Hey guys!
Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I didn't want to continue the chapter with reading after 5k words. Another 7k-8k words and it would have been too long.
I'm shifting all the other usual A/N stuff at the bottom.
Word count- 5002 words
Disclaimer: I own Percy Jackson because I am secretly Rick Riordan not most definitely not a teenager. (For those who didn't get it, it's sarcasm. Look at my username, ppl.)
Chapter-5 Ugly-no man and Ugly-no jackalope
Sally was having a good day. The weather was good. The business was good. Not a single prickly customer had entered her shop yet. And she didn't even have to see Gabe's face in the morning. The last reason might or might not have something to do with her being in a good mood though.
'What a wonderful day!' She thought and unknowingly broke the first Law of Percy Jackson. Albeit, her son hadn't created it yet. But then again, the future version of her son was sitting with gods so it should come as no surprise when Sally was suddenly standing in a garden with her hand still outstretched to give the customer their jelly bean order.
The first thought she had was not how beautiful the garden was or how she got there, no, those were the second and third thoughts respectively. Her first thought was the one filled with horror- 'Did I jinx myself?'
"What the…?" Sally's hand fell back to her side.
"Mom!" The candy shop owner turned around to come face to face with a mini-Poseidon. She vaguely noticed three people were standing behind him.
No, wait. That can't be right. He called her 'mom'. And the only person who calls her that is…
"Percy?" Sally gasped, her eyes wide. "But that can't be true!"
"Umm… yes." The mini-Poseidon rubbed the back of his neck. "You see, about that-"
Mini-Poseidon was cut off by a squeal. The next thing Sally knew, she was looking at the most gorgeous woman she had ever laid her eyes on.
"Oh my me!" She put her hands on Sally's shoulder. "You're as pretty as I thought you would be! Poseidon chose well, didn't he? I can-"
"Aphrodite, give her room to breathe." Someone with a very familiar voice cut her off. The lady- Aphrodite- pouted but stepped back.
"What-what's going on?" Sally asked before she realized something. "Hold on a second, Aphrodite as in goddess of love Aphrodite?" 'The looks would certainly make sense then.'
"Yes, dear." Aphrodite smiled. "I'm the goddess of love."
"What's going on?" Sally repeated, her mind a whirlwind of questions.
"We are on Olympus." The girl with blond hair and grey eyes said.
"Olympus? Why?" Sally took a step back, panic settling in. 'Gods couldn't possibly know about Percy, right? But then Lady Aphrodite mentioned Poseidon and there's that boy…'
"Calm down, Sally." Sally turned towards the person calling out to her and suddenly it made sense why that voice was so familiar.
"Poseidon?" The blue-eyed woman gasped.
"Yup and don't worry, it's not like that." God of the ocean had a good idea of what his lover was thinking.
"But then why am I on Olympus?"
"Before we answer that, how about we introduce ourselves." The blond girl stated pulling forward the boy standing next to her. "I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and this is…" She nudged the boy forward, silently urging him to speak.
"Percy Jackson." He gave her the same smile Poseidon had given her not a moment ago. "Hey, mom."
"Percy…" Sally walked towards the said boy and caressed his cheek. Her motherly instincts were screaming 'That's my boy!' the moment she saw him but at the same time her eyes kept deceiving her. Her boy was twelve not sixteen, maybe even seventeen.
She took a deep breath and asked, "How?"
"I'm from future." Percy admitted.
"Future." Sally deadpanned.
"Yeah, I know how weird it sounds but apparently time travel is possible. How cool is that? Like Back To The Future!" Percy rambled. "Anyway, gods summoned you here to read some books."
"Fates summoned a few demigods from different points in time to read about Seaweed Brain's quests. We thought as Percy's mother, you should be here too and Fates agreed so here we are." Annabeth quickly clarified.
"Quests?" Sally took a guess and assumed 'Seaweed Brain' was Percy. A creative nickname considering who his father is.
"Y'know, killing some stupid monsters and saving the world." Percy said nonchalantly.
