Next chapter! Nothing depressing for you, just some good ol' bashing by yours truly and some dark shit. Just a heads up, the things Percy says towards some people is meant to portray his declining psyche. I do not support rape at all. Also for the people who have the mental condition he will talk about with one of the characters, I apologize in advance. I have nothing against people with such a mental condition and think it is... well, I don't know how to phrase it without me coming off in such a way that it feels demeaning to people with such a condition. So, I'm not going to touch that landmine. Just using it to add to the personality he has in this fanfic.
Without further ado, the trial of the 'Traitor of Olympus'!
Hestia's POV
flashback
I grow to my godly size as I sit in my chair, watching as Percy is thrown jeers and taunts by the demigods as he just sits quietly in the chair in the center of the room, smoking his cigarette without a care in the world.
It takes a moment for all of the gods to quiet down the ruckus caused by their children. But one demigod doesn't quiet down. He walks up to Percy, a superior and arrogant expression on his face. The younger son of Poseidon. His looks remind me of that boy Luke, only with a worse personality.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A traitor. If I may?" he asks us for the go ahead to do whatever. I was about to speak up, but was silenced with stares by the other gods. I quiet back down as I gaze at the two sons of Poseidon.
Percy glances at him,, before looking to us and stating, "If he tries something, I'm going to kill him." nonchalantly like it was something that he does everyday. Among the gods, the more lighthearted of us frown uncomfortably at the sudden change of his personality.
"Look at this shit, thinking he's all that. Well, let me tell you, I have everything that you ever loved. And there's nothing you can do about it." he smirks widely. Percy ignores his half-brother as he just takes another drag of his cigarette.
His half-brother doesn't take too kindly to him ignoring him and tries to punch him. Percy merely tilts his head and leans the chair forward, causing his half brother to break a couple of knuckles. The child howls loudly as he falls to the floor, crying slightly. Percy glances at his and scoffs, kicking him away from him.
It takes a moment for his brother to stand, glaring murderously at Percy.
"You wish you were me. I have everything you had ever loved. I even fucked your ex." he boasts to him.
Percy glances down at him, before glancing to Annabeth, who has a shocked face on. He snorts, before turning back to his half-brother, adopting a cruel and malicious look. I shiver at what he is thinking.
"Really?" his half-brother smirks at Percy. "Tell me then, whose name did she call out at the end?" His half-brother pales greatly, glancing over at Annabeth, who is shaking slightly. His reaction is all Percy needs, as he laughs out loud. "Tell me, was the name... Luke?"
"H-How did you know that?" he stutters, ashamed that the secret that the girl he slept with was thinking of another man the entire time is now out in the open.
Percy collapses back into his chair, guffawing loudly as he wipes a tear down his eye. Zeus tries to interject at this point.
"That is some nice acting. Is that tear from laughter or sadness?" he questions, a smirk on his face.
Percy stops and looks at him, grinning widely. He gets up and takes an exaggerated bow. "Thank you for praising me, you who is known as the God of Theatrics." We could hear the sarcasm rolling off of him. I also notice though, that he didn't answer Zeus' question.
His half brother, furious that he is being ignored and made the brunt of a joke, shouts furiously. "Don't ignore me! Or I'll visit that mother and sister of-" he shouts, before we hear a crack. The younger son of Poseidon falls to the floor, his legs bent at awkward angles. We only saw a flash and then the child's legs were broken. Percy looks to Hephaestus, motioning to his cuffs as the god waves his hand, unlocking them.
We know that he doesn't have a chance to get out of the throne room, so we let him do what he wants to his younger half-brother. He stretches, sighing contently as we hear the pops in his joints. Then he stares amusedly down at the soon-to-be dead corpse on the floor crying out loudly. He takes a step, smashing his foot down on the outstretched hand towards his father, pulverizing the bone in it. The he proceeds to dislocate the arms of the corpse and the breaking all the bones in his limbs. Afterwards, he sits, adopting a thinking expression as the younger son of Poseidon's body starts to grow redder.
