Energy Unbound
Chapter 13
Titans
The dark metal door vanished into the floor. To the surprise of both demigods, it flowed into a little crevice between the hallway floor and the interior like water. Annabeth went in, followed closely by Percy. He had Riptide in his hands, in blade form, and was actively scanning around for any kind of threat. Shortly after the two cleared the doorway, the door flowed back into place as if nothing had happened. This made Percy jump a little, high-strung as he was when he felt like he or his friends were in danger.
The room beyond was not remotely like Annabeth expected. The floor was carpeted, and the white painted walls looked just like a normal room in anyone's house. In fact, the door was the only part of the wall that wasn't white, except for two windows on the opposite wall. This did not at all befit Ari, who was clearly an immortal of some kind. They were all about flashy mansions and appearing godly.
Speaking of the girl, she was standing next to a platform of the dark metal which was apparently hovering in midair. Her clothes had slightly changed; she'd added a trenchcoat to her bodysuit made out of the same dark metal. Ari seemed to have a thing for it considering how much stuff she had contained the metal, weird liquidy door included.
On top of the platform a man lay still. His face was not visible unless you were close by. He seemed to be unconscious. The platform was apparently a medical bed or diagnostics forge. Orange panels of light floated in space in front of Ari, displaying all kinds of information. The girl was actively pressing what Annabeth could only guess were buttons, making the main screen in front of her shift through different presentations of data. One screen off to the side even looked an awful lot like a heart monitor. It contained a graph and a line that kept jumping up and down.
Standing next to Ari was a young woman that looked about their age. She wore a dark blue dress with similarly colored hair that extended to her lower back. Unlike her crimson haired companion, she was watching Annabeth and Percy, allowing a full on view of her face. Extremely attractive, to sum her up. But her eyes took the cake, giving Annabeth the feeling that her soul was being leafed through. Her piercing deep blue gaze never wavered from the newcomer's, just staring. She was also smiling in an almost motherly way.
Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hey, Ari. Earth to Ari," she said, instantly causing the unknown woman to smirk. She found that funny for some reason.
Ari jumped a little bit, snapping her head to the newcomers. "Oh, hey guys," she began, but narrowed her eyes at them. She panicked. With almost inhuman speed she rushed over to Annabeth, glancing rapidly between both of her eyes. Then she looked at Percy. Her eyes darted back and forth a couple times.
She cursed.
"Shit!"
Before Annabeth had a chance to speak, the unknown woman did. "What's wrong, Ari?"
"They had a Metacrisis," was her only response, closing her eyes. She rubbed her temples with a grumble. A look of pity crossed the other woman's face, making Annabeth feel very worried. Apparently 'metacrisis' didn't mean something good.
"So you do know what happened to us," Percy cut in, pushing his sword against Ari's neck. "Tell. Us," he threatened.
Annabeth admired his need to protect her, but if Ari was actually a goddess it's not like a sword would do much. She expected the other woman to step in and defend Ari, but she was simply watching as if popcorn would be needed.
Ari opened her eyes when the sword met her throat and rolled them at Percy. "Really Percy, you two must have at least assumed what I am. Do you actually think I can be threatened, much less by a sword?"
"Worked on Ares," Percy growled, not moving an inch.
"Ares is a tool," Ari responded, crossing her arms.
Annabeth chuckled at that, as did the woman. They locked eyes for a moment, recognizing a kindred spirit.
"A tool who accepted an honor duel from a demigod. Powers much larger than he enforced rules he couldn't break. I would simply teleport you into high orbit."
"Stop bantering and spill, Ari," Percy demanded, glaring at her.
Ari just rolled her eyes and walked away from the sword tip, towards a pair of chairs that seemed to be completely made ofthe dark metal the door and her suit also contained.
Percy must have suddenly been too wise to actually attack her, because Annabeth knew even gods couldn't evade his blade if he meant to injure them. She just sighed and put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt at comfort. "Thanks for trying Percy, but like she said, a sword probably isn't the best route here."
Percy looked at her with relief in his eyes and capped Riptide. He hugged her, whispering in her ear. "I'm not that stupid, Wise Girl." His breath tickled, causing her stomach to erupt into butterflies.
Ari called over, rolling her eyes again. "Hey lovebirds, you want an explanation or not?" She was standing next to the two, no, now five chairs arranged in a circle. She was also gesturing to them. It looked like the two chairs that had been there previously had moved to accommodate the others. The unknown woman was sitting in one, left leg crossed over the right and intensely focused on what looked like a physical model of Earth. It was hovering in between her outstretched hands without any kind of thrust or levitation that Annabeth could see, and if it was a hologram it was a damned good one. That raised some alarm bells in her mind, but they had more important matters to attend to.
"You'll just tell us?" the daughter of Athena asked, a little worried. Nothing comes free in our world, so what's the catch?
Ari crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. She seemed to do that a lot. "The catch, Annabeth, is that this information is going to change your life. The lives of everyone on this planet. Plus, with your Metacrisis, I don't really have a choice anymore."
Wait, what? Ari had either guessed, or she could also read minds. "How did you know what I was thinking?" Annabeth asked suspiciously.
"Well it's not mind reading," she replied with mirth.
"What then?" Annabeth shot back, careful not to think anything consciously.
"Simply put, you're the one doing this. It's mind projection," Ari said.
