Aphrodite POV
Something poked my mind in the middle of the meeting. It was the sign that someone I keep tabs on was going through heart troubles. Hopefully it wasn't any of my children, I thought. I'll just have to check on that later since right now I am busy fixing my makeup. Yeah, that's kind of what meetings are for, you know?
Suddenly, the poke turned into a sharp pain forcing me to rub my temples in circular motion to deal with the pain. I decided to deal with the inconvenience at once since curiosity got the best of me. I was surprised that the distress signal came from Percy, the son of my adopted uncle.
"This is truly unfortunate." I mumbled very silently. To my bad luck Zeus, my adopted father, heard me and surprisingly agreed.
"Yes, it is Aphrodite. I'm surprised you were actually paying attention. We don't have enough funds to provide Annabeth with everything she needs for New Athens and the expansion of Olympus. I don't know how we can keep both projects going..."
"No, I meant what I felt in my domain." I gritted my teeth while still managing to smile at Zeus. Why would I care about some new buildings for the campers or random gods, buildings are physical and can be solved with money, their feelings not so much.
"And that concerns us how?" Inquired an irritated Athena.
"For your information Athena, it is relevant to our discussion." I hissed back. Yeah, that's right Athena. The domain of love is always important, it applies to almost every other domain.
"Explain yourself Aphrodite." Ordered Zeus in a calm yet annoyed demeanor.
"Well, it seems that Perseus has umm how do I say this… ah yes, he had his heart broken by your daughter Athena." I spat. This was met with gasps from the council.
"Apparently, Annabeth has fallen for a son of Hephaestus and her love for young Perseus slowly faded away." I said in a sad tone. Truth is, having someone slowly stop loving you is very sad indeed. It is almost as bad as unrequited love, my son can attest to that…
"How DARE that spawn of yours break my son's heart Athena!" Exclaimed Poseidon, raising his trident towards Athena who just sat in her throne in shock.
"I-I," Athena managed to stutter out at the frightening display of power by the lord of the seas. He's my adopted uncle by the way.
"Clayton Simmons is his name, he's quite handsome, obviously from his mother's side and has a good heart." I said simply, "I guess Annabeth slowly fell in love with him because of how much time they spend together planning New Athens." I mentioned casually, glancing over to Athena. "Percy was devastated to say the least."
"So what" said Ares, "the kid got replaced. It happens, he needs to grow a pair and get a new girlfriend. Besides why do we care? It's not like this kid's love life affects us in any way."
"Ares is right Aphrodite," added Zeus. "The girl will continue with the expansion of Olympus and New Athens and this will soon pass. As strong as he is, he is still a mortal and we must not intervene so much with them." How naive, they could not be more wrong. Heartbreak is very powerful, and they are fools to believe that this matter doesn't affect us.
Surprisingly Athena was the one to speak. "Actually father, if Percy is anything like Old Barnacle Beard," Athena said, glancing over at a seemingly calmed down Poseidon, "his reaction and following emotions could cause major problems to the camp. He is a very powerful demigod, son of the earth shaker, storms and the sea..." Everyone in the council slowly realized what Athena meant. Poseidon, who seemed to truly understand the potential damage an angry Percy could cause stiffened and looked at Athena with eyes that seemed to scream, "What have you done!"
"Someone needs to go talk to the boy and make sure he doesn't screw anything up in a fit of rage." said Zeus fully composed. Funny, since lately Zeus has been more level headed. Probably because all known enemies of Olympus are of no threat anymore and that eased his paranoia.
"I will go brother, Percy is my son and if anything happens I'm the only one who will be able to-"
"No, I will go", I said firmly. Everyone gave me puzzled looks except for Dionysus who was looking at a wine magazine and Demeter who was enjoying some cereal. Which, is extremely rude. We are dealing with an important matter and they have the audacity to not pay attention? How disrespectful.
"Percy is heartbroken and needs some love. I can easily help him get over Annabeth and-"
"Unacceptable! Perseus is the only decent male I know, and you will not seduce him in his moment of weakness." shouted Artemis with bloodshot eyes. I was shocked, I was not going to seduce him, I just want to comfort him. I am the goddess of love for a reason and if anyone can help him get over his heart break, it is me!
"Maybe Hermes and I could go," said Apollo smiling. "Tomorrow we can take him out to the city, you know? Take my cus away from the camp, go to some hot new clubs, drink a little and hook him up with a mortal girl so that he can-" He never got to finish as a silver arrow flew right at groin. His eyes widened to a comical level but he managed to dodge it.
"Shut it Apollo, that's not going to help him at all, he's not like you and you know it," said Artemis with venom in her voice.
"Enough! All of you SHUT UP, this is a serious situation!" shouted Zeus with his master bolt at hand.
"Maybe I should go brother," said a soft gentle voice. Everyone turned to look at the eight-year-old girl tending the hearth. "Percy has gone through so much this past few hours. He certainly needs all the hope he can get to get through this situation. Annabeth was most of his everything in the Greek world and without her he has little reason to move forward in the camp." Hestia said softly.
Even though I wanted to go and help Percy through his heartbreak, Hestia could certainly prevent him from doing anything stupid out of rage. Everyone in the council seemed to have come to the same conclusion as me and nodded in approval.
"Very well Hestia, talk to the boy and ensure that he is no threat to the camp and umm gets over his romantic problems and whatever." Zeus said calmly. Hestia had the strange power to calm people down. Without a doubt she was one of the best choices, right next to me of course, especially if Perseus reacts in a bad way.
"Yes, brother. I will visit him tomorrow morning. Right now, Percy is on top on a tree but feels no anger. If anything, he is likely to walk to his cabin to sleep. Today has taken a toll on him after all." Hestia said softly. Zeus nodded once again, took a deep breath and looked at the rest of us.
"If that is everything that there is to discuss about Perseus, let's continue to our previous conversation about insufficient funds." Once again, the meeting faded into the background.
After the meeting was over I flashed into my palace. I looked into my magic mirror and saw Percy's heart. It was still full of love. Love for his mother, his father, his friends and even his stepfather. He was a man that loved beyond measure. It shone so bright, almost blinding. However, if one looked closely they could see that an the very middle of his heart there was a dark spot that was now empty. It was literally sucking all the love from his heart, spreading like a disease.
Percy needs to find himself a girlfriend soon or grow by himself because at this rate Percy will not last very long. He never had a chance to grow individually since Annabeth was always right next to him, ever since he first became a hero. Chances are he will learn something from this experience as much as it hurts.
I just wish that tomorrow morning Hestia can infuse some much-needed hope in his heart.