So the fanfic bug struck, and basically nobody saw the story update, so I've re-uploaded it. Enjoy.
Beta'd by Praetorfable
Co-written by Vanadium Oxide
Chapter XIV
The Second of June
Twenty Seven Days A.B.M
Percy stormed into Zeus' palace, ignoring the rapidly paling wind spirit which had come to retrieve him. He burst through door after door making sure he could sense Zeus sitting. When Percy finally walked into the room Zeus was in, he was reading a book. Considering this room was the size of an Olympic swimming pool and filled to the brim with books, he assumed it was the god's library.
But he wasn't overly concerned with that at the moment.
"Where is she?!" Percy stopped a few feet from the god, Nico hovering just behind him.
Zeus, for his part, looked a mixture of annoyed and confused. Percy knew the confusion was utter crap, though. If Zeus wasn't acutely aware of every thing that was under the open sky then Percy couldn't lift a glass of water. Not to mention that he certainly would have been alerted when the magical defenses around Ogygia had shattered like cheap glass.
"Who told you you could just walk into my palace?" Zeus demanded, thunder rolling in the distance.
"I'm not in the mood for games, Zeus. Where. Is. She." Percy growled, narrowing his eyes.
"Do you mean the titaness?" Zeus guessed, rubbing his beard. "She was still on her island the last time I checked. Maybe a century or two ago? I presume she's gone missing?"
"You know damn well she's missing. Nobody else could have gotten around the enchantment on the island like that." Percy leaned forward onto the table Zeus was sitting at.
"That's not even close to true. Almost any god of sufficient knowledge can visit Calypso as they please. For it to have slipped my notice, it had to have happened before your invasion but yes, nearly any deity could have. If I did move the titaness, why would I lie to you about it? I hardly care where she is, or if she's reforming in Tartarus," he refuted.
Percy pulled back a little, realising he may have just stormed into the king of the gods' palace and shouted at him for literally no reason.
"Then who could have taken her, some other god? Gaea during the war?" Percy mused. If he had to check every god in existence to see who had taken her, he would have a long list to go down. But he would do it for her.
Zeus shrugged. "I couldn't care less except for the fact that it means someone disobeyed me and helped a titaness escape under my nose. Do whatever you have to to find them. Presuming it is a god, you have my permission to kill them. You are the supreme commander of Olympus after all, this is your problem to deal with... Unless it's an Olympian, of course, then bring it to me," he ordered. "Now, get out of my palace. And do not let this be a repeat occurrence, or it will not end well." Zeus threatened.
Percy nodded slowly, turning around and walking out the door without so much as nodding at his king.
He would need to search for her, that much was fact. The only problem was that he had absolutely no idea where to search. He didn't even know if she was on the surface, or the underworld, or Olympus, or Atlantis, or gods forbid Tartarus. Forget spending his life combing the surface of the planet, he didn't even know if she was on the planet. More than likely if some god had taken her she was locked up in some palace somewhere in the sky, sea, or underworld, depending on which deity it was.
It seemed… Impossible. But escaping from Tartarus had been impossible, and that hadn't stopped him before. But while escaping Tartarus was impossible in a way that he could deal with — stabbing everything in front of him until they were out — this was statistically and mathematically impossible. He didn't want to know how long it would take to comb every corner of every 'dimension' at his current rate, but he did know it would be far too long to be feasible.
But that wouldn't stop him from trying. He'd interrogate gods, search palaces, whatever it took. After all, Zeus just gave him permission to do whatever he needed to, right?
Well, he knew what he would be doing now that he didn't have to deal with the military and he only had a few more days until the civilian government was out of his hands.
He would find Calypso.
The Fifth of June
Thirty Days A.B.M
"Well then won't you at least just go ask him?" Thalia demanded, getting pretty frustrated with the man in front of her.
"His Majesty doesn't take visitors. You can send a letter to his administration like everyone else." the guard looked bored, standing next to the doors to the Empire StateBuilding.
The military had let her through the perimeter around the tower relatively easily after a demonstration of her power, but the royal guard was turning out to be less cooperative.
"She's already shown you proof she's a demigod. Let her through in the name of Her Highness Artemis." demanded Sophie, — one of her new hunters — stepping forward.
The royal guard narrowed his eyes. In her periphery, Thalia noticed half a dozen more guards walk out of the main doors and move towards them.
"We do not serve Artemis. We serve His Majesty, and His Majesty alone," the guard replied monotonously, though Thalia could see his fist tightening around his spear.
That's when the others arrived. Most of them were in imperial gold like the one in front of her, while one of them was wearing celestial bronze.
Said guard stepped forward. "What's the situation?" he asked the man Thalia had just been speaking to.
"She claims to be a daughter of Zeus and wishes to speak to His Majesty." he told his supposed superior.
Nodding, the dude in celestial bronze turned towards her. "What's your name?"
"Thalia." she answered curtly, near the end of her patience. Punching through her problems tended to be a lot faster than talking, but she was walking into her cousin's house, she could at least try not to put anyone in the hospital.
Turning to the guard next to him, celestial bronze dude muttered something into his ear before the guy he had whispered to set off back into the building.
"His Majesty will be informed of your presence. You may wait here," he said, before motioning to the other guards to fan around the area, not leaving but not quite crowding them either.
Thalia put a hand on both of her fellow Huntress' shoulders. "It's fine. They have no reason to believe we are who we say we are," she attempted to calm them.