"What?" Percy asked, confused. Annabeth rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Okay, you clearly haven't read enough comic books," Ari stated, clearly agreeing with Annabeth. "Mind projection is the opposite of mind reading. Instead of taking information from someone's mind, you place it there. Considering Annabeth presumably just gained this ability, I'm not surprised she can't control it."
"Oh," the son of Poseidon relented.
They were still standing, but Ari was impatient, so she sat down in one of the chairs. She waved a hand to two others placed close together, obviously meant for them. "This will take a while to explain, so please sit." Ari smiled, but it was clear that she wasn't asking.
Percy grumbled. Annabeth scowled. Ari narrowed her eyes.
They sat.
Annabeth was surprised to feel that the chairs felt like actual material instead of cold metal. From Percy's look, he was too.
Annabeth glanced over to the empty chair. "Are we expecting someone else?"
Ari rolled her eyes again. "Yes, but she's late," she grumbled. A flick of her hand in the air and a glowing orange rectangle popped into existence. The two demigods in the room nearly jumped out of their chairs.
"What the Hades is that?!" Annabeth shrieked.
The unknown woman grinned at her. "It is merely a communications system. I believe it is much like your…," she trailed off, thinking hard. "Computers? Messages? Ah yes, a video calling system."
Annabeth blushed, embarrassed. "Oh."
Ari coughed. Percy, Annabeth, and the woman all turned their heads to acknowledge her. She raised an eyebrow with a slight grin on her face, a teasing twinkle in her eye that just promised Annabeth she had their reactions on camera, somehow and somewhere. "Can we continue? Or are you going to continue jumping like a scared kitten?" she asked amusedly.
Annabeth leveled her best glare at her, promising retribution if she distributed the no doubt present footage of what they'd done. "Go ahead," she stated flatly.
Percy glanced sideways at her, his massive grin informing her of exactly what he was thinking. "Shut it, Seaweed Brain," she grumbled, her blush only deepening.
Ari grinned and turned back to look at the Inside of the floating orange window. A scene appeared, the static originally present fading. It was some kind of decently lit cave. There were easels practically everywhere covered in paint. They depicted some pretty gruesome images.
Wait, Annabeth knew that cave. Why would Ari contact Rachel?
"You'll find out soon," the girl replied.
Annabeth realized she'd just projected again. "This is going to take a while to get used to," she sighed.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "And the control over water doesn't?" he asked incredulously.
"Touche."
"Uh…," Ari spoke up, hesitantly.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow slightly.
"...Annabeth can control water now?" Ari asked, sharing a worried glance with the room's fourth occupant.
"Yes?" Annabeth offered.
Ari and the woman's eyes momentarily locked onto each other.
"Why, is that a problem?" Percy asked.
"It might be," Ari grimly lamented.
"What kind of problem?" Annabeth growled, narrowing her eyes.
"A pretty big one."
Both demigods homed in on her like missiles. "What?!" Annabeth hissed.
Ari opened her mouth to say something more, then apparently thought better of it and shook her head. "You'll find out soon," she said cryptically, turning her gaze back to the window. Apparently she'd dropped the subject.
The video messaging window's view moved through the cave. A small dot of light red resolved from the background of the cave and slowly increased in size, revealing itself to be the long red curls of Rachel's hair. She was painting another scene, but how she was doing it was very odd. She held one paintbrush; that was normal. The thing that definitely was not normal was the seven others that were panting on their own. Annabeth wiped her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly. Yep, there were seven extra paintbrushes helping Rachel paint. Gifts from Apollo, maybe?
Ari cleared her throat, startling Rachel. She dropped her brush with a squeak, then turned around and glared back through the window. "Don't pop up like that, Ari!" she scolded.
Holding up her hands in surrender, Ari chuckled. "Jeez, don't kill me, sorry. Anyways, you're late. You can come here on your own if you like, but grabbing the hologram will bring you here if you're feeling lazy."
Rachel nodded, and the... hologram, as Ari called it, showed her hands grabbing it.
It's not a window, Annabeth, the daughter of Athena scolded herself.
The hologram emitted a small hum.
Suddenly Rachel was standing in the room. She had popped out of nowhere. Annabeth knew she had a dumbfounded look on her face, but Holy Hades, that was instant teleportation! Not even a flash like godly travel usually had. What kind of immortal is Ari?
"So, who's the first two?" Rachel asked Ari. Apparently she hadn't noticed them yet.
"Annabeth and Percy," Ari responded with a nod, gesturing to them.
Rachel stiffened and turned around awkwardly. "Oh, hey guys!" she squeaked out, trying to keep her tone neutral but failing spectacularly, "Funny meeting you here. Oh, and hello to you as well," she continued, greeting the unknown woman.
Ari sighed again. "They know, Rachel. Or at least they will know after we're done here."
"Oh," Rachel said, instantly relaxing. "Good, because that act was hard to keep up."
Annabeth had recovered from her shock, so she found herself able to speak. "Sorry Rachel, but your act wasn't fooling us."
"Heh," she said meekly, before sitting in the only available chair. "Okay then, let's start."
Ari nodded, gesturing to the unknown woman. "Before we begin, you three need to be introduced to her. Terra, meet Rachel, Percy and Annabeth. You three, meet Terra."
Now Annabeth had submarine klaxons going off in her head. Terra... Terra... Where do I know that name?
Percy had a look of dread on his face, apparently having figured it out. If something worried him, it was something very not good.
She'd been projecting again, because Terra replied. "Probably from the Romans, Annabeth," she stated.