Sally knew that Percy as a child of Poseidon would get sucked into the demigod world sooner or later and would have to go on dangerous quests but to hear the same from her son who came from the future was just unreal.
'Okay,' Sally thought as she took a deep breath. 'Gods and monsters are real and my own son is a child of a god so what's a little time travel?'
"So let me get this straight," Sally exhaled. "Fates sent demigods back in time to read about Percy's quests with gods and you want me to join you?"
"Pretty much." Poseidon agreed.
"Yes and there's that Ugly-no man in the throne room too." Aphrodite scrunched her nose delicately at 'Ugly-no man'.
"I almost forgot about him." Percy frowned.
"Ugly-no man?" Sally inquired. "As in Ugliano? Gabe?"
"Yeah," Annabeth answered. "Gods must be deciding on his punishment right now."
"We read about that pig in the last chapter," Aphrodite explained before Sally could go back to one-word questions. "We have decided to punish him for his actions."
"That man deserves nothing less than the worst possible punishment." Poseidon muttered.
"I'm sure Thalia and Reyna are cooking up something very evil." Annabeth assured.
Sally glanced at Annabeth and started as she realized something. "I didn't even introduce myself, how rude of me! I'm Sally Jackson."
"We know, dear." Aphrodite gushed. "Your son gave a very flattering description for you!"
"I see." The older Jackson looked over to her son. "But you said you were reading about Percy's quests, how come Gabe is in the book?"
"I'd like to know that myself." Percy grumbled. "And the stupid book had to be based on my thoughts."
"Well, we are following your quests." Annabeth smirked. "Look at it this way, it's a chance for us to get to know you better and finally learn what goes in your seaweed filled head."
"Yes but why me?" Percy complained. "You were on almost all the quests with me! Why not you?"
"I think you know the answer to that." Daughter of Athena said with the same knowing smirk.
"No, I don't!" Percy paused. "Actually I do. Jeez, you must be rubbing off on me, Wise Girl."
Percy did know why books were based on his thoughts. Firstly, he was the child of the elder gods the prophecy spoke of and one of the main players in both the wars. Secondly, if the books followed Annabeth's thoughts, nobody would understand anything. As much as Percy hated to admit it, books needed to follow someone simpler minded than a daughter of Athena.
"That's a good thing." Annabeth pointed out.
Percy grumbled incoherently.
"Well then, shall we go inside?" Poseidon asked as Sally convinced Aphrodite to give her a makeover only after lunch.
"Let's go in!" Percy said enthusiastically. "I want to know what Gabe's punishment is! If nothing else, I'd like to at least get in some good punches and-"
The sound of an explosion cut him off.
"Didn't that come from where Hermes's kids and Hephaestus are?" Poseidon asked.
Aphrodite hummed in agreement. "I can sense their excitement from all the way here."
"I'll check it out." God of ocean dissipated into water vapor.
"Should I be worried?" Sally went to stand near Percy.
"If it involves Stolls, very." Percy said.
"Your friends?"
"Children of Hermes. They're both pranksters." Percy nodded. "Speaking of friends, mom, I'd like to introduce you to Annabeth Chase, my girlfriend."
"Percy!" Annabeth chuckled as her boyfriend made a big show of presenting her and did a courtesy bow.
"Girlfriend?" Sally asked amusement dancing in her eyes. "You said you were a daughter of Athena, didn't you dear?"
"I did." Daughter of Athena confirmed.
"I know right!" Aphrodite squealed. "You should have seen Athena's reaction! She was so angry! But I'm sure Poseidon and Athena will get over their rivalry now that their children are together!"
Three non-immortals sweatdropped as the goddess of love kept on gushing about the 'act of true love' and 'her new OTP'.
A few minutes later Poseidon returned with an amused look and eyes sparkling with mischief.
"They'll be joining us shortly."
That was all he said before marching towards the entrance of the palace.
As Aphrodite roped Sally into another conversation, Annabeth turned towards her boyfriend.
"It's impressive how your mother took in everything without even blinking." She said, following everyone back towards the throne room.