When we ask him what he was doing, he say that he's just boiling the blood inside of his body. Even Ares cringes as the agonizing shouts turn into whimpering sounds of pain. Percy then takes the blood that has fallen to the floor, solidifying it into an ice dagger. He then proceeds to hold his brother up by the water in his body and tosses him into his chair, plunging the knife into his knee, twisting it as we can hear the sounds of gore and the ligaments being torn to shreds as his knee is popped. Percy slaps his brother a couple of times, telling him to focus on him, before whispering in his ear.
"You don't ever threaten my mother and sister, let this be a lesson for anyone who does." We hear clearly as Percy sets his brother on his knees, before proceeding to smash his head against the marble floor, blood splatter decorating the stone. Percy takes his now finished butt of his cigarette, putting it out in his brother's eye. Now Percy lets his brother rest on the floor, taking a breath before resuming his work. Percy kicked his brother's head, knocking it to the side as he stood over his back and grabbed his brother by the hair, pulling his head back, slugging it every now and then before resuming with his pulling.
Soon, we heard a crack and tearing sound as we saw Percy rip his brother's head off straight from his shoulders, the blood spray splashing against his clothes, marring them a crimson red. He stood, kicking his brother's body out of the way, glancing at the head, before tossing it to Annabeth, who shrieked in fright. The other campers were not far off, scrambling out of the way as the head bounced over to them.
Percy then glanced down at himself, before sitting back down, not even caring that the seat was coated in his brother's blood. More than a few gods looked a little green at Percy's display of brutality. He was so different from the kind boy back then. He wouldn't even think to do such a thing in the past.
"Just a little show to help sell the image that I've gone off the deep end." He informed us, grinning widely.
At that moment, we decided it would be good to have a short break, everyone leaving the throne room except for Percy, who just sat there in his chair after reattaching his chains, adopting a brooding pose.
After our short break, we came back, to find all the gore gone and a fresh and clean Percy sitting in his clean chair, in a plain white chiton, which only seemed to emphasize his tanned body contrasting with the pale scars adorning his body.
I was confused to where he had gotten a chiton, when I saw Aphrodite sitting in her throne, squirming with a red face. She would glance up to Percy, before looking down embarrassed. I felt a cold pit of fury growing in me when I think about the few reasons she would be acting like that. Artemis seemed to notice as well, only she didn't seem so keen on staying silent.
"What did you do?" she asked in a deathly quiet voice. Percy glanced at her and shrugged.
"Nothing, why do you ask?" he questioned. Artemis seemed to only grow even angrier, stomping up to him, pulling him up by his collar.
"You lie." she hissed. Percy looked at her coldly, grabbing her hands and shoving her roughly off him.
"Why do you care? I'm not in a relationship. What's wrong with me flirting with someone? Huh?" she retorted. "What would you like to me to say? Would like me to confess the truth? What happens if you don't like it then?!" he asked her.
"Please, I'm not weak enough to be so affected by the truth." she shot back venomously.
"What if the truth is that I face-fucked her while you all were out doing whatever you gods do, hmm?" he questioned, crossing his arms coldly. "What does it matter to you? Like I said, we're not in a relationship. Why should I care what you think? Are you going to let me do the same thing? Huh? What if the truth is that I bent her over and fucked her raw and bareback and the reason she's squirming in her seat is because she can still feel my seed inside her and is coaxing it deeper, waiting for it to bear fruit? Are you going to get jealous? I mean she does have a great body, while you have such an... undeveloped figure." He spat out crossly, his eyes roaming down over her twelve year old body.
Furious, she slapped Percy, who merely chuckled darkly at her and spat blood at her feet.
"You didn't seem to mind Hestia's age when you fell in love with her!" she shouted at him.
"What do you know about love? How would the eternal man-hating virgin maiden goddess know about love? If it was just about the body, then it wouldn't be love but lust. Aren't you just a daft little girl pretending to be all grown-up? I loved Hestia because of her personality. Because of what's on the inside that counts, right? Unlike you, who's insides is nothing but a hypocritical cold-blooded murderer."
"How dare you, name one time that I was cold-blooded!" she shot back.
