Beta'd by PraetorFable
Co-Written by Vanadium Oxide
"They say all beauty must die,
I say it just moves on."
Matthew Shadows, Save me
Chapter XVIII
The Thirteenth of June
Thirty Eight Days A.B.M
It was a full session of senate, every one of the hundreds of newly minted senators were present, as well as the entirety of the house of lords in their own section.
Maria had informed the senate, house of lords, and the little remaining press that hadn't been shut down by the Office of Royal Intelligence that she had an announcement to make tonight, and now millions of eyes were on her. It was daunting, to say the least. But she had been told to do so by her emperor — what choice did she have?
Maria glanced at the scepter placed beside her on her seat, standing proudly as a permanent fixture of her authority, through him. When had she begun thinking of him as her emperor, as his majesty, instead of just a boy who had enough power to exploit?
The invisible staircase must have done it, if not the clouds that stormed when his anger erupted, or the way the officers in the spire snapped to obey his command, even the officers he hadn't put in place. Whatever was going on… there was something legitimate to his claims, of that she was sure.
She glanced at her watch. Sure enough, the time had come. 8PM. Rather late for a senate-wide address, but this is what she had been able to sneak into their schedule.
Her deputy prime minister turned on his microphone, speaking into it. "Presenting the prime minister of The Empire, Madame Sharpe. The floor is yours, madame prime minister."
The floor quited, and Maria nodded at her deputy. "I call the senate to session tonight to give you an address from our emperor. I've consulted with his majesty, and he has reminded me of several truths. This is a legislative body, and not one which discusses foreign affairs, nor that of our military or any executive agency. Those authorities, per the constitution of the empire and synonymous with royal decree, lay with his imperial majesty and the office of the prime minister alone."
Outrage, as predicted, followed her statement. If anyone had actually read the constitution presented to them in any depth, they would be all too aware that it had been the case from the beginning. But the old ways of the congress had blinded them. A congress that had power of committee; one that declared wars and made dictated foreign policy. A congress didn't just make laws to police citizens and nothing else.
"Order. There will be order!"
Maria tried, in vain, to hush out criticism but already many senators were crying out an uproar. She was mostly done with her short announcement, but she couldn't just let the senate dispute her decree like that. She had the authority of the emperor, didn't she? They weren't allowed to dispute her announcement, and not only because it had come from the constitution and his majesty.
Her attention was drawn away from the roaring legislature and to a door on her far left which slammed open.
Apparently she wasn't the only one, as most of the protests quieted, senators and lords alike looking to the door to see who was making such a disruption. Only those on the center podium with her could see what was approaching the senate chamber. Maria paled, and minority leader McLean stood, likely just as alarmed as Maria.
This… wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't even close to scheduled, and he hadn't deigned to so much as enter the senate building before now.
Two royal guards stepped into the room, sharply snapping to make a small aisle. "Announcing his imperial majesty, first emperor of the Olympian Empire, second prince of Atlantis, champion of Olympus, bane of titans, giant slayer, Perseus Jackson."
Maria swallowed, her throat suddenly dry.
Two columns of imperial guards entered the room in a slow march. Many of them looked to have recently healed wounds, and some of them were still injured, gashes on their arms hastily covered up by gauze. And yet they were here, walking with their backs straight, perfectly rigid, into the senate chambers. There must have been hundreds of them, with how far they continued. All the way from the entrance to the podium Maria herself stood on. She tried not to make the tensing of her muscles too obvious, as several took place behind her, just in front of the throne.
Then, just as the first two had, every one of the guards snapped to face inwards, making a perfect walkway.
"Hail, your majesty!"
That's when he walked in, escorted by two other teenagers. His lapdog, like usual, stood behind him to his left, dark clothes and black sword giving him a relatively intimidating presence for a young teenager. Maria would have thought he was just being edgy, but videos of him cutting down trained soldiers by the dozen had changed that perception.
This time there was another one opposite of him. This one was a girl who looked like she might have been picked out of the early two thousands, dyed streaks in her hair, black jeans and a leather jacket. This one had her weapons fully out, a spear in her right hand and a shield on her left. Maria flinched at the sight of it, the horrifying visage on the front making her uncomfortable even from this far away.
His majesty had a couple of light gashes on his face, small scars that would heal soon enough, looking slightly better than when she had last seen him. He was in armor, too, with his crown on his head and his sword hanging by his side. It helped the public image, even if it wasn't exactly the cutting image of a politician in a nicely furnished suit, it was much better than the jeans and a t-shirt he often donned.
Maria's mind flashed back to the crash course on being a prime minister she had been given after his majesty had left the throne room.