They were good girls — good hunters — but they were still new, and had only been told that they were children of gods recently in the last few weeks or months. Recruiting humble hunters was a bit easier when nobody knew the gods existed and they hadn't been worshipped in hundreds of generations. It was just a little bit harder to keep their egos in check when being the legacy of even the most minor goddess meant the ground you walked on was worshipped by everyone you knew.
Sophie growled. "I don't like it. They saw you make it thunder, they have to know you were telling the truth. And did you hear what he said? 'We don't serve Lady Artemis'. He doesn't know who he's talking to."
Alexis, on Thalia's other side, just shrugged. "His Majesty has the right to decide who he does and doesn't see. Technically he's our superior, considering he's in charge of all of Olympus' forces."
Sophie had been taken into the — at the time — two person group that were the hunters of Artemis just before Percy had revealed the Greek gods to the world. As such, she had had a more traditional induction into the divine world.
Alexis, however, had already known about the Greek gods when Thalia approached her, having seen the news. It gave her a view that no hunter had had before — in a way, having to explain the entire divine world to a young girl was easier than changing the world view of someone who already knew of the gods.
Alexis hadn't met the gods yet. Not even Artemis, who even Thalia hadn't seen in nearly a month now. To her and every other mortal, Percy Jackson had introduced them to the divine world, and was as close as a mortal could get to a god. He was the head of the religion; the only one capable of direct or immediate contact with the gods.
The only problem was that Thalia couldn't actually disabuse them of the notion. She was reasonably sure that Percy had seen her own patron goddess more recently than her, and honestly that pissed her off just a bit. She hadn't even heard of anyone talking to a god since Percy's announcement other than him. Honestly she was beginning to suspect the mortals were on to something, and that the gods had all but left the planet to her little cousin.
For the sake of humanity, she prayed she was wrong.
Percy sat at his desk, doing his cursory survey of the paperwork on his desk before throwing it all onto Lacey to sign in his name.
One more week. The elections would take place tomorrow, and everyone would be sworn in a week later on a rush job. It was probably the most hastily a government of this size (or any size, really) had ever been thrown together, but it was what they had. Besides, their current legislative method of 'have this one teenager do it by himself lmao' wasn't much better.
Either way the term for each senator elected here would only be a year, so they would have a chance to run actual proper elections a year from now. But at the moment, the senate was going to be a patch job of unvetted people who were popular in their states.
"Your Majesty," someone knocked on the door.
"Come in." Percy called, watching the door as a royal guard walked into the room.
"Your Majesty," he nodded, "a girl named Thalia claims to be a daughter of Zeus and wishes to see you. She has an escort of two other girls." he said, standing at attention before him. Percy had managed to forbid the kneeling in private, but his guards were far from informal nonetheless.
Thalia was here to pay him a visit? Percy grinned at that, and he could feel that even Nico let a small smile come across his face from where he was standing behind Percy.
Lacey's eyes narrowed. "I've told your captain that you can send any such messages to me. I will deliver them to His Majesty."
The guard didn't even pretend that he wasn't ignoring her.
"Let her up, and let her keep her weapons. Her companions can come as well, but if they want to enter search them thoroughly. They'll likely have magical items as well. Hair pins, watches, confiscate anything but the clothes on their back. And keep a close eye on them as they come up, I don't want either of them on my floor without two pairs of eyes on them at all times," he ordered.
"At once, your majesty." his guard nodded, before pulling a 180 and walking out the door to Percy's office.
Percy went back to his paperwork, doing his best to finish up before Thalia arrived. Unfortunately, he failed, so when the door opened he stood up, walked around his desk, and met Thalia at the door.
"Thals." Percy grinned, making to hug her before he got an electrified fist to the torso courtesy of one daughter of Zeus.
Of course, the celestial bronze was too hard and only so much as bent at the strike, so that left the electrical charge to discharge into his body and promptly do nothing.
The strength of the punch itself made him take a step back but to Thalia's dismay, that was all it did.
"Sorry pinecone face, son of the stormbringer and all that. You do pack a mean punch though." Percy laughed, reaching a hand under his armor and rubbing the sore spot.
Thalia snorted. "Kelp head." she muttered, hugging him despite her objection just seconds ago.
Nico had a hand raised to stop the royal guards in the room from trying to seize Thalia for striking at their emperor, but Thalia took it as an invitation.
"High five, Neeks. I like it," Thalia grinned, reaching out her arm and slapping his hand with her own. "How are my little cousins doing?"
Percy chuckled, pulling away from the hug. "I seem to recall you only having lived twelve years when I pulled you out of that tree." he teased.
Thalia huffed. "Excuse me, but Apollo said that I was older than you."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Maybe physically, but we both know who has more experience."
"Ladies," Nico spoke up, a small smile on his face. It was the most expression he had made since that day. Percy decided not to continue that thought process. "You're both beautiful. What's up, Thalia."
Her smile wavered for a moment. "I need to talk to you and Percy about something. Alone." she eyed the dozen guards around the room.
Percy shrugged, walked back to his desk, handed Lacey the remaining papers, and sat down.
"You can go Lacey. I'll catch up with you later." Percy said, dismissing her, before kicking his feet up on his desk.
She nodded quickly, taking the papers and walking out of the room with a quick bow, passing by Thalia with a mutter. "Your Highness."
Thalia raised an eyebrow at her as she passed. "Well — she's domesticated."
Percy shrugged. "I know you haven't been around for a minute, but people were calling me your highness before we even left Camp Half-blood. Prince of Atlantis and all that, yadda yadda."
Thalia walked up to one of the chairs before his desk, her two companions nervously following behind her. "But still, you seem to be getting pretty comfortable giving orders."
