AN: Another update for all of you. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. Reviewing really helps motivate me to write. Without further ado, here's chapter 4!
Warning: Part of this chapter is pretty similar to Goosemaster's chapter, but I changed it up substantially and added some flavor and variety.
Edit: Poll is now closed, Hestia has won by a large margin.
Westover Academy
Ascension of the Fallen: Chapter 4
Thalia looked at Theo, the irritatingly stupid son of Poseidon who had essentially ruined the mission to collect the children of Hades. Theo was rolling down on the ground in pain, and Thalia had to suppress a smirk. Theo deserved it after all. The son of Poseidon was always far too arrogant for her taste; his ego was larger than even hers, which was saying something. The only reason he was hailed as a hero in camp was due to pure luck on two quests. Theo was always clumsy, stumbling about in the quests, somehow managing to get them done. The daughter of Zeus was broken from her thoughts as her battle reflexes forced her to duck quickly under a manticore thorn, and she retaliated with a lightning-fast spear jab, but the manticore was out of the reach of her devastating spear. Thalia spared a glance at her companion. Annabeth was busy battling the other monsters with her dagger, just barely holding on as she was getting overwhelmed. The good news was that the two children of Hades seemed safe, hiding behind a tree to Thalia's left.
Suddenly, silver tipped arrows appeared seemingly out of nowhere, embedding themselves in several monsters who were fighting Annabeth, causing some to burst into dust, and others to retreat and hide behind the horde to nurse their wounds. The monsters ceased fighting, and the manticore cried out in surprise and frustration, retaliating by shooting more thorns into the thick forest, which were promptly split in half by more silver arrows, and fell into the trees.
Thalia growled to herself as she saw the silver clad girls approaching through the trees. The daughter of Zeus was certainly not a fan of the hunters.
"NO! Direct interference is forbidden," the manticore venomously snarled into the darkness. The group of monsters around the manticore froze in fear of the hunters. A twelve-year old girl stepped out of the forest. Her auburn hair shined bright under the full moon, while her eyes burned silver with smugness. "Not so," she claimed, her voice oozing with the power of a divine goddess, "the hunting of wild animals is within my domain, and you are a wild animal."
"Permission to kill, milady?" A girl with volcanic black eyes and a silver tiara questioned from the right of the goddess. Thalia's blood boiled with rage at the voice, already intuitively knowing who it was.
"Permission granted Zoe," the goddess quickly replied.
The huntress raised her bow to fire a multitude of arrows at the manticore. In a fit of rage and frustration, Dr. Thorn lunged at Thalia, aiming to claw her throat out, only to be frozen in the air. The manticore's eyes widened but said monster could not move, no matter how much his leg muscles burned. The hunters and demigods didn't make a move either, as their eyes were glued to the darkness of the night. The pitch-black night somehow became even thicker, making it hard for Thalia to even see her own hand. The air of the darkness suddenly became venomous, but Thalia and Annabeth, along with a few select hunters appeared unaffected. Unfortunately for Thalia, that irritating Zoe girl was unaffected. Such a shame, she thought. It would have been great to see her gasping for air.
The monsters began to cower in fear of what was to come, and the moronic son of Poseidon was having a coughing fit, spasming all over the ground. The hunters and Artemis began to wheeze and splutter violently, dropping their bows and collapsing to their knees.
After a minute, the oxygen levels in the air rose again, as those affected greedily sucked air into their lungs, sighing in relief. The darkness of the night cleared itself back to normal, making it seem like nothing had happened at all.
A tanned hand suddenly appeared in the night, using great force to rip a rift in the night violently. The rift opened loudly, drawing attention to the man who stepped out. A hood concealed many of his features, although a smirk was present on his lower face. The man strolled towards the frozen manticore, snapping his fingers to dissolve it into golden dust. The demigods and hunters watched in shock as he moved towards the monsters as if he were saying hello to a few old friends. The said monsters started to backpedal slowly in fear, but the man brought out a great shield and threw it straight for the monsters' necks, decapitating all in one go and turning them to dust.