It suddenly clicked into place.
Terra, the Roman aspect of Gaea.
For Hades' sake!
"We dispersed you," Percy growled. He was gripping the arms of his chair so hard his knuckles had turned white.
Rachel was yelling at Ari. "Why did you bring her back? After all we had to do to get rid of her?!"
Ari was just rolling her eyes continually.
Annabeth stayed silent, observing the way Terra was acting. She seemed sad, depressed even, looking down at the floor. The daughter of Athena even could have sworn tears were present in the Primordial's eyes. Her shoulders were sagged.
She looked utterly defeated.
Annabeth made a snap decision. "Quiet, Rachel," she commanded, glaring at the Oracle. "Let her speak."
Rachel grumbled, but she shut up. Percy didn't move his gaze from the Primordial. His grip on the chair did get looser, though. Terra shot her a look of gratitude.
"You have the wrong idea about who I am. I'm not Gaea, nor a different aspect," she clarified.
"I'm her mother."
Percy gaped, dumbfounded.
That didn't make sense. Annabeth knew her mythology very well. "Gaea only has a father, and that's Chaos," she said.
Ari broke out in raucous laughter at that. When she could finally articulate anything again, she shot the daughter of Athena an almost manic grin. "Annabeth, that information comes from a civilization that had yet to invent the steam engine. They didn't have a greater grasp of the universe. A lot of beings you know of are actually very different and in different roles entirely."
"Oh," she mumbled sheepishly.
"So wait," Rachel began, "If Terra isn't Gaea, what is she? Is she another Primordial?"
"Think about my name. What does it mean in English?" Terra asked.
Annabeth knew the answer instantly, but it just made her more confused. "Terra means Earth, but Gaea is the Earth."
Terra chuckled. "No, child. Gaea is Primordial of earth. Lowercase E. Rocks, sand, dirt, dust, gravel, and minerals. She has no power over the oceans, the sky, or anything else, except that she had taken over for Pan when he dropped into obscurity," she explained. "I am theEarth. Everything in or upon me, from the center of my core to the edges of my atmosphere, is me."
Annabeth would never admit it to anyone, but at that moment, she let a squeak of fear escape her lips.
Rachel's jaw dropped. "You're the entire planet," she asked with disbelief.
"Yes," Terra nodded.
"And I'll prove it to you," Ari cut in. She had an incredibly familiar mischievous look in her eyes. Annabeth's eyes almost popped out at how much like a Hermes camper she looked that in that moment.
The girl, deity, or whatever she was, proceeded to pound her foot on the floor a couple of times. Each impact flashed with orange energy. A second later the flashes appeared on Terra's face, with only a millisecond until the woman slapped herself in the face.
The glare she delivered to the crimson haired girl almost made Annabeth lose what little food remained in her stomach from last night's dinner. She finally relaxed when Terra's expression became a pout.
"That stings damn it!" she whined. That was all that was needed before everyone but Terra broke down into fits of laughter, even if Annabeth's was incredibly nervous laughter.
The woman just grumbled until they were done. "You finished?" she asked, glaring at everyone.
"Yes," Ari choked out, tears still in her eyes from the laughing. "Oh gods that never gets old!"
"If you pardon my bluntness, Ari, you don't seem very... hmm, what's the best way to describe it?" Annabeth asked, hesitantly. She was still increasingly on guard given the Earth herself was sitting in a metallic leather armchair less than five feet from her.
"Godly?" Ari offered, getting a nod of agreement from both Annabeth and Percy. "You have bad examples of divine beings," she answered with a shrug.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Care to expand on that one?"
Ari nodded. "We're not superior to mortals, but a lot of those on Terra act like it. Sure, we have more power, a heightened ability to modify the universe, but that doesn't make us better. If anything, the relationship is a lot more like symbiotic mutualism."
"That's when two things depend on one another, right?" Rachel clarified.
"Yeah. Mortals believe in energy beings, sustaining us with what amounts to food, while we protect and guide them," Ari said, before finishing with a growl. "Or at least, that's how it's supposed to be."
The daughter of Athena had picked up on something she could only marginally sense was important, but the gifts she'd inherited from her mother were almost literally screaming at her to raise in conversation. "You said 'energy beings'. What exactly do you mean?" she asked.
Ari took a few seconds to reply, gathering her thoughts. "There's a lot of information about that subject, way more than I'm comfortable imparting to you right now," she began. "However I feel fine giving you the basics. In summary, any being that has what most would call supernatural control over the universe is an energy being, or at least is a hybrid of some kind," she explained.
"The reason half-bloods have some control of their parent's domains, and why you nearly universally look and act like them, is because there is a piece of their energy inside you. The more you have, the more powerful you are. 'Half-blood' is to be taken literally, since you're made up of at least fifty percent your parent's energy."
Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "That explains so much." Percy nodded his head, while Terra and Rachel just looked bored. Obviously they have heard this before, she thought.
"What you said earlier about how things are supposed to be? How exactly do you know that?" Percy asked, looking interested.
"That's how it works on other worlds," Ari nonchalantly replied.
Everyone except Terra and Ari sucked in a surprised, terse breath.
Rachel's eyes bugged out. "There are other planets with life?!" she almost yelled, getting very excited.
Ari glanced over at her and tilted her head, curiosity and amusement present on her face. "Of course," she scoffed. "Honestly, the assumption that humans are alone in the universe is preposterous. You place way too much worth on yourselves."