Percy shrugged again as she sat down. "Everyone seems to point that out. They tend to forget that I have to get comfortable with it. Not much of a choice when not giving them means three hundred million people starve to death."
Thalia raised an eyebrow. "I think you're playing up your importance there a bit, don't you?"
Percy shook his head. "You'd think that, but no. One of the papers I just signed approved a simple policy for water utilities, their ownership, and continued operation. If I decided not to sign those papers today, a few dozen millions of people would no longer have access to fresh water."
"Oh…"
Percy waved it off as Nico took his usual spot behind him. "Anyway, I know it isn't because you missed us, What is it you wanted to talk about?"
Thalia once again glanced at the bevy of guards around the room. Three stood flanking each of the hunters she had brought with her, while almost a dozen lined the walls. Every one of them was dressed in celestial bronze armor.
"As I mentioned before, I was kind of hoping for a more private conversation."
"Don't worry about them, they're very loyal." he assured.
"Everyone can be compromised." Thalia warned.
"Not everyone," he dismissed. "If I told any one of them to kill themselves, they would be dead before I finished my sentence."
Thalia winced. "Well, that's a bit harsh. If you're assured of their loyalty though, I guess that's good enough. I am curious how you make them so loyal, though."
Percy smiled slightly. "I can show you later. I actually think you'd enjoy the tour."
"If you're willing, then I'm game. What I came to talk to you about though… Artemis is…"
"Missing? Unresponsive? Uncaring?" Percy guessed.
Thalia slightly pulled back, and the other two hunters she had brought with her looked at her questioningly.
Percy whistled. "That bad, huh? I figured they'd know, but I guess that was stupid, they would have been inducted into the hunters late enough that they wouldn't know anything else, right? Have they even met Artemis?"
Thalia took a slow breath. "Sophie has, but Alexis hasn't even taken her oath yet. How did you know?..."
"Because I empathise, to be honest. Everything is too easy, the mortal realm is hardly interesting. Why stay down here when everything you do is trivially easy? Imagine hunting, but your domain of wilderness allows you to have an omniscient view of every wild creature on earth. When just by thinking how much easier the hunt would be if this one deer stopped running quite so fast, the deer has a compulsion to instantly stop and let you catch her. You have to have felt it, right? Feeling the slightest motions through the air miles away, catching snippets of the forest from the sky, every bird for miles telegraphing their thoughts as if they were your own."
Thalia nodded. "I have to admit, you're not far off. But to just leave like that, to leave your commitments behind and not even bother contacting us?"
Percy shrugged. "You can't imagine it because you don't have the option. Or maybe you're a better person than me or Artemis-" he felt her presence instantly snap to their location. She must have been too used to Thalia saying her name in passing to care about it anymore, but Percy having a conversation about her? Well, that was attention worthy. "Or maybe it's because you're not quite as powerful as us. The point being, she doesn't care anymore, and I can't completely blame her. The fact that she hasn't even met one of her own hunters, someone who's sworn themselves to her, speaks volumes alone."
The huntress on the left made to step forward before she was restrained by his guards. "Don't disrespect Lady Artemis! She's a goddess, don't presume to know her intentions!"
"Sophie!" Thalia snapped. "Calm yourself. We're trying to be civil here."
Percy almost wanted to laugh at the irony of Thalia telling someone to be more civil, but he was too pissed off to.
Percy took his feet off his desk one at a time, the 'thud' of his feet hitting the ground the only sound interrupting the silence of the room.
Percy slowly stood up and looked into her eyes. He wasn't going to hurt her — he wasn't so petty that he couldn't take an offense every now and then, especially from someone Thalia had brought here — but all the same she had overstepped, by a mile. Honestly, normally Percy was the kind of person to more or less wave it off with a bit of an awkward laugh, but losing Annabeth, the search for Calypso, running an entire gods damned country of three hundred million people by himself, was all wearing on him.
"You do not know who you're talking to." Letting loose, he allowed his loosely defined 'aura' to wash over the room.
The amount of power he had felt in the Olympian throne room when he was fourteen that made him feel like he was about to combust was reached, passed, and then dwarfed in the matter of a second. He had to hold back quite a bit to stop from actually dissolving anyone in the room, and Percy was curious if that was what the god's true forms were, a simple full display of their power capable of washing away anyone in their presence.
It would fit with every definition he had ever been given, and it matched quite a bit, now that he thought about it. His curiosity burned for a moment,but he had to get back to the discussion at hand.
"I've camped with Artemis, travelled across the continent to rescue her, fought and bled with her, and we held our friend together in her final moments. I'm the closest thing to a god any mortal could get, and I've seen her more recently than anyone else in this room. I can have her over for dinner by asking the open air, and can walk up to Olympus and knock on her front door. How many times have you spoken to Artemis? Once? Don't presume to have any clue about the goddess you've sworn yourself to and barely even met, and then to tell me that I don't know anything about her," he scoffed. "If Artemis had a problem with my assumptions, she'd let me know myself."
Percy felt a message coming from Artemis's presence. (Soul? Aura?) Percy had no idea how to interpret said messages, his abilities in sensing and manipulating his soul wasn't good enough, which was something he would have to change.
Percy sighed and leaned back, pulling back his power. "Please escort her into the hallway. Gently." he added on the last bit to make sure she wasn't dragged out by her hair.
There was a small silence after she was led out before Percy turned to the second huntress, who hadn't said a word since entering.
Percy gave her a smile and tried to make it as real as possible. "Please forgive me, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Percy."