"How about all those times you killed men just because of what you believe is going on and acted on your brashness? All those men who you killed when they were just out hunting. Did you ever stop and wonder whether or not they were hunting for their families? Think about all those families you ruined back in Ancient Greece, when the father or husband didn't come home that night and they starved. Or maybe the newly made widow sold her body for coin and food so her child won't have to starve since you killed the father of their home. I have many more, but don't worry, I have a bone to pick with all of you and I intend to call you gods out on all your faults once we get this party started." Percy stated cruelly as Artemis staggered back in shock, realizing that this wasn't the nice and playful boy she had a crush on. "Now sit down and shut the fuck up so we can be done with this day." he snapped, sitting in his seat and pulling out another cigarette from somewhere, lighting it from the hearth.
Everyone trickled in quietly, silenced at the sudden difference between the Percy they knew and the one standing before them. Even I was stunned into silence. This wasn't the young man I fell for.
Once everyone was seated, Zeus called for everyone's attention. "We are here because of evidence provided by the recently deceased son of Poseidon, claiming young Perseus here to be a traitor and spy for Gaia." Instantly, the commotion increased by the amount of voices shouting. Zeus slammed his Master Bolt into the ground, silencing everyone.
"Quiet down, now before we get to that, we would like to know the reason that Aphrodite is blushing. It could sway her vote to be biased." he ordered. We heard Percy mutter 'aren't all of you fucking biased anyway?" to himself, but waited patiently for him to answer.
He looked to Aphrodite, but she motioned back for him to answer. He shook his head and sighed, looking up bored and answered. "She saw my dick."
Short, blunt and truthful. From what I could tell when I could read him, but then again, that was back then when he wasn't like this.
"Explain exactly." Hera said slowly.
Percy rolled his eyes at her tone but answered anyway. "I was covered in gore. Aphrodite didn't want to be in the same room with me covered in blood and fleshy bits, so she changed my clothes. She got a peek, and now she's like a horny teenager."
I gaped at his bluntness to us. Athena though, didn't believe him. "Why didn't she just flash new clothes onto you then?"
He merely lifted his hands, where he was still shackled at the wrists and legs. "Your powers don't work on me since this stops my power and yours from interfering with me. If I didn't have these on, one of my allies would be able to just flash me out of here somewhat easily, if I'd had any."
Athena still didn't let up. "Why couldn't you just put your own clothes on?"
He sighed, annoyed. "Well, first, I'm shackled, so getting on clothes tends to be a hassle. Second, she gave me a chiton, which I don't know how to put on, but then again, maybe she just wanted to get a peek at what I'm packing."
She seemed to accept that answer, as we continued on with the main event. We would ask Percy for what he pleads, and when he denies it, we will force him into servitude or take Tartarus.
Poseidon takes up speaking. "Perseus. You have been called here because we believe that you are a traitor, if you plead guilty, we will send you straight to Tartarus, if you plead not guilty, we will have it at a vote. How do you plead?"
Percy looked at him, amused, before smirking, which turned into chuckled, then giggles, to laughter, to guffawing boisterously. I shifted in my seat as Zeus grew impatient.
"This will decide your future. I advise you to not mess around." he stated coldly, obviously impatient to have this young demigod grace his bed. I could see all of the gods and goddesses giving him hungry looks.
"Sorry, sorry. I just thought of something." he chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Oh, and what is this 'something'?" Ares asked.
"Well, I finally realized why this whole family is so fucked up." We looked at him confused. "I mean for a king, you have a paranoid tyrant and rapist, and for a queen, you have a bitter old bitch with stockholm syndrome." He started to crack up again in the middle of his explanation. Both of them grew red in the face, at this disrespect, no doubt thinking of various tortures to inflict on him once he serves us.
"This is not a game, Percy. Give your answer." I pleaded with him. he stopped laughing, looking at me with emotionless eyes. Since his change in demeanor, we know he was about to plead-
"Guilty." he announced.
The Olympians took a good few moments to decipher what he had just said, before all hell broke loose.
"WHAT!" echoed throughout the throne room. The culprit of such an outburst merely ignored us all, tossing the butt of the cigarette into the hearth while lighting another one.
The gods and demigods started to argue amongst and against each other. Percy merely sat where he was, uncaring to all the chaos going around. I didn't know what to think. The only ones to calmly think about this was Athena, Artemis and myself. We knew he was innocent, so why would he plead guilty. Did he hate us that much and never wanted to see us again. One look at him, and we had our answer.
