Hullo all.
I should totally be updating Trials of Lightning right now, and I do have a chapter in the works. It's hard without a beta reader.
So here we go. You can almost consider this something of an AU to Trials of Lightning itself, though it won't follow exact story points, and is more of a standalone fanfiction.
Hope y'all enjoy.
Persephone Jackson stood before her grandfather, inhabiting the body of Luke. In one hand she held her beloved sword Anaklusmos. In the other, her former friend's own sword Backbiter. Tears slid down her cheeks as she held both to his throat.
"It doesn't have to be like this." she pleaded, watching as Luke's eyes rippled from cerulean blue to gold, and back to blue as the boy struggled with his host for control.
"Please...Seph." he croaked. "I can't hold this much longer. You have to." he grasped Backbiter's blades with his hands, the curse protecting him from harm as he tugged the blade forwards, to a sport just under his armpit. He shuddered as the blade made contact.
"Please..." His eyes began to ripple back to the golden color that signified Kronos taking possession once again. "Let me make the choice, before I no longer can."
Seph nodded and dropped Anaklusmos. She grasped Backbiter and, with a single thrust, pierced Luke's mortal point. His body seemed to reverberate, shuddering around the blade. His eyes melted from blue into solid gold and jerked back, trying to move off of it. Seph held the blade firm even as Kronos struggled against her.
"Well granddaughter, it seems that our time together has come to an..." he coughed, a mixture of blood and ichor spewing from his mouth. "..an end." He chuckled. "But hear me. You'll not live to enjoy your victory."
With a scream that Seph wasn't sure was pain or rage, Kronos shed his mortal form in his last moments of existence. Persephone was thrown backwards as Luke's body quite literally exploded outwards. Unable to react, Seph bore witness to the titan king's true form as it attempted to manifest. She wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was...beautiful and horrifying all at once. Kronos appeared as a being of solid golden light.
As Seph gazed upon him, time seemed to slow down and speed up all at once, passing over her like honey and slipping away like water. Her skin sizzled and began to burn, but remained intact due to the Curse of Achilles. Inside of her, her organs began to age rapidly slowly shutting down and failing. Her blood, deprived of oxygen for hours within the single fleeting moment, turned blue and thin. Her eyes strained against the sight of a divine being before they failed entirely.
Luckily, it was only a fraction of a second before Kronos, unable to truly appear without a host or his golden sarcophagus to bind him, dissolved away into golden light, his final act of vengeance failing. But Persephone was left crippled. She gasped, her withered lungs unable to take in air. Her failing heart pumped oxygenless blood throughout her body. Her blind eyes gazed out at nothing as blood pooled from her eyes and ears, her very brain pressurized and close to popping.
She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She could feel the thumping of feet towards the throne room...the slam of the doors swinging open, and the vibration of several feet moving quickly towards her. But...that was all. Her mind, struggling to even perform basic connections, was unable to comprehend when a comforting warmth fell over her wracked body.
-Line Break-
The gods, having defeated Typhon by but a margin, had rushed to the throne room where Persephone was fighting the titan lord. Unable to flash directly to the room, the gods had been reduced to more...mortal means of transportation. But as they finally reached the doors, they were sealed.
"What is the matter?" Poseidon, worried for his daughter, shouldered his way to the front.
"They're locked." Zeus muttered grumpily.
"Well unlock them!" Poseidon roared, his trident falling from nothingness into his hand. Zeus rounded on his brother. "You don't think we tried that?! They're sealed shut! Hermes has already tried to open them as well."
"Then force the doors open." Poseidon turned to his fellow gods. "Ares surely..."
"No." Zeus ordered. "We can't risk damaging the throne room any more than it surely already has been."
Poseidon's eyes narrowed and he lowered his trident towards Zeus. Zeus' hands began to spark with electricity. "You da-"
"Move. Aside." Poseidon ordered his brother. Something in his voice compelled Zeus to obey, and as he stood to the side, with a roar of effort, Poseidon thrust his trident towards the doors before Zeus or anyone else could protest. The power of the Earthshaker, enhanced by his divine weapon, struck the doors with such force that they didn't exactly open so much as blow apart. Chunks of gold slammed into the wall across the room. Olympus itself trembled from the weight of the blow.
The gods spilled into the throne room, Poseidon at the helm.
"Damn..." Ares whispered. And though several of the gods wanted to scold him for his crass language, they couldn't help but agree. The throne room was, for lack of a better word, trashed. Though the thrones of the gods stood in pristine shape, the remainder of the room was ravaged. Scarred by the battle, and half melted away by the force of divine power that Kronos had displayed at the very end.
And at the center lay Persephone, unmoving. Her chest barely rose with each failing breath. Her once lustrous black hair had turned brittle and white. Poseidon's eyes widened. "Apollo!" he shouted even as he dropped his trident and ran for his daughter. The sun god was already at her side, a warm yellow light emanating from his hands.
"Shit...shit shit shit..." Apollo muttered as he frantically waved his hands over her. Poseidon moved in but Apollo thrust one hand towards him and a wave of light pushed him back. Ordinarily, Poseidon might have grown angry. But he understood that, at least in this case, Apollo had to do it. "Shit..." Apollo repeated.
"Well?" Poseidon demanded. Many of the other gods had begun to move to their thrones, but he remained where Apollo had pushed him to. "Well?!" He demanded again.
"I dunno what to say Uncle P." Apollo's voice seemed frantic...and defeated. "I've tried healing her. I've tried but it's...no good."
"What do you mean no good?! You're the god of medicine are you not?!" Poseidon's voice thundered through the throne room. He took a step forwards before a cold hand upon his shoulder stopped him.
