Hey guys! I hope you all enjoy my birthday update! And uh- I hope you enjoy Percy's epic takedown of Zeus.
Replies:
Undeath9078: Heh, it's gonna be fun, and yeah Leo knows the ship doesn't have much life left in it, and Thalia's just stood there wanting to punch her dad but knowing Percy has it in hand.
Guest: Apollo was very big headed we all know that. Though if I remember right he did call Thalia sister in TTC.
Drizzle: You will keep cheering lol.
ant-death: I mean she's alive, doesn't say how badly hurt she is :P
The silence stretched on far too long for comfort. Zeus' expression was as thunderous as she'd ever seen it, but even he couldn't deny her words. And her father took a small step forward.
"Brother, my daughter has a point. You do owe her. We all do."
"Fine." Zeus looked like he was grinding his teeth to dust his jaw looked so tight. "Very well say what you must girl. I will listen to you- but do not think that you command my actions or choices. I am the King of Olympus and you are a mere demigod."
"We'll skip over that." Percy pulled a face, trying to ignore all of the stares of shock, awe, fear and gratitude being aimed at her. She instead focused purely on Zeus.
And it did not help that she knew that they were on a bit of a time crunch so she had to make this quick.
"You want to punish Apollo-"
"Yes girl, that was the point-"
"And you gave two reasons?"
"Yes- two very good reasons."
"I would disagree actually." Percy tried to keep her voice calm and steady as she spoke, "One of them is... reasonable I guess, the other is a load of centaur dung and you know it-" Zeus' face started to turn red again and Jason sucked in a sharp little breath.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me Lord Zeus." Percy tilted her chin up slightly, giving him her most imperious look. "You're punishing him for Octavian- which is the more reasonable thing, and for the Prophecy. You said he prematurely revealed the prophecy. I'll start with that."
"Yes-"
"Except the prophecy doesn't make things happen." Percy pointed out, "I mean, Kronos didn't rise because of the Great Prophecy. And Gaea didn't rise because May issued the Prophecy of the Seven. She started trying to rise years before that, Hazel stopped her insane plans then and paid the price. So you can't blame Apollo for May issuing the Prophecy when she did. Did the timing suck royally? I mean, yeah, kind of. But Apollo didn't choose for it to happen now. That's the Fates wheelhouse. If anything the prophecy just meant that we haven't gone into this totally blind. And uh- technically the Prophecy was known long before the Oracle issued it. I saw it-"
"On the floor of the temple." Hazel gasped out.
And Jason was nodding quickly, "Father she's right. In your temple in Camp Jupiter. It was issued a long time ago, written in the Sibylline books. And she's right about the timing. Apollo doesn't exactly get to choose when prophecies come, not the major ones right?"
"They are right." Artemis spoke up, her voice almost hopeful. "Father you know they are."
And yeah, Zeus' mood was definitely not winning any awards for his cheerfulness was he? He looked like he was being forced to swallow a bee.
"Even if I did concede to those points." Zeus ground out slowly, "Which I am not saying I am, what would you say to his actions with his descendant."
And Percy winced slightly- but okay. Okay she knew what her argument could be there. "Alright. Alright you have a point that was kind of a major fuck up. Octavian's a slimy bastard and Apollo is somewhat vain and from what I've been told he let the flattery get to him. Which is wrong I'll grant you. But uh-" and oh but she was not going to be making Zeus happy with this. And she'd be pissing off another god who already didn't like her. "You're saying he deserves a harsh punishment for listening to Octavian and giving him bad advice- though from the sounds of it I think he backed off when Octavian started going off the deep end."
"Yes- such foolishness and arrogance deserves a serious punishment-" and oh but Percy had to bite her tongue there. After all this was coming from the king of arrogance.
"Then surely it would have been worse if he- for example, listened to a wheedling voice like that and then didn't back down and see sense- even when confronted with the reality of what he was doing."
"Of course- but it was bad enough-"
"Then I trust that you gave just as severe a punishment to Lord Ares as you're planning on giving to Apollo-"
"Hey!" Ares voice was a growl, "Watch your tongue brat-"
"Careful Ares or I'll hamstring you again." Percy shot back, shooting him a glare before focusing on Zeus again. "Am I right?"
"Punish him for what-"
"Ooof." Percy sucked in a harsh breath, "Well that's worrying, you seem to have forgotten. Talk about favoritism there. But I haven't. A few years back, remember the minor issue of your bolt being stolen?" She gave an innocent smile, though she saw Hecate wincing slightly out of the corner of her eye, "You sent the twins, Athena and Ares to retrieve it. And for six months you were without your bolt-and Uncle Hades was without his Helm." and Zeus' expression was darkening. "And it took a demigod to return them to their rightful owners. Me in fact. And the reason it hadn't been found was because Ares found Alabaster with them and he listened to Kronos' urgings and hid them, coming up with what was, frankly, a fucking insane and evil plan to cause a war between you and your brothers. Which I would argue was very much worse. I mean- if I had to choose between a vain fool who gave in to flattery with no ill intentions, and an arrogant bully who wanted to cause a war- which was not all Kronos' doing, let's be honest here, I know which one I would think was worse."
"Girl-"
"So I ask you again Lord Zeus." Percy strode forward until she was stood directly in front of Zeus, a foot at most between them, her head tilted up slightly to meet those sparking blue eyes. Did you give as severe a punishment to Ares as you're planning on giving Apollo?"