Annabeth felt her heart stop abruptly. The girl hadn't even hesitated to blow away their conceptions of alien life.
"Have youvisited other worlds?" Rachel gasped, looking like she was going to faint at any moment.
Ari looked at her warily. "Yes...?" she responded slowly. "Hell, I've been other worlds."
Annabeth managed to get over her shock enough to ask one of her suddenly thousands of burning questions. "Are you an alien then?"
Looking puzzled, Ari raised an eyebrow at her. "What is your definition of alien?"
"Not born on this planet."
"Fair enough," Ari slightly inclined her head. It wasn't quite a nod, but it communicated her agreement. "Under that definition, I'm an alien. However, the word alien usually means foreign. That I am not. Plus, Apollo and Artemis would also fall under that umbrella, and I doubt you consider them alien."
Rachel scratched the back of her head, a sheepish smile on her face. "Well..."
Ari rolled her eyes. "Okay, they may act like it sometimes, but you know what I mean."
Annabeth chuckled, getting Percy to crack a smile. "Apollo and Artemis were still born inside the atmosphere. That's close enough," she retorted, smirking.
Ari glared at her. "I spend a lot of time here on Terra. Enough that I actually own an apartment in California," she explained. "Technically I'm a citizen of nearly every country. Not to mention my parentage."
Before anyone could ask anything else, Terra abruptly gasped. "Why? With the entire universe to explore, why would you stay on me?" Her eyes were wide and she looked shocked to Hades.
Ari smiled kindly, glancing at the three mortals in the room. "Simple, Terra. Amongst the entirety of the cosmos, and all the species that exist, Humans are the race that most embody myself," she revealed.
"Also, I really like bugging you."
Terra crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue.
Annabeth raised her own eyebrows at this. Why is a Planet sticking out their tongue? Out loud, she asked something else. "Care to explain that to us humans?"
"Sure, but don't let it go to your heads," Ari agreed, cracking a huge grin. "Humans are intelligent, passionate, and develop things extremely quickly, for the most part. You tend to never give up, always looking for a solution to a problem. If an obstacle is in your way you lot either tear it down or go around it. Never give up, never surrender, and keep moving forward," she explained. "That's the Human race."
With a sly grin, she continued. "In fact, Annabeth, you're one of the ones I've been called upon by the most. I know you very well, though you know me by another name."
Annabeth was interested even more now. "What name would that be, Ari?"
"Progress," she replied simply.
Annabeth blinked. "What?"
"My mortal name is Ari. But you know that every divine being has a title, yes? When you get to beings higher level than a Primordial, like a Planet or myself, their title becomes a second name for them. I am Progress, while Terra is The Earth," she explained.
Annabeth gaped, realization clicking into place. Of course she knew her. Every technician, engineer, logician, Hades, everyone involved in any kind of science knew her. Whenever Annabeth needed help with anything productive, be it architecture or technology, a little voice in her head had helped her along. Before she'd just assumed it was her subconscious, like everyone did, but now...
"Isn't Progress a domain?" Percy chimed in, interrupting Annabeth's rapid thinking.
"Yes, I am," Progress stated.
"You're a domain," Rachel repeated the question, extreme disbelief coloring her tone.
"Terra is a domain as well. All domains are actually just higher level beings. Those who have us as their domains tap into our power, provided we let them. It's a bit like regional management on a universal scale. We can't be everywhere at once, you know," Progress explained.
"Oh," Rachel sheepishly relented.
"Well, nice to finally meet you then, Progress," Annabeth said, gathering her wits.
Progress nodded in response, grinning. "Just call me Ari. I hate titles. How's the New Athens project coming along, by the way?" she asked.
Percy turned to Annabeth and mouthed 'New Athens?' with a puzzled but curious expression. She just waved him off before answering Progress', or rather Ari's, question.
"The progress," Ari snorted, Annabeth grinning at the purposeful pun, "is horrible to be honest. I haven't acquired any materials or enough people to build it," she complained, sighing. "I barely even have the plans drawn up."
"Well, I can help with that," Ari chuckled, before extending a hand into the air. A hum rang out, materializing a basketball sized orb of the dark metal. She tossed it to Annabeth, who barely caught it.
"What is this? Also, what is this metal?" Annabeth wondered.
"I call it Forcium," Ari replied, a grin on her face. Obviously there was a joke behind the name. "As for the orb, that is a collection of Forcium nanites capable of building a city. It works just like the one that rebuilt this cabin, only on a much larger scale."
"And you're just giving this to me?" Annabeth asked, suspicious, but she laid it down on the carpeted floor next to her chair regardless.
Ari nodded. "In your world, normally anyways, there are strings attached to everything. Nothing is given for free. That's not how the rest of the universe works. Thankfully, on Terra that is also no longer the case, thanks to a little something I did last night," she smirked.
Rachel's eyes widened at that. "Are you seriously going to tell them?" she asked.
"You have to tell Terra. You and her are bonded now. As for your friends, well, they're likely in a similar boat as yours," Ari replied logically.
Terra looked curious. "Who is this mortal, Ari?"
Ari smirked, but before she could reply Rachel sighed. "I'm not mortal, Terra," she admitted, shooting a an apologetic grimace to Percy and Annabeth.
Percy looked like an idiot with his facial expression and seriously threatened to distract her, but Annabeth could still speak. "You're the Oracle. You have to be mortal," she laughed nervously.