The anger and betrayal I felt from Percy was immense. As such, the hearth blazed to life, lighting another one of his cigarettes as everyone else quieted down. Artemis and Athena explained what we believe to be the reason for this. Once we said it, everyone quieted down, glaring at the lone figure in the middle of the throne room.
"Why? Why do you hate us so much? Why would you betray us?" I asked. For a moment, he had a stupefied expression, before it changed into a vicious snarl.
"You have the gall to accuse me of betrayal hearth goddess?" Percy snarled in the worst tone I've heard from him ever. He sent me a glare of utter hatred and loathing, before focusing that stare on all the other gods, who seemed to flinch back in shock and fright. "Before you accuse me of betrayal, why don't you look to yourselves first."
We flinched at his tone and words, but pressed on. "You do know that if you are guilty, we will send you down to Tartarus with no help and no way back. Think carefully on your next words, mortal. This isn't the time for jokes." Hades threatened quietly.
Percy glanced at him, before returning his stare into the hearth. "I am guilty, send me to Tartarus." Percy spoke quietly.
Apollo spoke up quietly. "Why?"
This seemed to set him off. Because all of a sudden, he stood up, looking each of us in the eyes. "You want to know why, because I have to deal with you gods' bullshit my entire life. I had hoped that after these two wars and everything that has happened, you would change your ways, but no. If anything, you've gotten even worse after your two 'victories'." he said using air-quotes. "All the deaths of the demigods and whatnot, yet you gods still can't seem to think of anyone but yourself. I am sick and tired of slaving away for the unappreciative and horrible 'Gods of Olympus'. So I decided, why not? I always had to be a hero. why not be a villain. You either die a hero or see yourself become the villain. One of my favorite quotes. Describes you gods and me perfectly. You all thought you were doing what was best, but in reality, all you did was become consumed with your sins. Me, I always tried my best to be the hero, and when I finally cracked, everyone left me. So I decided why not be a villain."
"Who are you to judge us? We are gods. We are faultless." Zeus roared back. Percy merely laughed at his face before continuing.
"Why don't we go in alphabetical order." Percy suggested.
"Aphrodite, you are someone who loves to sleep around. You are vain and only think about yourself. You started helped kick-start the Trojan War for the only reason that you wanted mortals to praise your beauty. But on the inside, you are a disgusting person. You toy with the loves of people for fun. And for what? Because you're jealous. I know all about your deep dark secret. I know that in truth you whore yourself around because you are desperate to have someone truly love you instead of lusting after your body. That is why you mess with love stories so much. I bet that if I showed even a smidgen of care for you when I was still sane, you would've spread your legs for me just to ensure that I plant a seed in you to try to convince me to stay loyal to you. If you had only looked to who you were married to, you would've seen the perfect person to love you. And yet, you reject him for his looks and spread you legs for others who don't love you."
Aphrodite looked extremely shaken up, tears welling in her eyes as her secret is out in the open.
"Apollo, the biggest manwhore, second to your father if he had his way. You say you care for your children, but watch from your sun chariot as you see them killed by monsters or abused and don't even try to do anything about it. You lie to yourself, telling yourself that it's better that way, they won't have to live a hard life. When in reality, all they knew was a hard life before having it ripped from them. You don't even get off your high-horse and ask one of the other gods to help your children because you believe that it would be beneath you. When you grow emotional, the mortals suffer for it because the sun reflect your feelings. You murder people everyday because of a small tantrum from something insignificant."
Apollo's face grew red with fury, which only seemed to strengthen the fact that people suffer for his emotions.
"Ares, you are a deplorable being. It is even more pitying that the whole reason for your existence proves that just like war, there is nor real need for you. The only reason there is is because you gods have shaped mankind to be that way. You try to start wars just to justify your existence."
Ares snorted at him, most likely not trying to take heed to his words.