When his majesty enters a room, those who are not sworn to protect him kneel. That includes you, and that includes me. There are no exceptions.
Maria slowly bent down, lowering onto a knee and dipping her head towards the entrance.
One by one those around the senate chamber took her lead as a hint to do the same, following her example with haste, though some were more reluctant than others, and some more sincere in their reverence.
The room was silent as he walked the distance to his throne, Maria was only able to hear the sound of her own breathing and the soft clanking of his armor.
Soon enough he climbed the stairs to the podium she kneeled on, and then past her, before finally settling on his throne.
As soon as he sat down it was like a switch had been flicked. Every one of the hundreds of royal guards pulled a 180 to face the stands, walking to positions among them. Hundreds more guards entered the room from every entrance, flooding the stands and making many senators nervous. There had to be a guard for every senator by now, if not more so. They absolutely covered the room, the only perceivable noise was the marching of their hundreds of feet. Not a word was spoken.
Within moments, silence took the room once more, the marching footsteps ceasing with the guard's movement.
"You may rise."
He spoke normally, but somehow she was sure that his voice had reached every corner of the room. He didn't even have a microphone.
Maria quickly stood, facing his throne.
His eyes flickered to her and unlike their rather casual conversation days before, she felt like crawling into a small hole far, far away from here.
"Madame Prime Minister, I believe you were in the middle of an address. You may continue."
Maria nodded, schooling her features as best she could and turning back to look outwards to the senate.
"Effective immediately, activities which are not within the renewed purview of the senate shall be struck from all current and future agendas. Any effort to undermine this will be met with punishment equal to contempt."
There were some grumblings in the stands, but this time nobody called out in protest.
"That will be all, your majesty." Maria turned back to look up at him.
He nodded. "Thank you, madame prime minister. I have an announcement of my own to make."
Maria pursed her lips, nodding and stepping back to make sure she wasn't at all in his way.
He didn't bother to stand for his announcement, apparently deciding to give it from his throne.
Letting his eyes roam over the masses of expectant politicians, he spoke. "From this day forth, the worship of the Greek gods by mortals is compulsory. Worship of any false gods is to be punished by immediate execution, as is a refusal to openly worship the gods, or any protest of this new royal decree."
Maria's blood ran cold.
She stared at him, unable to look away. This… this was a joke, right? Or a dream, a really, really bad dream. Sure, he had technically seized power for himself but so far, everything was mostly looking fine. Free speech was… limited, to say the least, but otherwise life continued as it had before. The people decided their own laws, and Maria herself was in charge of almost everything the senate didn't decide. And she had been elected by the people, so really it was still more or less a democracy.
But this? This was… huge.
Maria glanced into the stands. Someone had to be outraged at this, right? The silence could not be everyone agreeing to just go along with it. Her own party should be up in arms about this, if she wasn't prime minister, she'd—
Oh.
Within the stands, each of the senators sat tensed, looking as white as she probably did. Behind every single one of them stood a royal guard. Faces barely visible through their masks, they stood imposingly, spears and shields as rigidly straight as their backs, ready at any moment to put down an unruly senator.
Glancing at the house of lords, she saw several lords stand and then quickly sit back down, their jaws clicking shut, almost involuntarily. She glanced at Perseus. That had to be his doing, somehow, or one of the other gods.
She had briefly forgotten how the man in front of her had risen to power, the rivers of blood that had flown in his trail. He was not a boy, he was a killer. For some reason, they had all forgotten that. Despite the rebellions brutally put down, despite the disappearances in the middle of the night, she had forgotten that he was not above killings, mass executions, to get his way.
Maria dipped her head. If he was willing to brutally murder those who stepped out of line, she would just have to make sure she never did.
"Hail, your majesty."
"Hail, your majesty!" Royal guards echoed her call around the room.
An Optimates senator stood from his seat. "Hail, your majesty!"
"Hail, your majesty!"
"Hail, your majesty!"
"Hail, your majesty!"
"Hail, your majesty!"
Soon enough every senator in the optimates party was chanting, and then soon after that every senator in the chamber had started chanting, afraid what would happen if they didn't. Soon enough, the chant had evolved to a simpler form.
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
And through it all, he sat there pleasantly, as if he was observing a midsummer day.
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
"Hail!"
…
Percy retched, throwing up what was left of his lunch directly into the toilet. Sadie rubbed his back, and he didn't know if he was thankful for her help or if he just wanted her to go away.
Nico and Thalia were there, too. Nico was his usual stoic self, though even he seemed a bit concerned. Thalia was more open about her feelings.