Rachel shook her head. "I'm not the Oracle anymore, Annabeth."
"Well then what are you?" Annabeth asked, throwing up her hands.
Rachel looked over to Ari. "Can I show them?"
"You'll have to show Terra at some point. Might as well," Ari shrugged.
Rachel nodded and sighed, closing her eyes as if preparing herself for something. Nobody spoke a word, everyone but Ari and Rachel herself on the edge of their seats in anticipation. Finally she breathed out. She lightly tapped the back of one of her hands, twice. An orange hologram of a spiral appeared on that hand, faded, and suddenly a godly presence washed over them all. It was extremely powerful. A huge surge of pressure, almost like the atmospheric pressure had increased, slammed into Annabeth. She had to squint her eyes to keep her focus on Rachel. Terra was instantly in tears for some reason, but the daughter of Athena couldn't figure out why. All she knew was that Rachel was definitely not mortal anymore. Thankfully the pressure wave seemed to decrease after the initial exposure of a few seconds. She let out a sigh of relief, and from Percy's nearly identical one, knew she was not the only one to have felt that.
"You see?" Rachel asked, before being crushed in a hug by Terra. Evidently she was not expecting that, since she fell backwards into her chair and started blushing. Blushing gold, Annabeth noticed.
"So, uh, Red... What are you now?" Percy asked sheepishly, using her nickname.
"You're my Fate, aren't you?" Terra interrupted, still crying with what looked like joy.
Rachel nodded before returning the hug. "Yeah. Ari changed some things around," she replied, smiling kindly.
Ari nodded proudly. "I needed Fate's help, so I reassigned it," she casually informed them.
Annabeth was shocked. Fate? Don't they mean the Fates? What the heck is going on?
She felt the thoughts leave her head this time, broadcasted to everyone. "Damn it," she muttered. She needed more practice, but at least she could tell when she was projecting now.
"The Fates and Fate are two different things, Annabeth," Ari replied. "Fate is a domain. An absolutely massive domain, but a domain nonetheless. The Fates were three immortals given that domain here on Terra. Let's just say that The Fates no longer control Fate."
Annabeth's eyes widened, immediately locking in on the former Oracle. "You gave Rachel control over Fate?"
Rachel looked like she wanted to say something, but seemed too awkward to do it after the daughter of Athena's outburst. Ari just looked at her sideways and rolled her eyes. "You'll have to get used to announcing your titles, Rachel. Just do it," she commanded.
Rachel gulped, but complied. "Annabeth, Percy, I'm the, uh," she hesitated, but with an encouraging look from Ari she continued. "I'm the Primordial Goddess of Fate and Prophecy," she finished quickly.
Annabeth saw Percy's jaw drop. She definitely felt her own threaten to do the same.
"Primordial?" Terra asked, raising an eyebrow. "How is that possible, Ari?" she asked, a pointed look pinning the crimson haired girl.
"Well, technically she is your descendant," Ari stated, shrugging. "I just ramped up the amount of your essence in her before conversion."
"Oh," Terra said. "But what of Ananke?"
"You misunderstand. Rachel is of equal power to a primordial, but is not embodying the domain of Fate itself. She's taken on the role of the Fates," Ari corrected.
Terra let out a silent 'Ah', then turned to Rachel, a gigantic smile on her face. "Well, in that case Rachel, I'm pleased to call you my daughter."
Annabeth's mouth followed through on its previous threat.
Rachel raised her hands in a T, disbelief on her face. "Woah, woah, woah, hold on a minute. How am I the suddenly the daughter of the planet?"
"There's nothing sudden about it, Rachel," Ari scoffed. "All the first generation Primordials that you three are familiar with are Terra's children. Every one of them. Gaea, Ouranos, Tartarus, Ananke and the others. There are Primordials for each Planet, and for the most part, they are children of their respective Planet. You have to be in order to be a Primordial with power equal to the first generation, which you have," Ari explained.
"And how, exactly, does that make me Terra's daughter?" Rachel asked, shooting an apologetic look at the Planet. "No offense meant of course, but I have a mother."
Terra laughed a hearty laugh. "None taken, Rachel. You're my daughter only in the physical sense, unless you wish to be more," she explained. Annabeth noticed the yearning look on her face; obviously she wanted more even if Rachel didn't.
"When Ari converted you, it seems she had to increase my essence that was in your own. So in a way, you have two mothers now," Terra finished.
Rachel looked out into space. "Two moms, one mortal and the other the entire planet," she groaned. "Yep, nothing strange about that at all. Family reunions are going to get a whole lot more interesting."
"Why is that, Rachel?" Terra asked.
She looked at the Planet sheepishly. "Let's just say you would not like my father."
Terra glanced at Ari for an explanation.
"Rachel's father is one of the mortals pillaging your surface, Terra," she replied.
Terra's face grew dark and she withdrew to her own chair. "Really now?" she glared at Rachel, then shot a deadly look at Ari. "Why would you choose her of all mortals? Are you trying to piss me off?"
Ari snorted. "I'm always trying to piss you off, Terra," she shot back, sticking out her tongue. After a second, however, her face grew serious. "But not this time. Fate requires a mind capable of handling the flow of time, and Rachel was Apollo's Oracle. She was the best candidate I could think of; the other choices were Lamia or Apollo himself. Both are bad choices for many very obvious reasons."
