Alexander ~

I grabbed Nico and Thalia's hand, and then shadow travelled all of us to the Empire State Building. Throughout the three minutes of shadow travelling, Nico was screaming and yelling the whole time, to the amusement of Thalia and I. The sun was practically burning my eyes since we've spent Zeus knows how many days in the Underworld.

Thalia and I sprinted into the building, dragging Nico along with us.

"Why is this building so pointy?" Nico asked.

Thalia rolled her eyes and replied, "ask the gods."

"Ok!" Nico said excitably.

"She's joking, Nico. Don't ask the gods, or else they'll blast you to bits," I said.

"Thanks for ruining the fun, Alex!" Thalia said.

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Too bad!"

"Whatever," Thalia said. "Let's just go get the keycard."

The guard at the front desk was flipping through a nature magazine, too indulged in it to even notice that there were three demigods standing in front of him. Satyrs, I thought, always into nature.

"We need to go to the 600th floor," Thalia said.

The guard finally noticed us and sat up straight, putting the magazine down. "Excuse me? There's no 600th floor. Are you kids out of your minds?"

You could practically see Thalia trembling with fury. She's probably got that answer a couple of times now. Her eyes were changing to different colors of blue by each second. Electricity was flowing through her whole body, you could practically see lightning springing out of her fingers. I sighed, couldn't the guard just give us the keycard for Zeus's sake?

"Thalia," I said as I cautiously put my hand on her shoulder. "Let me take care of this. We don't want to deal with a electrocuted satyr do we?"

Thalia nodded then turned around and started to take deep breaths, counting from 1 to 10, attempting to calm down. I watched Thalia for a few seconds before turning my attention to the satyr guard who sat stubbornly on his chair, with his arms crossed around his chest.

"Listen you," I snarled. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you give me the keycard and no harm is done, or I can call on my father, Hades, or Thanatos even, to give you a little visit."

Once he heard dad's name, the guard threw the keycard at me as fast as he could. With the help of my ADHD, I caught the card, then turned around and smiled at the satyr.

"Thanks," I said, then walked towards the elevator whistling the tune from Kill Bill.

"I think you overdid it," Thalia said as we both looked back at the guard, who was hiding under his magazine.

"Well at least it got the job done," I replied as I pressed the up button.

There was a present 'ding' as the elevator doors slid open. I inserted the keycard and a few seconds later, a button appeared with the number 600 on it.

"Wow," I said out loud.

Thalia was amused. "Amazed by just the button? Then you'll probably faint from just taking a glance at Olympus."

"No I won't," I retorted.

There was silence for a few minutes as the elevator went up. I took the time to ponder about what would happen once we got to Olympus. That's when it struck me. I was going to have to stand in front of the god who tried to kill me when I was born. Thalia must have noticed that something was wrong because she was instantly by my side.

"What's wrong, Alex?" she asked.

I didn't reply with a straightforward answer, instead I said, "can I use you as a shield if your father decides to blast me again?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow, and then laughed. "Sure, I guess."

The ding' of the elevator cut me off from telling Thalia how I was serious about Zeus blasting me to bits. I stepped out of the elevator cautiously, with Thalia and Nico following me. Thalia was right; Olympus was the most beautiful sight I've seen. I was still staring in awe at the magnificent shrines and statues in front of me that I hardly heard Thalia clearing her throat behind me.

"We should get going, dad doesn't like to be kept waiting," Thalia said.

"Right," I replied as I allowed Thalia to steer us towards the throne room.

"You ready?" Thalia asked.

I nodded, pushing all the fear that I had to my gut. I sighed, here goes nothing. Thalia nudged me forward to the center of the throne room.

"Lord Zeus," I said as I bowed.

I could feel the tension from all the Olympians gathered in the throne room. There was an eerie silence and the crackling of the hearth could be heard. Finally Zeus spoke.

"Alexander Stone," Zeus boomed. "Hade's spawn. I should finish you once and for all."

"Father!" Thalia said. "Please, don't destroy Alex. He's a friend."

"You have other friends, Thalia. Now, it's time I destroyed his pathetic little life."

Zeus raised his master bolt, preparing to strike me down. I closed my eyes and got ready to be enveloped into the darkness of the underworld. I stood there for a few seconds, trying to acknowledge death's greeting, but found none. Strange, I opened my eyes, finding myself still standing in the throne room of Olympus.

I found myself protected by a black force field that was cast over me by none other than Hades, my father. Father looked at me, and then gave me slight nod before turning back to face the whole Olympian council that he had been excluded from.

"Zeus!" he yelled as his whole body trembled with fury. "Don't you dare try and destroy my son!"

"And what about what you tried to do to Thalia?" Zeus thundered back.

"She was an abomination!" Hades roared back. "You, Poseidon, and I all swore on the River Styx that we would not have anymore children after World War II. I hope you do recall the fact that it was only I who kept my oath. Now that brings us to the matter that must be discussed. Alexander has been chosen by Styx herself, to become the lord of the five sacred rivers, and to become the new god of truth. I believe that you've all heard?"

