Hey guys,

I know I'm way behind on all of my current stories, so sorry about that. Pax Olympia will get the next update, then The Moon and Tides. Thanks to all of you who have followed, favorited, and reviewed my work so far! It means a lot!

All rights belong to RR.


Percy

Percy grumbled under his breath as he wandered around Olympus looking for a certain goddess of love. "You would think that finding the one goddess that obsesses over your relationship more than anyone else to talk about said relationship would be easy, but no!" The demigod stopped in the middle of the street, looking around in frustration. He ignored a group of giggling nymphs, thinking hard about where he might find Aphrodite or at least someone who could point him in the right direction. You would think with all the trips I've taken to and from Olympus over the last year ironing out details for New Athens that I would know my way around better, he thought to himself.

After a moment, he sighed and grit his teeth. "Ares it is," he said reluctantly as he started off in the direction of the war worshiping temple. After a small hike, the building came into view. Unfortunately, this was not one of the temples that Annabeth had gotten around to finishing, so it was much less aesthetically pleasing than it could be. Percy ignored the gory battle scenes engraved on the walls as he walked between the columns of the entrance, gunning for the rooms past the center statue depicting the war god holding the decapitated head of some old Greek general. Before he got there, a flash reflected off the walls behind him and a wave of anger rolled over the demigod.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Ares smirked at the expression on Percy's face as he turned around to face the god. "What brings you to my temple, punk?"

"I was looking for your girlfriend, actually," Percy admitted through his clenched jaw. "Figured since she's one of the only people that actually like you, you might know where she is." Ares let out a forced laugh.

"Yeah, well, she's not here, and I don't want you here, so scram," the war god growled. Percy raised an eyebrow, more amused than intimidated.

"And if I don't feel like leaving?" he asked, his hand resting on the outside of the pocket where he kept his sword. Ares' glare intensified.

"What makes you think you have a choice?" A large sword materialized in Ares' grip. "Scram, punk. Or you won't live to regret it."

As angry as Percy usually felt in Ares' presence, he couldn't help but laugh. Smoke began rolling off Ares' glasses. As his laughter died down, Percy drew Riptide and glared at the war god. "I beat you when I was twelve. You honestly think you scare me?"

Ares leveled his sword at the demigod. "I was holding back then. I won't this time." Percy snorted derisively.

"It took facing the embodiment of the Pit to scare me into dropping my sword. A god who's scared of large jars? Pathetic in comparison," Percy boasted. Ares stared at him for a moment, sword drooping to point at the floor for a moment, before his expression hardened. The god hefted his sword back up and began advancing. Percy shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said calmly. Ares growled at him and charged.

When Aphrodite walked into Ares' temple a half hour later, she dropped her handbag in shock. Large gashes were torn through the floor and walls, the statue was smashed beyond recognition, and her boyfriend was leaning on his sword, ichor dripping off of him as he glared down the Hero of Olympus, who looked unharmed. Both were breathing heavily.

"What is going on in here?!" Aphrodite shrieked. Ares flinched and lost his balance, toppling to the floor, while Percy didn't visibly react at all other than to kick Ares' sword across the room. As Ares growled and started dragging himself towards his weapon, Percy turned to the love goddess.

"Your boyfriend wanted a rematch." The demigod glanced around the temple before meeting her eyes. "He lost." Ares had recovered his sword at this point and lunged at Percy from behind, yelling and intending to cut him in half. Percy whipped Riptide over his head and sent Ares' sword flying into the nearest wall before spinning and sending Ares flying with a powerful punch. The god's skull cracked against the broken throne in the back of the temple and his body went limp, unconscious. Percy nodded approvingly and capped his sword, turning back to the horrified Aphrodite.

"I was looking for you before this mess, actually." Percy smirked as the goddess flinched. He started walking out of the temple, Aphrodite pausing for a moment before following him.

She cleared her throat a few times before asking him, "Whatever for?"

Percy glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Her powers must not be working at the moment, he thought to himself. She looks vaguely like Annabeth, but I'm not drooling over her like the last time we met. Guess I scared her more than I thought.

Out loud, he said, "I think I've decided on what I want my request from you to be, if you're ready to hear it." At this, Aphrodite perked up.

"Oooh, let me guess! You want help proposing to Annabeth!" Before Percy could answer, she continued. "No, wait, you want help wedding planning! Or even better, practice for your honeymoon," the last statement being said in a sultry tone as she wiggled her eyebrows at the demigod, who merely frowned at her.

"Actually, I was going to ask you to leave us alone." Aphrodite froze before seeming to deflate.

"You… what?" she asked in a quiet voice. Percy almost felt bad for her. Almost.

"I know how you work," he started to explain. "You already promised to make my love life complicated, and given all the crap we've been put through already, I'd rather stop any crazy plans now. We just got out of a second war, we don't need to repeat the Trojan War too."

Aphrodite pouted, which would have made most men lose all train of thought. Again, Percy was left wondering why he wasn't really affected. "Everyone keeps blaming me for that war."

"It was your fault."

"Paris and Helen were meant to be together!"