The man started to move to the two children of Hades when an arrow intercepted him, landing just in front of his foot.
"STOP!" the moon goddess shouted at the man. Thalia watched as his posture became irritated, but the man continued making his way towards the two demigods.
The goddess of the moon fired another silver arrow, this time clearly putting more power into it. The man simply turned his torso, catching the arrow. The hunters gasped in shock, and Thalia turned to see Annabeth's reaction. Her grey, calculating eyes locked onto Thalia's electric blue ones, and they came to a mutual conclusion: this was the being that had saved them a few years ago.
The man snapped the arrow in half casually, before sneering at the goddess.
"Shoot one more sharpened stick, little goddess," the man spoke in a mocking, cold tone. His voice was filled with power, enough to make Thalia's knees tremble, even though the statement was not directed at her. "and you will regret it." The daughter of Zeus watched the goddess become uneasy, shifting her bow from hand to hand in nervousness.
The hunters began to shift their bows as well, loading more silver headed arrows, but Artemis interrupted them with a hand, "Stop."
"Perseus?" the moon goddess whispered, trembling.
The man scowled, clearly furious that Artemis would even open her lips to speak his name.
"Perseus, I-" Artemis began, but Perseus cut her off immediately, pulling off his hood to reveal tanned skin with a chiseled jawline. His dark hair fell slightly over his forehead, while his dark eyes brimmed with contempt at the goddess in front of him. His lips were pulled into a permanent scowl as he looked down at Artemis.
"Shut the fuck up, bitch. I can't bear to look at you and what you have turned into," he sneered with contempt.
"How dare you!" an impulsive huntress screamed. "Insolent male pig," the girl sneered back at the man, "I'll show you who's the bitch." The huntress raised her bow and knocked an arrow, preparing to fire.
Perseus turned back to the goddess as his lips changed into a smug smirk. He merely raised one of his thick eyebrows at Artemis, "was that a challenge I heard from your huntress? As you should know, I am honor-bound to accept a challenge, whether or not your huntress lives is no longer my problem."
The goddess being addressed turned deathly pale, looking like a child who had just been told that monsters were real. "Close your mouth, Diane. Stand down, do not challenge him," she quickly spoke, her voice trembling. Said huntress' mouth closed shut with an audible click, her face still purple with rage. The huntresses noted their patron's trembling voice, wary at the man standing in front of them. Most of the huntresses were glaring daggers at the man, but a few stood in shock at the man. Namely, the elder huntresses.
Perseus chuckled, but there was no humor in it, as he tilted his head to the side, looking at the moon goddess.
"Please, Perseus." The huntresses' eyes widened as they watched their patron goddess drop to her knees, her eyes wet with unshed tears. They refused to believe that Artemis was begging a man; it should have been physically and mentally impossible.
The god of mountains smiled mockingly at the kneeling goddess, "Now you dare to ask for forgiveness."
"I made a mistake, Perseus. I've searched for you all across the earth with my cousins and brother. I am so, so, sorry Perseus. Please," she pleaded, as she sobbed into her palms, the tears flowing out of her hands despite her best efforts not to appear weak.
The god's eyes flashed with barely contained furiousness at her words, "If I had wanted to look upon you, I would have found you myself. If I had a choice, I would not look at your face for millennia. "
Artemis began to tremble again, as her body was wracked with sobs, tears flowing down her face.
The huntresses stepped forward, bows raised to try and kill the man.
"No!", she barked at her hunters, "don't touch him. Leave, I will join you in a moment."
The hunters slinked away to the trees but stayed close enough so they could assist their mistress if needed.
"Why are you here?" Artemis asked, shaking nervously in anticipation and fear.
"To save my brother's children of course. You think I would let my dear youngest brother harm them?"
One of the more intelligent hunters choked in surprise. "Brother?" she croaked through her dry throat, piecing the clues together.