"Yes," Zeus replied. "We have."

"Good," father replied. "Then we all know what you must do."

"Woah there!" Apollo said. "What do you mean the new god of truth? Excuse me? But I'm the god of truth here."

Artemis laughed. "Give it a rest, Apollo. Some god of truth you are. You keep telling me that you forgot that you couldn't flirt with my hunters. That is clearly a lie, so don't you go call yourself the god of truth."

"Aw! Way to stand up for your brother, little sis," Apollo whined.

"Don't call me little sis!" Artemis snapped. "And there you are, another lie. We all know that I'm the older twin. I helped mother deliver you, for father's sake!"

"Silence!" Zeus yelled.

Apollo and Artemis instantly stopped arguing and sat down on their respected thrones. Even though they were silent, you could still see the tension between the both of them.

"Well?" father said.

Zeus grumbled and then stood up with his palm facing up. There was a ball of energy forming as he chanted words in ancient Greek, and then pointed at me. I felt a surge of power flow through me, and after a couple of minutes, I stood up, feeling completely different. Everything was so much clearer now. I could feel and sense the heartbeat and the breathing of Thalia and Nico, which was kind of cool and weird at the same time.

"Alexander Stone," Zeus said. "Lord of truth, and the five sacred rivers: Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, Lethe, and the Styx. As a god of such important aspects, do you accept my offer of joining the Olympian council?"

I was shocked. A few minutes ago, Zeus wanted to blast me to bits and now he was offering me a seat on the Olympian council? When did he turn into mister nice guy? I was about to accept before I realized that there was something I had to do before that.

"Lord Zeus," I said. "I will gladly accept your offer, but only after my father, Hades, receives his rightful place in the Olympian council."

There were lots of mummers and whispers between the gods before Zeus cleared his throat.

"We shall take a vote. Those who are in favor of Hades having a throne here on Olympus, raise your hands."

Surprisingly for a family that was known to hate my father, a lot of hands went up. Only the hands of Zeus, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Ares stayed down.

"Very well then," Zeus said. "Let us welcome the new members of the Olympian council then."

He waved his hand and two black thrones appeared. One was right next to Poseidon's, and the other was in between the thrones of Artemis and Hermes.

"You can make whatever changes you want to your thrones," Zeus said. "Anyways, now that the matters are all resolved, council is dismissed."

Zeus and Hera were the first to teleport away, followed by the majority of the gods. The only ones left in the throne room were Artemis, Hestia, my father, and I.

To my surprise, it was Artemis who approached me, followed by her lieutenant, Thalia.

"Alexander," Artemis said. "I'm glad you didn't break your oath."

I nodded. "You're welcome."

"It was quite … noble, risking your life to save Thalia." She turned to Thalia. "We'll be leaving in a few minutes. You can say your goodbyes before we leave. I'll be waiting outside the throne room."

"Yes my lady," Thalia said as we watched Artemis walk away.

"So," I began. "You've been a great friend. Thanks for sticking up for me back there."

"Likewise," Thalia replied. "And you're welcome."

I smiled. "Well, I'll miss you being around a lot."

Thalia laughed, and then hugged me. "I guess you didn't need me as a shield after all."

"No," I said, laughing along with her.

"Bye Alex."

"I'll be sure to drop by once in a while," I said.

"Don't drop by when we're on move with Lady Artemis though," Thalia replied. "I don't think you'll want a million arrows aimed at your head."

"I know, I know. I'll drop by when you're at camp."

"Alright then, see you when I see you."

"You too," I said as I waved.

I watched Thalia sprint over to where Artemis stood before turning around to see my father.

"Well son," father said. "I can't help but say that I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

Then my father smiled, which was one of those really special yet extremely dangerous and terrifying moments.

"You like her don't you?" he asked. "Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."

"What?" I said with disbelief.

"You're the lord of truth remember?" father replied. "Can't lie."

"Fine," I admitted. "Yes, I do."

"You do know that you can't have her right? Since she's a hunter and all."

"I know," I said glumly, "Even if she does fall in love with me, her immortality will be taken away, then she'll age, and eventually die. The cycle of life and death; as your son, how could I not know?"

"What I'm trying to say Alex, is that … you can still protect and watch over her as a god even though you can't love her."

"Alright," I said. "And is there anything we can do about Nico's memory?"

"You're the lord of the five sacred rivers," father replied. "It's in your power to fix things that have to do with that. You can return all of Nico's memories, return partial bits of his memories, or leave him as he is right now. It's your choice. Now, I have more judging to do, so I'll be off."

He vanished with that said, leaving me alone on Olympus to ponder on what to do about my half-brother. Why are decisions so hard to make?

The end is coming close, and I am still pondering whether or not to write a sequel to this flc. Tell me what you think with a review, and feel free to suggest any ideas with a PM or review. This is my present to all of you for the new year of 2011 coming up. Farewell, for now ...

~the ghost king