"Artemis, Daddy's little girl." Wow, he really hates her. "I think you're one of the goddesses I hate the most. Adding on to what I've already said, you say that you love your hunters as if they were your daughters? I feel pity for them and well as any child you have if that's how you treat your daughters. I know about all your sins. Tell me, do you remember Callisto?" he scolded. I saw Artemis and Zeus visibly flinch. "You remember, your faithful hunter back in Ancient Greece. She was tricked and raped, by none other than your own father, and you kick her out of the hunt. Do you think she had a say in what happened? What would happen if Zeus took a fancy to another one of your hunters and raped one of them now? Would you kick her out of the hunt as well just like that? Even more amazing, you did nothing to Zeus. No words or anything. You just let him be. That just shows how hypocritical you are. You are surrounded by a family filled with rapists, and yet at most, you ignore them. That would be the same as turning a blind eye to those who are raped. What do your think the hunters in your little group think of you now that they know some of your past?"
Artemis had tears on her cheeks as she looked over to her hunters, who were looking over at her frightened. "You lie..." she musters up quietly.
"I LIE!? You have no right to tell me that I lie, you hypocritical bitch. What about Orion?" her head snaps to Percy. "The sweet man who ensnared your heart. Who you fell in 'love' with, and yet he made no move since he respected your choice to be a maiden goddess. So, you tell your brother, of all people, who is impulsively stupid and jealous, about your feelings for me!" I don't think he noticed his misquote. At least, I think it was a misquote. Until I see a vague outline of a man that looks like a hunter version of Percy. From the faces of the other gods, I'm not the only one to see him, Artemis and Poseidon being the most emotional at the occurrence. "And when you shot him, tell me, what did you do? You believed the first line of bullshit that your rapist of a brother told you. You didn't question it or anything. And just like that, you were over him. Can you really say that you loved him? No, because like I said, you have no idea what love is. You say you love me, and yet you didn't feel anything after hearing a lie. You say you love this family? This family that does nothing but bitch, whine, and moan about insignificant shit, while the males rape maidens in the past and the females watch on and punish the 'whores' who entranced their lovers. You say you love your hunters, and yet you punish them from something that was not their fault."
He seemed to really hate Artemis. Artemis started to shake in her throne, repeating that she does love them.
"I have a great idea for any of you men here. You want to fuck her, I got a great way. If she truly does love her hunters, then how about giving her some payback. I mean, nothing better than some revenge, right? So, here's how it's gonna go down. You drug her, because you know, she's too prideful and brash to believe that she'll ever be drugged, and then you'll threaten her hunters. So, you can see whether or not she cares more for herself and her pride, or her hunters." Percy suggested sadistically. "Either way, she's going to be hurt in the same way that the families who she messed up were. When the mother felt violated when she had to sell her body, or when she lost the ones she loves. Either way, revenge is sweet?"
He cackled like a madman, ignoring the hurt and disbelieving stare sent to him by Artemis.
"Athena, the ever so prideful cunt." he insulted. "I feel like I don't need to talk about your faults, but just a refresher on some, because of your pride, you created Arachne; who has killed dozens of your children, for the only reason that she was a better weaver than you, so you decided to punish her because you couldn't stand someone being better than you. And Medusa, whom you created because you felt wronged when Poseidon felt like slighting you with his new mortal fling. Medusa knew that she couldn't say no to a god, and yet you never thought to ask her why she had agreed to join Poseidon in your temple. Did you ever think to wonder that maybe, Poseidon was forcing her to do that in your temple? No, because of your hubris, which also prevented you from taking care of Medusa when she started to kill demigods."
Athena tried to hide the shame that showed on her face.
"Your pride caused me to die!" he roared once again, a different man shimmering and overlapping where Percy was. Athena and Poseidon seemed to recognize the man. "You said you loved me. And yet, you did nothing when you knew my fate to be betrayed and executed. No forewarning, no apologies, nothing."
He sneered at her, turning his attention to my sister while ignoring the shaken goddess.
"Demeter, you temperamental goddess. Blinded by your anger after having your precious Kore taken from you, you fucked with your domain enough that it created a season that helped starve thousands at the time because your daughter fell in love with someone. You never thought about how that would affect the mortals and just wanted to vent, and who better, than those insignificant insects that you gods love breeding with so much."
Percy chastised my sister as he turned to Dionysus, his face growing solemn.