Perseus' eyes widened in mock surprise, "What? You've never heard of little old me?" The god shook his head, placing his hands on his chest as if he were hurt, "What do they teach you morons these days? What a load of imbeciles," he stated.
The hunters were frozen in shock, few of them able to comprehend the information.
"You lie! There are only six children of Kronos and Rhea!" a huntress snarled. The hunter was clearly itching to run him through, only being restrained by a few of her more level-headed sister-in-arms. Perseus pouted like a petulant child at that. He was itching for some real action, not more spars with Pallas or Menoetius, the titan of anger. Titan of anger he may be, but he was able to control it and utilize it well in their spars. Perseus shook himself out of his thoughts.
"Not so," Perseus stated calmly, waiting for any one huntress to make an impulsive move.
Fortunately, or unfortunately for Perseus, the huntress backed down. With that, he gave Artemis one last glance before making his way towards the children of Hades. The huntresses were too shocked to do anything. Perseus whispered something in Bianca and Nico's ears, and then the two children disappeared.
While this was happening, the hunters watched, shell-shocked, as their sobbing patron goddess flashed away, abandoning them to this wrathful and powerful god.
Perseus heard something in the air and turned around, catching another three arrows in one hand from the same impulsive huntress. He snapped the arrows in half, dropping them into the snow.
"You would have thought they would learn by now," he muttered to himself, shaking his head in disappointment. The god of mountains disappeared into the darkness and reappeared an inch away from the huntress, so close that she could smell his breath. A look of panic crossed her features, and the huntress stumbled backwards and fell into the snow ungracefully. She scrambled away from the dangerous man, although crawling quickly in the snow was rather difficult.
"Hunters, down with your bows," a stern voice growled. None listened to their lieutenant, all having arrows knocked and ready to fire but three. Their sister was at the man's mercy, and they would not allow him to harm her, despite her impulsiveness.
"Now," another voice barked fiercely. The bows were finally lowered, and Perseus held back a smirk.
"Perseus?" the voice questioned. The god turned his eyes to look at the fiery mass of red hair, coupled with hazel green eyes. The girl had her hands raised in what she hoped to be a placating gesture, trying to deter the god of time from killing one of her sisters.
"Phoebe!" Perseus exclaimed, immediately changing his personality. The anger that had previously been lingering on his face was exterminated, and the god of darkness now sported a nostalgic smile.
The hunters of Artemis stared at the being, wondering if he was bipolar or was simply insane. Just a few seconds ago, he was ready to mutilate them.
"Relax, I won't bludgeon you with Zoe, Phoebe, or Celyn here," he stated, nodding his head like he was an excited child. He gestured to a girl with a silver tiara on her dark black hair, who had copper skin and inky black eyes. The god pointed at another girl, who was a long-legged blonde with bright blue eyes full of nostalgia.
The hunters of Artemis turned to their unspoken leaders, demanding an explanation for how this powerful god had any relation to them. The eldest three would not meet their eyes.
"I haven't seen you all in thousands of years. How've you been?" Perseus' mood was clearly uplifted, and he now appeared genuine and sincere.
"Fine. It's good to see you Percy," Celyn stated with a nostalgic tone.
The grin on Perseus' face stretched even wider, reaching his inky black eyes which were shining with mirth and joy. "I can't believe it. You," he pointed at Celyn, causing the hunters to tense up, "remember my nickname!" he said childishly.
The daughter of Apollo (AN: Did you guess it?) rolled her eyes at the god's childish antics.
Zoe was about to say something when the impulsive huntress Diane interrupted, "How can you banter with this male pig who nearly broke our mistress?"
Several other hunters nodded in agreement with her, while others were seemingly neutral, slightly afraid of the man and what he could do.
The eldest three opened their mouths, but were interrupted again, this time by Perseus himself, "You know, I could vaporize you right now, bitch," he growled, his handsome features now filled with anger. His dark eyes promised danger. "Be grateful that I am sparing you and know your place."