"Yeah, well it's better to not think too much when it comes to gods." Percy replied.
"But still, we told her we are from the future and she accepted it. We told her we are going to read about your quests with gods and she was like okay. We told her Gabe is here and we are going to punish him and she didn't even blink." Grey eyed blond observed. "And she is from before you started going on quests and she got used to everything."
"When you put it like that," Son of Poseidon grinned. "My mom is pretty impressive, isn't she?"
"I already know that." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
"Percy?" Sally raised a brown paper bag. "Would you like to have these jelly beans? I doubt I will be able to give these to the customer now."
Somewhere in New York, a person sneezed as he looked around the candy shop he was standing in. "Why am I here again? That's right to pay for the candies." The man put some cash on the counter and left without ever taking his order.
"Jelly beans?" Percy took the bag. "Sweet! Dibs on all the blue ones."
Just as they were about to enter the throne room, Aphrodite screeched, "Hold it!"
Poseidon raised an eyebrow.
"That Ugly-no man. Does he really stink as much as you say he does?" Goddess of love asked.
"Yes," Percy answered. "I wasn't exaggerating."
Aphrodite nodded and proceeded to drown herself in her perfume till it was suffocating to even just stand near her.
"Perfect." She smiled as she pushed open the throne room's massive door. "Now his odor won't reach me."
True to her word, Gabe's foul odor did not reach them, thanks to the heavy dose of perfume. But the same could not be said for the other occupants of the room. Nearly everyone in the room was wearing a face mask that was made by Hephaestus if the small piece of machinery hanging from the masks were anything to go by. Though, there were a few exceptions whose pride didn't allow them to wear it (cough Zeus and Ares cough). As for the man emitting the odor, he was passed out cold on the floor. From fear, doubt. The killing intent in the room was hard to miss.
Everyone being busy shouting out the most gruesome punishment they could think of, nobody noticed the group enter. Except for Octavian. The boy wasn't saying anything out of fear that they would use the same punishment against him. And out of the same fear, he did not tell anyone about their presence.
Percy sauntered in. "Hey, guys! How about we start from the beginning? I want to be a part of this too! And before that, I'd like you all to meet my mom," He motioned towards Sally. "Mom, meet everyone."
The group made their way towards the couches, Poseidon and Aphrodite along with them. As the pleasantries and introductions were exchanged among demigods, gods, and goddesses sitting on couches, the deities on the thrones were completely ignored. The only ones remaining on their thrones were Zeus, Hera, and Ares. Everyone else was already on couches.
"Now that we are all here, except Stolls, let's start the discussion for that pig's punishment." Poseidon's voice boomed.
"I say, make him bathe in lava first." Hephaestus said in his gruff voice. "He stinks like Tartarus."
Three certain demigods winced at the comparison.
"Good idea but won't that kill him?" Leo asked. "And if he's already dead, will it even affect him?"
"Yes," Hades said. "If he is dead and we put it as a part of his punishment, he will feel all of it."
"So how are we killing him?" Ares asked impatiently. 'Killing is the best part, dammit.'
"If you are going to punish him severely in Underworld then no need to torment him in his life too. His death will be swift and painless." Hestia spoke up, her voice leaving no room for argument. "We are Olympians not monsters."
"Tsk." Ares sat back angrily.
"And before any of you ask," Hades said with a pointed glare towards the god of war. "Once dead, I will not allow him to be brought back to life. That is against the rules and I have no reason to break them for this mortal. There are plenty of mortals with crimes worse than his and they get their appropriate punishment. In fact, the only reason I'll be allowing such harsh punishment is because Poseidon requested me to."
"And I appreciate you doing that." Poseidon said sincerely.
"You'll owe me one." Ruler of Underworld said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I will." God of ocean accepted.
"So to kill him, how about I turn him into a jackalope and set my hunters on him?" Artemis suggested. "They'll grant him a quick and painless death. And it will bring us some entertainment too."