"Dionysus, you sad old man. You say that you hate heroes, yet what do you do?" he asked. "You sit on your throne, drinking yourself stupid and just whine. You never stopped and wondered that maybe, since you are the camp director for a while, you can advise the new generation of heroes to not follow in their predecessor's footsteps? You say you hate heroes who abandon those who have helped them, yet aren't you abandoning all the demigods who could help make a difference."
Percy questioned quietly, all we could hear from him was disappointment and disgust.
"Hades, the bipolar of the bunch. You say that you don't care about the affairs on Olympus while you brood down in your domain, and yet, time and again you interfere with those who live here even. Most of the time, at the expense of innocent kids whose faults are not theirs, but their parents. Yet, you still act like the rest of the Olympians even when you know that this should be wrong. You boast that you are one of the eldest and more knowledgeable to your siblings, and yet you do nothing to stop them and stoop to their level."
Percy sneered at my brother. I feel he still holds a grudge against him.
"Hephaestus, probably the least guilty of the bunch. The only grudge I have with him is the fact that he knows that he doesn't do well with normal beings (i.e. organic life forms) and doesn't try to at least fix that. That and his recklessness when disposing of his dangerous experiments is all I could fault him on."
Percy chastised lightly, probably the nicest he's been to a god ever since we've started this farce. Hephaestus, too, seemed surprised at his faults being pointed out and nodded sheepishly.
"Hera, I don't even have to start with you. You and Zeus are probably some of the most accurately portrayed immortals. Bitter, prideful, and stubborn. I sometimes wonder what possesses you to stay with the old idiot. I mean, he raped you to get you to become his wife. And you're fine with that? I mean, the only reason he did that was because you were beautiful, at the time." he mocked. "You wonder why he cheats on you so much, I can give you at least two reasons. One, he just doesn't think of you as he used to. He no longer lusts after you. That's why he looks to the mortal women. Two, you've become such an bitter old bitch, cursing the women he has had affairs with and whatnot. Some don't even know who he is, and yet you ruin their lives. You say you have the perfect family, if you'd only look to yourself, you'd see that you're also a part of the reason it's so messed up. You threw Hephaestus off the cliff because he didn't look like your 'perfect' child? Despicable. And even when he forgives you and saves you when your 'husband' dangled you above the void of chaos, you still resent him. And repay him by marrying him to a harlot."
Hera slowly grew red in the face as Percy moved on.
"Hermes, another manwhore, but at least you seem to care a little more for your children. Yet, like all the gods, you are arrogant, greedy, stubborn, and deceitful. When someone doesn't want to listen to you, you punish them. It disgusts me that you act like the others even when I thought you were different."
Percy shakes his head mournfully before turning his attention to me.
"Hestia..." is all he says. He looks at me for a long time, before turning his head away from me. "Out of everyone here, I thought I could trust you the most. I believed in you to not betray me. And yet, here we are." He shakes his head, everyone could hear the emotion coming from those words he said to me and how hurt he was by my decision. I felt a consuming feeling inside me, the guilt and hurt and betrayal were almost too much for me. I retreated inwards, keeping hold of what little sense of self I could to not be consumed by this crushing wave of emotions.
"Poseidon, you I shouldn't have to say anything. Where were you when I was being looked upon by this family like a slab of meat? Looking at me with those same eyes. You were supposed to be on my side. To have my best interests at heart. And yet, you do that exact opposite due to your greed. Your emotions change like the sea. You know that, and yet you do not trying to constrain yourself when arguing with your family, killing thousands every year. Did you ever stop and think about those who you've killed?"
He spat out at his father. A disgusted look in is eyes.
"Zeus, like Hera, I don't need to say more. History describes you easily if one knows where to look. You are a rapist. You are a paranoid tyrant who tries to make it so you would always be right in council decisions by having your children fill up the seats. You murder or enslave anyone else that you feel may be a threat to your precious throne."
He collapses back into the chair, leaning against one of the armrest languidly, resting his cheek in his palm.
"So there we have it. How I feel about all of you. No need to try to defend yourself. I understand completely. You're gods, you don't think the same as us mortals, so I won't try to change your mind. It's completely normal for you to think only about yourselves and ruin us mortal's lives, like mine. Now what? Am I still getting sent down to Tartarus? Or do you still want me as your consort?"
