Chapter 6
After they had finally broken apart after what seemed to be a second they both looked out the window to see that the sun had already set. Percy looked down at his watch; the only thing that he was still wearing. He realized that almost 8 hours had passed and he was beyond spent. He looked to his right to where Aiode was laying down and noticed her already falling asleep. He felt spent. He had put so many emotions into their session that he was more mentally exhausted than physically tired, the matter of fact he wasn't tired at all. He decided to get out of bed and redress before walking out of her bedroom and back into the main room. He saw Hestia sitting on the couch and sipping on a glass of red wine.
He nodded to her; as a mortal, casual visits from the gods were normal almost anywhere he went and he guessed that it was normal in this case as well. He sat down and she poured the bottle into a spare glass sitting on the coffee table.
Percy tentatively picked up the glass putting it to his lips. Before asking "Did you hear?..." as a blush rose to his face and he scratched his neck.
She laughed before taking a sip and responding "Enough. You could easily have a home with her." she visibly made herself more comfortable by leaning back into the couch before continuing "You already feel at home with her."
Percy smiled in regard to her statements and said: "The more time I spend with her the more time I want with her."
Hestia smiled at this remark before suddenly turning serious. "While that is beautiful and fun Percy, I'm here regarding the dream you had last night."
The smile melts off of his face as he realizes that she knows what was in his head the night before. "Hestia…"
She holds up a hand instantly silencing him. "It's not an idea many would oppose, Zeus is not that favored among his people anymore. The gods are tired of his ideals and how he separates us from our mortal children. He says its the ancient laws but really it is his rule, put in place to stop us from caring about beings that are destined to die."
Percy's eyebrows come together and he squints in confusion. "Hestia, I have no plans to overthrow the King of gods, that was a dream…"
Hestia laughs lightly about his comment and replies "That wasn't a dream, Percy, that was a dream of what can be. The power behind it revealed that you are powerful enough to stir all the gods to its eminence."
Percy's eyes widen in surprise. "Everyone saw that? Zeus must be planning my death right now."
Hestia looked at him oddly. " he was the only olympian that didn't see it clearly. He saw it from his own perspective. With his head down and sharp pain in the back of the neck."
Percy looked at her before asking her. "What do you suppose I do now that I know all the other Olympians know I have the power to overthrow the King."
She looked at him and said, "Well, you could sit on this knowledge until a later time or you could start asking questions to see if you think he deserves it."
Percy thinks for a second, stroking his beard and then taking a sip before saying "I will look into it and see if I think that there needs to be a change in power and see if there is a more diplomatic way of going about it than execution. Where do you stand on this matter?"
Hestia responded instantly "As a non-fighting goddess I must declare neutrality, but as a friend in the throne room, with you. In whatever choice you make. You would be a more suitable leader based on your loyalty, alone."
Percy nodded to her as she rose from her seat. As she walked towards the door she turned around and smiled at him before saying "You are smart, so please think this through and find allies before you start moving forward, if you do plan on moving forward."
Percy nodded again and watched her as she left before walking back into Aiodes bedroom, taking his shirt back off as he got back into bed with her.
She tiredly groaned as she rolled to face him. "Who were you talking to?" she said with sleep and bliss written across her face.
"Hestia," he said as he pulled her to him and silenced her next question with a kiss before pulling away and saying "I'll tell you everything in the morning." she moved using his chest as a pillow and they fell asleep promptly.
When Aiode woke up she saw Percy was on the edge of the bed and shivering due to the lack of sheets. How he got over there and how she managed to hog the sheets was a question she would ask herself for a long time to come. Upon getting up she walked around the bed and lightly pushed Percy closer to the center before draping the blankets over him and walking out of the room headed for the kitchen.
She prepared breakfast quickly, it was eggs and bacon on plain bagels and she sat down on the bed with 2 plates and a thermos of coffee for the two of them to share. "Percy" He grunts in response. "Percyyyyy," she says again. He lazily lifts his head up slowly opening his eyes.
"Yes?" he says tiredly.
"I made us breakfast" She replies with a smile offering him a plate. He took it and sat up putting the plate on his lap before picking up the bagel and starting to eat. As he tasted it his eyes widened. And he exclaimed, "Damn this is good."
She smiled at the Olympian before biting into her own. Her eyes going wide with the smile slowly turning toothy and full of mirth before saying, "I really outdid myself this time."