"Oh, right, um," the girl kneeled quickly and put a hand over her heart. "Alexis Gray at your service, Your Majesty."
Percy offered her a hand from over her desk. "None of that now, not while we're in private. Please, call me Percy, and no kneeling."
Looking up Alexis' face went red and she took his hand.
Artemis, who was still watching, conveyed another message. He didn't need to be able to tell what she was saying to understand the general feeling.
He hid a wince. Okay, maybe he could afford to lay it on a bit less thick, he was just trying to be kind. That being said, the fact that he could sense all liquids didn't help his case when he was trying to convince himself that he was giving the impression that he was just being friendly.
Percy helped her stand up and then looked at Thalia. "If you'd really like me to, I can get her attention rather easily. The only problem is that you'd need a reason other than 'we need you to guide the hunt', because I don't think she can bother at the moment."
"No," Thalia let out a long sigh. "It's just disappointing. I know she's a goddess, but I just thought lady Artemis was different."
Percy frowned. "She is different. She genuinely cared — or cares, I have no idea — about the hunt, which is more than I can say for… almost any other goddess, to be honest. But what was keeping her to the mortal realm was the excitement and adventure of the eternal hunt. Even being a goddess didn't kill the thrill so much that it wasn't worth doing, but now hunting is boring. You know — time off."
Percy looked at Thalia, seeing that she didn't quite understand yet, and decided to elaborate.
"It'd be like me going deep sea diving. Before the invasion of New York it'd be easy, sure, but it'd be new and exciting, and no matter how long I spent down there I'd always discover new things. Now, I just have to vaguely think of an area in the ocean and I have a comprehensive knowledge of everything that's happening, and in some cases happened or will happen in that area. Every creature in the area bends to my whim even from half a planet away. I don't go down there, because what's the point? I already know everything I need. I experience everything I want. Imagine that, but instead of having to think about a specific area in the ocean, it's that way constantly, throughout every ocean and body of water, without me thinking about it, and I constantly perceive it, all of the time. That's how it is for a god right now."
Thalia huffed. "Yeah, I guess I get it, but I thought we meant more than that to her. That we weren't just another thrill in her long life."
Percy shrugged, before leaning casually back onto his desk, "Maybe at one point you were. But remember, she travelled with the same people for thousands of years. In a single day the hunt was reduced to one member she had known for a number of years, and then shortly after two girls she doesn't even know are added. It doesn't mean she doesn't care about you either. I love Tyson, I love my mom, but that doesn't mean I spend every moment in Atlantis or with my mom."
Thalia held back a frown. "I guess that makes sense when you put it that way, it just feels a lot worse in practice."
Percy cracked a small smile. "Yeah, I get it. Think of it like a new start, though. Artemis taking a step back from the Hunters doesn't mean everything has to feel worse. She isn't the soul of the Hunt, she's just the sponsor. The Hunt is the hunt. It's something you can build yourself, and decide what they do. Don't tell me you haven't ever disagreed with a decision Artemis has made in regards to the hunt."
"Sure, I've disagreed with some things, but—"
"There is no but. Thalia, you've already been running the hunt since the giant war now you have a chance to make your own hunt of a sorts."
Thalia shook her head. "Whatever you say kelp-for-brains."
Percy shot her a grin. "Alright air head, how about that tour I promised you."
Thalia chuckled, standing up. "Sure, I haven't seen much of the place for how big it is. Killer view though." she nodded towards his back wall, which doubled as a floor-to-ceiling window.
Percy looked behind him, nodding his agreement. "Probably the best view anyone has ever had of New York, I'll say that much. Normally clouds would get in the way most days, but when you control them it's not much of an obstacle."
It wasn't something he had initially considered of much importance, but it really was a stunning view. He could quite literally see the curvature of the earth from this high up, and see for miles upon miles around him out of New York City. It had startled him quite a bit when he realized that he owned and controlled every inch of that land.
She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Show off. As if you're the only one that can clear clouds on command."
Percy grinned back at her. "That's why it's not showing off, though, right?"
Percy turned back and started walking to the door.
"The other girl, Sophie, was it? Will she be a problem?"
Thalia let out a deep sigh as she followed him. "She's not always this bad; she's just overzealous over Lady Artemis, even though she's only met her once. Honestly, I think I'm just used to people like her because they were who filled the old hunt, but you're right. I have a chance to remake the hunt here, I'll talk to her and make it clear that she needs to cut it out."
Percy nodded. "Sounds good to me," he walked out the door which was being held open by one of his royal guards, feeling Artemis's presence finally withdrawing, presumably having lost her interest. "How long were you guys planning on staying? You can stay in the building, if you'd like," he offered, walking into the hall and waiting for Thalia.
Surprisingly, she took him up on the offer. "Maybe a week max if I stretch out our stay. But I need to go back to recruitment pretty soon."
Percy gained a glint in his eye. "I could always happen to mention that the hunt is looking for recruits sometime. I'm sure the best of the best would fight for a position in your hunt."
Thalia rolled her eyes and shook her head. "That's not what the hunt is. The hunt is a family, not an army. We recruit those in need, not glory seekers."
Percy shrugged. "Fair enough."
He began walking down the hallway side-by-side with Thalia, Nico trailing just behind him, Sophie and Alexis trailing just behind Nico. A dozen royal guards walked with them through the halls, the clanking of their armor filling the silence.
Percy led the group into his absurdly large industrial elevator, so large that none of the dozen plus guards had to wait outside to avoid overcrowding it.
