Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. At all.
Hades blinked.
It was a weird expression to see on his face, but see it we did, and boy, was it fun. Never would I get over the fact that I had managed to bemuse even the Lord of the Dead.
"So you – you – are telling me my father is rising, and he controlled someone else to steal both the Bolt and my Helm on the solstice, and somehow also managed to get into my idiot nephew's head?"
"Yep."
"How can I know that you're not lying?"
I gaped at him.
"Why the ever-loving cheese crumbs would I want to lie to the King of the Underworld? What am I? Stupid?"
Behind me, Luke murmured "ever-loving cheese crumbs?" to himself in confusion.
Uncle was not convinced.
In the end, I had to end up swearing a couple oaths on the Styx about how I wasn't lying, and his kids would be safe with me, and Luke wasn't the thief yada, yada, yada. But that's not what matters. What matters is that Hades was now on my side.
Oh I was gonna have so much fun.
Finding Ares on the beach reminded me of that scene, y'know, the one where Percy fights the God of War and, drumroll please, wins. Did I have the ability to do that? Probably not, but I wanted to try anyway.
What would he do? Kill me? Hah, jokes on him, Poseidon was the complete definition of overprotective, and Triton liked me too.
Jason took one look at my giddy expression and leveled The Stare at me.
"Percy no."
"Percy yes."
"Percy no-"
"Percy yes!"
"I don't know what's going on, but Jason, now is not the time to argue with her," translation: she's insane, we both know it, stop trying to argue, "And Percy, please don't do something that might get you killed. Again." Translation: I know you won't, but please listen to Jason.
Luke was such a dear.
And thus, I went on to challenge Mr. Biker Man.
I would like to say that it was iconic, or that I won a pretty dramatic victory, but that'd be lying. In all honesty, I took my trident (can't get a curse based off of the sword if I don't use the sword today) and did whatever felt natural. Soon enough, I won, which was surprising, but a good kind of surprising.
"How did you do that?" Luke asked, awe clear in his voice.
"I knew exactly what I was doing," at this, Jase raised an eyebrow, "But in a much more real sense, I have no idea what I was doing."
"Only you, Perce."
Vows on the Styx were really helpful when you wanted people to believe you.
"Your father is rising, my lord," I said, with the most serious expression possible. "And trust me, it's better to do something now than regret it in the future."
"She's right," Jason backed me up. "It's going to be easier that way."
Hera was glaring at us. The others? They were actually giving a damn. Thank the Fates. Even Zeus looked like he wanted to cooperate.
"What can we do to help?" Hermes finally was the one that spoke up.
"Claim your kids," I responded immediately. "They don't need to prove something to you that would make you want to acknowledge them as your child – if nothing else, it lets them know that their parents care."
Luke wholeheartedly agreed.
Jason took over. "And give the minor gods some credit – temples, cabins, things that we both know you can do. Also, Aunt Hestia and Uncle Hades deserve cabins at Camp, and thrones on the Council."
"How dare-"
"He's only speaking the truth, Father," Apollo said. It occurred to me that this guy was also one of the most important gods around. God of Prophecy and Knowledge, anyone?
"And besides," Demeter came to our aid, "As much as I dislike Hades, you have to admit that having two more major gods, especially Elders, on the Council can only bode well for us."
"Fourteen is not a powerful number," Hera snidely dropped in. Damn it.
"But fifteen is." It was Dionysus – and since when did he have something to contribute to the conversation-? Oh right. Anything to spite Hera. She made nearly everyone's life hell, and Dionysus was one of them.
A single question remained. Who would be the fifteenth Olympian?
A/N: who will be the fifteenth olympian after all, you guys? any guesses? personally, i have no idea who i'm gonna choose. maybe you can review and give me ideas? pretty please?
and yes, apollo is the god of a bunch of stuff, and to be honest, we have to admit that despite being hilarious, he's possibly more important than any of zeus' kids. and fun fact, hera is the reason dionysus' family died. i doubt you get over that. demeter is being sensible and talking about something other than cereal, because, well, kronos ate her too. i don't think she wants the guy back.
percy and jason are being the most awesome duo ever, and luke is helping, and thus, we have a trio. but don't worry, leo and piper will have more scenes too - they are the ones listed in the characters, though i'm thinking of changing it to luke. he plays a more important role in my outlines, and a constant one, now that i think of it.
see ya!
~ Arty