"I'm gonna kill him. I'm actually gonna kill him."
Percy retched again, dry heaving. There was nothing left to throw up. Luckily Nico had the foresight to cut them off from divine senses, as Percy was way too out of it to do anything of the sort at the moment.
"Calm down, Thalia." Nico finally spoke, interrupting his cousin's ranting.
"Calm down? Calm down?!" She grabbed the cuffs of his jacket, and Nico stared back passively. "After what my own lazy ass excuse of a father just ordered Percy to do? After what it's doing to him?"
Nico was unimpressed. "Will ranting against him help your case? We both know we can't do anything to him, the only one that can at this point is Percy, and that would be a very bad idea for everyone involved."
Thalia snarled, pushing him up against the wall. "That's no excuse. I swear I'll castrate him and feed him his own—"
"Will you cut it out!" Thalia and Nico looked over at Sadie. "Percy's incapacitated for five minutes and you two can't, I don't know, be supportive of him instead of fighting between yourselves?"
Thalia glanced at Nico, releasing him and stepping back with a huff.
"And can one of you please get his girlfriend? You'd think he might want her here for this."
Thalia and Nico glanced at each other, before Thalia shrugged. Seconds later, Nico evaporated into shadows.
Thalia redirected her attention to Percy. He was hyperventilating now, retching every now and then but mostly just rapidly breathing.
"In and out, in and out. Try to breathe nice and slow." Sadie kept rubbing his back, and Percy's breath slowed significantly, almost sounding normal.
A few moments later Nico reappeared holding Sasha's arm. She immediately kneeled on his other side, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Her eyes were wide, and she glanced up at Nico. "What happened? You said he needed me, but I didn't know—"
"Don't worry about it for now. Just know that he needs our help." It was Sadie that answered.
Sasha pursed her lips, but nodded.
Percy coughed out the last remnants of liquid from his stomach, and flushed the toilet. Clenching a fist, water from the sink flowed out and to his mouth, rinsing it and then depositing in the flushing toilet.
Percy leaned back, settling against a bathroom wall, trying to take deep breaths. Sasha sat on his left, Sadie settling in on his right. Thalia and Nico both continued standing, and Percy suddenly felt very uncomfortable with all the attention on him.
"It's alright, Percy. We're here. We're all here." Sasha took his arm in hers, and Percy's mouth went dry, fighting not to glance at Sadie — his now wife. This… they would have to figure this out. But now wasn't the time for that.
Percy stood, his two… paramours? Echoing him. "I need to go manage this situation, not sit here."
Sadie grabbed his arm, echoing Sasha, and shot him a glare. "And what exactly are you going to do to manage this situation? I know for a fact you haven't slept since Egypt, you need rest."
Percy's protests were cut off by Thalia speaking up. "I agree, you should sleep. If worse comes to worst, Nico and I can take on the rest of the planet in a straight fight. Let us do our jobs and take care of this for you."
Percy shot her a glare. "You're supposed to be on my side."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Sorry if I don't just sit there and silently brood like Neeks. Tell me to jump and I'll ask how high, but you haven't told me not to give my opinion."
Nico narrowed his eyes at her, and Percy shook his head. "No. It's my fault this is happening, and—"
"In what world is this your fault?" Sadie looked like she wanted to slap him. "Don't you ever say that again. Now, go to bed. Your very dedicated servants will take care of things while you're asleep."
Sasha nodded. "We'll have everything taken care of. Please, get some rest."
Percy glanced around hopelessly, his gaze settling on Nico, who promptly averted his eyes.
Percy huffed. "I'll rest for two hours. That's it."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "I would lie to you and tell you I'll totally wake you up in two hours, but I'm kind of not physically able to be dishonest to you. Go to sleep, get 8 hours, and then I'll wake you."
Percy shook his head, staring her down. "Wake me in two hours. I have things to take care of."
Thalia frowned. "That's... low. Fine, you'll be awake in two hours, bossman."
Percy nodded his thanks, ignoring her protests, and walked out of the room, leaving only his circle within.
"So, how do we manage this?"
Nico rolled his eyes at Sadie. "You don't need to manage anything, Thalia and I can handle this. We'll send some units countryside and command on the front lines, assuming Thalia has someone to run the royal guard."
Thalia winced. "No, actually. Beason was among the dead. I have a few replacements in mind but nothing I've acted on yet. They can take care of themselves while I take a vacation to Canada, though."
Sadie huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm not talking about the war, or the mass genocide about to take place. I'm talking about the incredibly mentally damaged friend we all have in common a room over."