"You literally threatened her when she complained about being dragged away from her home and husband," Percy stated dryly. At Aphrodite's surprised look, he shrugged. "I don't always tune Annabeth out when she's ranting about history and stuff."

"How cute!" Aphrodite cooed. "You can't pay attention in school, but you'll remember what she talks to you about."

"Yeah, well, I don't have to worry about freaking out mortals with constant panic attacks with her," Percy joked bitterly. "There's a reason we finished school through camp and not in the mortal world, but that's beside the point. I'm asking that you not make our love life any more unnecessarily complicated just because you think it's entertaining. We've gone through enough."

Aphrodite frowned. "Well, you did already fall for her. I suppose I can't really top that." Percy gave her a hard look.

"The last person to remind me of T- of down there was Ares," Percy stated. "You really want to test my PTSD like that?" Aphrodite flinched and shook her head quickly no. As they had been talking, they had made their way back towards the main streets of Olympus, and rounding the corner they saw Athena making her way towards them.

"Speaking of unnecessary complications," Percy grumbled under his breath. "No more crazy love plots. Got it?"

Aphrodite sighed heavily. "Very well. I shall try to restrain myself." She winked at him. "If you ever get bored with her, though, you know where to find me." Percy grimaced.

"Yeah, hard pass on that. You're already cheating on your husband, and frankly, I'm not interested. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go fight my future mother in law." Percy continued down the road, leaving a shocked love goddess behind him. That was a strange sentence, even for me. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as Athena approached him.

"Perseus," she started. "How… strange to see you on Olympus, talking with Aphrodite no less. Am I to assume you are having relationship problems with my daughter? I am not surprised, she really is too good for you, and –"

"Absolutely not," Percy interrupted angrily. "But since you're here, I may as well tell you my request for you too."

Athena sniffed irritably. "If you think I am just going to allow you to propose to my daughter then you are mistaken."

Percy smiled mirthlessly. "First off, I really don't give a Minotaur's crap about your opinion on Annabeth and I's relationship. She's her own person, and unlike you, she tries not to judge people based on who they're related to. Second, if you think her opinion of you is so high that she would actually care if you condone our relationship or not, you're way more out of touch than I thought."

"How dare you!" Athena seethed. "I am a goddess! You will respect what I –"

"I will respect whatever I please, you overgrown Fury!" Percy snapped back. Athena's face flushed a deep, angry red. Percy was vaguely aware of the growing crowd watching their argument, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

"I should have disintegrated you long ago, Sea Spawn," Athena hissed.

"And where would you be then? Without me to defend you, Kronos would have sent you all to Tar-" Percy bit his tongue, trying to prevent the shaking even thinking of his time down there sometimes caused. Athena however held no such qualms.

"If you are so high and mighty, you might learn to not be afraid of a name," the goddess spit out. Her smirk grew as she noticed how pale the demigod was at the moment. "Clearly the only reason you survived was because my daughter dragged you out."

Percy's blood roared in his ears, his teeth clenched in fury. "If you're so sure you could do better, why don't you go visit there yourself?"

"Unlike you, I am not so stupid as to throw myself into the Pit," Athena replied dryly.

"And unlike you, I actually value Annabeth," Percy snapped back, "so you will listen to me. My request is not for you to give us your blessing, because such a thing would be worthless. My request for you is that you apologize to Annabeth for making her fix a problem you created thousands of years ago."

"Excuse me?!" Athena cried.

"If it wasn't for your arrogance towards Arachne and your grudge against Rome, she never would have had to track down that stupid statue and we wouldn't have fallen!" Percy shouted. "So suck up your pride and give a damn about someone else for once!"

Percy spun around and stormed through the crowd towards the elevator off Olympus. As he slowly calmed down on the way, the winds slowed down and the clouds he unknowingly summoned broke apart, the sun shining weakly through the dissipating turbulence. He was mostly calm and almost to the doors when he heard fast movement close behind him. Quickly, he dropped and spun a kick low to the ground, tripping the figure as they caught up to him and jumping them with his sword to their throat before they could blink. As Percy realized who he was threatening, he sighed and recapped his sword.

"Sorry Hermes," he apologized, standing and reaching out a hand to help the nervous messenger god up.

"Of course," Hermes said warily. "You'll have to forgive me; I thought you were your father, based on the storm that was following you."

Percy blinked in surprise. "I didn't know I had summoned one," he said. "Hades, I didn't even know I could summon one by myself."

"Poseidon is known as the Storm Bringer, you know." Hermes shook his head ruefully. "Anyways, I do not have anything for you, so I will leave you be. My apologies for startling you." With that, the god sped off back towards the city of Olympus. The demigod sighed and turned back towards the elevator.

What a day, he thought wearily. I've got to get myself under control. I can't keep having this much trouble with just thinking about… Tartarus. Percy grit his teeth, fighting off the still lingering feelings of dread the place brought on. He sighed deeply and pressed the button to call the lift up. At least I don't still freak out about using the elevator, he thought to himself. With a shrug, he entered the door and pressed the button for the ground floor, trying to figure out what else had to get done that day before he headed back to Camp.