The darkness choked the hunters again, leaving the hostile ones spasming for air on the ground. He flicked his wrist, sending the hunters flying into the snow, "This is a private conversation. Get out of my sight."
The hunters scrambled away from the scary former king of Olympus.
"Perseus," the cold voice of Zoe stated, turning the god's attention onto the huntress, "why are thou here?"
The god chuckled, "I see you still haven't changed your accent."
Zoe shook her head, grumbling to herself, "this language changes too much." The lieutenant of Artemis narrowed her eyes at the god, "Don't try to change the subject."
Perseus raised his hands, "You heard what I told your patron goddess."
"No," Phoebe scoffed and proceeded to raise a pencil thin eyebrow at the god, "what is the other reason?"
Perseus scratched the back of his head, "Well, I- uh, um… well- so- like uh, well you see…"
He watched as all three of the girls narrowed their eyes dangerously. He gulped internally as he remembered the famous words even the mad titan lord of time was once thought to utter, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Although that didn't exactly apply here, Perseus didn't want to take his chances.
He was brought out of his internal musings after his godly hearing picked up on their feet tapping in the snow, "We're waiting."
"Well, to cut to the chase, I am preparing for war." He paused to read each girl's face for their reactions, surprised that none of them had much of a reaction to his declaration.
"I expected a more surprised and stunned reaction."
The three huntresses somehow scoffed in unison, making Perseus tilt his head in confusion.
"Of course you would wage war; the gods cast you in Tartarus," Celyn spoke.
Celyn paused anxiously. Phoebe, the fiery redhead, continued for her, "You are not with the titans, right?"
"Certainly not," he paused, "although I do have a few titans on my side. I do not need to side with the titans or the Olympians, I have more than enough allies on my side. Trust me, soon enough, the gods will realize just how badly they treated their minor gods. A three-sided war is bound to occur, and I will become the victor."
He paused from his monologue as he briefly looked at each of the three's features.
"Eons ago, I saved you three from mortal peril and brought you to Artemis and her hunt. You swore yourselves to the moon goddess and I. I am afraid you must side with me or Artemis, lest Styx herself claim your souls."
The three immediately responded with no hesitation, "You."
The former king of Olympus' surprise was evident on his features, before the god smiled and hugged the three in a tight embrace. The three girls flushed bright red at the unexpected contact, not-so subtly feeling up his well-defined muscles through the shirt he was wearing. Luckily for them, the god did not notice. The god snapped his fingers, but nothing changed. The three girls looked at him, tilting their heads. The god smirked, "The hunters will now think I vanished into the night after your little moon goddess left. They will not remember that we talked.
He snapped his fingers again, as the satyr, Thalia, and Annabeth along with the foolish boy appeared next to him. "Tell your mistress to deal with them. She most likely won't think anything of it."
He appeared to whisper something in Thalia and Annabeth's ear, before turning back to the trio and waving at them.
"Thank you, Percy," Celyn spoke with a bright, bubbly smile on her face that reminded Perseus of Apollo. She was relieved to find that the god of darkness seemed to act the same as he did epochs ago.
Phoebe and Zoe both wished him farewell, and the vengeful former king of Olympus promptly disappeared into the night.
Line break
Zeus slammed his master bolt into the ground, silencing all pointless conversations and petty arguments the Olympians were so fond of. He gestured towards his daughter, "Artemis, you have news?"
The moon goddess nodded mutely, strangely choosing not to respond. Her heart was pounding in her chest at the news she was about to deliver. Artemis took a deep breath, exhaling in and out. The gods sensed this was something important, and so the council sat on the edge of their seats, shifting forward.
"He is back," the goddess of hunting stated carefully. After all, it was a goal of hers to try not to get skewered by her father's lightning bolt.
"Who?" Zeus inquired nervously, dreading the answer as he leaned forward, looking at his daughter.
"Perseus, former king of Olympus."