Nico raised an eyebrow. "Careful how you talk about him, he's a lot closer to omniscient than any of us will ever be. And he can take care of himself. I've seen it time and time again."
Sasha frowned. "I agree. If he wants us to help he'll ask for it. Our job is to serve him, not pry. For all we know, we could just be pushing too hard. Maybe he needs time alone."
Thalia snorted. "Right, cause leaving him alone worked well after the Arachne event, right? He still has repressed trauma from that, much less after losing Annabeth, and then the stresses of running an empire, and then on top of that he has this on his conscience. When are we going to stop pretending everything is fine?"
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Arachne event?"
Sadie nodded curiously. "I hadn't heard of it either."
Thalia and Nico shared a look, before Nico shook his head.
Thalia frowned "They have a right to know—"
"They have a right to know nothing," Nico's eyes narrowed, his hand settling on his sword. "His life is his to deal with. If he wants to tell them, he will."
Thalia narrowed her own eyes, sparks beginning to run over her knuckles. "So what are we? Are we not his friends? Is that not what we're here for? I know you wish you could be an object for him to use, but you're still a person."
Nico grit his teeth, but Sasha spoke before he could.
"Thalia, it's okay. Our jobs are to serve him, not to interfere with his life. We all swore our oaths. If he doesn't want us to intervene, then we won't."
"I, for one, haven't sworn to such an oath." Sadie stepped forward, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm not some sworn servant, and servant or not, we're all his friends, right? I can't help him if I don't know what's happened."
Nico scowled. "He'll tell them if he wants, and that's final."
Thalia narrowed her eyes. "You're not in charge here. Just because you were his first, you think it gives you the right to tell us what's best?"
"No, just that I was here when you all weren't. When you left to prance around with the immortal girl scouts and Sadie went back to the Egyptians."
Thalia bit her tongue and lowered her voice. "I get it, I fucked up. But I've sworn myself to him, I'm not leaving. What else do you want me to do?"
Nico lowered his voice in turn, leaning forward. "I don't want you to do anything except recognize that you haven't been with him through all this, that you don't know what's best for him. He does."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "That's why he's clearly doing so well right now."
"What, now what's happening is somehow his fault?"
"No, of course not. It's just—"
"Will you both shut up?"
Thalia blinked, looking at Sadie.
"If we don't know then we don't know. Whatever. I'll just ask him later. You two fighting will hurt him more than anything else could. You need to be there for him, not fighting amongst yourselves at his most vulnerable moment."
Thalia and Nico glanced at each other. Eventually, Thalia shrugged. "Whatever. Just take me to the biggest command post we have on the border with Canada. I'll take care of things in the north if you can in the south."
Nico didn't look happy, but he didn't say anything. He just grabbed her elbow and a moment later they were gone.
Sasha frowned. She didn't know what to do now. It didn't feel right to just… go back to researching. Maybe going and laying next to Percy might help him when he woke, but it felt too much like wasting time — like she was taking a break when everything was going to hell. Speaking of…
"What exactly happened? Why… why was he like that?"
It was Sadie's time to look away. "Sky guy," Sadie jerked her head upwards. "Ordered Percy to… well, make worshipping the gods mandatory. Under threat of death."
Sasha winced. "Okay—that's bad. I can see how that's a problem. What… what do we do now?"
Sadie looked away again. "That isn't all he forced Percy into. He…" Sadie steeled herself, looking back at Sasha. "Well, he married us."
Sasha blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"His majesty married myself and Percy. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm pretty sure it's so they can control the Egyptians through me. Technically, Percy is the Pharaoh of Egypt now, through some convoluted succession systems."
Sasha swallowed, before leaning back for support. "So… His majesty— Percy… What does this mean for us, exactly?"
Sadie shrugged, "I'm not certain, but I think that's up to you. He clearly cares for you, more than me, anyway, even if we are legally married. I think it might be best if you stay with him."
Sasha glanced at her hopelessly. "Then what will you do?"
Sadie shrugged. "That's up to Percy, isn't it? If he wants to try, or just acknowledge our marriage as the sham it is right out the gate."
"But what do you want?"
"I'm… not sure. I think I'd like to try. I've never been exactly a sap for romance, but, well, I do like happy endings and Percy is… well, he's Percy. He isn't Walt, but, I think I'll try at it."
Sasha glanced away. "So… which one of us…?"
Sadie pursed her lips. "I'm not sure… maybe both? You should know better than I,
Is this thing normal for Greeks? Well, anyway, this conversation is pointless unless he's awake."
Sasha nodded uneasily, agreeing. He would know what the right thing to do would be; whatever it was.