As others considered her offer, Poseidon argued. "Niece, your idea is good but shouldn't Percy or Sally be the one to kill him? They were the ones he harassed the most."
"I'd rather not, actually." Percy shifted uncomfortably. "Killing monsters is one thing but killing a mortal? Even if that mortal is Gabe."
"Me too." Sally agreed with her son.
Percy looked at his mother sideways. "Mom, you know, in my past you've already killed Gabe."
"I did?"
"Well, not exactly. You put Medusa's head in front of him and he saw her eyes and turned to sto-"
"Medusa?" Athena said surprised. "How did that happen?"
"Long story, I'm sure it will come up in this book and not the point right now." Annabeth replied.
"Kelp Head, Aunt Sally, you sure you don't want to kill him?" Thalia asked. "It won't be much different from killing a monster and he deserves it."
"Yeah, I don't." Percy confirmed. "And it is different, I mean, monsters are trying to kill us and they don't really die so, y'know..."
Sally hummed in agreement.
"Since no one else has any better idea to kill him, I'll turn him into a jackalope." Artemis declared.
"Do it after we decide on his punishment." Hades said.
"I don't want to kill him myself either but I do want to get in a good punch before he dies." Annabeth glared at the unconscious man.
A mummer of agreement rose from the demigods.
"Fine." Hestia sigh. "All of you can punch him before Artemis turns him into a jackalope. But only once. I won't allow any more than that."
"It's fine as long as I get to punch him." Jason cracked his knuckles.
"Back to the punishment," Reyna said. "He should be castrated."
Thalia, Artemis, Annabeth, and Athena nodded seriously. The rest of the people in the room cringed, especially males, but agreed nonetheless.
"He likes to play poker, doesn't he?" Dionysus asked rhetorically. "Then let him play poker for eternity. I'll cruse him so he will never win another match again."
"Yes, and each time he loses he has through another punishment." Frank suggested. "Like being sewed in a sack full of angry weasels."
"Angry weasels are scary." Apollo nodded sagely.
Everyone gave them weird looks but nobody objected.
"We can also use Tantalus's punishment for him." Nico offered. "Having all your favorite food and drinks right in front of you but not being able to have anything."
"Change that to the only thing is allowed to have is a limited amount of seawater." Poseidon said.
Zeus gave him a weird look. "Why? Wouldn't it be better to not give him anything at all?"
"Giving only seawater is brilliant!" Annabeth exclaimed. "The salt from the seawater would dehydrate him causing him to need to drink but the only drink he has is more seawater and eventually he'd have to give in and drink it and the same thing happens again."
Poseidon beamed.
"It's fitting." Hazel mused. "Seawater."
"While we are at it, after every punishment he finishes after losing a poker match, he gets a beer." Percy looked at Annabeth and they had a silent conversation.
Annabeth nodded and continued for her boyfriend, ignoring the outrageous cries from their friends. "Only that beer is cocktailed with water from Cocytus in fifty-fifty ratio."
"So when he should be happy to complete one punishment, he will only feel crippling misery." Percy picked up where her girlfriend left.
"And naturally, the fifty percent beer we will give him is going to be the worst beer available in the world." Annabeth elaborated, not missing a beat.
"And with the tiny brain he has, it will take him more than ten decades to understand what's going on." Percy finished.
They were met with a couple of dozen eyes silently staring holes in their heads.
"Um… guys?" Percy asked hesitantly.
No reply.
"I think we broke them." Annabeth commented.
That broke the dam.
"How did you do that?"
"Can you read each other's mind?"
"I should consider using River Cocytus's water for other punishments too."
"STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU STUPID SEA SPAWN!"
"Ah! Percabeth!"
"Using Cocytus's water to ruin his only happy moments. Sounds good."
"Those two have a nice dynamic."
"I wonder when Kelp Head is finally going to propose to Annie."
"They are so cute together!"
"Why can't we be like that?"
After everyone calmed down, Hades called in to review the punishment.