Soon enough they were arriving on the floor that he used to train his guards. Really calling it a floor was a bit misleading considering just how high the ceiling was, but it was still technically one floor.
When the elevator doors opened, Percy stepped out of the elevator, through a short hallway and straight onto a balcony overlooking the training of his royal guard below.
And there were a lot of them.
"Originally there were 300 mortals in my royal guard, but that number was reduced to a third that after Washington. The ones you see in celestial bronze are the senior members, all sworn in and are responsible for my personal protection," Percy gestured to every one of the dozen guards waiting in the hallway behind them and the several cadres on the floor below. "And the ones in imperial gold are the new ones undergoing training. You may have run into them at the front gate; they make up the bulk of the manpower at the moment, but I'm strict about them being supervised by one of my fully inducted royal guards at all times. They haven't proven their loyalty yet, so they're not entirely trusted."
Thalia hummed, looking over the harsh training taking place below her. The floor itself was akin to an enormous gymnasium, large enough to have half a dozen different drills going on at once. On one end of the gym, trainees were brutally beating each other into the ground in spars, not stopping until one of them was physically incapable of moving.
On the other end a large unit of more than thirty soldiers in imperial gold did group drills, marching perfectly in sync as if they were one.
"I only accept the best of the best into the royal guard. If someone's caught falling behind they're replaced immediately."
"A bit brutal, no?"
"Perhaps, but it's necessary." Percy replied before reconsidering. "If you have any suggestions and want to try it out, the captain of my royal guard has been running this whole thing under Nico's supervision. Perhaps I'll introduce you sometime."
Thalia shrugged. "Sure, it could be fun. It's really getting on my nerves how they're using the spear in one on one combat, though. It's like they took group tactics and just pretended they weren't in a solo spar." she scowled.
Percy laughed. "We've been developing spear tactics for hundreds of years while the rest of the world left it behind, we've been trained for this since we were children, and we're the children of gods. You can hardly compare them to what you're used to." he held a hand out to the side of the floor where almost a dozen guards were sparring.
Shrugging, Thalia leaped over the railing of the balcony and landed three stories below like she was hopping off a particularly large step.
She gathered some attention from those she landed near, before they looked up to see Percy staring at them and quickly determined that Thalia was allowed to be there.
For most of them, this was the first time they will have seen Percy in person. He refused to allow anyone that wasn't yet sworn to him the responsibility of his personal protection, and this was the first time he had visited the training hall himself.
Percy watched on amused as Thalia went to chew out some of his prospective royal guards, and then one of his actual royal guards when he made to intervene.
His hearing wasn't quite good enough to hear what she was chewing them out about from all the way across the gym, but it was still amusing as hell, and Percy felt himself actually enjoying the entertainment.
She did the standard 'pick the toughest guy in the group and then beat the living shit out of them to establish dominance' thing, and it was funny as hell to see a six foot two guy that was probably an ex-marine get put on his ass by a sixteen year old girl in a matter of seconds.
Soon enough, however, they seemed to realize exactly who they were dealing with and gave her a wide berth.
Those that were in imperial gold, who hadn't yet given their lives to Percy and who hadn't experienced Percy's invasions firsthand were naturally awestruck by seeing a daughter of Zeus in person.
Many had come from across the country or even internationally if they could get away with it to serve in his personal fighting force, only to not so much as see a demigod in passing.
So while they'd still (try) to kill her on the spot if he asked, they were understandably intrigued by her sudden appearance.
Soon enough almost everyone in the room was surrounding her as best they could. Soon after that she started dividing people up, having them go at each other with spears using the — proper — new tactics she had taught them, making her way between groups and ripping into them whenever they did something wrong.
Percy had to admit that it was just a bit earned. While maybe decent for mortals, especially in the 21st century, their spearmanship was pathetic compared to even a novice demigod.
But it wasn't like he was going to personally train them, he didn't have time for that. Clarisse had done what she could, but at the end of the day could only teach so much in a few days.
Besides, his royal guard wasn't necessary because they could kill whatever was in front of him — he could do that just fine, thank you, and anything he wasn't capable of dealing with could snap their fingers and turn his entire royal guard into some small animal.
They were there to be an endlessly loyal force capable of stopping security threats and spotting any attempts at sabotage, terrorism, or assassination. But Percy had to admit, he was quite happy that his men would be getting some real training.
Percy spent a few minutes just watching her tear into his royal guard. Every time one of them was torn down or shown a better way to do something, they took their lessons to heart and immediately fixed their mistakes.
Several minutes later, however, he began to feel bored. Sure, watching her make quick work of some of the best fighters on earth was pretty entertaining, but it did get boring after a minute. Nico was waiting dutifully behind him, and as usual there was no reason to make small talk — they both knew what the other would say before they could say it.
His royal guards were waiting in the hallway and a bit behind him on the balcony, remaining motionless and silent, as always. That left Alexis and Sophie.
Sophie stood back near the royal guards, not exactly comfortable with speaking to him at the moment considering their recent incident, while Alexis just kind of awkwardly stood there, likely wanting to talk to him but not being sure if she was allowed.
He could break the silence, make conversation and all that, but why would he when he had just had a much better idea.
"Hey Thals!" he called across the gym, instantly causing silence to blanket over the room. "It's been a while since we sparred, care to give it a go?"
Thalia shot him a grin from where she stood. "Oh you're so on kelp-for-brains. No powers?"
Percy scoffed. "Not if you want earth to be around after this." He hopped over the railing, Nico following close behind him.
His prospective royal guards stared between him and Thalia, unaware that anyone, much less a teenage girl that nobody had heard about, could speak to the emperor like that.