Thalia and Nico popped out of the shadows in northern New York State, in the middle of a hastily assembled forward operating base. Guns were raised at them, and then hastily lowered once the soldiers realized who they were pointing weapons at. Thalia glanced around for a moment, jerking her chin towards a large tent towards the center of the camp.
Nico nodded, and they moved as one. Soldiers saluted where they saw them, staying as still as possible in an effort to preserve their own lifespan.
They entered the command tent unimpeded to several officers standing over a map of New England, arguing. Thalia glanced at the table, noting the different rectangles and diamonds with weird symbols in them placed all over the map. She could guess the red ones were enemy forces and the blue ones were their own forces, but other than that she had no idea what they meant.
One of the officers glanced at who was entering the tent and promptly did a double take.
"My lord!" he snapped to a salute, turning to them as quickly as he could without getting whiplash.
The rest looked where he was saluting and promptly did the same. Thalia frowned. It seemed she didn't quite have a reputation yet.
"His majesty has placed Lady Thalia in charge of the northern theater. You are now all under her command." Nico nodded at her and then disappeared into the shadows, presumably to go take charge on the southern front.
Thalia turned her gaze back onto the still saluting officers, who were now eyeing her with more than a little skepticism.
"At ease." She was at least familiar enough with the military to know that. As one they dropped their salute and stood with their hands behind their back. "I'm not a general, and I won't pretend I know how to command an army. I'll leave that to the professionals. Instead, think of me as you as your biggest gun." Thalia stepped up to the table, looking across the map. "So, tell me where you need me."
"I told you my lady, audiences with his majesty must be scheduled ahead of time."
Piper frustratedly tapped her foot on the steps outside of the Empire State Building. "Then I'm visiting as a friend. Surely, you could just let him know I'm here?"
She momentarily entertained the idea of charmspeaking the guards. It would've been easy — they were mortals, after all.
But she decided to restrain herself. It would only cause more drama later on and she did not want the responsibility of causing Nico to up Percy's security even further.
"Audiences with his majesty—"
"Must be scheduled ahead of time, yeah, yeah I get it," she said, leaning on her back foot. "But is there no other demigod inside that can vouch for me?" The two guards that stood at the door glanced at each other. Turning back to her, the more stout one of them spoke, "Wait here."
Piper nodded her gratitude, going back to waiting as patiently as she could. It wasn't a few minutes later that the shadows around her grew thicker, and Piper yelped when Nico popped out of a corner.
"What's up?" Nico said nonchalantly, as if he'd just walked through the front door. She'd known him for years, now, but despite herself, she was never truly able to be at ease with him in the room.
Piper shook herself out of her temporary shock. "I'm here to speak with Percy."
The guards shifted uncomfortably, and Nico narrowed his eyes.
"His Majesty," he stressed the words, "is preoccupied for the next few hours. You can come back tomorrow. I'm sure he'll make time for you then."
Piper crossed her arms impatiently. "It's important that I talk to him, I'm fine with waiting a few hours."
Nico looked on the verge of rolling his eyes, then looked around at the warm spring night. "Then you can wait out here. I'll let his majesty know you're here as soon as he's available."
Piper huffed, then sat down on the steps she stood on. If all it took to get to the bottom of this was to wait out here until midnight, she would.
Thousands poured through the streets of Paris, flags waving in every other hand. Police and Gendarmerie tried desperately to contain the crowds, but they only took it as a challenge — pushing out wherever the police threatened to contain them.
It had been called the 'Second Revolution' by many. Emboldened by their revolutionary past and growing discontent, the declaration of war by the French president had been the match to light the powder keg.
"For Olympus! For Perseus!"
Chants echoed all throughout the city, millions making their support known. The flags they waved weren't of any nation— at least, not the official flag of any nation. The flags they were waving were of a simple platinum crown glowing a teal green with a pitch black background, fashioned after the crown that the emperor himself wore.
Investigators had never been able to find out who shot the first bullet, whether they seeked to incite the revolution or simply felt in great personal danger. They'd never been able to find out why, or where. But they did know they were likely dead in seconds.
The now unruly mob surged forward at the crack of the gun, almost immediately overwhelming the police who were forced to fire their own weapons in defense, creating a dangerous cycle, which ended up with every officer present at the site of the revolution dead on the spot.
The scene echoed all around Paris; the people who could hear the gunshot charged the police, forcing them to shoot, causing them to be overwhelmed in seconds, and then civilians further away heard the shots, causing the process to repeat. The entire city was lost in minutes, more secure buildings like police stations and the Elysee Palace falling within the hour.
And the world held its breath.
Percy sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling that weird sensation he was becoming more and more familiar with. Had it been 2 hours already?