There was what felt like a lifetime of charged silence, but it could have only been a few moments at most before Zeus spoke.
"I will be merciful on this one occasion-" there was hate in his eyes as he stared at Percy. "But you will remember this day, Persephone Jackson. And you will never speak to me in such a manner again. Do I make myself clear?"
"As crystal. Your highness." She stayed like that for a moment more before she took a step back.
And Percy felt as if she was the main exhibit in a zoo or something with all of the shocked gazes on her. She felt her face flushing slightly but she tried to ignore it as Hera let out a slightly unhappy little cough.
"Perhaps we should focus on what is actually important?" the look she gave Percy was chilly- which made sense, Ares was her son after all.
"Yes." Annabeth jumped on that- clearly anxious to change the topic- since Percy was getting some very angry looks from Zeus, Ares and Hera- though when she glanced behind her she noticed that Apollo was staring at her with wide shining eyes. Clearly he at least appreciated what she'd just done for him- not always common with gods. "Gaia." Annabeth kept talking, "She's awake. Isn't she?"
Zeus' gaze shifted to Annabeth, and some of the tension in the air seemed to dissipate- a fact that Percy was secretly kind of grateful for.
"That is correct." Zeus said, "The blood of Olympus was spilled, she is fully conscious."
"Whoops." Percy muttered the word, reaching up to press a hand to her shoulder- which was still bleeding some though the worst of it seemed to have stopped at least.
"What's done is done." Athena spoke up, eyeing Percy- and Percy couldn't help but notice that the usual dislike seemed slightly less prominent than it usually was. "You fought bravely- it is unfortunately but you should not blame yourself-" and Percy caught Annabeth and Rachel exchanging incredulous glances at that- since when would Athena give up the chance to talk shit about Percy? "Now you must move quickly. Gaea rises to destroy your camp. To strike at the heart of you heroes."
Poseidon leaned on his trident, "For once Athena talks sense-"
"For once?" Athena shot Poseidon a glare.
"Why's Queen Dirtface back at camp?" Leo frowned, "Percy and Luke were impaled here-"
"We are never going to live this down." Luke grumbled the words and Percy snorted.
"Ignoring that part, Leo, you know Gaea's the earth- she can pop up wherever she wants as long as there's earth right? Besides it's what she said she's do. She said the first thing on her to do list was destroying our camp. The real question is, how do we stop her?"
Frank looked at Zeus. "Um, sir, Your Majesty, can't you gods just pop over there with us? You've got the chariots and the magic powers and whatnot."
"Yes!" Hazel said. "We defeated the giants together in two seconds. Let's all go –"
"No," Zeus said flatly.
"No?" Jason asked. "But, Father –"
"That is the problem with prophecies-" Zeus growled the words, giving his son a dark look that made Percy shift slightly, letting out a low faint growl herself. "When Apollo-" Zeus caught Percy's gaze and corrected himself, "When the Prophecy was spoken as it was- and Hera took it upon herself to interpret the words-"
"Which she could have done at any time since the prophecy was already known-" Zeus' glower darkened even more.
"The fates wove the future in such a way that it only had so many possible outcomes. So many solutions. You seven, the demigods-" his eyes flicked to the non-seven members of the crew. "are destined to defeat Gaea. We, the gods, cannot."
"I don't get it." Piper shook her head. "What's the point of being gods if you have to rely on puny mortals to do your bidding."
Percy let out a scoff, though she didn't comment, mainly because her father shot her a warning look.
In any case, it was Aphrodite who answered the question, laughing gently and kissing her daughters cheek, "My dear Piper, don't you think we've been asking ourselves that question for thousands of years? But it is what binds us together, keeps us eternal. We need you mortals as much as you need us. Annoying as that may be, it's the truth."
Frank shuffled uncomfortably, like he missed being an elephant. "So how can we possibly get to Camp Half-Blood in time to save it? It took us months to reach Greece."
"The winds," Jason said. "Father, can't you unleash the winds to send our ship back?"
Zeus glowered. "I could slap you back to Long Island."
"Um, was that a joke, or a threat, or –"
"Nom" Zeus said, "I mean it quite literally. I could slap your ship back to Camp Half-Blood, but the force involved..."
Other by the ruined giant throne Hephaestus shook his head, "My boy built a good ship but it won't sustain that kind of stress. It would break apart as soon as it arrived. Maybe sooner."
Leo straightened his tool belt. "The Argo II can make it. It only has to stay in one piece long enough to get us back home. Once there, we can abandon ship."
"Dangerous," warned Hephaestus. "Perhaps fatal."
The goddess Nike twirled a laurel wreath on her finger. "Victory is always dangerous. And it often requires sacrifice. Leo Valdez and I have discussed this." She stared pointedly at Leo, which made Percy frown. But no. No it was going to be fine. She was going to stay with her brother.
"Leo." Annabeth was frowning at Leo, "What is Nike talking about?" her eyes flicked to Percy- and Percy tried to keep her expression blank- which actually was probably a give away for the fact that she knew something.
In any case Leo waved off the question. "The usual. Victory. Sacrifice. Blah, blah, blah. Doesn't matter we can do this guys. We have to do this."
"Leo's right." Percy gave a relaxed smile- as if the fate of the world wasn't resting on her brothers shoulders. As if his life wasn't resting on hers.