"So Artemis will turn him into a jackalope and have her hunters hunt him and grant him a painless death. For his punishment, he will be castrated and will have to play poker for eternity but will never win. Every time he loses, he will have to go through another punishment like being sewed in a sack full of angry weasels.
After he completes the punishment for losing poker, he will be 'rewarded' with a beer. Only that beer is the worst beer available in the world and mixed with water from River Cocytus. He will also have the same punishment as Tantalus, with all his favorite foods and drinks in front of him but him not being able to have any of it, except he is only allowed to drink a limited amount of seawater. Anything else?"
"You forgot the first thing he will have to do is bathe in lava to get rid of the odor." Leo reminded.
"He'll have to walk through Fields of punishment every day, embarrassing himself in the worst possible ways." Sally chimed in.
"Where will he be playing poker and with whom?" Piper voiced an important question.
"He can play with skeletons from where he gets a clear view of Elysium." Hazel said. "We can tell him that if he wins a single poker match, he will be allowed to go there."
"But since he is cursed by Mr. D, he will never win." Jason grinned. "Not to mention skeletons have the perfect poker face."
"Anything else?" Hades asked again, looking up from his god pad where he was noting everything down, his voice sounding more like- 'Please tell me nothing more.'
When nobody added anything, he huffed. "This is going to be a pain to enact upon."
"Not if you send it via Channel ten, Claim four. That way most of the things will get cleared in an instant, except the time in Channel. The only thing left will be River Cocytus which you can clear through Claim two. And setting everything should be easy enough since you are directly ordering it." Nico said breezily.
"That…" Hades ran a simulation of the suggestion in his head. "Could work."
"Nearly all the tasks are handed over to the already overworking first nine Channels but Channel ten is almost free all the time." Nico continued in the same easy tone. "I don't know why they use Claim eight as much as they do. Claim four gets things checked off quicker."
"What are you going on about?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.
"We are talking about the procedure for assigning punishments," Nico answered. "You already know there are three judges who decide where the dead go. They decide the punishment and sent its document to one of the Channels. There are ten groups called Channels which go over the assigned punishment to see the documents aren't missing anything or aren't doubles, that they are not some fakes or duplicates and do not go against the basic rules and there are no loopholes.
After they are sure nothing is out of order they pass it on to the Claims. Claims are a bunch of different categories and lists of what falls under what jurisdiction and some more detailed usage of rules of punishments. It also monitors the availability of space and resources required for the punishment. After the document is cleared from Claims, it goes to dad, who either signs it to make it official or burns it, er… I mean decline it and the process starts over again."
"Did you just give me a crash course on who to assign punishments to dead?" Thalia blinked.
"Yes. You didn't think it was as easy as the judges announcing the punishment the punished soul magically appearing in their punishment ground, did you?" Nico eyed his cousin.
"That's exactly what I thought, to be honest." Daughter of Zeus smiled innocently.
"I didn't know assigning punishment to dead was so complex." Zeus muttered under his breath but his brother heard him anyway.
"Well, maybe you would if you paid more attention to what I have to say during Winter Solstice meetings." A scathing glare was directed towards the king of the gods. God of ocean followed the suit.
"Why are you two ganging up on me?!" King of god yelled.
"The real question here is," The ruler of the Underworld looked at his son. "How do you know all that?"
"In the future, I helping you out for a while now." His son answered.
'He helps me?' Ruler of Underworld thought in surprise. 'It is the first time a child of mine doesn't have to live in hiding. I guess, that changes things.'
"I see." Hades nodded. "How many cases have you completed yet?"
"The number of cases I have completed, well, I've been helping out for almost a month now so," Nico mused to himself. "I'd say it's over 9000."
There was a moment of silence as Hades nodded in appreciation before it was broken by ringing laughter.
"It's over 9000!" Percy wheezed.
All the Greek demigods (except Nico), Rachel, Frank, Apollo, and Hermes were laughing along with the son of Poseidon.
"What's so funny?" Nico frowned.
"Yeah, I don't get it either." Jason said, looking at his girlfriend.
"Is this some Greek joke?" Reyna asked.