Terra crossed her arms, still glaring daggers at Ari. "I see. But her father is probably on the top ten list of mortals I want to destroy. Why force her into a conflict of interest like that?"
Ari rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "To be fair, I didn't know who her father was until after I did it…," she admitted.
"You didn't check her background first?" Terra asked with exasperation.
"No?" Ari offered.
Terra groaned and sunk down into her chair. "Please tell me you don't support your father's ways," she almost pleaded.
Rachel sighed with relief, given the two powerful deities were done arguing. "I've been trying to change him for most of my life," she told the Planet. "Not that it did any good. To him, I'm just a girl who doesn't know what she's doing."
Terra's expression went back to normal, then took on a determined, angry look. She was about to speak before she glanced over to Ari and saw the look of warning on her face. The Planet sighed, traces of anger fading from her face. She seemed to care about Rachel's opinion a lot, and definitely respected Ari. That or Terra was afraid of her.
Probably both, frankly, Annabeth decided.
"Well, maybe together we can change his mind," Terra finally said.
"Haha, yeah, that would be an interesting meeting. 'Oh hey Dad! You know the planet you keep destroying? Yeah, she's my mom now and we want to talk to you.'," Rachel laughed.
"An acceptable compromise," Ari chimed in. "We will do that later, and it's probably best if I come along. Both to keep Terra in check, and for the business proposition I have for your father. It will change the world," she said, winking at Terra.
Terra rolled her eyes. "Do the puns ever get old?" she groaned.
"About as old as you!" Ari teased back.
Finally finding her voice, Annabeth wished to clarify something that had been gnawing at her mind the entire conversation. "Ari, you mentioned something called, uh, essence? What exactly is that, and how did Rachel have some to increase?"
"I'll let Terra answer the second question, but the answer to the first you already know. Those pieces of your parent's energy that give you abilities? That is essence."
Annabeth blinked. "You're saying energy beings are made of essence?"
Ari made to speak, but stopped and stroked her chin for a few moments. "Yes and no, I suppose," she finally replied. "Energy beings are not the only things with essence, but we are unique in the fact that what amounts to our body contains a collection of essence. This body is our so-called 'true form'. Essence isn't the only ingredient, but it is there, and a pretty major part. We live a dual existence, one of energy and one of the solid form," Ari explained, gesturing to her body. "Every being in the universe has essence though. I believe humans call it the soul?"
Annabeth's eyes shot wide open. "Percy and I have pieces of our parent's souls inside us?
"That's really not the best way to imagine it, but it works well enough," Ari sighed. "Though you don't have it inside you per say, more a part of your own. Essence is not a parasite, but a building block. It's the same to your souls as water is to your body. The amount of it can vary, sure, but it's vital to a being's continued existence, and helps determine their personality."
"Oh," she said.
Percy hadn't said much and Annabeth was a little worried. She lightly pushed his arm, snapping him out of wherever his mind had gone.
"Hmm?" he asked, all his attention now on her.
"You okay, Seaweed Brain?" she asked.
"Yeah, I was just thinking," he said nonchalantly.
Annabeth tried to keep the surprised look off her face, but Rachel spoiled it. "You were thinking!?" she nearly yelled.
"Hey, I think!" Percy shot back with a tone of mock hurt.
"In battle maybe! But you never just sit there and think," Rachel insisted.
"I do too!" Percy protested.
"Do not," Rachel shook her head.
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"DO TOO!"
"DO NOT!"
"Will both of you shut up!" Ari yelled, throwing up her hands.
Rachel and Percy glared at each other, but they did stop talking. Even if their arms were crossed.
"Thank you," Ari growled, shooting a dark look at them. "Younglings," she grumbled.
Annabeth took the opportunity to ask her question. "Terra, Ari said you could answer the second question? Uh... about how Rachel had your essence in the first place?"
Terra smiled kindly at her. "Simple, Annabeth. Humans are my children as well, though anyone currently alive is hundreds of millions of generations down the line," she explained. "There might not be much of me in all of you, but it's still there."
"Even Percy and I?" Annabeth asked, pointing at herself and her boyfriend.
Who was still glaring at Rachel. And getting glared back at.
Terra nodded. "However I sense it much more strongly in you two than it should be in your generation. Ari, mind telling me why that is?" she glanced sideways at the crimson haired girl.
"That's actually part of the explanation about what probably happened to you two," Ari said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "However before that, you should learn about my dad."
Annabeth looked over to the man lying on the medical bed. "What's wrong with him?"
A mischievous glint entered Ari's eyes. "Let's just say he's got a bit of a split personality problem. It's being repaired right now."
"Your dad's an Olympian?" Percy asked.
Ari's jaw dropped. "How the hell did you guess that?"
"We've had to deal with Olympian split personalities a lot. That plus you saying that you weren't foreign to Terra and mentioning your parentage meant there was a reasonable amount of certainty one of your parents was an Olympian," Percy elaborated, looking a little shocked at how well he was saying it. "Plus, you get this look in your eye just like certain campers do."
He looked over to Annabeth and grinned. "This is amazing, Annabeth. It's like I can finally understand everything you've been telling me all this time."
"Well, spill Ari, who is it?" Rachel asked, an excited feeling emanating from her.
"Let's make a game out of it. Annabeth, try and guess. I know you want to."
