make waves in a river."
He complained every Friday, conveniently forgetting all the times he single-handedly stopped the other team from crossing the boundary line. He saw plenty of action.
"Right. Nico-"
Nico shook his head. "I'm watching with Al, I'm not playing anymore."
Annabeth glared at him. "What do you mean, you're not playing anymore?!" she hissed. A few people shushed her, but she ignored them.
"It's for the best, Annabeth," Nico said. "My head's not going to be in the game. Rachel's sick, and it's my fault. I was just talking with her about something important (his eyes read: the war), and I'll be completely useless until we figure out what's wrong with her. I'm sorry."
"You traitor!" Lou Ellen shouted a little louder than she had to be. Greek fire burned in the palm of her hands. She looked murderous.
Suddenly, three Nicos stood in front of Lou. Hazel drew her sword. "You stay away from my brother!" she shouted.
Lou Ellen's fire shot a foot from her hand, so close to Hazel that her clothes started to smolder. A heavy bar of gold rose from the ground. It shot into the air and hit Lou square in the stomach.
Annabeth was frozen to the spot. Daughters of Hecate and Pluto, fighting already. She could tell that all her friends who knew about the war were worried.
Despite her expectations, they weren't the ones who stepped in.
The sky turned black, and the entire world went dark. Thunder boomed. When the darkness cleared, Thalia was between Lou Ellen and Hazel, electricity crackling a full inch from each palm.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Save it for the battlefield!"
Three Nicos became one, greek fire disappeared, and the gold bar sunk back into the ground.
It's nice to know Thalia still kicks ass.
"You okay, death boy?" Thalia asked Nico. He nodded, paler than usual. "Come with me, I'll hand you off to Torrington." She turned back and looked over the entire blue team. "No one TOUCHES him, you understand?!"
No one argued.
"Red team, to me!" Sherman shouted, holding up his team's flag. The blue team heckled the red team as they marched south, but no one missed the electricity that still hung in the air.
_HERMIONE_
For the second time in two years, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley spent their Christmas holiday at number twelve Grimmauld Place. This time, though, they were the ones who asked the Order of the Phoenix to convene there.
Her parents, Aunt Sadie, Uncle Tyler, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred and George, Mad-Eye Moody, Lupin, Tonks, Sirius, Snape, and Dumbledore sat around the dining room table, listening to Hermione, Ron, and Percy explain everything that had happened since the day they ran into three Americans at King's Cross Station. They even included the parts about the Greek gods, hoping that the table of wizard-borne wizards would react the way Ron did when Annabeth spoke to them a lifetime ago.
Hermione feared it was too much for her muggle aunt and uncle to take, but, at that point, they were so unnerved that they'd believe anything anyone told them. All four Granger adults insisted on staying in the know, and no one argued with that. Ginny and her cousins were safe upstairs, fast asleep in their third strange bed in the past forty-eight hours.
Most of the table reacted the way Hermione expected through each twist and turn of the tale. The three people Hermione was most interested in-Dumbledore, Sirius, and Snape-kept their faces guarded and expressionless.
"You want to temporarily overthrow the government?" Lupin asked.
"Is that the only question you have?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"No, but I thought we should start with what we want to accomplish and work back from there."
"I want to expose Fudge," Percy said, "not stage a coup."
"Percy..." Mr. Weasley took his son's hand from across the table. "What you did was noble. But it's too dangerous now that we saw what Fudge will do. I won't let you get hurt."
Percy squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Dad. But I know what I'm fighting against."
"But you have to face facts," Moody said. "That fact is that you're kidnapping the Minister, stunning his guards, and taking over his duties without proper clearance. Even if it's only for a radio broadcast, that's a coup. Even a short-lived coup is treason."
"Percy, Ron, Hermione, you're too young to put yourselves in danger like this," Mrs. Weasley said.
Determination sparkled in Percy's eye. "I'm of age, Mum! And Merlin chose Ron and Hermione! You can't stop us from doing what needs to be done."
"Exactly. We have to do it," Hermione insisted.
"You don't have to do anything!" Mum told them. "Hermione, no matter what Merlin said, he's a god and you're a girl. My daughter is not disposable."
"So, let's address the elephant in the room, then," Sirius said. "Greek gods. Powerful, immortal beings spoke to our children. Any questions?"
Percy, Ron, and Hermione exchanged a look. They were all thinking the same thing. "Sirius," Ron said, "you already knew, didn't you?"