Everyone in the room freezes at his words. I have no idea how Percy could've known about that.
"Where did you hear that?" Artemis asks quietly.
"Where do you think I've learned of all of this before? I've seen you all do these things and more with my own eye. Every time I slept, if it wasn't nightmares, I was transported throughout history by some higher power, showing me the truth. And now, here we are. So, what are you gods going to do with me because I sure as hell ain't becoming a consort."
We all quieted down, thinking it over, until Dionysus spoke up.
"You're mad, aren't you? I can sense it." We all rolled our eyes at him, obvious for anyone to see that he was mad at us right now.
"I prefer clinically insane. Makes it sound less derogatory." Percy commented. We gods looked at each other, asking everyone and the campers if they ever noticed. Percy seemed to understand our actions and snorted. "Wow, and now everyone learns that I'm insane." He cackles.
"What happened to you?" I ask quietly. That seemed to set him off even more, sending him into a fit of insanity.
"Oh, so now all of you want to know what happened to me?!" he shouted out loud, condemning anyone and everyone he could. "YOU DID! All of you happened to me. you all had to fuck up my life even more than it already was without this mythological bulllshit. I was in my happy place in my head when all of a sudden, BAM!" Many of us jumped in our seats as he slammed his hand down on the chair's armrest, sending a spider web of cracks out from it. "I find out why I was the one to suffer. And am told to go fetch some hunk of metal for an unappreciative asshole. No words, no guidance, nothing. Like a lap dog, expecting me to do whatever you say and wag my tail like a good little boy. The one person I felt like I could talk to tries to murder me for something that I didn't even want to be and what happens? Huh? Can anyone answer me?"
He exclaims, proclaiming his question for anyone to answer. It seemed that no one had one though. "No, no one can. No one ever tries to." He mumbles to himself as he monologues out loud. "This unappreciative bitch-" he points to Annabeth, "-just cries to herself, gripes, and moans about how Luke is good and wouldn't betray her. She was the only other friend I had at the time because the nature dick over there-" his hand pointing out Grover, "-decides to go off and try to save the world by looking for a god that didn't want to be found. No one even cares about whether or not I'm okay! After having someone like Luke just betray you like that, you would think that they would at least give some words of comfort, but no. They believe the whole world revolves around them." At this point, he's raving. " And year after year, I work for you gods and watch as my friends die all around me. I send some to their deaths. And all the campers could do was cry to themselves or look to me for comfort. I told them that their friends and family were in a better place while I knew that they were probably being ripped apart and feasted upon by the monsters that haunt us every day. No one ever though of asking to see how I was doing. Whether or not I was fine with sending them to their deaths. I was expected to do it for the 'greater' cause. And yet many of them grew up and have the gall to condemn me for what I did when I didn't even want to."
He sits down calmly, staring down at everyone in the room. "I saved all of yours asses time and again. And how am I repaid? By being taken in chains, accused of a crime that I was framed for by that imbecile of a half-brother, and now being strong-armed to become a slave for Olympus. That is my reward. That is the peace that I would get?" He comments snidely. "Well, no. I don't want that. So, I'll be a villain. I'll be the monster who you all loath and hate. The one you fear when you go to sleep at night. I'll be your little 'traitor'. So do it. Send me down. I'll be sure to send you a postcard when I get there."
I was frozen. Here was the only man I ever loved, and I betrayed him. He was broken, and there's no fixing him. He can't even come to forgive us anymore. When we asked Dionysus to help him, he only shook his head mournfully and told us that it was a different brand of insanity. He is completely aware and sane, only his view of us is so askew that we see him as insane and he sees himself as right. Something I'm somewhat inclined to agree on.
"Well, are we done here? I don't want to stay here any longer." Percy asked impatiently. He sat there, tapping his foot steadily on the floor, the only sound in the throne room coming from him. "Ain't getting any younger here..." he comments once again. He seemed so impatient to leave this place, even if the place he was going to would be Tartarus.
For the first time ever, I saw Zeus swallow his pride and ask a demigod to listen to him. "Please Perseus. See sense. Being with us for eternity wouldn't be that bad."