Annabeth didn't even hesitate. Somehow she knew exactly who the god was. Ari's actions, mannerisms, and interactions with Terra throughout this conversation were undoubtedly clues her subconscious had used to figure it out. Given Percy discovering her father was an Olympian, it could only be one being. "Hermes. I recognize that look too. Makes me want to hold onto my wallet."
Ari had just managed to make her mouth close completely when her jaw dropped again. "That wasn't even two seconds!" she cried out, "How the hell are you guys doing this?"
Annabeth and Percy shrugged and looked at each other. "It's like we're both way smarter than Annabeth ever was," Percy said, and she nodded in agreement.
The color drained from Ari's face. "Guys, this is important. Very, incredibly, extremely important, so don't lie. What exactly were you two doing at around twelve midnight last night?"
The blushes on each of their faces and their nervous looks at one another must have given it away. Ari collapsed into her chair, crying out in anguish. "You stupid demigods," she groaned, earning a glare from them. "Correction: PAST demigods!" she muttered.
"What's the problem, Ari?" Rachel asked.
She locked the Primordial with a calculating gaze. "Remember what we did last night, Rachel?"
Annabeth stared at Ari with an accusing look.
"Not like that!" the crimson haired girl spluttered.
"Turning me into a Primordial?" Rachel tried.
Ari shook her head. "No, the other thing."
It looked like Rachel realized what was going on, because she swore. "Oh. Oh crap."
Terra seemed just as lost as Annabeth and Percy were. "Care to explain to those of us who have no idea what's going on?" the Planet asked.
Ari rolled her eyes and replied curtly. "In order to accomplish the job I was sent here to do, I needed two things. One, a Fate that would assist me, and two, a way to hide my power from the Olympians. Technically the second thing required the first thing, but whatever. I came up with a way to do that, but... it required a pretty big change. One these two may not like."
She was right. Annabeth didn't like that answer. "What did you do, Ari?"
"With my help, she turned every demigod on the planet into a minor god," Rachel confessed quickly.
"You did WHAT?!" Percy yelled, instantly on his feet, clenching his fists. He did not look happy.
Annabeth was nearly seeing red. How could you do that to us? she mentally screamed at Ari. She took an unholy amount of pleasure in the wince the incredibly powerful being let slip.
Terra looked shocked and didn't move.
"It gets worse for you two, unfortunately," Ari grimaced, "Though to be fair, that's your own fault."
Percy looked ready to kill her, but Annabeth was still thinking logically. She grabbed his arm and tried to project peaceful thoughts into his head. "Percy, hear her out. Then you can kill her."
"But she did exactly what we turned down the Olympians for twice!" he protested.
"Percy," Annabeth pressed with a deadly tone. Percy gulped, nodded, and sat down. She turned her gaze on Ari, knowing she was glaring daggers right now, and smirked when Ari flinched. Apparently she could make any being scared of her.
"You better have a good explanation or I will let Percy try to kill you," she seethed.
Ari gulped and nodded just like Percy had. "Right, well. Around midnight last night was when I converted everyone. That would have been fine if you two weren't engaged in, well... you know. Nobody would have been the wiser. I would have accomplished my task on Terra, reverted everyone, and left. However, when mortals do that, their bodies combine, right? When immortals do it, their essences combine as well. Usually that's fine, but you were going through the conversion process together, so it seems you blended into each other. My guess is that both of you now have equal amounts of Poseidon, Athena, and your own essences in the other, with the amount of Athena's being boosted to the Poseidon in Percy originally, presumably making you both telepathic, not just Annabeth. It also explains how she can control water. To put that in perspective, Percy was almost a minor god on his own before due to his power level. You've still got your own essence, of course, along with Terra's and, due to being linked with me via the conversion process, mine. Frankly I don't know what that means for you two. This hasn't happened before. Ever," she hastily explained.
Annabeth wiped her hand down her face, still glaring at Ari. "So what does that make us now?"
"Remember, I'm guesstimating all this, so I'm not a hundred percent sure," she cautioned, "But a safe assumption is that you two are now at least on equal power footing with a powerful Titan."
"You're saying that we're Titans?" Percy asked carefully.
"Maybe? Though most likely not," Ari pondered, shrugging. "Titans are a very specific species of energy being. I'd be incredibly surprised if one of you transformed into one, much less both of you. But you two are definitely some kind of immortal being at least on par with the strongest of the Titans."
"But we don't have ichor," Annabeth refuted, disbelief plainly present on her face.
"Oh really? And have either of you checked that assumption today?" Ari smirked, crossing her arms.
"Well... No, actually," Annabeth admitted, less confidently.
Ari sighed. She materialized a Forcium knife in her hand, tossing it to Percy. "Here, be careful, just prick your finger or something."
Percy looked warily at the knife, but he nevertheless grabbed it and lightly pricked the tip of a finger. Blood began pooling up into a bulge, but it was clearly red.
"See?" Annabeth sighed in relief. "Ari was just kidding, Percy."
Ari simply scoffed. "You didn't know Rachel was a goddess when you walked in. Why would either of you be any different?"
Annabeth just pointed to the red blood on Percy's finger.
The deity scowled. "Remember the orange swirl on Rachel's hand? That's a cloak. It hides your presence from the outside world and makes you appear mortal, blood and all. You two should have one on the back of your left hands," she informed them, shaking her head.
Annabeth held up her left hand and examined the back. "I don't see anything," she commented.