Percy laughed to himself a bit before reaching over and punching her lightly in the arm before saying "Don't get too cocky now."
She laughed a bit as she ate and an easy fell on both of them as they enjoyed the simple yet delicious breakfast that was laid out in front of them. Once she seemed to be finished she put her hands in her lap and faced her whole body towards the Olympian.
Once Percy finished the bacon he was holding and he noticed her gaze he also put his food to the side and faced her before motioning for her to go on.
She nodded and smiled at the young god with a slight blush before starting "After our activities last night you went to the living room and had a conversation with Hestia, I was wondering, 'What about?'"
Percy seemed to somber up and talk to her about everything including the dream and his vast powers. He nodded and then said, "I had a dream a few days ago, It affected the Olympians and it was like it was being live-streamed to all of them."
She nodded before motioning for him to continue. He nodded before going again. "In my dream, it showed me standing in front of Zeus and listing his high crimes against his subjects for the past few millennia before destroying his throne and then decapitating him and then me sitting on the broken throne before It became my own."
His eyes were wide and she suddenly looked very concerned for Percy. She said, "Are you planning on doing all that soon?"
Percy laughed without any true emotion behind it before looking at her and saying, "No, I need allies and a reason to do something like that."
She nodded before looking at him once again before asking, "Why was Hestia here then?"
He nodded at that before responding with, "because she wanted to let me know that I had her and most of the Olympians support on the matter."
Shivers seemed to go down her back, Never in her life had a true exchange of power happened. There were always threats from the Titans, Giants, and then finally the Primordials, but deep down she always knew the gods would overcome. In this case, though, She didn't think the gods wanted to overcome this threat to their king. She wasn't entirely opposed to the thought either.
After seeming to think for an eternity which was in reality about 5 seconds, a smile came to rest on her face before saying "You have my support and the support of all the other muses as well. If that ends up being what you want to do."
Percy looked at her with gratitude before pulling her to him in a long hug. He broke down holding her to him as he cried at her response and the pressure that came with talking about it because talking about it made it real.
She held his head in her arms as tears ran down into her shirt and breathless sobs seemed to escape him every so often. She didn't understand why he was crying but she wasn't going to question it until he had finished.
So many things were rushing through his head, He had this beautiful girl holding him, he had all of these memories of people lost over the years, He had a crown that could be his and support but he felt so alone. In his mind all the people he had grown to trust had fallen, all the gods were kind to him but he didn't know them as well as he had known his friends. He felt supported on his Olympian Journey but he didn't know who to truly trust, He felt like he was in an episode of Game of Thrones and he hated it. He understood how Ned Stark felt; he understood how it felt to not know who to trust in a foreign place.
After a few minutes of mentally breaking down, he pulled away from Aiode and said: "I just don't know what to do." he took a deep breath in an attempt to gather himself. "I want peace, but I want to do good for my fellow gods and the mortals below. I have the support of so many, people would rather me in power over Zeus and I am not even used to being a god yet…"
She looked him over realizing why he was such a mess over all of this. "Percy, You don't need to do anything yet, they just want you to know that they would support you as the king if that is the call you want to make, and they would support you if you just want to sit on the council until you make your own decision." She said trying to calm the upset god down. Little did they know that a blizzard had started in the city below them. Luckily it was December and wasn't unheard of.
As the storm brewed below Percy wiped the tears off his face and he gathered himself before looking her in the eyes and saying "I'll call a meeting with the other gods that I know would take my side, and we will discuss this idea." He started to get out of bed before he felt her hands grab him and pull him into a powerful and emotional kiss. It was quick but it was exactly what he needed.
His head cleared and he looked at her confused before she said "Also, you need a shower before you go anywhere. You still smell from what we did last night." she said scrunching up her nose.
He did a smell check and recoiled before agreeing with her. He asked her if he could use her shower and she smiled before saying only if she could join her, and with that, they went into the shower.
After about an hour the bathroom door opened to reveal a very steamy room and the two of them walked out clean but in nothing but towels. Her hair was still wet but Percy was already dry. He thought about a simple outfit. Black jeans and a sea-green hoodie with icy blue trim on the sides and a white tee shirt underneath. As he was getting dressed he got distracted by the naked goddess that was towel drying her hair and facing a mirror away from him. He was entranced by her beauty and just watched as she got herself ready. He heard her laugh as she had noticed him and he finished getting ready, embarrassed. Before he left he turned to her and asked "Should I come back tonight." to which she responded with "You better, we never finished the movie."
