Perseus- The last debate

'Breaking news! Day one-thousand, three hundred and twenty-five of the debate is now underway, and still, nothing has been achieved!' Riptide chimed.

'Be quiet, we're finally getting to the important bit,' I lied.

"Demeter, how goes your children's task? Our forces need to be kept well maintained," Zeus said. Demeter looked at him with mild disinterest.

"Just as I said yesterday, the field of Mars has provided the perfect soil for our crops, and my daughters are providing the camp with enough vegetation to keep them maintained."

"If I may?" The other gods turned to me. "For a starters, you can't expect roman soldiers to keep up the fight purely off of… what was it you were growing? Cabbage?" Demeter looked at me like I was the stupidest thing in the world.

"Kale," she said. "It's a superfood, you know." I shuddered.

"No. As a former mortal, I can tell you right now that there isn't a single living being in that camp that is happy about eating kale, twenty-four seven. M-E-A-T! Artemis, surely we can spare some hunters to go out and…" I stopped. "Why are we even talking about this?" I stood up from Ares's throne.

"I mean… this is stupid! There is a war going on, against an enemy more powerful than any of us have ever faced, and we're sitting here talking about kale, the alcohol consumption of roman senators and the use of donkeys as cavalry in the unlikely event that the romans run out of horses!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I agree," Athena said. "We need to strategize, to out-think Tartarus and his minions."

"Think about it guys, we have nothing!" I spread my arms out, for added effect. "We have no camp, no demigods. All our forces are on the roman side, what do we have to work with?" Poseidon looked at me with a mixture of shock and confusion.

"Are you saying we just… give up?"

"Never!" Zeus roared. "You've only been in this court for a week, and already you suggest defeat?! When I recruited you, I expected that-"

"Recruited?" I interrupted. "Lord Zeus, if you would please just shut up for half a minute, I could possibly make my point."

Zeus's face became red hot as he rose from his throne.

"What did you just say?" he growled.

"I said shut up, sit down, and listen to me for a minute."

"Watch your tongue."

He tried to stare me down.

"Please, I've been playing this game since I was twelve years old. I don't scare easy. Not by Tartarus, not by Kronos and not by you."

Zeus's lightning bolt flashed into his hands, and he pointed it at me. The other Olympians rose from their seats. Poseidon stamped his trident against the floor.

"Brother, put it down and hear what my… impudent son, has to say," he looked at me warily, silently begging me to pick my words carefully. I ignored him.

"Speak!" Zeus spluttered, godly saliva dripping from his beard.

"What I'm saying," I begun, "is that we have no demigods to do our dirty work anymore. You're all talking about how we can help the romans, but that isn't our job! We're greek! Don't you see? This is an opportunity!"

"I'm not following," Zeus said.

"We have no excuses," I continued. "No control, no 'army,'" I turned to Athena. "So what do we have?"

"Power?" she answered.

"Close. We have each other. We're the Olympians! We. Are. Gods."

"Your point?" Zeus said.

"My point is that I think we should all pull our heads from our own arses, and actually get something done."

"We do plenty from here," Zeus said. "We coordinate the demi-"

"Exactly! We have no demigods! No one else to do our work except us! How can we call ourselves gods if we can't even be bothered to pull our own weight? If you haven't noticed, we have much more than that on our shoulders right now."

"You forget your place, Perseus. We do not dabble in mortal affairs. 'Dirty work' is out of our hands."

"The fate of the world is more than just 'mortal affairs!' It's not superiority or divinity that has you sitting in your dam thrones all day! It's bloody cowardice!"

"How dare you!"

My battle instincts kicked in before Zeus had even lifted his bolt. With lightning speed, I tore Riptide from it's sheath, and of it's own accord, it morphed into a round, bronze shield.

'Ow!' Riptide said, as a lightning bolt nearly pushed me off of my feet.

'You're a sword… and a shield?' I asked it.

It wasn't easy to ignore Riptide's sudden ability to speak in the middle of court, but now it's a shield too? Something told be it could be a lot more than that… It? Him? Her? I think it's her.

I slowly peeked over my shield, and then readied myself as another bolt smacked into Riptide.

"Brother," Poseidon said. "Calm yourself."

"I will not be disrespected in my own court!" Zeus barked. "Are we clear?!" I could see where Ares got his temperament.

"Crystal," I said, as I lowered my shield and sheathed it in sword form. "But we need to be thinking about how we can weaken Tartarus ourselves, and we need to consider defending what few fronts we have left."

"He's right," Artemis turned to Athena. "And I have been thinking about this already."

"Your hunters?" Athena asked.

"Exactly. I could call them back and have some temporary archer towers prepared around the city."

"How good is their aim?" I asked. Artemis looked offended.

"Unmatched."

"Then station them atop the buildings that surround the empire state, cut off ground access for Tartarus's forces, or at least slow them down in the event of an attack."

"Yes, and we can call back the demigods to guard the entrance," Athena said.

"Not gonna happen," I said. "I don't want a repeat of the battle of New York, we lost too many people then. We have plenty of minor gods and goddesses, not to mention us and many other beings down in the city. The greek demigods are bolstering the roman defenses, and it would be much safer for them if we don't try to pull them across the country; using the labyrinth is a last resort only, it's a massive risk."