"Well it wouldn't be much of a cloak if it was visible, now would it?" Ari shot back irately. "Tap the back of the hand twice."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but she did it anyways. For a couple of seconds nothing happened, so she smirked at Ari in victory. Then an orange hologram of a swirl appeared on her hand, and she felt... some part of her that she most definitely hadn't possessed before today extend into the world around her. A similar feeling came from Percy, and she looked over just in time to see his swirl disappear. Right on cue the blood on his finger turned into liquid gold. She checked to see if her 'cloak' also disappeared, and it had.
"Definitely Titan level," Ari confirmed with a whistle.
Terra nodded, and Rachel said "Yep!"
"Percy, give me the knife," Annabeth demanded, holding out a hand. Percy seemed lost in thought, shock on his face as he stared at the ichor, his ichor, sitting on his finger innocently. Shifting, she grabbed the knife from him and gently pricked her finger, resulting in another pearl of liquid gold. She sat stock still staring at it's irrefutable presence.
"We're immortals, Percy," Annabeth whispered to him. He gulped, his eyes relaying his shock.
"Yeah, we already established that," Ari said, her voice sounding confused.
"Turn us back," Annabeth demanded.
"Can't," Ari said, prompting Annabeth to draw her own dagger and point both of them at the deity. The crimson haired girl held up her hands in surrender, though Annabeth knew it was just to make her relax. "I didn't say I won't, I said I can't. Weren't you listening? You have major pieces of your essence, your souls, inside each other. It's like an empathy link on every performance enhancing drug in existence. I start messing with that, you both die. Not just fade as the immortals you are would, flat out die. Cease to exist. No Underworld, no Tartarus, nothing. Thus, I can't."
"And how do you know that for sure?" Annabeth pressed. "You said this has never happened before."
"Two beings having relations with one another during a conversion process, no," Ari clarified, "Two or more beings blending their essences? All the freaking time. It gets super annoying very fast."
Suddenly a thought occurred to Annabeth, turning her heart cold with fear. She put away her daggers, declining to give the Forcium one back. "Percy, what about our kids?"
Percy's eyes widened. That seemed to snap him out of his shock. Turning his gaze on Ari, he spoke in a very dangerous tone. "They had better be okay," he seethed.
Ari just scoffed, waving him off with her hands. "Of course they're okay. Energy beings can have kids too, you know. Hell, your parents are proof of that."
"Kronos and Rhea didn't get transformed into Titans though," Annabeth responded.
"Neither did you," Ari pointed out. This got her a death glare from the couple. Rolling her eyes, she stood up. "Fine, fine, I'll check. Don't get your panties in a twist," she muttered. She crossed her arms and stared straight at Annabeth's stomach. It made the daughter of Athena uncomfortable, but the awkward staring only lasted a few seconds.
Sighing, the girl ran a hand through her crimson hair. "Great. Just peachy. Oh man you've done it now, Ari!" she muttered.
"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Ari turned her head back to her, a look of pity on her face. "You want the good news or the bad news?"
Percy was about to say something, but Annabeth cut him off. "Good news first!" she almost yelled.
Ari nodded. "Your kids are fine, the pregnancy looks to be proceeding."
Annabeth realized she'd been holding her breath, so she let it out. "And the bad news?"
"I've got three pieces of 'bad news'," Ari said making air quotes. "Two may actually be good news depending on where you two stand on your new existence."
The couple motioned for her to continue, Rachel and Terra on the edge of their seats.
"Alright," Ari sighed, gearing herself up for what was about to be said. "First possible piece of good news; you've got four of them now."
Everyone's jaw dropped, Annabeth excluded. "F... Four?!" she barely heard herself squeak out.
"Yeah, quadruplets," Ari confirmed.
Annabeth groaned. I am not looking forward to giving birth.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Annabeth. Energy beings don't give birth. Once your children are fully developed, they simply detach from your true form as fully grown beings," Ari assured her. "Though a lot of them like to take on the guise of children for a while for some reason," she added on, almost absentmindedly.
Annabeth let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "That's good news," she said, visibly relaxing.
"That may or may not be lessened by the second thing. This pregnancy looks to be four times shorter than a normal one, human or immortal," Ari continued.
Annabeth, Rachel, and Terra stared at her with disbelief. Percy said it for all of them. "What."
"How?" Rachel spoke up. "Is this a Titan thing?"
Ari shook her head. "Likely a side effect of the Metacrisis. And for the last time, they're not Titans!"
"And the third?" Percy asked. Annabeth was dreading what could make 'You're having four kids!' and 'You're having them four times faster!' seem like good news.
"Well, that's the thing I doubt you'll be very excited to hear," Ari admitted. She drew in a suspiciously deep breath.
Uh oh, Annabeth thought.
"All four of your kids appear to be full, Olympian Big Three-level gods. Or goddesses. Can't quite tell which yet."
Annabeth fainted.
A/N: Whew! Lots of exposition in this one. I hope that it was delivered in a way that seemed organic and didn't trigger someone's "ugh, TMI!" alarm. It sucks when I come across that as a reader, so my goal was to not do it. Still, all of this was necessary.
Just in case anyone thinks Annabeth being pregnant is a problem, keep in mind they're like... 20 or so at the moment. They're going to college, and as Demigods, it's important to start a family early due to low life expectancy. Percy and the Seven's actions have raised that a lot, yes, but it is still an issue.
-SJMaas: Thanks for sticking around.
-PJDarkstone: Hey there! Welcome. Thanks for the kind words. Update is here!