But more importantly, they were about to see two demigods spar.
"What's the score now? 18-20?" Thalia asked, scratching her head.
Percy shrugged. "Something like that, but it's been almost a year. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out."
She gained a glint in her eye. "How about a three way spar? Little Neeks hasn't been in a spar with us for years. I seem to recall I'm undefeated in our three person spars."
'Little Neeks' narrowed his eyes. "You won because you hid behind your shield while Percy and I fought each other. And I was eleven. If you want to be proud of beating an eleven year old then by all means," he scoffed.
Percy hid a smile. He could see what Thalia was doing, and it was working. He hadn't heard Nico — And gods how did he forget that his cousin was still only fifteen — call him anything other than 'Your Majesty' in weeks.
Thalia rolled her eyes, a teasing smile on her face. "Yeah, well let's see how well you do now, big shot."
Thalia pulled out her mace can and slapped her bracelet, her spear and Aegis coming to the forefront immediately.
Nico pulled his long sword out of his scabbard slowly, the screech of metal echoing through the gym.
Percy pulled his own weapon out, uncapping riptide and leaving his shield in reserve for now.
Sharing a glance, Nico and Thalia pushed toward Percy as one, and the spar began.
Backing up quickly, Percy swept aside Thalia's spear thrust before bringing his sword up to block at Nico's slash from his left.
The next instant he jumped over a low swing from Thalia and blocked a stab from Nico's sword, landing on his feet and sending a counter attack of his own at Nico.
Nico and Thalia had become incredibly powerful in their own right by virtue of being children of the big three while they were being worshipped so prominently, and yet Percy had been deified himself. There was a reason Thalia and Nico had both decided to try to take him out before dealing with each other.
Riptide clashed with Nico's blade, and Nico was sent back several steps.
Swiping at Thalia's spear to get it out of the way, he sent a kick at her shield and sent her flying halfway across the gym.
Nico narrowed his eyes. It was now a one on one, if only for a few seconds while Thalia recovered, and there was a reason that every spar they'd had had ended in a draw recently.
Every strike Percy could make Nico had predicted. Every kick dodged, every slash parried, and every grapple evaded. Percy prided himself on being rather unpredictable, so the first time that Nico had pulled this little stunt had pissed him off a bit. His only consolation was that under the storm of blades Nico was unable to get off any of his own counter attacks.
After several seconds of wailing on Nico and failing to do any real harm, Percy sensed Thalia charging at him from behind.
He could have dodged and continued the fight as it was, but he sensed a brief chance for an opening and so deployed his own shield, raising it to meet her spear before it could strike while his sword held Nico's at bay from the other end.
His muscles strained under the pressure. As incredibly strong as he was, each of his arms were straining against the pressure of a child of the big three, and his arms weren't enjoying it.
But there was his opportunity. This was unfamiliar ground, he had no idea how he would get out of this and no idea what he would do next.
This was a good and a bad thing. The reason it was bad was because obviously, being stuck between Thalia and Nico trying to force him into submission was not a pleasant experience. It should hypothetically be almost impossible to come out of this confrontation the victor. The reason it was good, however, was that there was no way that Nico knew what he would do next, because Percy himself had no idea. And if there was one thing Percy was really good at, it was improvising to overcome the impossible.
And as such, the opportunity.
Percy let his arms weaken, giving the impression that he was just a bit weaker than he was, but in reality he was slowly adjusting the position of his sword and shield to set them up for something that just might work.
After a couple seconds he was ready and let his arms slack. As one Nico's sword and Thalia's spear cut past his guard… and right into each other.
Flinging himself back, Percy had no time to regain his footing before he had to seize the opportunity and launch a kick at Nico.
Nico blocked it with his forearm, wincing at the force behind it which would have blown through meters of concrete.
It was just for a split second, but for that small amount of time both of Nico's arms were preoccupied, and Percy struck. Moving forward as fast as he could, he tackled Nico to the ground, letting Riptide rest against his neck while his left arm held down Nico's sword arm.
Percy didn't wait for him to say yield — if he had, he'd have been made into a kebab on the end of Thalia's spear. Instead he leaped off of Nico, bringing his shield up just in time to turn Thalia's thrust into a glancing blow that slightly cut his upper arm.
Percy struck back with an overhead blow aimed for her shoulder, but Aegis came up between them to block it. Thalia stumbled slightly from the attack, and Percy quickly pulled back to regain his footing.
The battlefield reset now, Percy launched himself at Thalia. She had the advantage of long reach, but if Percy could just get in her guard he would have the advantage.
For most spear users, being inside their guard with a three foot sword and a small shield was an instant win, but Thalia was a whole different breed.
So when Percy successfully got within the reach of her spear with only a deflection off his shield, he was not at all surprised when a fist met him there.
Thalia's fist met his face with a crack, causing him to wince and slightly stumble back.
Thalia took the opening, letting her spear shaft fall down her hand until she was holding it like a knife, she stabbed forward at his torso.
Percy moved his shield down as quickly as he could and managed to knock the blow aside, but her shield was already coming for his head.
Grunting, Percy dropped Riptide and reached his right hand up, catching the shield by the rim and stopping it from hitting him in the head. He raised his leg and kicked as hard as he could, sending Thalia careening back into a wall.
Scooping up Riptide, he charged after her as fast as he could and met her on her knees.
From there he levelled a flurry of blows on her. Strike after strike after strike landing on Aegis, slowly shattering her endurance until she dropped her shield and was left with a sword at her neck. It wasn't a pretty end to the fight. After all the acrobatics and neat tricks he had pulled, what had finally ended the fight was pure brute force.