At that he nodded and flashed out of her house to a small coffee shop in Brooklyn, It was exactly the place where his first meeting would need to be had. Once he had ordered two coffees and a slice of coffee cake and sat down he prayed for Hestia to come to sit with him. Within two minutes the 8-year-old goddess walked in and sat opposite from Percy.
She smiled at him before starting. "So you wanted to talk?"
He nodded before focusing on her and saying "How do you know I would have support?"
She nodded at his question before asking him "Do you want me to call everyone that would support you here?"
Percy looked at her and to make sure she wasn't bluffing said "Yes" she looked to go deep in thought for a second before looking back at him and saying "they are on their way."
She looked down at the coffee and the coffee cake before picking up the cup and tasting it. And then starting to eat the cake. Percy got up to talk to the owner about maybe letting them get the private seating upstairs.
When Percy came back he told Hestia that they could, in fact, go upstairs for their discussion. So they took their drinks and headed up. They sat back down and had a casual conversation until the "others" arrived.
After 15 minutes and countless watch checks, Percy was starting to feel like he had been played before he heard what sounded like 7 people walking up the stairs. He turned his attention and saw Poseidon and Hades enter the room first, next, he saw Hephestus, after that he saw Aphrodite, next Apollo and Artemis came into view, and Finally Athena. Percy was surprised by the children of Zeus that had entered the room; but then again, Zeus did execute his own father for his crown.
Percy looked at them all and then looked at Apollo before asking the sun god "Is everyone here honestly here in support of me as their king?"
Apollo looked at Percy before analyzing everyone and then nodding his head and saying "Yep, no one here is here with thoughts of betraying your cause."
Percy then thought of Aiode and realized that he would need help from the minor gods as well and decided to call her to his location. A few seconds later a bright flash of golden light flooded the room and once it dimmed Percy saw the nine muses standing in front of him, all different but beautiful nonetheless. At this Percy nodded to the Goddess who brought them all and then he started.
"Firstly, I need reasons beyond my own personal vendetta to wage war on him," Percy said looking at all of the gods before him, waiting on one of them to start.
The first to step forward was Athena. She nodded in respect for Percy before saying, "Zeus, As his daughter has asked me to look into the affairs of all other gods over the millennia, this is a violation of our privacy and as gods that have sworn an oath to Olympus, this is pointless and an invasion of privacy." she stopped to catch her breath before continuing, "Next, He has imprisoned all titans and giants including peaceful ones without giving them a chance to swear by Olympus." she looked around the room before continuing "He has been an ineffective king since the end of the first giant war and made laws that we are forced to abide by despite how pointless they are, such as, we can not help our children, and we can not interact with them very much."
Upon hearing this most of the surrounding gods nodded in agreement before Percy looked around the room and asked "And these are the main reasons you want him out of power? Would I have the power to dismantle the laws he set?"
Athena nodded before saying "You should have no trouble discarding them and bringing Olympus back into the mortal fold."
Percy nodded this and then asked, "And you all want me to lead you?" He looked around the room and saw his fellow Olympians nodding at his question before asking "Why?"
Apollo stepped forward and said "Let me sum this up for you bro, You are the most loyal, selfless being any of us have ever met, the things you did for Olympus while you were a mere mortal is more than any of us have done in centuries. We want someone who can see the need for change in a place where he can make it happen."
Percy nodded at Apollo's words and then looked at the Muses "Do you guys think you could spread support for me through the minor gods before I act?"
Aiode smiled at her Olympian before saying "That is something we can do." after she was finished she looked around the other muses seeing them nodding and smiling at the prospect of a new, benevolent leader.
Percy looked at all the gods around him and held up his coffee cup before saying "I am surprised you all want me to fill this role but I will do it. It will take time for support to spread, and finding the right time to do this will also take time. This war will be a silent one. Much like the cold war, it will be all about power and less about the fighting; though I have no doubt that fighting will ensue once everything is in place. I want you all to work around the clock to find more support and to always have blackmail in case someone wants to expose us. This will be a long ride… But none of us are short on time. Let's make it happen."
Clapping ensued from the gods surrounding him and Poseidon even had the courage to shout "All hail King Percy!" to which the gods responded, "Long live the King!" And so the revolution had begun and for the first time that day, a smile crept onto the newly proclaimed Kings face.