"Frank knows it." Hazel pointed out.
"It's-it's over 9000!" Piper repeated and broke into peals of laughter again.
Athena looked at the laughing demigods and gods (and a mortal) and frowned. "I don't get what's so funny about it."
"Maybe because your sense of humor is dead, Athena!" Hermes shot back.
"It's over 9000. It's that popular internet meme, isn't it?" Sally asked.
"Yup." Leo replied popping the 'p'.
"I still don't get it." Hazel said.
Rachel turned towards her to explain but Artemis spoke up before she could. "So would you all like to punch him now before I turn him into a jackalope or not?"
"I'll explain later." Rachel promised Hazel.
"Let's do this!" Percy jumped to his feet, ready to punch the stuffing out of his ex-stepdad.
His proclamation was followed by a round of "Yeah!"
"I'll wake him up. It will be more fun that way." Apollo walked towards the still unconscious Gabe.
Hestia cleared her throat. "Apollo, just to remind you, this is only for demigods."
Apollo pouted but didn't complain. He did not forget to put on his face mask before approaching the stinking man. Ugly-no man was unconscious outside of Aphrodite's perfume reach.
Gabe woke up with a groan. Apollo hastily backed away. Even Hephaestus's mask couldn't cover the stink.
"Whaz goin' on?" He drunkenly stood up only for a certain daughter of Athena to introduce her fist to his face, breaking his nose and sending him sprawling backward.
"That was satisfying." The blond said.
"Hey, guys! Want some jelly beans while we watch him get punched?" Percy waved his jelly bean bag. "But all the blue ones are mine."
"I'll have some," Annabeth said as she returned to her seat beside her boyfriend. Percy passed on the bag to her.
"Mom, don't you want to punch him too?" Percy asked as he stood up and cracked his knuckles.
"I do and I will after you all done." Sally smiled.
Percy nodded and proceeded to punch his ex-stepdad in the face. Already broken nose got even more deformed.
He returned to see his girlfriend purposefully stealing some blue jelly beans. "Hey! Blue ones are mine!"
And the punches continued. By the end of them all, Gabe was a black and blue bruised mess. Even the sweet little Hazel and Sally had punched the Ugly-no man. Thalia, Reyna, Piper, and Hazel had, very subtly, kicked him where the sun doesn't shine for extra measure. All the mortals except Octavian. He was too scared to do anything. Scared that they might use the same punishment for him too.
"Now," Artemis tried hard not to sound too cheerful. "It's finally time to turn him into a jackalope!"
Turning him into jackalope was a fun affair. In the end, instead of Artemis's hunters hunting Ugly-no jackalope, it became an archery competition between Apollo and Artemis. Ugly-no jackalope was allowed to try and hide somewhere in the garden while the twin archers had to kill him in just one shot. That shot had to kill him instantly and painlessly. The winner would later get an extra-large batch of Sally's blue chocolate chip cookies.
The chase was short but provided some entertainment as Gabe tried to walk like a crab and climb a tree. But with the tiny brain he had, what else could be expected of him?
In the end, both the Olympians tied as their shots land precisely at the same second.
"So, Ms. Jackson, what did you think of the show?" Apollo flashed Sally his most charming smile. "Did you like it?"
"Yeah! Sure." Percy's mother laughed nervously at the bad attempt at flirting.
"Would you like to go out with-" The sun god was cut off by Percy and Poseidon yelling at him.
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!"
"Now that everything's over with, let's start reading again." Zeus grumbled.
"Actually," Annabeth started hopefully. "We have already taken such a long break, how about we talk to George and Martha right now instead of waiting for lunch?"
"Yes," Athena agreed with her daughter. "We can learn more-"
"Absolutely not!" Zeus frowned. "You can talk to them during lunch break."
Hestia raised the book. "Who would like to read?"
"I'll read." Sally volunteered. As the goddess of hearth handed her the book, the text inside changed from Greek to English.
"What chapter are you on?" The candy shop owner asked.
"Chapter 4." Reyna supplied.