Swinging himself out of bed, he let himself sit there for a few moments, just trying to wake up. 2 hours of sleep after so long awake felt like such a tease. Pushing through his desire to lay back down, he stood up and started stripping. He may have fallen asleep in his clothes but he really did need a shower, and it would certainly help wake him up.
"Anything of note?"
Nico kept his eyes on the bed. "Piper is waiting for you outside, and Sadie and Sasha both asked to be let known when you are next available. I think the cat's out of the bag on that one."
Percy buried his face in his hands. That was an entire different situation to deal with. It had far less ramifications than anything else he had to deal with, but for some reason it felt just as stress-inducing.
"Also, the Cyclopes are ready. For that."
That piqued his interest, causing him to glance at Nico. "Good. Great, even. Have it done as soon as possible. The situation on the fronts?"
Nico shrugged. "I have a few hundred thousand undead swarming the Mexican army at the moment, and last I heard half of NATOs forces have been evaporated."
Percy let out a sigh. "That's actually a relief. This is going quicker than even I could have hoped."
Nico nodded. "Revolutions are picking up all over the world. France actually fell a few minutes after your… speech. A few others as well, but nothing as significant."
Percy blinked, pulling off the last of his clothes and beginning to make his way towards the shower. "I'll make another public announcement. Might as well welcome them into the empire," he murmured, more to himself than Nico, before glancing back at him. "Get someone to make a map of the areas folding to our control.
Nico dipped his head, making sure he avoided any eye contact whatsoever. Percy disappeared into the shower and Nico sighed, disappearing back into shadow. Might as well put down a mob or two while he had the spare time.
"Those on trial here today stand accused of forsaking the guidance of the gods of Olympus, and refusing to pledge their allegiance and eternal worship to his majesty. How do each of you plead?"
The two dozen civilians sat huddled up against the city wall. Small children hugged their parents legs, and lovers clung to one another.
"No objections? I think that is the answer in and of itself. You may continue."
The judge nodded to the police officer and turned away. The officer nodded in turn, and then turned back to his own men.
"Ready. Aim. Fire!"
Screams filled the night air, gunshots covering them up. Blood ran down the wall covered in bullet holes. A small crowd was gathered around from the millions of passersby in the city.
"Bring in the next batch. I'd like to be done with this tonight so I can get home."
One of the officers grunted, signalling the prisoners to take away the bodies. Moments later another group of civilians stood against the walls.
"Those on trial here today stand accused of…"
"My lady, his majesty will see you now."
Piper blinked, looking up at the royal guard who she just now noticed was standing over her.
Hoping he couldn't see her blushing in the dim light of the night, she gave him a nod of gratitude and stood up, following him into the tower.
It was the second time she had entered his throne room, and yet it didn't fail to evoke the same mix of awe and disgust it had the first time. Awe because, well, it was beautiful. The power and clear history radiating throughout the room was undeniable, and it was perhaps the largest reminder she'd had that Percy was not your average demigod.
But she also felt disgust, because despite being on another level, Percy was still just a person. For anyone to be elevated to this level — to have the elected officials of the human race grovel before them, to have every person they greet lower themselves before him — it was archaic. It was medieval. It was disgusting.
Piper wasn't surprised to see that Percy wasn't actually on his throne when she arrived — he'd make her wait for him in some petty power play, like last time. But she was surprised when the royal guard kept leading her towards a side door, instead of simply telling her to wait here.
She was led into an elevator, being joined by another royal guard along the way. She wasn't sure if she was offended Percy thought she had to be under armed guard, or if she was thankful he was only putting a token guard of two mortals to guard her.
When the elevator finally opened, it wasn't what she was expecting. She figured there would be another, smaller throne room somewhere where he could lord himself over her, or something similar. Instead, they exited into a hallway.
The hallway was opulent, sure. Red carpet lined the floors and marble columns held up the walls, but she wasn't sure where she was supposed to go from here. Apparently her confusion was evident, because the guards led her a few feet down the hallway, to a door where another pair of royal guards stood.
One of them knocked. "Lady McLean is here, your majesty."
A moment later, Percy himself opened the door.
"Piper," he greeted with an uneven smile. He looked like he wanted to do more, but he just stepped out of the way. "Come on in."
Piper did, uneasily. Her two escorts moved to enter behind her, but with a signal from Percy they backed off.
Percy closed the door behind her and walked to take a seat at a nearby table. "I heard you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"
Piper put her hands on her hips and levelled her best unimpressed stare at him.
Percy stared back, raising an eyebrow. "I heard you wanted to talk to me, not just stare at me. But if that's all, I'm a busy man," he started getting up.