"You're doing your daughter no good shouting Poseidon." Hades' calm, even voice helped soothe Poseidon a little. "She already has half a foot in the Underworld." Poseidon shook his brother's hand off. "No. I-I won't accept this."
"Is it not the Great Prophe-" Athena began before glares from most of the gods in the throne room shut her up. "I'm not trying to get a jab in here." she defended herself. "But it's difficult to deny that...that this may be inevitable." The throne room began to erupt into murmurs as the gods considered her point. Even Poseidon could see where she was coming from.
"Well..." Hades voice cut in above the murmurs.
"The Olympian Council is assembled. No?"
"Your point?" Zeus asked.
"I recall a certain son of yours, Heracles yes...saved from certain death by a certain method that only the Olympian Council could perform."
Zeus sat back, dumbfounded. "Are you suggesting that...we immortalize her? Grant her godhood?"
Poseidon looked up in shock. He couldn't believe that Hades would suggest something like that. Even he...
Hera cut in. "Now hold on. Godhood cannot be so easily granted. We cannot save every dying hero."
To Poseidon's shock, this time it was Ares who came to the defense of his daughter. "That is a little hasty isn't it? The brat isn't just an ordinary hero." Most of the council was roused by the war god's claim. "Are you suggesting that we go along with Hades' idea then?" Zeus asked his son.
Ares frowned. "Don't get me wrong Pops. I don't like the brat. But I am the god of war. Credit must be given where it is due."
"He's right." Artemis added. "Plus let's not forget this isn't the only quest she's performed for us. Retrieving your bolt. Uncle Hades' helm. Traversing the sea of monsters. Defeating Circe. Retrieving the golden fleece. Saving myself. Holding the sky. Traversing the labyrinth..." she trailed off.
"That's true." Athena nodded. "Also, if we consider the precedent of Heracles, she has, with help, completed most of his labors on top of that. The Nemean lion. The hydra. The Stymphalian birds. We could even consider her trip to the Underworld." Zeus stroked his beard thoughtfully. It pained him to admit it. But with even many of his more cynical children hopping on board...
"Are there any who would expressly oppose the idea?" He asked.
"I'm not against the idea. I'm all for it actually." Apollo's voice, from where he was tending Seph, drew the attention of the gods. "But I'd also like to point out that the process isn't easy. Her body is already damaged beyond mortal repair and if we try to immortalize her now...she could end up moreso a monster than a god."
"Then what would you have us do?" Poseidon asked angrily. "Watch my daughter die after saving us?"
Apollo hesitated. Hades stepped in. "While this might ordinarily be a problem, as the soul, under the burden of being burned away and replaced by an immortal identity, might shatter and create the monster that Apollo rightfully fears. That will not be a problem. I am here, and I will guide her soul through its transition if that is what we agree upon."
"Well then it's settled!" Poseidon flickered, reappearing on his throne in his godly size.
"It isn't settled just ye-" Zeus was cut off by Poseidon. "And why is that?" Zeus fumbled for words. "Well...I mean-what if she doesn't want it?" Poseidon's eyes narrowed. "Now you're just looking for excuses."
"Not exactly." Athena replied to her usual rival. "While I do think she is worthy, it must be remembered that the mortal and immortal psyche are not one and the same. Persephone is a strong woman, and has excellent character. But...oftentimes it is exactly those sorts of people who appreciate the fleeting nature of life." She sighed. "I..don't want you to regret this choice Poseidon."
Poseidon grew silent. He stared at his daughter. "She didn't deserve this..." he whispered.
"I don't want to interrupt your brooding again Poseidon, but she is fading quickly." Hades remarked. Poseidon looked around the council. "I...don't want my daughter to die for the mistakes that we have made." he spoke.
Zeus sighed. "Very well." He drew himself up from his throne. "Would any deny that she is worthy?" No one spoke. No one could.
"Then let us proceed. Apollo." Apollo nodded and flashed to his throne as the gods each rose from their thrones and to their full height.
"Hestia if you would?" Zeus asked and his sister lifted something from the hearth. A sort of torch. She reached out with it and a thin stream of fire burst forth from its end, striking Persephone square in the chest. The girl writhed, her skin beginning to blacken and a scent of burning flesh beginning to fill the air. If her lungs were functioning properly, Persephone probably would have screamed. Her limbs began to writhe about, but golden chains wrapped around her, binding her to the floor so that she would not move about and harm herself.
One by one, the gods lifted their left hand, palm outwards, towards Persephone.
"May your life extend beyond the horizon." Zeus intoned, a jolt of lightning surging from his palm and into Seph's body.
"May you know not the pain of loss." Hera spoke, a soft greenish light enveloping her palm and shooting forth.
One by one, each god imparted something of themselves into Persephone.
"May your life's depth extend beyond the seas themselves."
"May your mind never falter for aeons to come.""Let no strife trouble your heart."As each god spoke, a fragment of their respective power flowed from them into Persephone. Hades struggled under the burden of their power, lashing Seph's soul and ensuring that it did not snap.
At last, each of the gods had spoken. Hestia stepped forth, her torch still burning away.
"Know now the fleshly body is gone. The immortal. The god remains." she spoke, her voice strangely solemn in its child's body. Persephone's skin, now thoroughly blackened, began to flake away, revealing soft, new skin underneath. Zeus sent a gentle wind through the throne room to speed up the process, and within moments, Persephone, now clothed in a simple chiton to preserve her modesty after her clothes had burnt away, lay peacefully within the middle of the throne room.
The gods sat back down, though Zeus remained standing. He spread his arms wide, and thunder clapped behind him.
"All hail Persephone, goddess of-"
And I'll end it here.
To be honest this isn't really meant to go anywhere. It's more of a sort of idea that I've been toying with. There will be more chapters hopefully but yeah. Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you enjoyed it.