Sirius sighed. "Yes. Harry told me everything right before he... passed away." Sirius shut his eyes for a moment. Grief bubbled to the surface, but he pushed it down. "He needed me to keep his secrets. So, I kept them."
Dumbledore stood. All eyes fell on him. "Tonks," he asked, "can you uncover more about the Ministry's defenses?"
"Spy for the Order?" Tonks asked. "Yes. Better me than a boy."
"This means we will proceed with the Weasleys' and Granger's plan?" Snape asked.
"I have been in contact with Chiron over the last twelve hours. News from Olympus is grim. It's high time the public learned the truth. I fear what will happen if we allow the Ministry to act this way through divine warfare, the likes we have never seen before. This will be worse than Grindelwald's and Lord Voldemort's reigns of terror combined. If the god of wizards has chosen Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger to protect us, we are in no position to argue with their decisions." Dumbledore settled back into his chair. "This explains, of course, why the first king of wizards and, arguably, first headmaster of Hogwarts has no portrait in the Wizarding World. His wife must guard them quite jealously."
No one bothered to ask Dumbledore what he meant by that.
_PERCY_
Border patrol sucked.
This time, Percy had it. The red team had the numbers, so the blue team needed the strength. No one would come this way, and if they did, they had other defenses. Percy was going to go where he was actually needed. He'd be their secret weapon.
He walked west along the creek, making sure to hide just out of sight. Annabeth wanted Blaise and Hestia to create a buffer? He could do that with the river, too. Wizard magic was less powerful than demigod magic. They could use the help.
He made it just in time to hear the owl hoot. "Blaise, Hestia!" Percy shouted.
They ran out of their hiding space and the pair shouted, "Protego!" right in front of the river. Percy took all the water he could muster out of its bank and shot it as far south as it would go, creating a nice wall from the waves.
A flag held by an invisible hand shot across the woods. The entire Hermes cabin raced after it, but Annabeth could outrun them all.
"Archers! To me!"
Thalia jumped out of the trees and landed right in the middle of the runway. Arrows plowed into Blaise's leg and Hestia's shoulder. Ianthe and Roszi hadn't expected Percy, but they adapted and shot him a millisecond later. He and the followers of Hecate dropped to the ground together. Percy felt like he'd woken up from general anesthetic, not tired enough to fall asleep, but too tired to do anything but watch the events unfold.
One by one, trees fell to the ground, courtesy of the Demeter cabin, revealing six Apollo kids on each side, arrows notched at Annabeth.
Sherman grabbed Annabeth from behind and threw off her invisibility cap. Clarisse held her electric spear, Maimer, at Annabeth's back. Percy forgot how intimidating Clarisse could be. He wondered how she could take classes at the University of Arizona without all the teachers cowering at her feet.
"The flag?" Sherman asked.
Annabeth grit her teeth. Percy knew she didn't like accepting defeat. "Take it."
Sherman snatched the flag from her. "And Athena falls to Ares!" The red team cheered.
"Oh, really?" Alabaster C. Torrington materialized in front of them, Nico at his side. He snapped his fingers, and the flag transformed into a branch... and a leaf stuck to Alabaster's shirt transformed into the red team's flag. It turned electric green, and two lit torches crisscrossed beneath three small suns: morning, noon, and night.
Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch shell. The game was over.
Everyone's jaws dropped. "You weren't playing!" Thalia cried for her entire team.
"We lied," Alabaster announced. "It's not against the rules, is it? We were in the woods and on our side when the game began. Just a bit further east than everyone else." He handed the flag off to Nico, walked over to Sherman, and plucked the branch from his hand. "Nico directed me behind the lines, and I switched them out. Basic transfiguration. Followers of Hecate learn it in their first year at Hogwarts. It was a stroll back here. Disillusionment Charm. Works every time."
Alabaster smiled at Annabeth. She directed him to continue. It was his victory, not hers. "I look forward to meeting Athena on the battlefield next Friday. And, Annabeth, Nico, Hazel, Lou Ellen? You should take your act to Broadway."
He stood on top of the nearest tree stump, and shouted, "For Hecate!"
The entire blue team erupted. The red team, with profound respect, clapped along with them.
"So that was your plan all along?" Percy asked Annabeth over the crowd.
"The fake-out? No, Alabaster planned all that to the letter-Frank wasn't lying when he said he's a mastermind." The two of them watched Hecate's cabin lift Alabaster into the air with the flag as the camp chanted his name. "Restoring respect for Hecate and Alabaster? That was all me."