"Busy killing mortals? Yeah, I've heard."
Percy sat back down, leaning his head back in exasperation. "Well, there it is. Is there anything productive you wanted to discuss, or did you just come up here to scold me?"
Piper scowled. "You're unbelievable. You have the nerve to pull what you just did and then act like I'm an inconvenience for calling you on how insane it is?"
Percy shrugged, "And?"
Piper sneered at him. "I can't believe what you're doing — who you've become. Annabeth would be disgusted with you."
Piper turned to leave the room.
"Would you like to be my chief diplomat?"
Piper paused. "What?"
"My chief diplomat." Percy said, glancing out the window to his left. "I figured you'd be good for the job."
Piper turned back to Percy and crossed her arms. "You mean you want to use me to expand your empire. Yeah, no thanks."
Percy shrugged. "Well, I tried. For the record, I can expand My Empire with or without your help. The only difference is the method," Percy stressed, before returning his gaze toward Piper. "I can walk into London and walk out with the British Isles under my control the same day. Or you can walk into London, and walk out with the British Isles under my control the same day. The only difference…"
Piper pursed her lips. "Yeah… I get it. Fine. I'll do it, but not for you. Every time you take pleasure in expanding your empire through me, know I'm doing it to help the conquered — not you."
Percy nodded, glanced away, and waved her off.
Piper swallowed. She wasn't sure what she wanted to happen when she finally confronted him. Maybe an apology, maybe just an admission of guilt — that he'd changed for the worse, and that he was trying to get better. He had sat there so cooly, almost unperturbed at her mentioning of Annabeth. She didn't know what to think of it. With a frown, Piper made her way out of the room.
Piper didn't want excuses. She didn't want the explanation that he'd been 'forced' into it, nobody really did. She wanted someone to blame, someone to take the fall for the horrible change that had occurred in the last few months. She was just like everyone else, wanting a figure to blame it on. That's okay, Percy could be that figure. There was nothing she or anyone else could do to harm him, not anymore.
He had to admit, what she had said about Annabeth… it stung. But that was alright, the least he could take was a little sting. Hades, she was probably right about Annabeth too.
Percy allowed himself to close his eyes for a few moments before forcing himself to stand up and stretch. "Can you do me a favor and get the girls?"
There was no visible response but moments later the shadows in the room drew towards the floor right before him, and Sasha and Sadie appeared.
Percy smiled, genuinely glad to see them. It felt like it had been a while, even if it hadn't been more than a few hours.
He nodded at both of them. "So, you two wanted to talk."
Sadie nodded. "She knows."
Percy held in a sigh. "I know. I hardly meant to keep it from you," he turned to Sasha "but everything just happened so fast—"
Sasha rested her hand on his upper arm with a smile. "I get it, trust me. I trust you were going to tell me."
Percy nodded. "So… I'm gonna be honest. I don't know how to deal with this. I'm pretty out of my depth here."
Sasha and Sadie shared a glance, and Sasha spoke up. "We were thinking… if you're alright with it that is… that we could try… a polygamous relationship."
Percy blinked. "You mean like… No, that's— I can't."
Sasha just nodded, and Sadie looked at him hopelessly, 'then what are we gonna do' going unspoken.
"At least… definitely not right now. I don't know what to tell you, but I do know this isn't fair for any of us. We'll… we'll figure this out. But I don't think now is the time to do it."
Sasha nodded. "I understand." She glanced at Sadie. "We'll be going, then. This is a big decision, and you should have as much time to think about it as you like."
Percy winced. "Yeah… thank you…" he trailed off. He had more confidence facing down the most powerful mortals on the planet than he did here and now. "I… I'll try and let you know when it'd be a better time to talk about everything, but with everything going on right now…"
"Trust me, we get it." Sadie sent him the best smile she could manage. "Sasha and I will get out of your hair. In fact, I think you said you were interested in learning some Egyptian magic, right?"
Sasha looked genuinely interested in that, and Percy smiled when she perked up. "Would you teach me?!"
Percy smiled at the two as Sadie led Sasha out of the room. It was good that they were getting along, at least. This situation could have been way uglier, had it gone any other way.
He sighed, shaking his head. He'd just put it off again. He couldn't do that for long without ruffling a lot of feathers, and screwing himself in the process. War was easier than this — a lot easier, really.
"Hey Nico, get me a line to Thalia."
A moment later a phone appeared on the table next to him, open and on the contacts list. It only had one contact.
Percy shrugged, and pressed the call button.
"...where do you need me?"