Taking his sword away from her neck, Percy reached a hand out to help her up, laughing elatedly at the challenging fight.
"I guess that means I win." Percy said, grinning at Thalia.
Thalia just flipped him the bird through her panting while Nico made his way over to them.
The entire fight had lasted seconds, but fights were never the long drawn out things you saw in the movies. That had been the longest fight Percy had been in in a while. (Other than his never ending fights with Nico, that was)
"What's the score now, 0-4-1?" Thalia teased.
"I seem to recall all four of those victories occurred when this brat was eleven and I was fourteen. Looks like only one of us hasn't improved since then," he shot back.
Thalia groaned. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up. You have gotten better though."
"Did you expect anything else? It's been years and a whole great prophecy since we've had a chance to spar."
Nico arrived next to him. "We get it, you're really good. You think we should grab something to eat now? It's already one and you haven't eaten all day."
Percy shrugged, inwardly glad at Nico's change in attitude. He had to admit he laid it on a little thick blaming Nico for what happened. He still felt like Nico could have done more to stop it, but he wanted his cousin to be happy. Percy couldn't remember the last time Nico had been the one to suggest doing something. Usually he just came along with whatever Percy was doing, or went off and did his own thing with the intelligence agencies.
"Sounds good to me. Where are we going?" he asked, looking between the two.
Nico stared blankly into the air. "I haven't had a happy meal in forever." he mused.
Thalia nodded. "Usually I prefer preparing my food myself, but I have to admit I've been craving a cheeseburger for weeks."
"Then McDonalds it is," Percy decided, looking up at the balcony "Are we bringing the tagalongs with us?"
Nico frowned at the prospect while Thalia winced. "I'd like some catching up time between all of us, but they're a part of my family now, they're my sisters. I'd prefer we include them."
Percy let out a short sigh. "Alright. Let's get going, I'm starving."
Nico nodded, and with a flurry of shadows they were back on the balcony a moment later.
"Hey guys." Percy grinned. "What do you want from McDonalds?"
Percy sat in a booth with his cousins and the hunters Thalia had brought along, enjoying a few boxes of McNuggets. Thalia and her sisters were sitting across from them, Thalia seeming to be the only one comfortable with the situation.
Unlike his visit to the coffee shop to speak with Sadie, this conversation didn't need to be private, so they were joined by many other patrons around the restaurant, all of which were staring at the group. Nobody was allowed to come so much as near the place, of course, but that didn't stop many reporters from trying.
Percy could imagine the headlines now.
'Emperor Perseus endorses McDonalds despite health risks.'
He chuckled into his ranch at the thought. That would be an amusing article when it came out, he'd have to get Lacey to get him a copy.
But he'd worry about the media another time. Percy let a contented smile slip across his face as Thalia stole one of Nico's fries over some argument they were having.
No, for now he'd just enjoy his meal.
"It's been a while, huh?"
Nico nodded. "It has."
They were relaxing on Percy's balcony. His actual balcony that was, that connected to his room, not the landing pad that connected to his office.
The thing was still pretty huge and jutted out about a hundred feet from the tower. It had a small gazebo near the edge, a few small gardens here and there, a few benches, and even a fountain towards the middle.
He and Thalia were leaning against the railing which pointed out towards the capitol, enjoying the evening air. Thalia had left her sisters in a room Percy had provided, and Percy himself was currently inside dealing with some administrative emergency or the other. He had insisted, however, that Nico stay out here and catch up with Thalia.
So that's what he'd done, leaving them in the awkward silence they were currently in.
"You guys have it pretty good here, huh?"
Nico chuckled a bit at that. "You'd be surprised. More an ivory coated hell, to be honest."
Thalia pulled back. "What, seriously? I know… Things were bad, but they're getting better, right?"
Nico huffed. "After Annabeth, he went looking for Calypso. She's missing. He's also being forced to murder thousands of people a day, so no, things aren't going great at the moment."
Thalia remained silent for several moments. "I didn't know it was that bad…"
"It's fine. He's happier when you're here. I am too. All we have is each other at the moment, and we're too busy to actually spend time together like today. Today was a bit of a vacation for us. I have a few cities I'll have to clean up in the morning and doubtless Percy's gonna have meetings out the ass tomorrow, but I think it was worth it."
Thalia looked off the roof into the Manhattan skyline and opened her mouth to respond.
"Don't apologize. We needed to have this talk anyway."
Thalia looked back at him. "We did?" she raised an eyebrow.
Nico nodded. "I wanted to ask you to stay."
Thalia laughed incredulously. "Excuse me?"
"I want you to stay here with us. Help Percy run this country. Maybe take over his royal guard, you seemed to enjoy training them for the few minutes you did."
Thalia was speechless. "And what, just leave behind the hunt? I swore myself to Lady Artemis, Nico. I can't just… go back on my vows."
"Has she not gone back on her part? She doesn't care anymore, Thalia. I know you don't want to abandon your new sisters, so ask Percy, I'm sure he'd be willing to take them in. Even if you just want to advise him in… whatever, Percy needs you." Nico implored.
Thalia narrowed her eyes. "You keep saying that I could be there for Percy, that Percy needs me. What about you? What do you want?"
"What I want is what's best for Percy. It's the only reason I think I'm still going, to be honest. I made the conscious choice to not have a choice anymore. All the people I've killed, the deeds I've committed. I don't feel as bad about them, because at the end of the day I don't have a choice. Percy told me to, so I'll do it, without a thought about the possibility of disobeying. Percy doesn't have that luxury, he has the curse of choice."