_CHO_
Since Charon dropped her off, either Hades or Persephone was always questioning her. She hadn't had a second alone. They asked the same things, usually about Harry, Nico, Percy, and Annabeth, but their styles of interrogation differed.
Hades asked questions at a rapid pace. He had a short temper and quick fuse. But his anger cycled quickly enough that, within minutes, he was calm enough again to think clearly and refocus his attention on her. Still, his aura flared every time his anger did, making it hard for Cho to breathe or think at the worst possible times.
Persephone calculated every move. She paced around Cho's cage, asking slow, specific questions, and waiting as long as she needed to for the answer. If Cho cooperated, they were done quickly and painlessly. But when she didn't know the answer or didn't understand the question... kaboom.
When they were together, Persephone gave her husband patience, and Hades gave his wife control. Apart, Cho hated them. Together... she started to understand what was happening to her and why.
Hades entered the throne room soon after Cho told Persephone about the defeat of You-Know-Who.
"It appears Harry Potter survived Tom Riddle's first attack by his mother's blood sacrifice," Persephone told Hades, then refocused on Cho. "Why didn't Hecate kill him? His first reign of terror killed countless followers. As cunning as she is, there's no way she hatched her plot with Nico when the boy was still in the Lotus."
"Why are you wasting your time on an enemy we've killed and punished?" Hades asked.
"Hush, husband. How did Voldemort, as you call him, rise to power?"
Cho flinched at the name. "I don't know. I was two!"
"Then what do you know?" Persephone snapped.
"I told you about Harry! You-Know-Who was a powerful wizard, in Slytherin's house-"
"Slytherin?" Hades asked. "What does the god of magical creatures have to do with anything? Persephone, why are you wasting my time with trivia when we have a war to plan?"
"Why was Voldemort placed in Slytherin's house?" Persephone continued, ignoring-and annoying-her husband.
"I don't know. I think-I heard-You-Know-Who was Slytherin's descendant."
"And there you have your answer, Lord Hades," Persephone quipped. "Slytherin was Hecate's first child after Jupiter released her from her oath of maidenhood. I suspected Riddle was Slytherin's, his powers were beyond what should be possible for a mere follower of Hecate, and yet not quite powerful enough to be a direct son of the Titaness. This confirms my suspicions. Imagine how protective she is over her children, if she refused even to kill a distant descendant who killed countless of her followers. You and Hecate have had many arguments without it escalating into battle. Why declare war this time? She is angry about my curse, not your declaration of war. A trick within a trick; even her war has ulterior motives. It's not you Hecate takes revenge against, it's me."
"But you lifted the curse when-" A mixture of hurt and anger flashed on Hades' face for a microsecond. "- he revived you."
"I cursed her favorite children to kill one another if they tasted any sort of power, and all of her other descendants to be mindless drones behind their more powerful half-siblings. She had millennia to grow bitter and angry. I certainly did when she cursed me to spend all eternity either as a drone to my mother or shut away in the Underworld when I get any power at all."
Hades kissed her hand. "Forgive me, my dove. I am too impatient. Who was Slytherin's father?"
"Erm..." Cho thought back to Professor Binnes' lectures. She was always half asleep during them. "Merlin."
"Impossible," Hades said. "Hecate was a virgin goddess in Merlin's time. She abandoned her oath in the Middle Ages. Merlin lived during the fall of Rome."
"Merlin lived for six hundred years," Cho told them. "He died in the Middle Ages because he created the Philosopher's Stone."
Hades and Persephone met each other's eyes and had a silent conversation Cho couldn't hope to understand. They did that a lot.
"That would mean she stayed with him for six hundred years," Persephone murmured.
"Enough time to wear her resolve," Hades confirmed. "How did Merlin die?"
Aren't you the Lord of the Dead?
Cho valued her life (or death), so she didn't say that. "He stopped drinking the elixir from the Stone that kept him immortal."
"Why?"
"No one knows."
"Alecto!" Hades shouted. A bat-like creature flew into the throne room.
"Yes, my lord?" it said.
"Is there a Merlin in the Fields of Punishment, for creating a weapon that allows one to escape death? He would've died in the early Middle Ages."
"No, my lord."
"You may leave." Alecto flew away. Hades tightened his jaw. "Tell me more about Merlin's death."