"That's not your call," Athena said.

"Actually," said Apollo. "I agree with him. Let our children stay in the safety of New Rome."

"Then what of my hunters? Are they of less importance, or are they a 'necessary' risk?"

"That call should be left to you, after all, it was your suggestion."

"All calls are made by me," Zeus said.

Not entirely, I thought. "Of course," is what I actually said. "But aren't the Hunters of Artemis Artemis's responsibility, just as Atlantis is my father's?"

"Exactly," Artemis said.

"If I may," Aphrodite piped up, as she stood from her chair and walked around me. This was the first time she had talked all session, as up until now, all she had done was bat eyes at me. Out with one warrior god, in with another, it seemed.

"I think it's about time we grant this handsome… Perseus, the title he so richly deserves," she said sultrily.

"And then maybe a quick break?" Apollo said, hopefully.

"No, we've got plenty more to discuss before-"

"Brother, we're all in need of a rest. Lets conclude today's session with the initiation, and then return at a later date."

"Refreshing our minds would make us more productive," Athena said.

"Please?"

"Just get it over with!"

"C'mon!"

"Okay!" Zeus bellowed over the voices of his fellow Olympians. "Initiation, and then a break, say… three days. Any objections?" For the first time, there were none. "Good."

'Finally, I thought we'd never get to the important bit,' Riptide said.

"Rise, Perseus," Zeus said.

As I was already standing, I don't know why he said that. Maybe it's a divine law to follow the script to the letter or something. "Do you pledge yourself to always, no matter what, do exactly as I say?"

"Brother, that's not the initiation," Poseidon said.

"Fine," said Zeus. Worth a shot, I suppose. "Do you, Perseus, take on the role as the god of war, violence, bloody battle, battle lust, rage-"

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not," I said.

"Then what title shall I bestow upon you? What role will you play? What god will you be?" This was the question I'd been considering since the defeat of Ares, and had been practicing the answer for in my head for the past week.

"I'll be Perseus, god of questing mortals, honour and bravery in battle, proficiency in combat, master of the sword and lord of the seven. I'll probably add more later, but for now-"

"Symbols?" Zeus asked.

"The sword and the color blue."

"Blue in itself can't be a symbol."

"Well the color blue gains my favor, anyway."

"Okay then. Favoured offering?"
"Blue." He looked at me, and I swear his eye was twitching.

"Blue… what?"

"Anything. Oh, but especially blue food. I love-"

"Okay, okay, whatever. Creatures?"

"None for now. Do I get to add to all this later?" I asked.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "Do you swear loyalty to Olympus, and to your fellow Olympians?"
"I do."

"Then I hereby name you Perseus, god of mortal heroes. Please sign here." He handed me a rolled up, golden parchment. I wrote my signature, ticked all the boxes and then it was done. The other Olympians cheered, although Zeus, Dionysus, Hephaestus and Athena were a little half-hearted. Then we all stood.

"One last thing," Poseidon said.

"Yes?" Zeus asked.

"I want to give my son my fullest permissions to my domain," he said.

"Granted," Zeus said. "Is that all?" With a nod, one by one, the Olympians disappeared from the courtroom, until only Aphrodite, Hephaestus and I remained.

She was still standing right in front of me.

"Well, looks like it's just us now," she said as she began to walk around me again, dragging her soft, delicate fingers across the fabric of my ocean blue toga. Then my shoulder. Then my neckline. Hephaestus just stood there, fists clenched, glaring pure hatred at me, but I did nothing to stop her. I had been waiting for this moment since I got here; I saw it coming the moment she looked at me when I sat down in that throne. To her, I was her prize, her plaything, even though her magic hadn't worked on me before. After all, who could resist the most beautiful woman of all creation, Love herself? She was about to find out.

"Mmm," her hand slowly caressed it's way up my neck. "Tall, tan, muscular, handsome… what's a girl to do?" Hephaestus watched on, probably plotting ways to humiliate us both, not that I could blame him. Still, she continued, uncaring. Her hands roamed my body, and I had to stop myself from pushing her away. But I persevered, even as her hands found places I definitely didn't want them to be. Funny the way love works, isn't it? Most men would kill to get this kind of 'treatment' from her, yet here I was, and all I could think about was Annabeth, and how Aphrodite hurt us, tried to tear us apart.

Her lips felt like heaven as they travelled up, from my shoulder, my neck, my jaw, each kiss weakening my resolve. I looked up as Hephaestus pushed open the courtroom doors, and looked back at us one more time. I mimed 'wait' just before Aphrodite turned my face back to her.

Her pretty little nose fitted perfectly besides mine, her breath smelled sweet, and her bright eyes bore into mine. Our hands crawled into each other's hair, as slowly, her lips came closer, closer, closer. They brushed against my own, and then I slipped by them. With my mouth mere centimetres from her ear, I spoke, and none too quietly.

"Oh Aphrodite, as beautiful as you are, I can do a lot better than a heartless, manipulative witch like yourself."

Then I parted our bodies, and just before I pushed myself through the door, I added, "And I already have. Besides, you're married, remember?" I nudged Hephaestus in the arm on my way out, and closed the door behind me.