Thalia frowned and crossed her arms. "That's no way to live, Nico. To live life for someone else, you might as well already be dead."
Nico shrugged. "If I'm dead then I'd rather be of use to Percy than switch places with him."
"I can't… I can't just leave the hunt, Nico."
"Why? I'm sure Lady Artemis would be fine with it if Percy asked. I'm pretty sure she'd dissolve the entire thing, to be honest. It's your choice. You can make the Hunt do—"
"So what are you asking me to do? Give up my whole life to Percy like you have?"
Nico stared back, unimpressed. "You swore yourself to a goddess you barely knew when you were basically twelve. This oath is a bit more binding, sure, but you swore yourself to a goddess you had just met so that you could avoid a prophecy and let Percy deal with it instead."
"What?! No, I—"
"Because as much as Percy has forgiven you for it, I haven't. I understand why you did it, but you threw your cousin under the bus because you were afraid. And instead, he had to deal with the pressure of the great prophecy while you hunted with your immortal girl scouts."
"I didn't join the hunt because I was afraid! At least, not mostly. I was afraid that I'd make the wrong decision. I trusted Percy to make the right one, and I was correct."
"So what, you swear your life to some goddess because you trust Percy, but now that I'm asking you to swear yourself to him, it's unreasonable? Your life isn't even your own, Thalia, you gave it to Artemis years ago in return for saving you from the great prophecy. What's a change in owner going to do?"
Thalia's eyes lit up with lightning and she punched him in the cheek, splitting skin and sending blood splattering across the pavement.
"Don't talk about me as if I'm just some thing to be traded, like a piece of property!"
"Aren't you, though? Aren't we all just that? If Percy asked, Artemis would tell you to do anything he said. If Percy asked, I'd have no choice but to kill you here and now without a second thought. The difference is that I know Percy wouldn't do that, and Artemis would. You've given yourself to a mistress you barely know, with the morals of a being as old as humanity. I chose my master, but you didn't, not really. Can you tell me right now that you trust in Artemis' decision making or moral judgements over Percy's?"
Thalia remained silent, staring at her cousin wiping blood off of his face.
"Your hesitation speaks for itself. You're not swearing your freedom away; you never had any. You're just giving your loyalty to someone you trust more."
"I… I'll think about it." Thalia muttered, looking off the edge of the balcony.
Nico nodded, staring back through the windows at where Percy was hunched over a table with Reyna and Lacey.
"That's all I'm asking."
They spent the remaining few minutes before Percy came out of his impromptu meeting in silence.
"What was that about?" Thalia asked.
Percy gave them both a look, no doubt having felt Thalia punch Nico, but decided that they had moved past whatever had caused the fight, at least for now. Maybe he'd do some couples therapy later.
"Just China showing off their stuff. We pulled out of the Spratly islands a couple days ago so they're feeling a bit big for their boots and decided to demand some islands further east."
Thalia raised an eyebrow, while Nico looked entirely unsurprised. As always, he was constantly aware of what was happening around Percy.
"What was your response?" Thalia asked, not being able to stop her curiosity.
"I told them to fuck off, sank half their navy and then threw a hurricaine or two at Beijing." he shrugged.
Thalia raised an eyebrow. "That could be a lot of people getting hurt, Percy."
Percy stretched, seemingly unconcerned with the question he must have asked himself a dozen times.
"One thing I've learned is that it's much better to scare them into submission and kill a few than let many more die. Sure, a few will die to the storms and there were people on those boats with children and families and whatever, but what happens if China decides they can just do whatever they want, now that America has other concerns? There would be no more effort on my part, just a snap of the fingers really, but it'd be millions dying instead of thousands. It's best to counter these things before they can have a chance to fester."
Thalia glanced at Nico. "Yeah, I guess. Politics was never my interest, anyway. But I need to head back for the night and talk to Sophie and Alexis. I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?"
Percy shrugged. "Show up at my office or the throne room, I'll make sure you have full access. Assuming I'm not off on a personal project, I should be there." he said.
Nodding, Thalia turned away and walked back inside, a small escort meeting her to take her to her room.
"So what did you guys talk about?" Percy asked, leaning back on the railing until he was almost falling over. Not like something as trivial as gravity could ever do anything to him anymore.
Nico shrugged. "I called her out for a few things she should have been called out for long ago. Some truths she needed to accept about herself. I think she's better off now."
"Oh Nico, such a people person." Percy chuckled, shaking his head. "I did have one thing I wanted to talk to you about before I get back to work, though. I've been thinking about Calypso. She wasn't on Ogygia, and while Zeus suggested Tartarus was a possibility, it just doesn't sound right."
Nico raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps during the war with the Giants?.."
"Maybe. Maybe the Giants took her — or Gaea, but why would they? She really wouldn't help much, and it wasn't like they used her as a hostage or something. Zeus' suggestion about how she might be in Tartarus, my instincts tell me otherwise." Percy turned to look at Nico, "Zeus might not pay attention, but he would know if an Olympian gave Calypso a visit or not. But if someone less powerful; off Zeus' radar were to…
"I want a full investigation. All our intelligence services on alert. Anyone named Calypso, anyone that fits her description. I want pictures, names, and locations on my desk as soon as we're able." he said.
Nico nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem. It'll be done, your majesty." Nico gave a short bow and disappeared into shadow to carry out his task, missing the displeased frown on Percy's face as he left.
Happy spooky day!
Next chapter November 30
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