"When Merlin died, his followers said he became a god. They said that for centuries." Cho said.
"This is good news, my lord," Persephone said. "If she turned her husband into a god without Jupiter's knowledge, she spat in the face of his authority."
If Cho understood what was going on, here she could strike her first blow and make good on her vow. If she allied herself with these gods, she could use them to take Fudge out of power and save the Wizarding World from chaos. They'd already killed You-Know-Who. All she had to do was impress them enough to get a favor. And the opportunity to do so had just fallen in her lap.
"Excuse me?" she said as politely as she could. "There's a legend that says that Merlin didn't create the Stone, Hecate gave it to him to heal his men after battles."
"Hecate created a secret weapon against me," Hades realized, fury in every syllable. "She was the first to condemn me over your sword! She holds Hazel's status over my head, and yet turns a mortal into a god right under our noses?! If she dares to call me a hypocrite because she betrayed our agreement over Hazel's future, I'll make sure Jupiter throws her into Tartarus!"
Hades' appearance started to change. His beard disappeared, and his usual robe became a striped tie and tombstone gray shirt. Albino white skin turned paler and paler until it was almost blue.
"Proserpine!" the new Hades growled. "Excuse me for a moment. I'm going to contact Hazel. I want the Philosopher's Stone, and I want it now."
_NICO_
It was fun, being the sidekick instead of the hero, anti-hero, or villain for once. He only had to ask the shadows to locate Ares' flag, then directed Al to it under the protection of a Disillusionment Charm. Nico smiled and chanted Alabaster's name along with everyone else. He was happy his friend was finally getting the respect he deserved. Annabeth delivered on her promises.
The truth was, they all needed a united camp. They needed the campers to be demigods first, and children of xyz god second. If they fought each other on the same lines as their parents, there would be no stopping armageddon. When they went public with the situation (and Chiron only had a few more hours until Nico and his friends would spill the beans), they had to make sure they had every tool ready in their arsenal. Alabaster was too useful to be ostracized. And the camp needed Hecate's children, no matter what their mother had done on Olympus.
He was about to rescue a slightly green son of Hecate from his cabinmates' shoulders when someone snatched his arm. Nico fell to the ground, but they didn't let go.
"Hey! Who do you think you are?!" Nico turned to see, "Rachel?"
There she was, in the same state as he'd found her in the campfire. For the third time that day, Nico wanted to throw up. He was turning Rachel Elizabeth Dare into May Castellan because he was too scared to set her free.
Rachel grabbed him so tightly that he couldn't move. He struggled, but she wouldn't let go. The camp encircled them, weapons at the ready in case anything got violent. The celebratory atmosphere was gone. "Rachel, let me go!" Nico shouted.
But, he knew full well that she wouldn't until he did one thing. Asked for one thing. The same thing that sent him on far too many dangerous, life-threatening quests. The same thing that made sure he'd suffer over and over again. The same thing that made him lose everyone he'd ever loved.
I hope you were right, Nonno. I want to be strong and courageous. Let me make a good hero.
"Tell me your prophecy."
Finally, Rachel Elizabeth Dare gave into the Spirit of Delphi.
"Half-bloods, hunters, and wizards go east, west and descend,
A god's warrior appears when the first meets their end,
The bane of the gods lies with the world's first high,
At the price of the cherished never seeing the sky,
A parent's mistake leads to a deadly fight,
Black and green destroy or make peace over white,
The flower and angel reach out their changed hand,
For the ghosts of millennia and the promised land."
The entire camp was silent. Nico stared blankly as Rachel fell into his arms.
Nico steadied the woozy Rachel. "So an angel's going to the promised land? Um... I'm gonna die again, aren't I?" he asked her-loud enough for everyone else to hear.
It had the desired effect. Anyone within earshot burst out laughing. Others whispered it to their friends, and soon the entire camp was roaring. In the end, Nico guessed that was all he could do. Discussing the prophecy could wait an hour. For now, it felt nice to laugh in the face of death.
END NOTES
This week's beta commentary:
STORY: For the ghosts of millennia...
LISSY: Roll credits. ~Cinema Sins
(Because it was so funny the first time)
Credits:
Melody Rose - Author (Tumblr melody0rose)
Oli - Beta Reader (Tumblr paradoxicalpsychic)
Suhalia - Beta Reader (Archive Of Our Own users/milkandtahoney/)
Please comment so I know what you think! See you tomorrow!