With that statement, the council descended into bedlam. Some were rejoicing, such as Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia, who all gathered at the hearth, no one noticing. Apollo, Artemis, Athena, and Hermes were frantically conversing in hushed whispers in a corner of the throne room. The third group consisted of Hera, Zeus, Demeter, and Aphrodite. To say they were arguing loudly would be an understatement, as Hera shrieked at her husband's idiocy. The fourth and final group consisted of gods who did not care as much as the previous three. Namely Ares, Dionysus, and Hephaestus. Ares was simply grinning at the prospect of a war. Dionysus, the drunk bastard, slept in his throne. Hephaestus sat in his throne tinkering with something. People assumed he didn't know the god, but that was in fact, not the case.
A few years ago
Hephaestus sat alone on the ground next to a dormant volcano, calming himself. He preferred to spend some alone time away from his forge; here, no one would think to look for him to make something or bother him again. His wife was cheating on him with Ares again, not that he cared much. He had given up on his marriage millennia ago and had desensitized himself to it. Every once in a while, it would hurt, but the forge god ignored it by focusing on work. Suddenly, a voice broke him out of his musing.
"Peaceful, isn't it?"
The god turned around to see a tall man dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, looking appreciatively at the volcano. He did not know who this was but decided to respond after a few moments. After all, most people didn't approach him like this.
"Who are you?" the forge god inquired.
"Call me Perseus."
The man finally turned around, and Hephaestus couldn't help but feel surprised that this man decided to talk to him. He was clearly a god, and a good-looking one at that.
The man continued, "We share a domain."
"Do we?" Hephaestus couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. The only god he knew of that shared domains with him was Hestia
"Well," the god shrugged, "kind of."
"How so?" Hephaestus was now curious about this god. He didn't give off a hostile aura, nor did he try to get the forge god to make a tool for him free of charge.
"Well, I am the god of mountains, and you are the god of volcanoes, and volcanoes are technically mountains."
Perseus gave a shit-eating grin, one which was contagious and forced the god of volcanoes to laugh, a full-blown laugh that he hadn't had in ages. Heck, Hephaestus couldn't remember the last time he even laughed, let alone if he had laughed ever.
"Good one, good one. Why are you here though? No one cares about me, the crippled forge god." Hephaestus couldn't help but give a long sigh at that. He tried not to be bitter, but it was hard without company, and he came off as blunt and rough when he tried to socialize.
"Simple. I have a proposal for you and I. Why don't we have a drink tomorrow so we can discuss my proposal?" the god replied.
Hephaestus thought it over. No one really asked to hang out with him once in a while, and this god seemed amiable. After giving it a quick once-over, the volcano god couldn't deny the offer.
"Sure, and you can tell me more about this deal," he replied.
"Excellent," Perseus grinned, seemingly upbeat, "meet me at the pier bar in San Francisco tomorrow, eight in the morning. It's right next to the water. You can't miss it. Enjoy yourself, Heph."
With that Perseus flashed out before the newly christened Heph could protest his name. The god shook his head and went back to admiring the volcano.
Their first meeting went well enough, Hephaestus recalled. Perseus had become good friends with him over a few years, and Hephaestus knew the god planned on conquering Olympus, but personally, he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for the Olympians. They deserved to weather this next storm, if they could even survive. The forge god had seen Zeus' almost tyrannical influence on the council with his very own two eyes and resented the goddess of marriage for being a horrible mother. He was neutral on most of the 2nd-generation Olympians except Ares until Perseus explained to him exactly what happened. Hephaestus wasn't betraying Olympus perse; his loyalty never lied with Olympus anyway.
Hephaestus was broken out of his musing by Zeus making a declaration to cut off contact with the demigods and to gather the minor gods to swear allegiance. The forge god rolled his eyes; knowing Perseus, he had already gotten the minor gods on his side and was in the process of getting more demigod allies. Zeus really was an idiot sometimes; no, check that, all the damn time.