The oldest officer in the room — a general, by the looks of it — was the one to speak. Clearing his throat, he spoke up. "What exactly can you do?" His voice came out grainy and slow, as if he'd spent a career yelling, and had just begun to speak softly.
Thalia shrugged. "Point me at something and consider it as good as gone. As far as mortals go, nothing should be worth worrying about."
"As you say, my lady," the general nodded cooly with consideration, before glancing down at the war maps before them. "In that case, I believe we need you at Niagara. Everywhere else, we've been able to push with ease, but considering the small front and resistance in the lakes, we've had trouble with our initial push into Southern Ontario. Breaking through and capturing Hamilton will allow us a staging ground for the campaign for Toronto, Canada's central economic and logistic location." Pausing, the general looked around for any disagreements from his compatriots. The room remained silent. "Good, then as you say my lady, Niagara would be the most ideal location for you."
Thalia nodded. "Then I'll be there. Please make sure your men on the ground know not to shoot at me."
With that, Thalia walked out of the tent, leaving a room full of officers wondering what had just happened.
.
Flying was actually pretty fun when she wasn't super high in the air, Thalia had decided.
Before, her power over air had been enough to influence strong gusts, shakily elevate her a few hundred feet, and then send her in one direction or another — not that she'd ever tried.
But now, with everything that had happened, manipulating the air around her was as natural as breathing. Easier, actually. The atmosphere around her were simply extensions of her body. She had full confidence in herself as she launched herself forward, the air rushing forward with her, as she blurred along the interstate at hundreds of miles an hour. If this was what she felt like with second-hand empowerment from her father, she could only imagine how Percy had been growing these last few weeks.
Within minutes she was at the border. It was about what she'd expected, bullets being fired over the river in both directions. Barricades were set up on each side of every bridge, and artillery landed in buildings nearby.
Thalia landed on their side of the largest bridge, allowing her feet to touch the ground next to a few soldiers ducking behind a burned out car.
One of them looked at her with wide eyes, quickly hitting the soldier next to him on the shoulder.
His neighbor stopped shooting and turned to see what he wanted. When he did turn he saw Thalia standing there looking at them expectantly, in the middle of the open while bullets peppered their location.
"How can I help?" Thalia asked, raising Aegis quickly to block a bullet and then lowering it again.
The two soldiers stared at her with wide eyes, and the second one fumbled for his radio.
"His Majesty's reinforcements are here, say again, Lady Thalia is here."
Thalia rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll manage on my own."
Beginning to walk forward at a relatively casual pace, she gathered storm clouds above her. Moving quicker, she changed to a jog, and then a flat out sprint. Moving as fast as a car down the bridge, Thalia allowed herself to grin. She had to admit, it felt pretty good to be letting loose a little like this.
Leaping into the air, Thalia raised her spear to the sky, allowing it to be struck by a contingent of lightning bolts so charged they could power Empire State City for a week each.
Trying to convince herself this wasn't as fun as it was, Thalia threw her spear towards the other end of the bridge, causing an explosion so large it almost reached where she had come from. Gunfire abruptly ceased along the waterfront.
Landing from her jump by her spear, Thalia ripped it from the ground, looking around at the crater around her.
Closing her eyes, she decided to speed it up.
Sensing large concentrations of movement by the disturbance of the air, Thalia focused on those areas. She raised her spear high into the sky above her, calling down the power of the heavens.
Lightning descended, targeting high concentration areas of enemies and erasing them. Considering how easy that was, she went further, sensing where fast projectiles were being fired from and calling down strikes on those areas. Artillery and gunfire stopped ringing out as it had before.
There were some more soldiers — of that she was certain. They were moving along the waterfront and there were even some coming to the edge of the crater. But before she called down lightning to finish them off as well, she let herself be lifted into the air, to survey the battlefield. It looked like a world war one movie set. Holes covered the ground for miles, and fires burned in almost every building.
Looking down, Thalia saw the soldiers which had gathered around her crater. Every one of them had their arms in the air, calling up to her for mercy.
Apparently they decided that wasn't enough, as one by one they got on their knees, lowering their heads to the ground before her. They truly did look like ants from up here, and Thalia had the very startling realization that they appeared that way because she had just erased them like they were ants. Stepped on a group of them and rendered them unable to fight back.
Was this how Nico and Percy now felt, on the battlefield? Power and adrenaline coursing so rapidly through her veins that she couldn't help but get caught into the vigor of battle? These mortals so flimsy and miniscule, she no longer gave them a moment's thought?
The battlefield, just minutes prior, had been filled with explosions and gunfire, now stood still under presence.
"Onto the next," she sighed.
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