Sally nodded in thanks. "Chapter- 4 My Mom Teaches Me Bullfighting."
"Wait, what?" Sally interrupted herself. "What's going on? Can someone please give me a summary of what I've missed till now?"
At that moment, the door of the throne room burst open and two boys strolled in.
"We're back!" They chorused. "Did anyone miss us? What did we miss?"
"Travis," Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Is that glitter in your hair?"
"What?" Travis immediately combed his hair with fingers in hope of removing it. "Not at all!"
"You better not be up to something." Reyna glared at Stolls.
They chuckled nervously, "We would never."
"So what did we miss?" Connor asked before his eyes fell on Percy's mom.
"Ms. Jackson!" He exclaimed. "It's nice to finally meet you!"
"Percy talks about you all the time!" Travis bowed, his brother following the suit.
"Nice to meet you too!" Sally greeted. "You two must be Stolls."
"Indeed we are." Travis puffed out his chest. "The renowned pranksters."
"Ignore them," Percy advised. "They have a flair for dramatics."
"Ahem." Zeus cleared his throat. "If you are done, let's start reading."
Stolls shared a quick look with Poseidon and settled down. Poseidon's eyes shined with the same amusement and mischief as it did after he returned from checking up on Stolls and Hephaestus. Apollo and Hermes caught this and grinned to show they were in on the plan too.
"What took you both so long?" Annabeth demanded. "And why didn't you invite me to build Demigod Quarters? I could have helped!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." They replied, whistling innocently.
Annabeth huffed and glared at them. Rachel and Reyna provided a short summary of all the previous chapters and everything with Gabe.
"Hold on," Connor said. "If he died as a jackalope, how will he go to Underworld?"
"As a human or a jackalope?" Travis elaborated.
"As a human," Hades grunted. "Poseidon, you so owe for this. Creating the documents is still going to be a pain, you know."
Nico winced in sympathy.
Poseidon nodded. "Yes, I'll owe you."
"STOP IGNORING ME!" Zeus boomed. "Let's start reading already."
"If you're in such a hurry, why don't you read?" Poseidon looked at his brother shrewdly. Hades joining in on the glare.
"STOP GANGING UP ON ME!"
"MAKE UP YOUR MIND!" His two brothers yelled back. "YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE!"
I'd like to apologize if you thought Gabe's punishment wasn't harsh enough. And to those who wanted Percy or Sally to kill him.
It seemed illogical to go beyond this. As it was said in the chapter, there are many people who have committed crimes worse than this and they probably wouldn't get punishment as harsh as Tantalus or Sisyphus (Gabe got it harsher than them). But even if we make an exception for Gabe, I can't see Hades breaking rules to bring him back to life just so they could kill him again. He didn't break the rules for his own children and lover.
And the main genre of this story is humor, not angst. Sorry!
And for 'it's over 9000', so sorry. I just couldn't resist.
Nico's crash course might or might not be important later on. I haven't decided yet. There's a fifty fifty chance.
Reply to reviews-
Beliver1991: Thanks a lot for the review! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! No problem.
Gabe1234: Thanks a lot for the review! Glad you liked it! It is iconic, isn't it? If you were wondering why Rachel didn't hit Gabe with her hairbrush, it's because Leo confiscated it saying he will directly give her the perfected version. Don't want her channeling her hairbrush ninja persona, do we?
Guest (Jan 1): Thanks for the review and for the suggestion! I will make sure to use them.
JustMe: Thanks for the wonderful suggestions! I will put them to good use.
lilyemma: Thanks a lot for the review! Hope you liked Gabe's punishment. Sorry I didn't use the entire punishment you suggested. I gave my reasons above. The spar will be included and it was a wonderful idea to beat up Octavian. Thanks!
nobody: I'm glad you're enjoying the story and want me to update but please keep in mind I've already said that I will update the fic monthly.
Once again, my update schedule is One chapter a month, Two chapters a month if I'm lucky and One chapter in two months if I'm unlucky. I also mention it in my profile's bottom section.
See you later and don't forget to review!