Percy, on the other hand, seemed to be finished with our bullshit and stood where he was. "Fucking hell, what do I need to do, swear some oath so I can get out of here?" Percy shouted exasperated. He started to pacing back and forth, the tinkling of the chains seemed to resound in everyone's ears. "If you aren't sending me down there right this moment, I will swear an oath to become your downfall."
Yet still, we hesitated, not believing he would do what he says. Then again, this was Percy Jackson we were talking about here. He usually goes against our way of thinking.
"Fucking hell. Fine here it is. I swear on whatever higher power there is that fashions themselves all mighty that if I ever see you all again, I will END you."
We didn't know what to make of his oath, but... something seemed to hear, and was amused from the sounds of its chuckling in everyone's ears.
"Oh, thank you. At least something hears my pleas. Now, this is the part where I leave you all with some cheesy revenge threat." He chuckles darkly while adopting a thinking expression.
While we wait in abated silence, the floor in front of him opens up, revealing an endless abyss. From which anyone of us could sense, lead straight to Tartarus. We could sense the malevolence and despair that seemed to breath out of the prison. The demigods seemed to be affected by it, trembling while others seemed to be unable to breath. Some of the younger ones were crying or had stilled, fallen unconscious or even... dead. The poisonous air killing everything that breathed it in. Even us gods seemed to be dying from the air as I saw many of the weaker ones slumping in their seats, taking labored breaths and paling slightly. The one getting it worse was Annabeth, who seemed to be hyperventilating, having a flashback, and a panic attack all at once. We could hear her screaming for Percy, a reaction that seemed completely normal, considering he was most likely the only reason she survived it at all.
Said demigod seemed to be utterly uncaring at her plight. After a moment, he snapped his finger and looked up with an 'I got it' face, drawing our attention. His voice seemed to carry throughout the throne room, echoing off the walls as if he was speaking the last words we would ever hear from him.
"Let this be known as the last words of me to all of you. I deplore you. You are all dead to me. When you need someone there to save you, I won't be there. Let all you love burn to ash. Let all your homes and lives crumble around you. May your women be defiled and men be broken. Your children shall be butchered like animals and your fate become a never ending despair of agony. You shall never know peace. The food you eat will turn to ash in your mouth. The drinks you savor shall turn sour on your tongue. You shall become numb to the pleasures of the flesh and suffer endless torment for your sins. I swear this here and now, everything you have ever known will come undone and in the end, THERE WILL BE ONLY CHAOS!"
His words reverberated in our heads, drowning out every other sense aside from pain. I only had time to look up at Percy as he looked over to me, a somber expression on his face as he fell.
In all sense of the word. He fell from Olympus to Tartarus. He fell from the kind, strong loving boy to a bitter, betrayed, and cold young man. He fell from his spot in the light to the encroaching darkness.
After everything was over and he was gone, we all looked up, expecting everything to be fine and Percy to be sitting there and wondering why he was in chains. Only we saw nothing. Only the emptiness of where his seat should be. And where it was placed, his weapon. The thing that kept him from harm here. But the bigger impact was that this was the weapon represented. He used it whenever he fought for us, and now it is here. As if to tell us that he no longer cares for us and has cut ties with us.
When Artemis was the first to recover and step forward and reach for the pen, it glowed, flying into the sky and reaching the Huntress from whence it came from, as if she didn't want any one of us to have it. She looked up around at us, wondering what to do. We did the only thing we could think of, flash away, taking the news of what we did in our own way.
Present
Today, we were waiting in the throne room, waiting for everyone to gather. We decided that even if he were to hate us, he doesn't deserve Tartarus. At most, we woould take pity on him and kill him, so he can be with the ones he cares for in Elysium.
Once all of us were in the throne room, we attempted to pull Percy out of Tartarus. Only we found that we couldn't. As we looked to Hades, he said that he was sure he hadn't died yet, so we tried again. Yet nothing.
While we were thinking on what to do, a flash of darkness appeared in the throne room, revealing a beautiful women with ebony hair and eyes and milky skin and a child hiding behind her skirt, looking up at us innocently. The only off thing was her eyes, the same exact sea-green eyes that had haunted our dreams for years.